That's exactly right, Martin. I too have never seen anything but the 24 hour clock used in airports outside the US. Here, however, it's quite the opposite. I've never seen a US air, train, or bus schedule in 24 hour format and it just mystifies me. When I worked in aircraft maintenance for a major US carrier, all computer time stamps were in fact in 24 hour UTC format, but as soon as customers were involved, it reverted to the jarring am/pm displays. We've probably all heard the story (urban legend perhaps) of the passenger who showed up at 18:30 for her 06:30 flight. We could definitely avoid this type of problem if only...
This is all very disheartening for someone such as myself who recently returned a phone to Verizon Wireless precisely because it didn't give me the 24 hour option. Even in England, where one can often see references to am/pm, I noticed that the Football Association listed Monday's start of the FA Cup quarterfinal between Manchester Utd. and Middlesbrough as 20:00. If a truly traditional and conservative organization like the FA can do it, why, oh why can't we? Regards, Walter - back to lurk mode On 3/21/07, Martin Vlietstra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Mike, I do not recall having ever seen a 12 hour clock on departure boards. Airports that I have used include London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London City, Frankfurt, Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Johannesburg, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Madrid, Alicante, Rome (Leonardo da Vinci), Naples, Lagos, Luxembourg, Durban, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Dublin, Hannover, Geneva, Basle, Edinburgh. Maybe we just use different airports - you will notice that there are no American airports in that list. Martin
