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Internet and airlines

Posted by: Stephen Baker on December 24

I checked the Continental Website as my son’s flight from Chicago to Newark was delayed three, four, and five hours, and then got the text message from his cell phone as soon as he landed. This was after midnight. So I benefit from wonderful digital communications to manage an airline system that appears to have regressed since the 1970s. Not to pine too nostalgic, but I wouldn’t have needed all that cool Internet stuff a couple of decades ago (though the cell phone would have been handy.)

Why hasn’t aviation benefited more from Moore’s Law?

One hint for those picking up people at Newark (or perhaps elsewhere)during holiday crush: Tell the passenger to wait at the departure level. You avoid the big jams at arrival. I bet we saved 20 minutes that way last night.

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Reader Comments

Wally Bock

December 27, 2007 12:51 PM

Part of the answer to your question is that the airlines use lots of computing power to create overly scheduling and resource allocation systems that are so finely tuned that they're fragile. The system can figure out the best economic allocation of a particular plane, but at the same time, any glitch cascades through the system wreaking havoc as it goes. It's a system designed to maximize equipment use, regardless of the potential affect on passengers.

David Megginson

December 28, 2007 09:42 PM

Moore's Law applies at the subatomic level only. Airliners are a bit bigger, and there are way too many of them trying to land at a few hub airports at the same time every day.

Daryn W.

December 31, 2007 05:53 PM

My opinion is probably less educated than most, but with how far advanced technology is today.... we still have to worry about that? surely by now some one has to upgrade the technology. the human population is too bitchy and needy.

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In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

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