Airlines spotting and nostalgia

Couple of sites came to my attention over the break that I want to share with you - one useful, one nostalgic:

1. Flight Aware - An airline will never be honest with you in first instance about how delayed their flights are. I remember one time I was running late for a Virgin-Express flight from Heathrow. I called the customer care line and asked if the flight was on time or running late. Was assured it was on time. I pressed - "are you sure, because if it is on time I will miss it". "OK" admits the agent "it is probably running about 15 minutes late". "That's not enough" I say "I will probably get there about 30 mins after scheduled departure.". "Well", the agent confesses, "that should be fine, as the flight looks to be delayed by about a hour and fifteen minutes". It took three attempts to have the airline tell me the correct information on the delay in the flight. On another occasion I was at the gate checking into a flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona when the staff apologised for the delay and announced that boarding would commence in fifteen minutes. I went up to the counter and double checked with the counter staff. "Excuse me - did you say that boarding would start in fifteen minutes." "Yes" she replied "apologies for the delay". "How can boarding start in fifteen minutes, when there is no airplane connected to the air bridge" I say pointing out the window to the obviously lack of anything on which we could board. She eventually admitted that the plane was fifteen minutes away, that it would take fifteen minutes to get the passengers off and at least another ten minutes to prep the plane for our boarding - so boarding would be forty minutes away. Flight Aware claim to provide flight tracking data and info free of the airline spin.
2. Departed Flights.com it is a crude and not very attractive site but here you will find old route maps for most major US airlines - including many of the defunct airlines such as Pan Am. Unfortunately is not interactive or searchable but provides a nice trip down memory lane. Other parts of the site have eclectic collections of old airline advertising campaigns including this oldie on how fantastic the 727 is/was.