Hacking for Christ

Travel Observations

Observations from a long day's travelling:

• Delta's menu card has two identical sides. Both I and the lady from Microsoft sitting next to me spent 30 seconds trying to see if the two sides were different in any way (and they were, in a tiny and irrelevant fashion). A clear real-world example of the UI principle that giving people two ways to do something slows them down, because it takes longer to choose the method than the time saved by having two options.

• Apparently, you are disqualified from sitting in an exit row on Delta if you are travelling with an "emotional support animal", something apparently different to a "family pet" or a guide dog. What is one of these, and who needs one?

• Delta's 767 entertainment system keeps running until you get right to the gate, as opposed to being shut down twenty minutes before landing, as seems to have happened on every flight I've been on for the past fifteen years. It's about time. (And it's widescreen and VOD.)

• According to United, you shouldn't use the toilets in other sections of the aircraft for two reasons. The first is to avoid overcrowding (although one would assume people would only try moving to another section for precisely that reason) but the second, and "more important" reason is "for security purposes". Add this to the long list of impositions companies now have a convenient excuse for.

• According to the episode of House shown on the plane, Dr. House thinks that airplanes are "flying cesspools" of germs. Great choice, United :-)

• Taxi drivers on at least two continents encourage dishonesty by offering to hand out uncompleted receipts.