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Comment by raldi | Hacker News Reader

If you have a Bloomberg terminal, there's a function like this that's been around for decades. If I remember correctly (I haven't had access to one since 2007) it might have been FLTS<go> or maybe just FLY<go>.

You plug in your cities and dates, and you get an 80x25 screen with the raw data in an easy-to-read (once you're used to it) tabular view.

Of course, that only works if by "some dollars" you meant like $25,000/year. :)

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Adding this to my private list of reasons whenever someone scoffs at "paying $25k a year for a pair of LCDs and a cheap keyboard". Thanks.

Yeah you can be on the phone with the company travel department telling you the United flight at 10:13 doesn't fly between Dulles and New York on Tuesdays, and quickly type FLY IAD NYC<go> and you'll see a line like

    12.    UA 456  10:13 IAD  11:35 LGA   vvvv vv

(Where the v's are checkmarks in day-of-week columns; so you know it flies every day but Thurs)

Then you type 12<go> and get all the details. It all happened as fast as you could type plus about 10msec plus the speed of light roundtrip to lower Manhattan. And in the nine years since I used it, I bet they added other points of presence on other continents.

You can get the same info by typing "flight schedule iad nyc" into Google. It gives you a box that shows all flight numbers, takeoff and landing times, airport codes, and which days of the week they fly. (You might need to disable adblock though.)

I just tried that and indeed had to disable uBlock for it to show up.

I wonder how many other Google features I have been missing out on due to adblock being turned on...

Edit: turning off 'cosmetic filtering' on uBlock put it back again.

This list of Google SERP features is pretty impressive: http://www.link-assistant.com/news/serp-guide.html Though it's still missing tons of stuff like finance, calculator, flight status, etc.

Curious if anyone knows: is the Bloomberg terminal interfacing directly with one of the major CRS systems like Amadeus?

You pay with your money, right?

I don't understand the question. Yeah, you (royal "you") pay with money. I don't pay for it, since I wouldn't get the value out of it.

We clearly don't understand each other. You say "Adding this to my private list of reasons whenever someone scoffs at "paying $25k a year for a pair of LCDs and a cheap keyboard". I think, "his work is paying the 25k."

I don't scoff. But I can't afford it. By the way, the guy who said Google "flight schedule LAX ORD" did a great service here.

Oh, gotcha. I wasn't really talking about the who, but rather if a Bloomberg terminal is worth the cost. From time to time there are people who are just baffled why "a pair of LCDs and a keyboard" cost $2k each month. The answer being that the service is the thing being bought, and that it's clearly worth it to the people and companies that subscribe.

Is there any way to get access to that info without paying? It's okay if it's illegal, I don't mind.

Sure, absolutely. Just get a job at Bloomberg or any of its clients.

Alternately, visit your local university business school library.

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