Official Airline Guide
 

I just noticed that the Official Airline Guide (OAG) is still being issued in print format. Basically a combined list of airline schedules, I can't think of a single reason why this continues to exist.

Anybody still use this? I can't imagine why a Travel Agent would want it - everything they need should be online. As a traveler, I just use ITA and a couple other sites that are more comprehensive for European travel.

I can't imagine pulling this huge book off the shelf to look up who flies where.

How about when the computer is not working or the internet is down or the power is out?

Two examples:

1. Pilot still legally need to carry a hard copy of the flight manual despite the same is available in electronic form.
2. By law Pharmacies still need to have a hard copy of the CPS manual.

I am sure there are other profession which has same LEGAL requirement.

Having information ready to serve your customer is just good business policy.

I can't think of a worse scenario where the pilot in state of emergency waiting for the computer containing EFM to reboot.

The OAG contains more than just schedules - MPMs, connect times, company info etc.

Believe it or not, sometimes looking up something specific in a book is faster than the internet.

But the uptime of a print OAG is always 100 percent. Web resources, it's somewhat less. (Even Flyertalk crashes once in awhile. ;) ) The format of the print OAG has some definite advantages over cherry-picking online data sources. And old timetables online just vanish, but old OAGs make fascinating reading.

The bias toward online data sources, no matter how much more unwieldy they may be, reminds me of the first innings of the interactive era -- when people selling applications on CD-ROM used to argue that everything was better on CD-ROM than in print... cookbooks, car repair manuals, music lessons, etc. (although in those days nobody had a computer on their kitchen counter or garage workbench)... nonsense.

Yup, got a refund for my Chilton CD and bought the hard copy after the fourth trip from garage (and hand cleaning) into the house to look up a procedure/diagram. This was back in the last millennium.

unfortunately, i no longer have one.....yesterday, while looking for recycle stuff for today's pickup, the bw was going thru the phone books and asked if i still needed the fall 1991 oag....i got the old 1 from our travel dept when the new 1 came out for a # of years....

Before dumping it you should see what you can get for it on eBay! ;)

My Dad used to do that for me. I have a September, 1995 North America OAG at home. It's fun to read sometimes.

Brings back memories always had a copy in my bag when I started traveling. Forgot all about it

I can think of a number of reasons:

1. No power
2. No wifi
3. Often paper is faster than eformat
4. Reading on the toilet
5. Backup