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I would love this! But since airlines currently have trouble with basic things like crediting my miles correctly, sending me texts about delayed flights and le

I would love this! But since airlines currently have trouble with basic things like crediting my miles correctly, sending me texts about delayed flights and letting me book flights without repeatedly logging me out; I'm not holding my breath. These kinds of services are only useful of they work perfectly every time. A glitchy service would be worse than not having it at all.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
A good start would be to send an electronic ticket that Mom's iMac can successfully download over her Earthlink dialup. What she gets is a few megabytes of mind-boggling HTML, CSS and Javascript, all so she can print a hardcopy with an eight-character booking number.
- w1ntermute 11y ago
  Isn't this solved by mobile devices and LTE? You can just show them a QR code that's emailed to your phone, both at the TSA checkpoint and at the terminal. I never print my ticket out anymore (and don't have a printer to do so).
  - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
    My mother is quite happy with her $35.00 Walmart pay-as-you go phone. For quite a long time I struggled to convince her to learn how to use its contacts list, but always she refused. For years, she had the idea that leaving her phone powered off would save her money. She finally relented when I pointed out to her that I might need to reach her in an emergency. My aunt - her identical twin sister - absolutely adores me, just loves to see me in person, but cannot bear to speak to me on the phone for longer than just one or two minutes. This because she has the idea that long distance service is exhorbitantly expensive. I can still remember when we lived in Italy, and Mom needed to call her sister, who was coming to visit. We all got up real early in the morning. Mom requested a call to the US from the International Operator, then Mom, my own sister and I took turns waiting by the phone, so we could pick it up right away when the International Operator called us back with an available line.
    - domas 11y ago
      I had similar issue where my grandmother would not talk more than one minute when I'm calling from abroad. Trick that worked on her was telling her that I have "free minutes" so she does not need to worry about the cost.
      - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
        My mother knows what VoIP is; I expect that's because she is quite thrifty. Yet I cannot convince her to actually avail herself of it.
theklub 11y ago
That's a big assumption though, what if you left your phone at home or didn't update when you got a new phone.
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  what if a pickpocket snatched his phone at the airport? "But I have to get on this flight! I have a three o'clock on Sand Hill Road today, to close my Series B!" "I'm sorry, sir, but according to my computer, you're thirty miles from here, driving East on Interstate 80."
  - smil 11y ago
    The real threat is not Artificial Intelligence but Artificial Stupidity.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago

A good start would be to send an electronic ticket that Mom's iMac can successfully download over her Earthlink dialup. What she gets is a few megabytes of mind-boggling HTML, CSS and Javascript, all so she can print a hardcopy with an eight-character booking number.

w1ntermute 11y ago
Isn't this solved by mobile devices and LTE? You can just show them a QR code that's emailed to your phone, both at the TSA checkpoint and at the terminal. I never print my ticket out anymore (and don't have a printer to do so).
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  My mother is quite happy with her $35.00 Walmart pay-as-you go phone. For quite a long time I struggled to convince her to learn how to use its contacts list, but always she refused. For years, she had the idea that leaving her phone powered off would save her money. She finally relented when I pointed out to her that I might need to reach her in an emergency. My aunt - her identical twin sister - absolutely adores me, just loves to see me in person, but cannot bear to speak to me on the phone for longer than just one or two minutes. This because she has the idea that long distance service is exhorbitantly expensive. I can still remember when we lived in Italy, and Mom needed to call her sister, who was coming to visit. We all got up real early in the morning. Mom requested a call to the US from the International Operator, then Mom, my own sister and I took turns waiting by the phone, so we could pick it up right away when the International Operator called us back with an available line.
  - domas 11y ago
    I had similar issue where my grandmother would not talk more than one minute when I'm calling from abroad. Trick that worked on her was telling her that I have "free minutes" so she does not need to worry about the cost.
    - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
      My mother knows what VoIP is; I expect that's because she is quite thrifty. Yet I cannot convince her to actually avail herself of it.

theklub 11y ago

That's a big assumption though, what if you left your phone at home or didn't update when you got a new phone.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
what if a pickpocket snatched his phone at the airport? "But I have to get on this flight! I have a three o'clock on Sand Hill Road today, to close my Series B!" "I'm sorry, sir, but according to my computer, you're thirty miles from here, driving East on Interstate 80."
- smil 11y ago
  The real threat is not Artificial Intelligence but Artificial Stupidity.