Distractions, reflections

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

Fall from gold

For the first time, in maybe 15 years, I’ve fallen from the upper level status in frequent flyer programs. Last year, I was Aeroplan Elite (which is Star Alliance Gold). This year, I’m at zero. I’m so low, my Aeroplan card doesn’t even state a level on it!

Diana dropped me off at the airport for my 8 p.m. flight to Munich (on my way to Fuschl am See, Austria, for an IFSR meeting). Since I was late for my flight last fall, I made extra sure this time that I would be early. We arrived at about 5:30 p.m. for an 8:00 p.m. flight. I tried to check in, but the first agent said that I couldn’t be assigned a seat. She said that the equipment was being changed (i.e. one aircraft was being swapped for another), and that my baggage would have to be tagged as standby. Since this is a complication that could result in my luggage being left in Toronto, I declined, and she told me to come back in 20 minutes.

In 15 minutes, I was back in line. The second agent said that there wasn’t an issue with equipment being changed, and I still couldn’t be assigned a seat. My baggage was tagged as standby, and I went through the security check to get to the departure gate. (I normally would have stopped by the Maple Leaf Lounge for soup and sandwiches, but Diana packed dinner for me). At the departure gate, no agent showed up until 7:15 p.m., and then there about 40 people got into line. He told everyone to wait, and he would call them.

At 7:30 p.m., boarding started. At 7:45 p.m., I was one of two persons left sitting in the departure area. The agent finally called my name, and I got my boarding card. I lined up, and was right behind a person with whom the Air Canada agent was saying “Sir, there’s no call for that type of language”. I’m used to flying, so I wasn’t really worried about making it onto the flight, but it’s likely that others aren’t quite as patient.

I flew over in a middle seat of the last row of the second cabin (behind business class), and mostly dozed on the flight. I had my inflatable neck pillow and eye shades, and my feet fit on top of my bag under the seat in front of me. (It pays to be small on trans-oceanic flights). I woke up and caught the end of Aeon Flux — a good time-waster. Some more dozing, and next thing I knew, we were on descent into Munich. My baggage arrived, without drama.

Seat assignments are one of those behind-the-scenes things that work well for frequent flyers. I overheard the check-in agents working their way through the list of premium (full fare) customers, Super Elite and Elite passengers. If I had still been at one of the higher levels, I might have been offered a free upgrade. (The airlines like to fill up business class, because it’s a fixed cost, anyway). Unfortunately, Air Canada doesn’t give points for discount fares within North America anymore, so I’ll have to earn my Elite status on trans-oceanic flights. Since this trip, I’ve been trading stories with others who have lost their gold status, and are saying that they’ve been sent into the last class for boarding, as a penalty for falling from their levels of high status.

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • RSS on Coevolving

    • What Systems Thinkers Can Learn From Historical Synthesis | Dr. Michael Bonner | Systems Thinking Ontario 2023-11-13
      For the November 2023 Systems Thinking Ontario session, historian and policy advisor Dr. Michael Bonner was invited for an interview by Zaid Khan.  In organizing the sessions, we’re trying to avoid the trap of systems thinking becoming a discipline, through learning with a sweeping-in process. The session opened on a map of The Sassanid Empire […]
    • The Sweep-In Process of Systems Science (Churchman)
      It the systems sciences are an open system, then learning more and more about systems of interest are foundational.  This was called a sweep-in process by C. West Churchman, in the heritage of Edgar A. Singer. Jr.  A concise definition is found in the entry on “Experimentalism” in the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics: […]
    • Explaining Systems Changes Learning | RSD12 | 2023-10-14
      For the Relating Systems and Design RSD12 symposium on October 14, 2023, members of the Explainers subgroup of the Systems Changes Learning Circle conducted an in-person workshop on “Explaining Systems Changes Learning: Metaphors and translations” at OCADU in Toronto. RSD12 included both in-person sessions and online sessions. In the planning phase for the symposium, our […]
    • Anticipatory Systems, Evolution, and Extinction Cascades | Judith Rosen | ST-ON 2023-10-16
      Judith Rosen agreed to give an online presentation for the Systems Thinking Ontario meeting in October 2023, after we converted her in-person meeting at OCADU in August into a discussion circle.  Channelling the anticipatory systems approach of her father, mathematical biologist Robert Rosen, Judith has been extended those ideas in her own continuing observation of […]
    • Appreciating systems changes via multiparadigm inquiry (SRBS)
      An article related to the ISSS plenary talk of July 2022 has now passed the peer review process, and is published in early view for Systems Research and Behavioral Science.  It should shortly be printed in the November issue of SRBS that serves as the General Systems Yearbook. Update on Nov. 22, 2023: A full-text, […]
    • Sustainable Technology and the Entropy Argument | Mohammed Badrah, Kelly Okamura, David Hawk | Systems Thinking Ontario 2023-09-11
      In a return to original Systems Thinking Ontario format, we reviewed an (old) systems thinking paper from 1998. Mohammed Badrah served as reviewer. Kelly Okamura was the discussant. The author, David Hawk, was available during the discussion period for extended knowledge. As compared to prior Systems Thinking Ontario sessions with the word “entropy” in the […]
  • RSS on Media Queue

    • 2021/06/17 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 2
      Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
    • 2021/06/16 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1
      The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
    • 2021/02/02 To Understand This Era, You Need to Think in Systems | Zeynep Tufekci with Ezra Klein | New York Times
      In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
    • 2019/04/09 Art as a discipline of inquiry | Tim Ingold (web video)
      In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
    • 2019/10/16 | “Bubbles, Golden Ages, and Tech Revolutions” | Carlota Perez
      How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
    • 2020/07/13 “Making Growing Thinking” |Tim Ingold (web video)
      For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
  • RSS on Ing Brief

    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2”, edited by F. E. Emery (1981)
      The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings”, edited by F. E. Emery (1969)
      In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
    • Concerns with the way systems thinking is used in evaluation | Michael C. Jackson, OBE | 2023-02-27
      In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
    • Quality Criteria for Action Research | Herr, Anderson (2015)
      How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
    • Western Union and the canton of Ticino, Switzerland
      After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
    • Aesthetics | Encyclopaedia Britannica | 15 edition
      Stephen C. Pepper was a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, on the entry for Aesthetics.
  • Meta

  • Translate

  • Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
    Theme modified from DevDmBootstrap4 by Danny Machal