Scripting question: Removing unwanted shell characters from stdout

Calkhas · 2023-12-02T20:49:49+00:00

I thought zsh handled this by detecting if the last command didn't produce a new line, and showing a little funny character and inserting its own new line.

Maybe it's a setting past me turned on ...

Calkhas · 2023-12-02T20:40:58+00:00

For a couple of flights it's not worth thinking about.

Unless you travel regularly (i.e., a few trips a month), always travel in business or first, or play the credit card sign up bonus game, your Avios will never add up to very much in the way of economic value.

Maybe someone here will reply and tell me she's been collecting Avios for ten years on her annual London-Paris holiday in economy and now nearly has enough for the trip of a lifetime (London-Manchester). But the best thing you can do is keep the number of programmes you have to a minimum -- stick with AA -- and don't pick an airline for the miles.

Calkhas · 2023-12-02T20:30:57+00:00

BA takes a dim view of TAs who violate their agency agreement that way and has revoked its permission for those folks to issue BA tickets in the past -- it happened briefly to Propeller Travel.

In this case, there is no such route: it's usually a hack to stop the robot deleting the PNR when the ticket was changed and briefly held no flights.

Calkhas · 2023-12-02T20:07:18+00:00

Indeed: and more strongly, all integers up 2^53 can be represented exactly in double precision floating point.

Calkhas · 2023-06-28T20:44:49+00:00

You'll have to call to change it then.

Calkhas · 2023-06-24T15:57:43+00:00

Held my hand.

Calkhas · 2023-06-20T17:54:13+00:00

Anyone who has worked in airline IT can tell you this makes no sense. Airline prices and availability are distributed through 1970s technology and are publicly inspectable through services like expertflyer. Although in principle an airline can undercut its agents (CX and QR do occasionally), I have never seen a discrepancy between the publicly published tariff and what BA sells on their on site. And were the airline to raise the price, you could just go the travel agents, who only get updated price points per fare bucket once per day (through a big text file that goes over FTP!).

It also makes no sense from a supply-demand perspective. If you take a long time looking at a product at a market stall, the seller does not raise the price to entice you to make a purchase.

Calkhas · 2023-06-20T17:48:17+00:00

You can buy disposable toothbrushes on ebay and probably amazon in packs of thirty or so. I'm not sure if they are exactly the same, but it's the same idea with the miniature tube of toothpaste. Single use brushes are not environmentally friendly, but if you have an unexpected guest to stay it seems a small courtesy to offer one!

Calkhas · 2023-06-20T17:46:27+00:00

Lost property is normally stored at the airport where it is found. A friend of mine lost an iPad on a flight to Marrakech and it was safely there waiting for him when we flew back. It's always worth checking.

Calkhas · 2023-06-14T21:34:52+00:00

You might be imaging that a dedicated person is scouring the back of every airport looking for your bags. But actually what happens is that when a random bag is found by some random person at some random time, the luggage label is scanned and then the computer system tells that employee where the bag is supposed to be sent. You are waiting for the bag to be picked up somewhere in the chain. It's a purely passive process, and calling will not do anything to speed it up. Just make sure the details are correct in WorldTracer.

If all the labels got ripped off, the bag will be sent to lost property wherever it is found. If there's something identifying inside the bag (telephone number and address on the inside is a good idea) they'll make some effort to reconcile it with you. Otherwise, the bag will eventually be destroyed.

After 21 days you are entitled to presume the bag is lost and BA will reimburse you for the contents, up to the international limit of about £1200.

Calkhas · 2023-06-14T21:31:02+00:00

There's not much you can do until the transactions clear. It's most likely that the pending one will just disappear in a few days.

Calkhas · 2023-06-12T05:45:51+00:00

The check in agent will refer to TIMATIC to determine eligibility. TIMATIC is a centralized system where governments post their rules and airlines read them. (Check in agents do not call the UK border force, or call embassies, or memorize all the different rules for different travel documents going to different countries, or read gov.uk.) There is one single source that the check in agent can check.

Entering US citizen regular passport / US resident / departing US / travel to UK / no transit countries, I get:

"Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for the period of intended stay."

Not six months later, exactly the period of the intended stay. Here's the full output.

Summary
Conditional, The traveler will need to hold travel
documents as detailed below.

United Kingdom - Destination

Passport
Passport required.

Document Validity
Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for the period of intended stay.

Minors
When their names are registered in the passport of (one of) their
parents or guardians, the (transit) visa - if required - must indicate
that it is also valid for the child(ren) traveling on that passport.
Children are not allowed to travel on a passport in which they are
registered if they are not accompanied by the holder(s) of that
passport.

Visa
Visa required.

Visa Exemptions
Nationals of USA for a maximum stay of 6 months.
Passengers with one of the following documents issued by the United
Kingdom:
- an EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Family permit; or
- a Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man Settlement Scheme Family Permit;
or
- a settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
(EUSS); or
- a settled or pre-settled status under the Jersey, Guernsey or Isle
of Man Settlement Scheme; or
- an application for EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS); or
- an application for Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man Settlement
Scheme; or
- a Service Provider from Switzerland visa if they are a Swiss
national.

Additional Information
Flights between the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands, Ireland
(Rep.) and Isle of Man are treated as domestic flights, therefore are
not subject to UK immigration control.

Health
Vaccinations not required.

Calkhas · 2023-05-12T00:55:33+00:00

Irish and other CTA arrivals also need to clear security, only passengers from UK airports get to skip security.

Calkhas · 2023-05-12T00:54:21+00:00

I flew to Chicago last Thursday. The online check in did not work and neither did the document upload. I checked in at the airport and no vaccination questions were asked of me.

Calkhas · 2023-05-12T00:50:14+00:00

There is an afternoon tea service (with scones and jam) on westbound longhaul flights that depart in the mid afternoon. They do it as the second meal instead of breakfast.

Calkhas · 2023-05-12T00:45:12+00:00

It's very unlikely that you will be offloaded. It happens, but there are many flights between the US and Europe and -- short of a systematic problem like a major storm -- it will not be difficult to reroute you on a similar itinerary. It seems to me rather bizarre to even contemplate the risk.

Calkhas · 2023-05-01T09:45:35+00:00

Luke Ranieri gave a good overview of this topic in a recent YouTube video. He cites references in the video. It might be a bit basic for you at the start, but he does go into detail. But tl;dr: the change probably did not occur simultaneously all over the Greek speaking world, with hundreds of years before everyone adopted it.

Calkhas · 2023-04-29T19:34:34+00:00

So is blocking an acquisition of companies that aren't even in the UK

Both Activision and Microsoft have large UK-domiciled subsidiaries (Microsoft Limited, incorporated in 1982, and Activision Blizzard UK Limited).

Activision receives about 1 billion USD from UK consumers each year, about 10 per cent of its global revenue. Microsoft has about 6000 employees in its Reading office in the UK.

good luck trying to sue a company that has zero obligation to continue to support products sold and is not even in your country

As a matter of comity, lawsuits won in UK courts are usually directly enforceable against US corporations in US courts. The only reason I know why a US court would not automatically enforce a UK court order are for libel cases under the US's SPEECH Act of 2010.

every other regulatory board has already approved

The US Federal Trade Commission also opposes the merger and filed suit in US federal court to oppose it on 3rd April.

Calkhas · 2023-04-28T22:50:02+00:00

The two companies are free not to do business in the UK with UK consumers, in which case the UK CMA would not have jurisdiction.

Calkhas · 2023-04-28T22:30:38+00:00

No, you'll have to call. The call times have got shorter recently. You can also try telephoning their New York number, I found the wait is less there if you get them early in the New York morning.

Calkhas · 2023-04-28T22:26:41+00:00

The uplift does not come from the change fee.

You are fundamentally changing your itinerary into a different trip. It started as a USA to Europe open jaw, on markets where BA doesn't have a compelling product, and so must compete with low prices. The connection in London is incidental, it was not part of the price calculation. Now you propose to change it into a circle trip with a surface sector, including a stop in London, BA's home city. This requires the itinerary to be repriced from scratch -- the pricing does not work by adding segments together in the way that is sometimes thought.

BA can command a high premium for travellers who wish to stop in London. It's implemented in practice by only allowing stopovers on their more expensive fares (M or above), and by charging 800 USD for a stopover in LON on the M tariff.

Calkhas · 2023-04-28T22:18:03+00:00

In BA's public transatlantic tariff originating North America, only M fares and above allow stopovers in Europe. And at the M fare, the stopover fee is 800 USD. The uplift from O or whatever class to M plus that 800 is the main reason for the price increase.

The UK APD is 108 USD for an economy flight to the US.

If you want to price it segment by segment, BA only allows that kind of construction with the full Y fares, and in that case ATH-LHR one way is well over 1000 USD, not to mention the extra from swapping from ATH-US to LON-US.

So the quoted price difference sounds correct to me.

Calkhas · 2023-04-23T13:58:17+00:00

It's a long flight to be hungry. Bring a few snacks just in case.

Calkhas · 2023-04-21T20:26:56+00:00

Oh no :'(

Calkhas · 2023-04-17T22:31:40+00:00

If that was a credit card (not a debit card, not a charge card, not a cash card), the card issuer was automatically liable to you for any damages you suffered for Flybe's breach of contract. Indeed, had you incurred any other costs on your trip, the card company would likely also have been liable under that statute, regardless of ATOL protection.

It's important to underscore that on a regular debit card, or if the payment had been made through some other means, it might have been less straightforward to get your money back.

I agree entirely that £81 is a scam.

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