May 21, 2009

Crazy questions!

Some questions I had in my mind during the loooooong journey between Osaka and San Francisco:

(1) The crazy trolley: While serving food, why do the flight attendants pull the trolley all the way to the last row (or first row), and serve food only as they come in reverse? What if they serve while moving forward?

(2) The crazy-baggage: Why do they allow 23kg x 2 = 46 kg per person in flights to America, but only 20kg within Asia? Capacity of Boeing 747 wouldn't change from country-to-country, right? In fact, if passenger weight is taken into account, the Asian sectors with relatively 'slimmer' passengers should only be allowed heavier baggage! (Assuming there are 300 passengers in a flight, the American sector aircraft carry an additional 26 x 300 = 7,800 kg = 7.8 ton!!).

(3) The crazy drinks: Why do they SELL (instead of 'serve free of cost') alcohols in US companies' aircraft, even in long international sectors?
--- If cost-reduction is the idea, why do they sell it at 10-12 times the market price?
--- Why do some passengers still purchase & drink, at this exorbitant cost?
--- Why do US airlines still run in loss, even after being so cost-conscious?

(4) The crazy immigration: Why is there no immigration clearance in any of the USA airports for departing passengers? Are all other countries that have immigration check for departing passengers wasting their time & money?

(5) The crazy wind?: This one is slightly scientific: San Francisco--Orlando sector (eastbound) takes 5 hrs, while the return Orlando--San Francisco (westbound) takes 6 hrs. Taking into account the fact that earth rotates towards East, the aircraft flying opposite to earth's rotation takes 20% additional time. (I used to think when I was a boy that Westbound aircraft should take less time -till I learned that the earth rotates together with the 'atmospheric' space around it). This would mean that the Westbound aircraft has to overcome an additional 20% 'force'/'resistance' than what it does when flying east. At 10km altitude when the aircraft flies at 1,000 km/hr, the wind velocity should then be 200 km/hr. Is it so...?

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