Overbooking...The Joy!

Flying is fun. I love it. Well ok, not the flying part, but the travelling bit. But airlines have their way of miraculously screwing up your entire trip...just like that! And the scary thing is, they get can away with it. Maybe I've had bad luck, but I don't think so. I've heard too many bad experiences from others, but this one I just had went a little far.

Two weeks ago I went to Las Vegas. It was a wonderful, amazing experience and I'll post more about this and my trip down to Southern California when I return to South Africa in two weeks. Unfortunately though, we missed out on so much in Vegas. United Airlines are the ones to blame for this, not us.

We were supposed to fly out on Friday evening. I had booked tickets about two weeks in advance, however, I was not able to select seats at the time, which I assumed at the time was due to the flight being rather full. I was travelling with my aunt who was visiting from London and my two roommates from South Africa, Migael and Nick. Migael and Nick booked separately as they were taking a different return flight, but otherwise we were all on the same flight to Las Vegas.

When we checked-in they told us we had to get seats at the gate. This has happened to me enough times already so I hadn't started worrying at all. We get to the gate and they tell us to wait until we're called up. Now that's when a little worry started creeping in. Some time later I overheard them say there were 16 passengers without seats and only 7 available. Soon after they started boarding the plane and still they had not started calling us up. Then only did they make the announcement that they were overbooked and they were asking passengers t step down and get re-routed through Los Angeles arriving in Vegas early the following morning, with the only compensation being out up in a hotel in LA and getting either a free round-trip within the US or $400 United vouchers.

I think I remember about 4 or 5 people taking the offer to step down. We thought about it for a brief moment, but it really wasn't worth losing one of only two nights in Vegas. Most people were busy boarding so they either didn't hear the announcement or didn't have enough time to think about it. I've seen this happen plenty times in Europe, especially at Heathrow, but they know well in advance that they might have an overbooking situation on their hands and they have signs up when you first arrive at the gate so many more people actually take note of it and they have plenty time to consider the option. This was the part about this experience that frustrated me the most -- the complete lack of organisation and prior planning. Non-existent!

Eventually they started assigning seats to those like us without seats. Migael and Nick were one of the first few to be called up and they quickly boarded the plane. However, we waited anxiously while they called up other groups. After a while it appeared as though they had stopped calling people up. They were constantly being overwhelmed by several others that were on standby for the flight after having missed an earlier one trying to find out if there was any possibility they could get on the flight. Their policy, however, was that passengers booked on the flight had precedence over those that had been booted off an earlier flight, even if it was purely the airline's fault! In the position I was in, I was obviously glad this was the case, but looking back I find it rather disturbing that those that are affected just get constantly treated so shockingly and without any consideration whatsoever. It's as if their sole priority is to reduce the number of bad experiences and not dampen the effects in any way whatsoever!

The reality started sinking in when I saw the gate close. They carried on hacking away at their computers as though there was still the slightest possibility they could make something happen, but I knew the truth. It wasn't long before the plane took-off and we were left behind. Yet still they were busy hacking away!! Finally I lost my patience and I was determined to get anything out of them. They told us we could either take the route via LA and arrive in Vegas the following morning or be put on standby for the last flight to Vegas at 22:25. Unfortunately, if we took the standby option and missed it we would also miss the LA flight and only end up arriving in Vegas Saturday evening as all the flights till then were also fully booked. And the later flight was also likely to fall under the exact same overbooking issues we had just experienced! So we were advised to take the flight to LA.

They seemed to take a ridiculously long time to book us onto this LA flight and in that time they finally realised we would be able to make this US Airlines flight to Vegas at 20:30 that evening. However, they couldn't have done a better job at screwing that one up royally. They were on the phone with someone (turned out to be the same person we were to next bump into) to try get us on that flight. They took such a long time and it appeared as though it was US Airways being a pain, but as it turned out it was actually the guy at our end... Only after booking the tickets were we told we had to run all the way to the other terminal. It ended up being about a 10 minute rush to catch the flight. But we arrived only to hear that the gate was closed. Oh dear! Apparently the US Airways staff had told United that the gate had already closed even when they were attempting to purchase the tickets! How far can these guys go?!

By this time time were four of us doing the running up and down together. There was my aunt and I, Sarah who was in the exact same situation as us and was missing a huge party that night due to this gemorse and Yousef who had missed the flight by such a small margin and was trying to follow the same flights we were being put on. When we got back to the United counter we had to start all over again as we couldn't get though security back to those who were originally dealing with us. We got this guy that I swear didn't have an ounce of personality. We would tell him to contact Michelle Hughes who was trying to help us at first, but he would give absolutely no response. But he heard us and eventually we figured he was listening. I don't even feel like getting into this guy any more as I'd just explode.

After waiting patiently yet again he finally came back to us, with the wrong flight!! Sigh...

It took him a while, but finally we got everything sorted out and we were on the flight to LA. We had lunch, waited a bit, boarded the flight and arrived in LA past midnight. You can just imagine what time we arrived at the hotel! And we were to catch a 06:30 flight to Vegas, leaving us about three hours sleep...

Never again! I will remember next time to never ever, never take United Airlines again! Unfortunately my flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt is with them when I return home and I have these $400 vouchers with them, which wonderfully last for only a year.

US Visas

I have done something immensely stupid. I found this out last night from Carl. Yes, I underestimated the time required to apply for a US visa.

Nvidia got some attorneys to put together the application for my visa. The process started all the way back in July when they first contacted me and I finally received a thick wad of documents on the 25th October. The cover letter stated:

You will be required to present the enclosed original approval notice at a U.S. Consulate in order to apply for a visa stamp to enter the U.S. in H-3 status. Please be advised that you will only be able to apply for the H-3 visa stamp up to 10 days prior to the validity date as indicated on the enclosed approval notice.

So I wait until 10 days before, which happens to be today. Bad idea! Turns out I was supposed to book an appointment for 10 days before and that an appointment has to be booked at least two weeks in advance. So I anxiously call the US embassy this morning, which by the way entails purchasing credit from Pick 'n Pay first, and they inform me that the first opening is on 28 November. Yikes! But I'm leaving on the 17th! Double yikes!

Fortunately they allow for emergency applications under special conditions. That required me to send a lengthy email to the embassy explaining why, when, how and more. I was just a tad nervous while doing this as thoughts went through my mind about what would happen if I didn't get accepted for an emergency application. My flights are booked, my start date set and everything. Would have been a nightmare!

About an hour ago I get this wonderful email:

Your request for an emergency visa appointment has been approved for the 14^th of November at 8am at the Cape Town Consulate General. Please print this email and bring it with you to your appointment. Please adhere to the requirements for the visa application process listed in the attached file.

What's more, the "attached file" outlines what to bring better than any other page on the embassy's website. To read it click here.

UCT Deputy Registrar's Dark Past Uncovered

A little over than two months ago, Dr Paul Ngobeni was appointed deputy registrar at UCT. Now usually I'd be completely disinterested with changes in UCT staff, let alone the legal positions. However, two weeks ago news that he had been previously suspended from practising law in the US 18 months ago was revealed.


Two weeks ago this article was published, which appears to be what broke the news to the public. The whole thing goes back to December 2005 when he was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in Connecticut after he failed to appear for a presentment hearing. The list of offences goes on and on and are outlined in that article in greater detail.

It was this article that got me to post about this though. He apparently claimed that the whole thing was a "smear campaign by some whites," because "news of his difficulties emerged only after he jumped to the defence of embattled Cape Judge President John Hlophe." The article where he defends Hlophe can be read here. Notice that that article was published on October 17 and that the article revealing his suspension was published on October 23. So it's not impossible that this had some impact.

Lets take a step back for a moment. How was it that UCT employed Ngobeni before doing a thorough background check? Any reasonable check should have resulted in at least some of this background of his being discovered. When will be the day when one at least does a simple two minute Google search? If you haven't clicked on that link I suggest you do. The rankings may well have changed over the past couple weeks, however, I can guarantee you that this one was right on top. That was in fact the very page that was the first lead that resulted in the search for more information on Ngobeni.

How do I know this? That would be due to me knowing the people that dug up Ngobeni's past -- Ben Steenhuisen and Laing Lourens. The thing that I wanted to point out, however, is that it was identified before Ngobeni's article on Hlophe on October 17. This flat-out nullifies Ngobeni's pathetic decision to stand behind such a weak attack that, even if it was true that it spurred the interest to search for incriminating evidence then so what? Once you've voiced such a strong opinion then you're only attracting attention that will always result in at least some people wanting to find out more about you!

And then there is this:

Ngobeni said he did not have to inform UCT of the charges and convictions before his appointment, as it was public knowledge, and had been published on the internet.

No, seriously man? That's all I can take of this.

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Blog Silence

Ok, I've been a bit silent for the past week here. And a couple people have asked why. Well, that mostly has to do with the last push in my honours project. There's still a lot of work that needs to go into it, but that's what happens when you choose an ambitious project (and certain things don't quite go the way you expected, but that's a touchy subject).

It was also a bit unfortunate that the ICFP Conference had to fall right in the middle of things. I really need to cut down on my travelling. I've been on five international trips this year and I have another long one in the form of Nvidia just around the corner. Just have a look here and, while there will be those that will say how they've traveled more, 74 flights I believe is plenty. Unfortunately it's looking like next years trips will mostly be to the American continent - I far prefer the rich cultural history of Europe.

Next Saturday the 20th is a big one for me. For one it's the day after our project reports are due, so it will be a moment for rest and relaxation. More importantly though, it's the South African ACM ICPC Regional Contest. If that website looks a bit bland, then try the international site. This is our first year being sponsored by Google. It was a nice catch as we have an amazing record 22 teams from UCT alone! Compare this to last years 10. We even had to close registration early due to space constraints! While there are other factors that affect the large growth, I'm confident a fair share is due to Google's involvement.

We're hoping for major UCT domination this year, although we'd really love to see some competition coming from the rest of the country. It's the competition that makes it fun and when all the competition is concentrated at one source it takes away some of the fun. My team can't compete (as was the case last year) since I've already attended two world finals, so we'll be watching the scoreboard, being the hopeless onlookers unable to help the falling, cheering on the rising.

After the contest we're planning on heading off to Da Vinci's on Kloof Street for some good pizza. It looks like we'll be taking up the whole place, so it should be interesting to see how that turns out.

Then there's the moment I hope we all get to enjoy as a country. There's no reason why we should lose to Argentina. If we do we get the chokers label along with the other Tri Nations teams for losing to the lessers. If you're lost already, it's the Rugby World Cup I'm talking about. The final is in the evening at 21:00, on this very same day as the ICPC. If things pan out as they should South Africa should be there. This is going to be one almighty match. Assuming we do make it, we play either France or England. This is our best opportunity to regain our '95 success. They've been playing so well and the main competitors have foolishly knocked themselves out. However, I rather not jinx the boys so I will stop right there.

It's going to be a fabulous day and let's hope we're not let down in any regard. Go UCT! Go Bokke!

Petrol Strike: Pumps Dry

Those in South Africa are likely to have heard about the recent strike by fuel truck drivers. Yesterday Cape Town was hit by the strike, while Johannesburg and Pretoria have been feeling the impact earlier this week. I was one of the unfortunate to get to the petrol station too late as by yesterday most pumps were already dry.

The drivers were given an 8% wage increase, but they are demanding a 9.5% increase as well as demanding temporary workers be made permanent. While in South Africa we are actually very lucky that we aren't that badly affected by strikes (I know it's far worse in Europe), it's awful just thinking about how such a simple problem can have widespread consequences affecting so many people. Think about how many people are stuck without any petrol, unable to use their cars at all!

It appears as though the situation is improving with oil companies using contract drivers to deliver petrol. They still haven't come to an agreement and one only hopes all will return to normal operations quickly.

ICTS Driving Me Mad

I think everyone I know at UCT has at least one story about a nasty experience with ICTS. I tell you, I have many. One of the reasons is that I co-administrate the IBM Linux Competency Center (LCC). If you tried clicking on that link and it didn't work that either means you aren't on the UCT network (blame ICTS) or the problem I am about to describe has yet to be resolved.

A very brief background on the LCC. It is a lab with a rack of IBM servers ranging from dual core blades through to a server with 8 cores. I took over admining the lab almost exactly a year ago from now together with Jason Brownbridge who has since left UCT and Adrian Frith has taken over his duties. Running on our own subnet we often have to deal with ICTS, especially since our CS admin, Matthew West, left last month.

During this year ICTS has been gradually "upgrading" the UCT network, claiming the end user will benefit, although all I've heard that will be new is that they will have more control over the network such as being able to disable machines remotely. On Friday 29 June, the PD Hahn building in which the LCC is situated underwent the upgrade. This is when all the troubles began. To give you an idea, when the CS building underwent the upgrade it indirectly caused one of our sys admins to retire.

First problem was the IP adresses were all changed. We appeared to resolve that issue pretty quickly, although more on that later. Then they replaced the switch with a nice new Gbit Cisco switch. This is where the real problems start. The blade center could not connect to the switch. Three people from ICTS checked it out on seperate occasions - one of them checking it twice - and every time they've told us it's an issue on our end. So, we decided to put in our own switch to be sure. Guess what? It worked!! We're still following this up though, as it would be nice to get the Gbit switch back.

The other problem we're still experiencing started on Monday. All of a sudden after working on Sunday none of the nodes could connect to the external network. First one ICTS person told us they had been having issues deploying multicasting services on Friday and that it has been spreading the PD Hahn building, affecting the various subnets. However, today another ICTS person tells us that he knows of no network issues in PD Hahn. Tell me about miscommunication! He tells us that we're using the incorrect IP address. HOW?

I wll end there before I explode. Another show of ICTS' brilliance.

Test of Patience

I lost my luggage on a flight from Frankfurt to Zurich on Thursday. That's four days ago. I haven't seen it since and I no-one can tell me where it is.

It all started on Thursday morning when I was woken up by the stormy weather outside. It sounded like it was really bucketing down and it concerned me as I had to make my way to the airport. Luckily after I had breakfast it reduced to a drizzle, so I was able to get in a little last minute shopping.

The fun started when I arrived at the airport. My flight was scheduled to depart at 13:35, but it was delayed till 14:25. I met a South African couple from Johannesburg and a German who spoke good English. They were telling me how they had been waiting since 07:00, since their flight was canceled due to the weather. We finally started boarding at 14:45. With rather infrequent updates on the delay, we ended up sitting in the plane until about 16:20 due to the large backlog of flights waiting to take-off. We took-off at 16:30 and landed at 17:10 - the short flight made the delay even more pathetic.

Then we get off the plane and went to collect our luggage. Hey, wait a moment, what luggage? Yes, that's right, they lost our freaking luggage!!! Twice I've been to Zurich now and both times my luggage has got lost, but nowhere else has it happened to me. Most people on the flight lost their luggage, so the Lost Luggage queue was fairly long and they were rather slow. I finally left the airport at 18:15, took the next train to the city and walked to the hotel, since by that time I had given up with the transport system. I made it with 10 minutes to spare with dinner at 19:00. As though it was all planned out!

Today, four days later, I still wait for my luggage. It was scheduled to be sent from Zurich to Johannesburg on Saturday, but when I called this morning they said it never arrived. No-one's talking to one another and they apparently can only read updates via notes posted on the system.

ICTS and The Mail Loop

#define ICTS Information and Communication Technology Services, University of Cape Town

About a week ago there was an issue with UCT's mail servers which created a massive backlog. After "resolving" the issue, this email was sent out explaining the cause:

Dear ICTS Customer,

Yesterday's delays with external mail delivery have been resolved and
mail delivery is back to normal.  The delays were caused by an
individual on campus who set up a rule to forward mail to an off-campus
mail address.  The rule was incorrectly set up as it forwarded messages
to a mail account that did not exist.  This caused a mail loop.  A mail
loop is created when the message is forwarded (as per the rule) and then
bounces back.  The bounced message is in turn forwarded and bounces
back.  This grows exponentially as each message (and its bounced
version) repeats the loop.  This loop prevents the mail gateway from
processing other mail.

ICTS blocked the offending messages, but by that stage there was a
backlog of other messages that the mail gateway had to process.

To prevent this from happening, when setting up a mail forwarding rule,
please double-check the email addresses used.

Regards
ICTS Communications

If the above is cropped, check the original here.

The first thing that came to my mind is: Why haven't they resolved the issue? All they've done is identified the cause of the problem and told us as users how to prevent this from happening again. When you think about it though, this email will only reach a very limited number of users and therefore most of them will be completely unaware of the issue. And even then, why leave it up to the users? Humans are known to be prone to errors, so even if I double-check I might still make a mistake.

The more crucial problem is the fact that they announced a vulnerability and explained exactly how to take advantage of it. They are in essence advertising to anyone wanting to have a bit of fun attacking their mail servers a very simple way to cause havoc. They should have kept the cause to themselves while attempting to close the hole. But instead, they have done little to resolve the issue and I haven't heard of any attempts to do so. And then there's another small issue that could cause greater headaches - the mail archives are public! Why?

Another less important question I have in mind is how do they come to the conclusion that the growth is exponential? For each outgoing mail there is one incoming bounce mail, causing one outgoing mail and so on. So then why is it not linear? It makes me wonder why they couldn't manage load.

ICTS have a history of screwing things up. Just a couple months ago they started forcing the UCT network onto dynamic IP's, which has caused so many problems it has resulted in many administrators retiring. I also heard once that they actually celebrated logging their 100,000th call or some number. Who celebrates receiving such a large number of complaints?

Microsoft Surface

Before reading any further, check out http://microsoft.com/surface/ and make your own judgment.

First thought is it's cool, brings back memories of Minority Report. However, after some thought it really looks too good to be true. And here are some reasons I feel it is doomed to failure:

1. Think of the iPhone for a moment. Isn't this the sort of thing Apple have promised, just much smaller? It's 1/20th of the price and surely has far more real world uses.
2. Those demos are crooked. They make the thing appear so easy to use. Far more so than necessary.
3. Apparently they've yet to write any software other than what's included in the demos.
   
4. From the little I've read, it appears that to have the thing identify an item it needs to be barcoded. Now whose barcoding their glass?? Remember that these are at first only being sold to hotels and other public places. So what's the incentive to barcode your belongings if you're only going to be using it briefly?
5. It's expensive - $10,000!!
6. They took 5 years to develop it.
   
7. The last piece of hardware Microsoft tried selling was the Zune.

Please, I'd like to hear if this is just be being anti-Microsoft or if other agree with me. Of all the computer scientists I've asked, they agree with my opinions.

And thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone. Had a great day yesterday!! :D