I have to say I love connecting flights. For example, in my flight to Cincinnati (Sinsinnati?) this past weekend, I had a layover. I didn't expect it to be so far out of the way (red = actual flight, blue = straight line to destination):
I know most of the reasons for crazy detours like this, but as far as I can tell, I flew on a plane for almost twice the time I needed to. Also interesting is that United had a direct flight to Dayton Ohio, but did not offer a puddle-jumper flight to Cincinnati.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
United Airlines: We Failed Geometry
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4 comments:
Actually, the triangle is a close approximation of a 30-60-90 triangle, so the hypotenuse is roughly 2/sqrt(3), or 1.15, times longer. The triangle in question is more acute, so the ratio is larger, but it probably isn't more than 1.3.
Two words:
GRAPH THEORY
Then the weights of their graph edges are screwed up. 'AS THE CROW FLIES' IS ALL YOU EVER NEED. Optimization is an illusion.
Can a crow fly that far without stopping? Do crows have a midair refueling service?
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