DC Night Out

Show Notes
In this 58 minute podcast we offer up some general interest travel tips, while documenting the experience of an airline passenger who is blind. We surmise that blindness could either be a disadvantage, a neutral factor, or an advantage while flying, and explain this in more detail through anecdotes, as well as sound seing vignettes. This is the first of several to come reality podcasts in this area.

One theme that is underscored throughout the documentary is that the general public is overly cautious about the safety of people with disabilities, and that often times tact is not used in communication with people who have disabilities.

Links from the show included:

• Those using Super Shuttle to go to or from the airport may be able to use promotion discount code
  8T2UY
  to save $3 on each one-way trip;
• Users of the Washington area paratransit services trying to go to or from Dulles International Airport may be able to arrange pick up at the
  Holiday Inn Select
  CHANTILLY-DULLES-EXPO (ARPT)
  4335 CHANTILLY SHOPPING CENTER
  CHANTILLY, VA 20151
  UNITED STATES
  Hotel Front Desk: 1-703-8156060
  There is a complimentary shuttle that runs from curb 2H at IAD to and from the hotel. As you may recall, Washington Metro Access no longer services Dulles Airport;
• NBC TV NFB Interview: New Airline Rules Could Affect Assistance Dogs
• Recently there has been discussion about travel related issues from a blindness perspective on both the ACB-L email listand the NABS-l NFB student list.

We are always interested in your comments, questions, and travel and airline stories good, bad, or indifferent at editor@dcnightout.com or by calling
(206) 202-1114.

Show Notes
Click to listen to 44 minute podcast.
This recording was made on the Iriver IFP899 which is a discontinued mp3 player/recorder. However, you can still search for it on Ebay.

We discuss a recent change in that Washington’s MetroAccess Paratransit no longer services Washington Dulles International Airport. I have not heard this announcement discussed on any of the disability lists that I am on.
Other items discussed included:
product to make business telephone systems more accessible.

network MP3 player called CD3o

New York Times: article on where unused airplanes go
USA Today article on employer internet monitoring

The Richard Johnston Inn
The Empowerment Zone
Comments: (206) 202-1114

Show Notes For Sunday Feb 6, 2006
Click To Listen to 44 minute podcast.
In this podcast we nearly exclusively cover a snow storm and near blizard that took place in Boston on Sunday Feb 6, 2006.
NOAA Boston Current Conditions
You can replace the KBOS in the above URL with any airport code preceeded by a K. For example, to get New York weather you could replace KBOS with KLGA or for Washington insert KDCA in the URL. This looks like a handy one to bookmark.

The Boston Channel 5

WBZ AM 1030 News Radio

WBZ CBS TV Channel 4

Channel 7 NBC

NOAA Local Storm Report

provides links to weather data, weather stations, and weather blogs.
Blog post about historic New York storm.
Comments? Call: (206) 202-1114

In this
39 minute podcast
we provide a sound seing tour of
Marrakesh Restaurant
We also discuss my return trip home from DCA to BOS on the US Airways Shuttle, and describe how buying a United Airlines ticket for flights operated by US Airways will save you the Airways $25 same day standby fee.

This podcast made me think of an old article from Salon’s Ask The Pilot column which I am a fan of. In
The pilot goes domestic — and it isn’t pretty. Patrick Smith describes the downfall of the US airline service industry by recounting a trip on the US Airways Shuttle. An excerpt:
“At Logan the entire terminal has a mood of eerie calm. Not a pleasant calm, exactly, but an atmosphere of brooding dullness — an infectious tedium that seems to have worn off on, or perhaps is emanating from, the US Airways employees. The staff is polite but at the same time sullen and lackadaisical.

Maybe that’s no surprise. I can remember when this was still the Allegheny terminal (US Airways’ former incarnation), and some of the workers probably can
too — harking back to those pre-deregulation days when, if nothing else, at least they knew their paychecks wouldn’t bounce.”

We also refer to something known among frequent flyers as “Black Tuesday,” which alludes to August 27, 2002. On this date, in a press release US Airways introduced a number of airline fare ticketing policy changes which reduced passenger flexibility on nonrefundable tickets. As of 2006, the airline industry partially still follows a scaled back version of what US Airways announced on 8/27/2002. US Airways still officially anyway charges a $25 standby fee for taking a same day earlier flight, while airlines like United allow same day standby for earlier or later same day flights at no charge. Also it is worth noting that JetBlue’s standby policy is one of the most liberal in the industry as it allows for standby on different days in certain circumstances when booked on either the first or last flight on any given day. Readers are encouraged to send in travel questions either via email or to the comment line reachable at:
(206) 202-1114.

In this 1 hour and 6 minute podcast we continue our coverage of the ACB legislative seminar. We provide some sound bytes of dinner plan offerings, capitol hill logistics, as well as discussion of ACB legislative imperatives. The podcast sound bytes also highlight differences of opinion regarding ACB and NFB relating to the Louis Braille Commemorative Coin Act. Also the official ACB Legislative Imperatives Documents are online and viewable over the internet.

In this first 34 minute podcast we cover my trip to Washington to attend the ACB legislative seminar, tour to the new air and space museum located near Washington Dullis Airport, and the beginning of the ACB conference proceedings.

In this last 40 minute podcast from the NFB Washington seminar we start out at happy hour at the hotel, briefly visit the Monday night meeting, talk about peoples trips to and from Washington, etc. We also get a demonstration of an accessible Motorola Nextel cell phone. Finally we announce that the next conference to be covered on the podcast will be the upcoming
ACB Legislative Seminar.
This event, which is usually held later on in Feburary or March, will take place February 5 - 7, 2006 at the Doubletree Washington.
We will also cover a tour of the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Also I would like to try to organize something at the event where people can come to sign the Google Word Verification Accessibility Petition in person.