After the reunion lunch, I fired off an email to United Airlines, as that is where Brett Egarr is likely to be, according to one web page. It was an innocent message on their feedback form.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I would like to get a message to Capt Brett Egarr. Capt Egarr, I believe, is with your airline flying A320s. He and I were at school in New Zealand till 1985. We had a reunion lunch today and his name came up. I’d like to reconnect with him and see if he has any plans to venture to his homeland in the near future. Please pass on my contact details to him if he wishes to be in touch.
Sincerely,
Jack Yan, LL B, BCA (Hons.), MCA
PS.: Your form insists on a 'State' even if one feeds in 'Outsie [sic] US and Outside Canada'.
Pretty simple, right? I stated my purpose. I asked for my information to be passed on. I did not want any private contact information for Brett.
United Airlines responded:
Dear Mr. Yan,
Thank you for taking the time to contact United Airlines Customer Relations regarding a message for Capt. Brett Egarr.
Mr. Yan, I am sorry to disappointment you but Federal privacy guidelines prohibit us to contact a United employee on behalf of a passenger or any other person. Each of our employees and customers has the right to decide who may know about them.
Also, we are aware regarding the "State" field while submitting a concern to Customer Relations and our technical team is working for a resolution. I hope this will be corrected soon.
Your understanding is appreciated. Thank you for your email.
Regards,
Bhupendra Singh Bisht
United Airlines Customer Relations
Nothing wrong with Mr Bisht’s courtesy but surely this is ridiculous? Federal privacy what?
If United doesn’t understand the law, then it shouldn’t be quoting it. I responded (making a mistake on the first line, dammit):
Dear Mr Singh [sic]:
I appreciate your prompt response though I must comment that I find the guidelines' interpretation questionable.
I realize you are doing your job and I do not criticize you for that or for your courtesy, for which I thank you.
If I may give you an analogy: if I were to write a letter to any company in the world, even in the United States, addressing it to an employee's attention, it is generally accepted in everyday, international commercial practice that it will get there.
You say that each United employee has the right to decide who may know about them. I fully agree. But you are denying Capt Egarr the opportunity to make that choice.
I can understand blocking an abusive passenger or one expressly requesting private information.
I do not wish to know Capt Egarr's contact information or any particulars covered by any US privacy legislation.
I had expected that the internet was to make our lives easier. I had also expected common sense, if you consider that written correspondence would likely find its way to Capt Egarr.
If you cannot help me with the above then I request that you provide me with your company's head office address so I may pursue this matter offline.
Yours faithfully,
Jack Yan, LL B, BCA (Hons.), MCA
There was a link at the end of the email for a customer survey—you bet your bottom dollar I filled that out. I accused the airline of holding a feather and pretending it was an arrow. I gave Mr Bisht good marks for courtesy and timeliness though.
I organized a reunion lunch with a few of the folks from my Form II year. Since Knight Rider is coming back, so are we.
We have not sat down together in 23 years. And everyone was instantly recognizable.
The five of us are: Deborah McGuire, Mark Rees-Thomas, Krishna Magan, Jessica Stephens (née Beyeler) and myself (trying to photograph myself by inverting the phone-camera; it does have two modes but the other one gives a reflected image).
We are still wrinkle-free though we have a few more grey hairs. Mark, Krishna and Jess have kids.
A whole bunch of names came up from the past, some of which I had forgotten, and we all had some great goss.
But we did have a few remarks and info about other folks—Jason Maling, Tracey Heemi, Ishara Goonawardne, Tom Pacza, Anita Balakrishnan, Barry Lei, Laura Hayvice, Chris Mardon, David Irvine, Corbett Stace and more. If you folks are reading, we still remember you. There were a few other names that came up that I am ashamed I have already forgotten tonight.
If United Airlines passengers are told that they are being flown by Capt Brett Egarr, let him know he was in our thoughts, too.
We have no info on Dane Alchorne, Cadell Macmillan, Neil McDonald, David Garland, Claudia Iten (though we suspect she could be an opera singer) and numerous others. If you guys ever read this, please get in touch with me via my main site or join the St Mark’s Alumni and Friends group on Facebook.
We did wonder whatever happened to that guy Karl Urban who was in our year.
We’ve decided to do another one in August so anyone from the class of ’85 who missed this, you still have a chance!
General Motors provided us with these videos today from the British Motor Show. Still thinking about whether to put them on to the Lucire site as the aspect ratio is wrong and everyone looks 12 ft tall. They include the launch of the Opel Insignia, and scenes from Cadillac, Bentley, Lotus, Renault and Alfa Romeo.
Estelle Getty has died—farewell to The Golden Girls’ Sophia.
Although her character was the oldest, I think Estelle was one of the youngest actresses in the cast. She was 84 at the time of her passing, but 20-plus years ago, her character’s age was in the 80s.
I’ll remember her well for The Golden Girls and not for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
These are the most recent photos I've used as wallpaper on my iPhone:
Currently, my wallpaper is this:
I see from Deutsche Welle and al-Jazeera that Sen. Barack Obama’s overseas trip has received huge coverage, including a big interview on CBS’s Meet the Press.
So, where were all these networks when Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman went to Iraq and Europe?
Do most Americans even know they went?
Some Americans talk about their big three networks plus CNN providing more favourable coverage of Democratic presidential candidates—on this alone I’m inclined to believe them.
Famous British comedian (I mean, politician—sorry, I get the two professions confused) Tony Blair, who has guest-voiced on The Simpsons, appeared in this sketch with Catherine Tate playing Lauren Cooper.
Here’s the newest promo for the American version of Life on Mars. Notice that any footage featuring Colm Meaney or Rachelle Lefèvre has been cut, and only Jason O’Mara appears. The year has also been changed to ‘1973’, matching the original’s setting.
It’s good to know the new producers of Life on Mars in the US have actually spoken to the original creators, to change the mythology, so that US Sam does not discover that he is in the same predicament as UK Sam.
One of the comments from co-creator Matthew Graham was that he only had a single phone conversation with David E. Kelley, who penned the original, rejected pilot.
Apparently, by the end of the second episode in the US, NYPD Det. Sam Tyler puts down 13 possibilities on a board to explain what has happened to him.
Do not check out the above link if you do not want a series-ending spoiler on what happened to the original DI Tyler.
I am excited by the US remake again.
