United Airlines Unique Linearity of Time

The App that Counts Up from the Boarding Time

Note: This was written with very little sleep on a layover after I had determined I would stop writing. You have been warned.

United Airlines recently released a new feature for iPhones where their app has a countdown to your boarding time. I like this because I can see exactly when I need to be at the gate way too early to get in line. One peculiar feature: when it hits zero seconds it begins counting up instead of down. We are now boarding in 10 minutes and 14 seconds…15 seconds…16 seconds.

I appreciate the linearity of time that this presents. Clearly, a clock continues to go even when the countdown has reached zero. Could you imagine how this would work in those old episodes of the show 24? The timer on the bomb hits zero, then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Jack Bauer has more time to diffuse the explosives and catch the terrorists while seemingly inducing more needless violence and crashing cars into other cars. Fox quickly discovers this new plot twists allows for 26 episodes in a season of 24 and can increase the advertising revenue for the show accordingly. Positive 24 becomes the new biggest hit on TV. Then everyone realizes that positive time is how time normally works and the show is cancelled because it is too close to reality for Fox’s liking.