one way to skin the cat. Bet no one gets blamed

[Prof. David Farber <David.Farber () cisr anu edu au>]

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 23:40:23 PDT
From: lauren () vortex com (Lauren Weinstein)
Subject: Denver "solves" hi-tech baggage handling problems


It looks as if the folks in Denver have figured out what they need to do to
finally get their new airport open.  As you may recall, it has failed to open
for quite sometime because the amazing, computer-controlled, $200 million
baggage handling system simply doesn't work.  Nor does it appear that there is
much hope of making it work quickly.  The more deeply the system is inspected,
the more problems are found.


Videos of the failing system under test are great fun to watch.  Bags being
flung at carts that aren't where they're supposed to be, carts flying off
tracks, bags flying through the air smashing into the ground, and so on.
Quite a show.


So how to open the airport?  Simple!  They've apparently decided to spend more
bucks and build *another* baggage handling system--the conventional kind with
conveyer belts.  After they build this new, old-style system, they'll finally
be able to open the airport, which is currently losing something like $1
million/day just sitting there.


The plan is to shift back to the computerized system when (if?) they get all
the bugs out of it.


--Lauren--