Alaska Airlines, Flying Above an Industry’s Troubles | Hacker News Reader

Alaska Airlines, Flying Above an Industry’s Troubles

nytimes.com

Is anyone else totally fascinated by the UI design of slide 8 in the slideshow?

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/03/03/business/03alask...

I'm counting up the datapoints in the 150+ flights in that display, which appears to be based on a particular aircraft:

  * origin/destination
  * flight number
  * dep/arr times
  * airport status (color of airport code)
  * flight status (color of bar - complete/inprogress/delayed/cancelled/?)
  * still trying to figure out what the little red/green whiskers are...

I'm guessing the red/green lines are showing if the planes are running late/early. Red lines indicate a delay with the start of the line being the expected take off/landing, and the opposite for green lines.

Ah, you're right: looking at the patterns of the positioning of the lines, at the beginning of a flight, red lines extend left towards the scheduled departure for a late departure, green to the right for an early one. The reverse applies for arrivals. Thanks!

It's also easier to stay away from troubles when you have a natural geographic barrier that limits the number of competitors in your region.

AS flies to a lot more than Alaska - it's really somewhat of a misnomer. They're hubbed out of SEA and PDX and fly nationally, though their scheduling is not as extensive as the majors[1].

I used to fly Alaska a lot when I lived in Seattle - one of the better airlines in the country to be sure. On-time performance was always excellent and the service is always no-bullshit (compare with United, an airline I have literally never had a 100%-smooth flight with).

[1] http://www.alaskaair.com/content/route-map.aspx

Agreed. I grew up in Alaska but now live in Washington, DC, but I still sometimes fly Alaska from here to the west coast; they're the only airline that has regular direct flights from National to Seattle, for example.

Flash is required just to view the route map?

It's not a route map. It's just a set of fairly nondescript photos. You can save yourself the trouble.

I live in Seattle and would definitely use them more often if we hadn't repeatedly been screwed by their customer service.

As I recently learned from a friend who flies for them, IIRC they fly Chicago - Anchorage non-stop, which is the longest commercial flight made in a 737.

He's a bush pilot who worked his way up. I'd have a hard time trusting someone more than I trust him.

I used to like Alaska Airlines. If you are old enough, you'll remember they actually used to be proud of the food they served. These days you could swap the experience with any of the major airlines. They are more focused on squeezing every cent out of you than making it a pleasant experience. Extra charge for food, extra charge for checking bags, extra charge for in flight movie.

My last flight on Alaska I was seated near the rear of the plane, and they actually ran out of food before they got to my row. They are clearly so focused on saving a few dollars optimizing for not carrying too much food they are willing to risk a few passengers sitting hungry for 5 hours. And the sinks didn't work in the bathrooms which is gross. And I sent them feedback about it a couple weeks ago and haven't heard a thing back. So a big meh to Alaska Airlines..

Just to follow up - Alaska did contact me today and apologized. That's good, but I still think they are focused to their own detriment on penny pinching.

In many places in Alaska, AK Airlines is the only way in or out. It's funny when you're on a plane in one of these places and they say, "thank you for choosing Alaska Airlines." It's not a choice for many of us!

Not true. I live in Portland, and Alaska is the dominant airline here. I have flown with them over a dozen times, and never had a bad experience.

I've definitely spent too much time in Fairbanks (flying Alaska Airlines, natch), because when I read

The temperature that evening was a brain-numbing minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit

I thought, "Oh, 16 below isn't so bad. 40 below—now that's cold!" Fairbanks residents consider anything above -20 to be not so bad—and in fact elementary schools can hold recess outdoors down to that temperature—but even they will concede that -30 or -40 is too damn cold.

That said, it's not like I embrace the cold. I mean, I live in Pasadena, California. We have a parade with fresh flowers every year in the dead of winter just to show off how warm it is. But it has been an interesting experience learning that there is an unambiguous difference between how -20 and -40 feel; despite appearances, they aren't both simply "arbitrarily cold".

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