Funny kayak.com easter egg

For LOST fans: Search kayak.com for Sydney to LAX one-way non-stop on 9/22/2010.

I run librarian.net and metafilter.com. I am a techie librarian who lives in Vermont and travels the world.

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Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

Anonymous

The hotels in Vancouver, WA are raking in the reservations for all the people trying to get to the Olympics. Poor people don’t realize that the reason it’s so cheap and easy to get these reservations is because they’ll have another 6 hour drive and an international border to cross.
Anonymous

For those non-Lost fans who don’t get the weird price, the numbers in the base cost of the ticket and the tax are a series of numbers that keep popping up in the show:

45, 15, 16, 23, 42.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology_of_Lost#The_Numbers
manicbassman

I know what an “easter egg” is, I put several in win 3.1 programs I helped write years ago… I don’t see an easter egg here…
- SC_Wolf
  
  @manicbassman: I take it you don’t fly Oceanic Airlines much.
http://www.plasma2002.com Plasma2002

How about for us non lost fans, telling us what the easter egg is here.
Hamusutaa

Shouldn’t it technically have 1 stop?
Dragon2040

Another interesting thing about this screenshot, it says Sydney, NS not NSW. Someone taking that flight could end up in Sydney Nova Scotia and not Australia.
It’s amazing how many people land in Sydney and realize they are on the wrong side of the world than what they intended to be.
- apoxia
  
  You’re joking right? People couldn’t possibly end up in Sydney, Australia by mistake.
  
  I remember a Full House episode where Michelle Tanner boarded a plane to Auckland (NZ), as she thought it was Oakland. Surely that kind of thing can’t happen in real life.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Surely that kind of thing can’t happen in real life.
    
    BBC seems to run a story about once a year about some tourist or other who ends up in the wrong country or continent because they can’t spell or can’t figure out that General Sherman didn’t burn Tbilisi.
    - MelSkunk
      
      One of my friends missed my wedding because he bought a ticket to Ontario, California, not Toronto, Ontario. Worst part was Ontario was a 2 hour drive away IIRC
    - Jonathan Badger
      
      And less spectacularly, it isn’t at all uncommon for tourists passing through Carlsbad, CA to ask “where are the caverns?”, not realizing that they are in the wrong state. But I doubt the people really were making a trip to see the caverns — they were probably just driving along and saw that Carlsbad was near and thought they’d check out the caverns they’ve vaguely heard about.
      - Lookforthewoman
        
        We managed to get to the Carlsbad Caverns, by mistake.
        I only knew of the bats, I didn’t know you could go down the caves, and my boyfriend didn’t know about either. So in December, on a road trip, we randomly went to look at the bat amphitheatre, wrong month. We went into the visitor centre to use the wc and heard a voice on the PA say “The last elevator to the big room leaves in 5 minutes.” Never been in a cave that big before, very cool.
  - Raines Cohen
    
    Truth can be stranger (or at least as strange as) fiction, indeed:
    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080405000416AA5pHOh
    
    Or can it? The link it cites is a 404 on Snopes. Here’s other related incidents:
    http://matadorpulse.com/grandpa-and-grandson-take-wrong-flight-to-sydney/comment-page-1/
    
    Nevermind, if it’s in Time, it must be true, right?
    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966172,00.html
DarthVain

As someone from mainland Nova Scotia I can say:

Not to mention the realization that they are in Sydney, Nova Scotia! Ugh.

#1 claim to fame?

One of the biggest environmental disasters in the world. ever. The Sydney Tar Ponds, a by product of coal production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tar_Ponds

Enjoy your say!
Jonathan Badger

I kind of agree that this isn’t really an “easter egg” — it seems more like an in-joke for Lost fans, rather than the typical “press these keys and a list of developers or a playable space invaders game appears” which I would associate more with the term.
- netsharc
  
  Come on, some easter eggs are also based on special input, like Excel’s go to row something, column something and enter some word. And the payload is output which, without the egg algorithm, would never exist; in this case a fictional flight information.
Anonymous

I didn’t think it was possible, but this has increased my hatred of Lost and all things Lost even more.
kenc3dan

Oceanic Airlines in the fictional airline used in the series Lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_Airlines
Anonymous

A search for 1/21/11, one way trip, from Los Angeles to Guam, results in a listing for Ajira flight 316 as well.
thanatomaton

Ooh! I wonder if I can bring my giant case of knives if I check ‘em…
IPFREELY

Has anyone tried and purchased a ticket?
Anonymous

I’ll bring my guitar!
hordeofmonks

follow the link through to try to buy the ticket and it takes you to lostpedia.
SourRing

I’ll bring my guitar!
Anonymous

Sydney, NS, Australia….
Are they confused with Sydney, NS (Nova Scotia) Canada? :P
Boba Fett Diop

I think the “zero stops” indicator may be slightly inaccurate. I will report this to the FAA.
crushthemall

The cost of the flight is odd because of the tax. The real cost is $4815.16 with a tax of $23.42 (which you’ll see if you click on details.)

I love it!
Anonymous

Don’t forget to check the details.
Anonymous

Speaking of Carlsbad Ca…people search for flights to LA and wonder how nearby airports comes up with Ontario CA – thinking Canada, not California
Anonymous

i dont get it. some one explain plox.
Anonymous

doesnt work tired searching but nothing comes up with the oceania flight. has anybody see it or tested it ..
OoerictoO

easter egg, or product placement?
manicbassman

sorry, I’m confused… exactly what is the “Easter egg”?
- MelSkunk
  
  An easter egg is a term for a hidden surprise, usually in a computer program or game.
- Anonymous
  
  You mean you are lost?
Jessamyn West

I think often times they’re both, no?