Greetings from pitch-dark Northern California, where I'm just ecstatically happy to be awake at 5am. Jet lag sucks.
Other things that suck? Weather delays. We were supposed to arrive at about 1:00 yesterday afternoon, but snow in Chicago screwed that up completely. We spent a good hour and a half sitting on the plane at the gate at O'Hare, where they were down to one working runway, and two working de-icing trucks. This, on top of delays getting into Chicago due to the weather (see "one working runway") meant that we didn't get in until 4:00, so rather than spending a leisurely afternoon getting the lay of the land before going to dinner with some of my relatives out here, I barely had time to register for the conference and change my clothes before running out the door.
Still, at least we made it here-- I was a little surprised that we got into Chicago, let alone out to Oakland. And dinner last night was terrific.If only my body didn't insist on being awake in time for my 8:00 EDT class...
The conference I'm here for will see something like 2000 students presenting on their research, which will keep me fairly well occupied. Don't expect much in the way of blogging.
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Chad,
Repeat after me:
Direct. Flights. Are. Your. FRIEND.
And yes, I know just how long a cross country flight takes, as I used to make regular trips from Dulles to San Diego and back.
This was booked by the school, so unless he wanted to pay for it himself, he was stuck with it.
Ah...suckage.
Direct flights are awesome when you can get them. I couldn't for my trip this week to Lincoln. I spent the night in a Chicago suburb called Schaumburg deeply grateful to have a room ANYWHERE after yesterday's O'Hare fiasco...
And BTW, an Airline That Shall not Be Named lost my luggage -- twice in one week -- on direct flights. Direct flights are no guarantee that said airline won't f&%$ up...
Hopefully I'll get into Lincoln in time to make this afternoon's sessions...
My strategy is usually to focus on the early morning flights... on the theory that system problems tend to stack during the day and then reset overnight. I _think_ that helps even more than direct flights vs. connections.
But of course if you're not able to book your own flights -- or if you can't leave until later -- it doesn't help. And weather can mess you up at any given point.
Anyway, direct cross-country flights are less likely for those of us who don't live near a major hub city. It's not great for Indianapolis, but probably even worse for Albany.
Darkest Oakland is such an irremediable cesspit of racial... diversity that California Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown, as mayor of Oakland became a virulent capitalist. Nothing improved, of course, since perceived problems are not spawned by imposed economic models.
Where are you in Northern California?
Mike Royko, (1932-1997),long-running newspaper columnist in Chicago, Illinois, "... was the source of a derisive nickname for former California Governor Jerry Brown. In 1978, after Brown proposed that California purchase its own satellite to handle emergency communication, Royko referred to him as 'Governor Moonbeam', a characterization that, despite Royko's later disavowal, followed Brown long afterward."
When I wrote space policy speeches for Jerry Brown's Presidential campaign, he was still sensitive to this -- and his aides were more sensitive. His aides would not let him give the speech that I wrote on, for instance, avoiding asteroid collisions with Earth. "Moonbeam," they all said.
I only met with him once, face to face, while he was Mayor of Oakland, but he took the job seriously, and made good things happen.
I remember further back to the early 1950s when air travel in the US was luxury, with tablecloths and actual metal cutlery on the tables for on-board meals. But those days are gone. Get used to air travel now being busses with wings. Or, for those of you elsewhere in the multiverse, your Zeppelin will be docking at the Empire State Building in half an hour.
Jonathan,
That's half a metric hour? I'd better get moving!
There are lots of reasons why people take connecting flights. Nonstop flights may not exist; certain airports may be significantly more convenient (especially in the Bay Area; you definitely want to use Oakland rather than SFO if your destination is in the East Bay); you may wish to avoid a certain airport which is notorious for weather delays (Boston, among others), etc.
Some of my strategies: Fly earlier in the day, if you can. Avoid booking tight connections (no matter what the airlines say, you need at least 60 minutes at the largest hubs like Chicago O'Hare and 45 minutes at even the smaller hubs; add 30 minutes if you are interlining and 30-60 minutes if you're clearing customs). Always carry at least two days of clothing in hand baggage even if you're checking luggage. Look at the terminal diagrams in the in-flight magazine so that you'll know how to get to your connecting gate. And finally, grin and bear it when things go wrong, as eventually they will.
At least you weren't stranded overnight. Last year I spent a night each in Chicago and Detroit because of mechanical problems (cancelled flight and blown connection, respectively).
Right now, O'Hare is so badly broken that it really is unusable. So far this year, I've had two trips outright cancelled there, and every other flight mod one had major delays.
The RJ "revolution" has killed ORD. It is the perfect two runway airport -- it will always offer two runways, with no more than an 30 degree headwind. This is perfect for about 96 transactions an hour, so 48 landings and takeoffs.
To fly the full schedule, ORD needs to land 100 an hour (and take off just as many.) It can do this in perfect weather, landing on three runways, and taking off on three others.
Perfect weather for flying is a rarity in Chicago. Winter, you get snow, ice and wind. Summer, you get wind and thunderstorms.
The long term fix is a complete rebuild of the airport, which is just starting. This will take decades, and I doubt it'll be completed.
The short term fix is to change the rules at ORD to encourage fewer, larger planes, and discourage the regional jets. Get down to 72 landings an hour required, and 90% of ORD's delays will disappear.
A nice idea in theory, but what we have here is a tragedy of the commons scenario. Business travellers demand frequent flights, so if one airline reduced frequencies the others would get the business, and the airlines aren't allowed to collude so that they all operate fewer flights.
The problem you describe is hardly limited to O'Hare, either. The three major New York airports, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, and San Francisco all have similar difficulties. Having a decent rail network for short trips would help somewhat, but there's no substitute for flying when your destination is more than 1000 km away.
Where are you in Northern California?
He's not, he's in the Bay Area.
Last time I checked, the Bay Area was still considered Northern California. This is coming from a NorCal native (Born in Mountainview, grew up in Sacto, went to Berkeley, family lives in the Bay Area).
The borderline between Northern and Southern CA is the Madonna Inn. North of San Francisco, the first unmolested marijuana plantation marks the end of wine country and the start of Humboldt County (that is really Cascadia).
I think that I agree with Uncle Al, about Cascadia (mostly Northern Northern California, Western Oregon, Western Washington, British Columbia).
Periodically, discussion ensues about whether California should split into 2 states. I find the arguments better that California is de facto 3 states, with Central California geographically (but not spiritually) including Greater San Francisco.
There are (do the math) many more combinations of states than there are states. Some of those combinations make more sense than the existing legal borders.
Splitting states into substates, counties, and the like leads to what Science Fiction author Ken McLeod cleverly calls "fractal balkanization."
Last time I checked, the Bay Area was still considered Northern California. This is coming from a NorCal native (Born in Mountainview, grew up in Sacto, went to Berkeley, family lives in the Bay Area).
Those are Middle California, not Northern California.
Yes, I just made that up, but we all know it's true. Hell, I think of people from Yuba City/Marysville as southern Californians.
Kurt,
That's all well and good about what you consider Northern California...but when conversing with normal people who use more-or-less standard terminology, it doesn't make sense to use your own definition. If you're on a personal crusade, that's one thing, but if you just want to communicate effectively, stick with the standard ;)
Asad
If you're on a personal crusade, that's one thing, but if you just want to communicate effectively, stick with the standard ;)
Ah, but you see - I don't want to communicate effectively with flatlanders and Bay Area-ites, or they might think they're welcome up here.
(And I lived in Davis for nine out of the past eleven years)