I must admit that I was kind of worried as I boarded the flight from Toronto to Winnipeg this afternoon.  My laptop battery was getting low – only 25 minutes on the indicator, a 2 ½ hour flight ahead and at least that much work.  I was already late and had some presentations to prepare for my assistant supervisor and myself for the meeting with our umpiring crew tomorrow morning and the coaches and managers of the teams tomorrow afternoon. 

As I sat down I was pleasantly surprised. Not only had the wonderful Air Canada agent in Fredericton placed me in an exit row seat – I had some extra leg and laptop room – but there, on the seat back ahead of me, was an AC plug.  How could I have hit this jackpot!  I had heard that this was on its way but hadn’t been witness to this yet. This Air Canada Airbus A320M was a treat. 

On top of all this…that wonderful agent had one more surprise for me.  As the food cart came around and everyone was digging in their pockets – the attendant informed me that mine had already been take care of…:)

Way to go Air Canada.  

BTW….there was even a USB port.  Can on-board connectivity be that far behind?  Who knows… maybe it’s here!

Technorati tags: air canada,  education, technology, whipple

I don’t seem to be having much luck with flights lately.  After missing three flights and arriving in Atlanta eight hours late for NECC in June, here I sit at Fredericton Airport, again delayed.  This time my flight to Montreal for a connection to Winnipeg is delayed for three hours.

Last time it was mechanical problems, this time weather.  Seems the severe thunderstorms in Montreal this morning caused the flight from Montreal to remain on the ground for a while, backing up the system all around.

However, just like last time, the friendly and efficient agents at Air Canada saved that day.  Quickly assessing the situation and, knowing I was supposed to be in Winnipeg for a 6pm meeting with my umpiring crew, they rerouted me through Toronto for an alternate connection to Winnipeg.

There are two positives out of this…

• this connection will get me in at 7:30 pm (I have sent word that I’ll arrive at the hotel by 8 for the meeting)…by using the power of the connectedness of the airline industry, the AC agent was able to peruse many options to get me there the quickest

• I am stuck in Fredericton, not in Montreal.  You see, our local airport has FREE wifi access, part of the open Fred-e-Zone municipal wireless system.  Much better than having a long layover in a larger airport where wireless isn’t so free.

When will the rest of the world catch up and realize that broadband access in large cities should be viewed as basic infrastructure like streets, sidewalks and streetlights?

Technorati tags: fred-e-zone, fredericton,  education, technology, whipple