Abbey Road

Think all the great apartments in Evanston are already rented? Think again.

Consider a great coach house located on a quiet, tree-lined street only 10 minutes from the Northwestern campus and downtown Evanston.

The main building is located at 2400 Grant Street just a few blocks south of Central Avenue and west of Green Bay Road. The coach house - shown by appointment only - is just behind at 2402 Grant.

Scroll through these photos and you’ll see an air conditioned, one-bedroom unit with a full bath. The unit is currently being used as a small office.

2402 also includes:

* Private entrance

* Motion-sensitive security lighting

* Hardwood floors

* All window treatments

* Multiple ceiling fans

* Attractive track lighting

* Plenty of free parking

 

 

* Nearby CTA bus stop

Rent $1095 pm, plus one month security. No pets. Available now, 2402 Grant is shown by appointment only. Nine-month lease possible. Call Robert Mark at 847-644-1575 or e-mail him at rmark@commavia.com

I’m not an economist so perhaps I oversimplify some things, but I find the concept of supply and demand a bit puzzling at times, especially when it comes to parts of our own industry that claim to focus on the need to constantly improve customer loyalty. Case in point is the story in London’s Telegraph.co.uk the other day.

There was a fire last week in the tunnel that runs beneath the English Channel between London and Paris that dealt a crippling blow to rail service from both sides of the water. Interestingly, just as rail service began to crumble because of the fire, the prices on airline tickets between these two cities began to skyrocket.

Paris to London by plane is just under a 200 nm trip and yet within hours of the tunnel mess, airline fares for a round trip between LHR (London Heathrow) and CDG (Charles de Gaulle) rose to nearly US$1100 on British Airways, with Air France close behind at about US$1000. Even the low cost carriers jump into the fray gouging people where they could.

British Airways defended its actions by claiming the addition of larger equipment needed to cope with demand. They also claimed the fare ladder was to blame, the mechanism the raises fares as the number of seats declines.

And here in the U.S., as the price of oil has dropped dramatically - now below $100 a barrel - the airlines have also not altered their fee structures one bit. In fact, my old friends at United increased their nickel and dime efforts for everyone who is not a Super, Platium, Elite, Gold card holder. United’s announcement essentially means the riff-raff pay if they want to bring a bag on board. Southwest seems to be the only carrier holding the line on avoiding the domino-like drive to charge for everything. I’m thinking a jetway boarding fee can’t be far away.

[Read more →]

By Robert Mark on September 2, 2008 - from Jetwhine.com

To most people, owning a web site address with their name is something to truly covet. What better way to tell the world through a good blog what we think about everything that’s wrong or right with the world.

But what happens when someone else grabs the web site with your name on it first and uses it to give you a good swift kick in the rear?

The best person to ask that question of today might be United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton. The pilots at his airline today unveiled their new anti-CEO web site at Glenn Tilton.com.

They want Tilton out, claiming he’s everything that’s wrong with the airline. Once a significant industry player, United has been rebuffed twice this year when it attempted to begin merger talks with Continental and US Airways.

The pilots say, “We’ve started this web site because we’re tired of seeing the Tilton organization play the blame game. To Glenn and his staff, responsibility for United’s predicament belongs to everyone and everything other than themselves. Their excuses include high fuel prices, increasing costs of security, more competition, and stronger regulation, and they see themselves as victims of these uncontrollable factors. It just isn’t right, and it just isn’t true. These same factors influence every airline, and all the others are handling challenging conditions much better than United.”

Although the anti-site is not new, this well-organized site is quite a clever tactic. It’s easy for anyone to choose a juicy topic from the menu like Tilton’s “Operational Failures,” strategic blunders, financial or even employee and customer service screw ups like, “Only 38% of United employees are proud to work for the airline.” Ouch.

Something Tilton is just going to love is the convenient message form tied to Mr. Tilton’s e-mail so anyone can send him a comment. My guess is that mailbox is going to fill up pretty quickly.

Finally, a topic I know almost nothing about … flying a blimp, or as it is more commonly known in FAA language, an airship.

This well-produced short video tour and introductory flying lesson of the newest of the MetLife airships, the Snoopy 3, is narrated by airship pilot Charlie Smith.

Watching the Goodyear blimp at AirVenture a few weeks ago makes me sure this piece of video is worth the 3 minutes it will take to watch it.

A light sport aircraft it isn’t. In fact, this is nothing like flying an airplane.

Enjoy

The post John Carr put up yesterday about the U.S. DOT’s proposed new guidelines for administering drug tests to some aviation employees would be absolutely hilarious if it wasn’t so sick. John posted comments from the general counsel for the PASS employees - airways systems technicians - that outline the new drug testing rules.

If you’re returning to duty, or have tested positive in the past for whatever reason, employees will now be expected to offer a urine sample while the supervisor watches in order to guarantee authenticity. And did I tell you that all will be expected to remove their underclothes and bend over to prove they’re not hiding anything?

But it’s not really all that bad because, “After this is done, they may return their clothing to its proper position and contribute a specimen in such manner that the observer can see the urine exiting directly from the individual into the collection container, as required under current regulations.”

I guess this is a just a bit more of that warm fuzzy - mmm, no pun intended here, really - from DOT’s Mary Peters to the folks who are part of that wonderful team of transportation professionals she keeps talking about.

I’m supposed to believe that handling employees like this is fine according to Peters, right?

And the DOT logic that gave us this little procedure, is the same bunch of brains that Peters and her staff used to develop the slot sale program at Newark that just about everyone in aviation thinks is the dumbest idea ever conceived. Even the airlines don’t like Peters … and that’s really saying something.

Unless the procedure is axed, the new drug testing will take effect later this month. I can’t wait to see what NATCA will have to say about this one.

August 06, 2008

It took me four years to dump my old Nokia 6620 and it was like parting with an old friend. I even tried a Blackberry for a week and sent the thing back as too difficult to use for texting.

But in came this fancy new iPhone and after watching a pal show me the tricks at lunch a few weeks ago, my mind was made up. I joined the three and a half hour wait at the Apple suburban store north of Chicago and now I have one.

But … and there always is one isn’t there … I again have proven the point we hear so often about regretting purchases based on too much emotion.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone as a micro-computer does some astounding things. But I wish I knew it failed at a couple of the basics that even my four year old Nokia could handle.

Be forewarned.

The Apple iPhone will NOT capture video which means my chances of becoming an iJournalist for CNN are slim to none. With all of the features on this phone, plus the 16 GB of storage on board, it’s impossible for me to understand how Steve Jobs let this one slip past the innovators in California. Maybe I’ll be lucky and one of you will tell me that it really WILL capture video if I only hold down some damned key I can’t seem to find.

Next, my other gripe. I can’t attach a still photo I shoot with the iPhone to a text message. I must enter a valid e-mail and send it that way. This one is not a deal killer, but more of an annoyance.

The video issue … that one popped my cork.

You’ve probably heard that there’s a worldwide shortage of pilots, despite the current lousy economy in the world. I might just have a solution because every so often I’m lucky enough to connect with a learned colleague from some exotic location. Today we have one from Frank Froman, a St. Louis psychologist (OK, exotic is in the eyes of the beholder!), a man with a secret dream, but a man who also knows how to solve a problem when he’s confronted with it. It’s men like Frank that just might hold some of the solutions the airlines are seeking … maybe!

“It was quite an adventure, American Airlines Flight 2020A from St. Louis to New York,” Frank wrote us recently. “I think the cabin announcement went something like this…

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to flight 2020A flying today from St. Louis to New York’s airport, whichever one we can get into. We hope this is a comfortable trip for you.

And do we have a pilot on board? No? Ouch.

Anyone who has ever flown a 737 here maybe? [Read more →]

Is there anything more exciting than standing in line near the down Chicago AT&T store to become the first guy in your office to possess a new G3 iPhone? Imagine the geek-chatter in the line as the hours flew by waiting for the store to open.

And then the magic moment comes and slowly but surely you inch your way to the front of the line smiling at those who were ahead of you as the pass you on the way out with their little Apple boxes in hand.

Then it’s almost your turn and you can imagine your fingers ripping at the box, praying there is just enough charge on your iPhone that it will turn on so you can admire it from a distance before you plug it in for that mandatory full charge.

Then you notice the commotion a little ahead of you. Voices are being raised and people are beginning to wave their hands. The shouting’s louder now.

Finally the word comes back through the line. It happened. And it happened to you.

Your number was almost up. You almost made it to the front of the line before the store ran out of iPhones. Anyone have Steve job’s e-mail. Life ain’t fair is it Rod?

Nothing like a few people you know going up to the Pearly Gates to make someone sit up and take notice. While I didn’t know Tim Russert or George Carlin personally, I felt like I did since I’ve watched Russert on Meet The Press for years and Carlin … well heck, he an icon for smart alecks anonymous, a group to which I consider myself a founding member.

But now that I am looking squarely in the eyes of a birthday with a zero at the end and the first number is greater than five, I’ve started thinking seriously about what’s really important in life, besides the dog, my Cooper and airplanes. No really, I am serious here when I say that I wonder how many people would say good things about me when I’m gone. Did I log more time in an airplane than with my wife and daughter?

Of course, I hoping death is a topic I won’t need to deal with for quite sometime which brings me to the topic. Summer camp.

[Read more →]

It’s not fair that all the cool guys die early … first Tim Russert and now George Carlin, a man who set the world on its ear as he taught us to truly think about what we actually said rather than what we think we meant.

He was the Hippy, Dippy Weatherman the first time I heard back in the 70s, but he’s at his best when he tried to explain the idiocy of the airline industry’s language to the rest of the world.

It’s worth 10 minute of your time.

We’ll miss you George. Than God for YouTube.