#flightdelays — Public Fediverse posts

Weekly output: Qualcomm’s problematic 6G pitch, Android feature drop, United Airlines app, Google display-ads case

I have rarely appreciated having a Monday off as much as I do right now–only a few days after a nine-day stretch in which I traveled from home to San Diego and back and then to Orlando and back and then to Dublin and back. Because of all that travel, I didn’t get around to posting photos of last weekend’s trip to see the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope until Friday and spent part of Saturday afternoon writing a post that I couldn’t finish Friday.

Patreon readers got an extra this week: a post published Monday about how T-Mobile’s recent fondness for retroactive rate increases should have me researching my alternatives, except that I have yet to do much in the way of that.

8/31/2026: Qualcomm’s 6G Pitch Has Efficiency Covered. Privacy Is Another Story, PCMag

I already had qualms about Qualcomm’s understanding of people’s privacy concerns in its early marketing for 6G. The “6G Leadership Day” event the company staged in San Diego–with Qualcomm covering my airfare, lodging and ground transfers there–did not dispel my sense that this firm is having a read-the-room problem.

9/1/2026: Latest Android Feature Drop Helps You Keep Tabs on Items Without a Tracker, PCMag

I had barely enough free time Sunday to write this post from an advance copy of Google’s announcement.

9/1/2026: Flight Cancelled? United App Adds New Standby Options to Get You Moving Faster, PCMag

When I think of United and flight delays, Newark comes to mind–so I picked a photo of UA jets at EWR to illustrate this. And then I spent more time than planned Wednesday at my original home airport, courtesy of flight delays.

9/3/2026: Google Dodges Forced Breakup in US Display-Ads Case, PCMag

This news dropped while I was somewhere over the Atlantic, but since nobody at PCMag had covered it by Thursday morning I was able to write this later that day during the slower moments of the Identity Week conference in D.C.

Weekly output: Qualcomm’s problematic 6G pitch, Android feature drop, United Airlines app, Google display-ads case

I have rarely appreciated having a Monday off as much as I do right now–only a few days after a nine-day stretch in which I traveled from home to San Diego and back and then to Orlando and back and then to Dublin and back. Because of all that travel, I didn’t get around to posting photos of last weekend’s trip to see the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope until Friday and spent part of Saturday afternoon writing a post that I couldn’t finish Friday.

Patreon readers got an extra this week: a post published Monday about how T-Mobile’s recent fondness for retroactive rate increases should have me researching my alternatives, except that I have yet to do much in the way of that.

8/31/2026: Qualcomm’s 6G Pitch Has Efficiency Covered. Privacy Is Another Story, PCMag

I already had qualms about Qualcomm’s understanding of people’s privacy concerns in its early marketing for 6G. The “6G Leadership Day” event the company staged in San Diego–with Qualcomm covering my airfare, lodging and ground transfers there–did not dispel my sense that this firm is having a read-the-room problem.

9/1/2026: Latest Android Feature Drop Helps You Keep Tabs on Items Without a Tracker, PCMag

I had barely enough free time Sunday to write this post from an advance copy of Google’s announcement.

9/1/2026: Flight Cancelled? United App Adds New Standby Options to Get You Moving Faster, PCMag

When I think of United and flight delays, Newark comes to mind–so I picked a photo of UA jets at EWR to illustrate this. And then I spent more time than planned Wednesday at my original home airport, courtesy of flight delays.

9/3/2026: Google Dodges Forced Breakup in US Display-Ads Case, PCMag

This news dropped while I was somewhere over the Atlantic, but since nobody at PCMag had covered it by Thursday morning I was able to write this later that day during the slower moments of the Identity Week conference in D.C.

Weekly output: Qualcomm’s problematic 6G pitch, Android feature drop, United Airlines app, Google display-ads case

I have rarely appreciated having a Monday off as much as I do right now–only a few days after a nine-day stretch in which I traveled from home to San Diego and back and then to Orlando and back and then to Dublin and back. Because of all that travel, I didn’t get around to posting photos of last weekend’s trip to see the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope until Friday and spent part of Saturday afternoon writing a post that I couldn’t finish Friday.

Patreon readers got an extra this week: a post published Monday about how T-Mobile’s recent fondness for retroactive rate increases should have me researching my alternatives, except that I have yet to do much in the way of that.

8/31/2026: Qualcomm’s 6G Pitch Has Efficiency Covered. Privacy Is Another Story, PCMag

I already had qualms about Qualcomm’s understanding of people’s privacy concerns in its early marketing for 6G. The “6G Leadership Day” event the company staged in San Diego–with Qualcomm covering my airfare, lodging and ground transfers there–did not dispel my sense that this firm is having a read-the-room problem.

9/1/2026: Latest Android Feature Drop Helps You Keep Tabs on Items Without a Tracker, PCMag

I had barely enough free time Sunday to write this post from an advance copy of Google’s announcement.

9/1/2026: Flight Cancelled? United App Adds New Standby Options to Get You Moving Faster, PCMag

When I think of United and flight delays, Newark comes to mind–so I picked a photo of UA jets at EWR to illustrate this. And then I spent more time than planned Wednesday at my original home airport, courtesy of flight delays.

9/3/2026: Google Dodges Forced Breakup in US Display-Ads Case, PCMag

This news dropped while I was somewhere over the Atlantic, but since nobody at PCMag had covered it by Thursday morning I was able to write this later that day during the slower moments of the Identity Week conference in D.C.

Weekly output: Qualcomm’s problematic 6G pitch, Android feature drop, United Airlines app, Google display-ads case

I have rarely appreciated having a Monday off as much as I do right now–only a few days after a nine-day stretch in which I traveled from home to San Diego and back and then to Orlando and back and then to Dublin and back. Because of all that travel, I didn’t get around to posting photos of last weekend’s trip to see the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope until Friday and spent part of Saturday afternoon writing a post that I couldn’t finish Friday.

Patreon readers got an extra this week: a post published Monday about how T-Mobile’s recent fondness for retroactive rate increases should have me researching my alternatives, except that I have yet to do much in the way of that.

8/31/2026: Qualcomm’s 6G Pitch Has Efficiency Covered. Privacy Is Another Story, PCMag

I already had qualms about Qualcomm’s understanding of people’s privacy concerns in its early marketing for 6G. The “6G Leadership Day” event the company staged in San Diego–with Qualcomm covering my airfare, lodging and ground transfers there–did not dispel my sense that this firm is having a read-the-room problem.

9/1/2026: Latest Android Feature Drop Helps You Keep Tabs on Items Without a Tracker, PCMag

I had barely enough free time Sunday to write this post from an advance copy of Google’s announcement.

9/1/2026: Flight Cancelled? United App Adds New Standby Options to Get You Moving Faster, PCMag

When I think of United and flight delays, Newark comes to mind–so I picked a photo of UA jets at EWR to illustrate this. And then I spent more time than planned Wednesday at my original home airport, courtesy of flight delays.

9/3/2026: Google Dodges Forced Breakup in US Display-Ads Case, PCMag

This news dropped while I was somewhere over the Atlantic, but since nobody at PCMag had covered it by Thursday morning I was able to write this later that day during the slower moments of the Identity Week conference in D.C.

FAA Closes Shutdown Flight Cuts Probe

Did airlines follow FAA flight cut rules during the May 2026 shutdown? The FAA confirms airlines followed orders, so there will be no more investigations.

#faa, #airtravel, #flightdelays, #aviationnews, #travelupdate

https://newsletter.tf/faa-flight-cuts-investigation-result-may-2026/

The FAA finished checking airline flight cuts today. This is good news because it means there will be no more travel delays from this specific issue.

#faa, #airtravel, #flightdelays, #aviationnews, #travelupdate
https://newsletter.tf/faa-flight-cuts-investigation-result-may-2026/

Thankful for uneventful Thanksgiving travel

Another year of Thanksgiving travel is in the books, and this year’s edition of it somehow happened without any flight cancellations, interruptions or even delays. That feels like even more of a miracle than the phrase “no delays” might suggest, because 2025 has been such a snakebit year for air travel.

It started with the horrifying news of an almost 16-year streak of zero fatal crashes among U.S. airlines ending a few miles from my house, went on to feature months of meltdown-level disruptions among flights in and out of Newark that by summer had sent EWR to the bottom of my list of United hub airports, and then it left already-stressed air-traffic control employees working for more than a month without pay courtesy of the government shutdown.

But after all that, Wednesday’s JetBlue flight from National Airport to Boston arrived at the gate at BOS six minutes early, after which Saturday’s United nonstop from Boston to Dulles reached its gate exactly on time. Service was great on each flight, the WiFi worked fine, and even the planes were above average: a four-year-old Airbus A220 on the flight up, a renewed Boeing 737 with screens at every seat on the way home.

The experience feels even more like winning a lottery ticket considering some of the miserable Thanksgiving travel experiences I’ve had in the past. I’m thinking about when coming home for the holiday meant a long drive interrupted by Breezewood, Penn.; the subsequent years when a theoretically short drive to a suburb of Philadelphia could become a three-hour slog; most of all, the decade and change when the Thanksgiving journey either involved taking Amtrak and then two NJ Transit trains or spending four-plus hours on I-95 and the Jersey Turnpike that could easily stretch past six hours on the roads.

(It’s kind of crazy that I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner in my own abode only twice since leaving for college: Everybody visited us in 2019 for a change, and then the pandemic put a family reunion out of the question the next year.)

Now that my mother and my brother and his family all live in the same town just north of Boston, I just have to deal with spending money, not time. But as expensive as Thanksgiving flights can be, they beat the absurdity of driving 450 miles and change on the busiest travel weekend of the year. Bonus: The flights, even if I chance a connection, are so short that I can bring a container of frozen pumpkin puree in my carry-on luggage and not worry about that pie ingredient melting before I’ve reached family.

I’m thankful for having this part of holiday travel easier than it used to be. And I’m thankful, as ever, for everybody connected with the travel industry who worked this holiday so that the rest of us could travel for it.

#amtrak #bos #boston #dca #flightDelays #holidayTravel #i95 #iad #jerseyTurnpike #jetblue #thanksgiving #thanksgivingTravel #united