Hartmann

On 4/18/2016 at 5:24 PM, The Voice of University Oaks said:

 

An Emirates A380 flew right over my head when I was driving down Will Clayton a couple of weeks ago. Did they not go back to the triple seven, or am I missing something?

 

 

The A380 will run until June. It switches to a 777 in July.

United will get another 787-8 in July. I wonder will it fly? Probably the hub cities for awhile.

LAX-NRT and LAX-PVG are both supposed to go to 787s.

Turkish has been offering insane fares

Yep, I took advantage of one.

TK badly wants to be the next EK.

United and other Star Alliance haven't matched the TK fares, though some competition has (KLM-AF).

Will you be there? My attendance all depends on whether or not I get stuck at LaGuardia again.

I could see BOM/DEL, maybe even JNB but I doubt UA is going to try and fly to DME again. They had the IAD-DME flight and it wasn't a winner, even with no to little competition. UA going up against SQ out of IAH would be a little asinine.

And I think you mean the maintenance base for the 787s will be at IAH. Once they start a couple more flights with them out of LAX they will need a number of the planes and crews based there.

As far as Emirates, their advantage is not just government subsidized fuel, it's that they are essentially an extension of the government, owned by an investment subsidiary. While this has brought competition it is also forcing a lot of carriers, KLM, Lufthansa, etc. to reconsider their cost structures and expansion. Emirates has brought down the price on certain markets but they've also sliced away margins in markets where prices were already cheap.

I'd be fine with seeing an EK A380 here in Houston though.

I hate to say this but my friends in Europe called Air France, Air Chance.  Not funny but their record is not good.

I'd say your friends are smart.

I currently have a business class reward ticket booked for the inaugural. Still trying to see if I can actually make it.

Did you forget Singapore Airlines, Asiana, All Nippon, Thai Airlines.

?? Me?

If so, no, I didn't forget about them. They don't fit any of the criteria I laid out for which carriers to avoid. They are neither obscure or on anyone's "banned" list.

I was being tongue-in-cheek, at least a little.  I inferred that the OP was referring to a good experience on AC, and I was making a joke that agreed with that inference. Now I'm not sure what he liked relative to what, but whatever funny there was is now dead.

 

I up for trying any airline at least once.  Maybe not Aeroflot.

I don't have any issues with Aeroflot. They have retired most of their rust buckets. Now, some of the other Russian and former Soviet-bloc carriers are questionable.

I also feel a little hesitant when considering obscure carriers in Africa and rural parts of Asia. Some of the low cost carriers in Asia have really poor service records. I watch the list of carriers that are banned in the EU and US. I avoid them.

Even the communists make better ailines than we do. That whole industry is a shame top to bottom.

While Air China has nice seats in business and first, their service leaves a lot to be desired. Not to mention the food on them is absolutely horrific.

Then again, I won't complain about another non-stop to Asia out of Houston.

Are they building a staircase/elevator at the elevated station?

Would have been pretty cool had the entire length been elevated.

It is worth noting that while this may be true of you and your family, it is not true for the overwhelming majority of people. It should not be found to be surprising that most people prefer convenience. Automobiles represent convenience. While you may find a myriad of reasons why convenience is bad, from Peak Oil to healthy walking, it does not change the fact that most people prefer an automobile to public transit of any kind. That includes Third Worlders. It is human nature.

It's also worth noting that the notion that we can entice people to live in urban environments by providing rail or at least limit traffic from suburban areas by providing rail has been pretty much a failure. All three cities that I mentioned in my initial post, Portland, Atlanta, and NY all have subways and buses linking the suburban areas to the urban areas and downtown. All three still have large chunks of the population that live in suburban areas, lured by cheaper home prices and in some cases, a lot more space (NYC) and yet all three still have major traffic issues from suburban areas. Sure, a lot of people on Long Island or in Westchester County or Connecticut take the train but a huge number drive and the morning commute proves it.

I work with a lot of people who live outside of NYC and drive into the office. They have train options but still prefer to drive themselves and pay the   parking prices.

I have mixed feelings on light rail. I understand the desire to move a number of people that outnumber a busload from place to place but also wonder if its worth the cost in Houston. Sure, we sit in traffic but there are a number of reasons people prefer buses or their own cars to a potential light rail system all over the city (if that's even a speck in someone's eye).

Look at cities with what most would consider "great" light rail/subway/train systems and you'll still find traffic. Portland has a pretty extensive light rail and bus network but there are still places that are difficult to reach without a vehicle (within the city limits). They also have a pretty bad traffic problem.

Atlanta has a decent subway system linked up with a mediocre bus system. The reach is still limited and the traffic is horrific.

Last but not least, the city I am most familiar with, NY. I have spent the better part of the last year commuting from Houston here for work and while the subway is great, there are still places in the city you can't reach (try getting to parts of the far east or west sides on the subway), the traffic is worse than Houston and riding the subway at rush hour in the warmer months can best be described as humbling. The bus system even more so. The airports are all reachable by public transit but all involve connections and none is particularly convenient. JFK is probably the easiest of the three and if you don't mind riding the bus, LGA isn't too bad.

My point is this: we can try to emulate other systems that somewhat work or we can adapt and develop a system that works well for our city. The rapid bus system is great and needs to be expanded. METRO should look at its stops and place them in better locations if it is the right thing to do. Make real time data available about buses and make the system as easy as possible for riders to understand. And if there is a need for rail somewhere, do it. But don't just start building rail simply because the cool kids did.

I love the new feeders. They allow me to get to the 3 shopping areas on the south side of I-10 without running the streets through the Heights. I imagine that my neighbors appreciate that, too. However, this means more traffic funnels onto Yale, Studewood and Watson. Since I have no need to use Yale during rush hours, the feeders are a net time saver for me.

Of course you do.

During the meetings people were claiming that Yale would have traffic coming from 610 using it like they do Shephard.  That is not happening.  The quantity of cars getting on the freeway from the Heights is probably roughly the same.  I am saying that folks who previously would have gone another route to I-10, now use Yale instead of Shephard, or any of the cut through streets East of Cortlandt.

 

I do not think the additional traffic on Yale is from non-heights residents.  Its Heights folks using the more convenient route to I-10.  Yes it sucks for those folks like me who use to use Yale to get South of I-10....but honestly you can't make everyone happy, and all the folks who are getting on I-10 there are probably quite happy not to have to go all the way to Shephard or Cortlandt.

 

People just expect no congestion and its not going to happen.

I definitely agree that it's not a bunch of outside the Heights traffic causing the backups, though I do watch a lot of people avoid the 610 westbound cluster by cutting down to 10.

Hopefully when they're done with Shepherd/Durham the traffic will subside a little on Yale.

Extending the feeder allowed all the residents of the Heights who lived between Rutland and probably Cortlandt to have a second way to get on I-10.  It has added significant amounts of traffic on Yale that previously utilized the street grid to get on I-10 East of Heights, or who previously took 11th to Shephard to get on I-10.  I do not think any more cars are traveling through the Heights to get to I-10, I just think that Yale made it very convenient for those who previously had to go farther out of their way.

 

For those of us who previously took Yale to travel South of I-10, the traffic is much much worse, but overall I do not believe there has been any real increase in cut through traffic.  I would bet traffic counts would show that traffic has simply been rerouted, but not actually increased. 

Those two statements contradict each other. The traffic is worse, but not because the cut through traffic has increased, it's simply been rerouted. How is a reroute different than a cut through?

I think the increase in cars, while expected, is not handled by the lights very well. Both Shepherd and Studemont do a pretty darn good job in timing the lights to get the traffic where it needs to go. 

Yale was a great way for me to get to points south of 10 and avoid the trains. Not so much anymore. I'm better off cutting over to Studemont, even if it is out of the way. Before the two lanes closed on the Yale bridge, it was usually a two light wait to get south of 10.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was wondering what other residents have thought of the changes to I-10/Yale/Heights Blvd./Studewood so far?

I can't pass too much judgement until the Shepherd/Durham feeders are finished but we have noticed that our commute down Yale has definitely been lengthened. Part of this is due to the Shepherd/Durham changes but I think some of it has to do with people having a quick way to I-10 by way of Yale. Now that the Yale bridge is down to two lanes while they work on making it able to handle heavier loads, the wait at the lights is even worse.

Hopefully when the work is all done they will try to time the lights more efficiently as well.

Flew IAH-IST-IAH recently in "Comfort Class", Turkish's name for their Premium Economy product.

The check-in process was an absolute mess. I arrived 2.5 hours before departure and still had to wait nearly an hour to check-in using their elite line.

Boarding was fairly efficient and the plane was clean. The seat was definitely a bonus as it had a nice footrest and more legroom than coach, not to mention the layout is 2-3-2 rather than 3-3-3 in regular economy. My only complaint with the seat was that it could use a little more recline but I doubt Turkish will change that. Also, it has been rumored that the Comfort Class product will be going away completely in the future.

The outbound flight was completely packed. I walked the plane during the flight and there were only a few seats open in economy, one seat open in Comfort Class, and three seats open in business class.

The food served to Comfort Class was actually quite good. They served Turkish Delight first, then a round of drinks with nuts and an appetizer, then a second round of drinks and the main course, then dessert with coffee/tea/liqueurs. We arrived in Istanbul a little late (weather in Houston) but I had done the online visa and was through immigration in five minutes.

The return flight was a little different. There were only 10 people in Comfort Class, coach was pretty full, and the load in business class was about 1/2. The food was good this time as well, though I expected it to be better than it was since it is Turkish's hub and actually catered by their catering company there (Do&Co). The one negative was I smelled cigarette smoke off and on throughout the flight. After talking to some friends who have flown Turkish before the only explanation is that the crew was smoking during their breaks in the crew bunk area. 

Other than that, it was a great set of flights and well worth the cost (I paid less than $1k for the roundtrip in Comfort Class).

If you are talking about WN, the largest plane that they operate is a 738 (which are configured for ETOPS). If the international terminal is approved, I could see Y4 or CM taking interest.Volaris operates A320's and Copa has E-190's and 737/8's. The longest runway at HOU is 7600 ft., so I would imagine anything larger than a 757 would be hard to operate profitably (due to weight restrictions, fuel, etc).

There is no way Copa is going to operate out of Hobby. They're ties with United are just too strong (they're even entering the Star Alliance later this year). Plus, they're happy to devote their fleet to Panama City - LatAm routes and let United feed it from IAH. I don't see them ever coming to Houston.

I can see Volaris, VivaAerobus, Allegiant, and maybe Spirit operating out of HOU.

Agree, I'm all for Southwest going international from Hobby. Great to have some competition on flights to Latin America.

And in general I'm excited to see Southwest expanding and going international. Can't wait to see the 727's in Southwest colors, that'll be interesting.

Who's flying 727s around? I'd love to see that period.

I have lived in the Midwest and the Northeast. Compared to the long, dark, cold winters, gloomy and stormy fall, and spring that doesn't really come until early May, our weather is spectacular. If you cannot hack the humidity, you need to move. I will take 95% humidity over the cracked skin and chapped lips I used to get sitting inside with the heater blasting for month after month. The buildings downtown have a tunnel system because people wear wool suits to work all year. But the tunnels are closed after business hours, leaving people going to events and restaurants downtown to walk. The weather is no excuse to blow off urban design that gives pedestrians a chance over cars. You can fit way more people on a sidewalk than you can on a street in cars. If you really cannot stand to be out of your car when there is 95% humidity for more than the time it takes you to walk from the parking lot to the front door of the store in the strip mall, then you have miles and miles of strip malls and suburbs in Houston to chose from. But inside the loop, space is at a premium and walking will become more of a necessity to keep the city from turning into endless gridlock.

Since it appears we can't actually have a discussion, just you calling me a wuss in a roundabout way, I'll leave it with the following.

If all one needs on a block is a restaurant, a book store, a coffee shop, and a convenience store then this is perfect.

It's not about being able to "hack" the humidity, it's about not being dripping wet as I walk from place to place. Like I said, I like walking places, I just don't like sweating my butt off to do it. I'm all for bigger sidewalks (or in some cases, sidewalks period) and making an area accessible to pedestrians but I fear the notion of a Portland like walkability is not entirely possible due to the heat. Or, maybe I'm crazy.

Hell, I was in Portland two years ago during one of their hottest weeks on record. It got to 93. People walking down the streets looked like they were dying. I was quite comfortable.

Nights and mornings in August are sticky, but not so bad. Just look at all the people who flock to White Linen Nights. And why not have a walkable city when the weather is pretty spectacular for at least eight months out of the year and traffic is awful twelve months out of the year?

Two things.

1) We must live in very different Houstons. Clearly yours is an oasis in some dystopian land while mine is a flat, featureless land hovering around 95% humidity for 8-9 months out of the year.

2) If White Linen Nights is our measuring stick then clearly the Art Car Parade is a model for how we all should accessorize our cars.

Seriously, you think our weather is "spectacular" 8 months out of the year? I live within walking distance of the 19th Street shops and will only walk to them in the winter, early spring and late fall (you know, those three days before Christmas).

There's a reason downtown is a bunch of buildings connected by a series of tunnels and skybridges.

Where do they plan on installing the god-strength air conditioner and corresponding massive sun blocker? I'd definitely walk more if those were both installed in Houston so I didn't cook in August.

Got this press release in the e-mail this morning.

FWIW, it's great that Houston is getting A380 service. I flew Lufthansa a couple of months ago ORD-FRA-TXL-FRA-LHR. It's OK. I expected a lot more from a European airline and a flag carrier. It was about the same level of service as Delta. But maybe the A380 is a better experience.

This should make Terminal D boarding interesting. It will be fun to watch the gate renovations unfold.

I like Lufthansa in First across the ocean and for the intra-European network.

Since Reliant and NRG now have the same logo, I wonder if in a few years the word "Reliant" will be dropped in favor of NRG. That sort of thing happens all the time.

This is what I was thinking. NRG bought Reliant's retail side in Texas and they're clearly beginning the transition by making their logo stick in customer's minds.