Delta Has The Wrong Idea About Me

Delta ran an ad for their TechOps MRO service in my twitter feed.  I'm not in a position make this type of purchase decision and I wonder what my browser history had in it to make this ad appear.

Unexpected Twitter Ad

Indianapolis Airport Art Display

The Indianapolis airport, IND, has a world class collection of art on display in the terminal.  Here's a few examples.

Direct from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

Indy 500 Roadster

United Airlines Economy to Oslo & Back

I flew to Oslo again just for the miles and only spent 90 minutes in Norway before returning.  I did this trip once before for miles and enjoyed it very much because I was upgraded to business class.  This time was different, I was stuck in coach, an exit row, but still coach.  It wasn't too bad though.  On the way out, I had an empty middle seat and on the way back I had my own row.  Being able to spread out helps more than I expected and I was also able to enjoy a movie and sleep well.  Alcohol in coach to Europe on United is not free, otherwise the catering could be described as decent.  Next time I go to Norway, I'll leave the airport and not go in the depths of winter. 

United Coach Breakfast to Europe

United Coach Lunch from Europe - Beer Costs Extra

United Coach Dinner to Europe

I Was Upgraded to EWR on a 757

United Airlines First Class Lunch - 2015

Always take the soup, it won't disappoint.  Unfortunately, the meals in first class this year are mundane and bland.  United can learn a ton from Lufthansa's catering team.  Here's a few examples of filling, but uninspired meals I've seen this year.

Ham and Cheese

Asian Chicken Salad

Chicken Wrap

W Hotels That Were Something Else First

The W hotel brand started in 1998 and there are some fantastic new hotels in the brand's portfolio.  My favorite is the W Boston followed closely by the W South Beach.  Unfortunately not all W hotels are new constructions, like the W Chicago Loop.  The give away that this was an old hotel, among other things not including the small rooms with poor sound insulation, was the mail chute by the elevators.  These are the marks of nice, but old, buildings.  I did mail some post cards with them, so they are fun and practical too.  

Sign of an Older Building

Airlines' Long Term Technology Investments

Airlines like to hang on to investments for a long time.  Take the MD-80 as an example or that US Airways just retired their last 767-200 after 25 years of service.  They are also the only industry clinging to perforated paper printers, the highlight of mid 1980's technology.  Luckily airlines can order paper and ink on the internet or these printers would be in the trash next to floppy disks and Zip drives.

30 Years Old and Going Strong

Broken Seat Back TV

Is it worth taking a delay for the aircraft's seat back TV system to be fixed?  It can be reset in air, but it's a much longer 8 hour flight without it.  I'd say push back and press your luck with the reset procedure.

TV Resetting