Ben is a college student and avid points collector living in Florida. He travels nearly 200,000 miles per year, mostly with United and the Star Alliance. He has visited over 30 countries and counting, and has a particular interest in the Asian-Pacific region. Beyond blogging on Boardingarea.com, being a student and traveling, Ben spends considerable time on FlyerTalk.com under the handle “lucky9876coins”, serving on the TalkBoard, FlyerTalk’s member elected board.
The purpose of his blog is to share his travel experiences – those both in the air and on the ground – and stay updated on the latest in the travel industry, from promos to program changes to mergers. Ben can be reached at onemileatatime@hotmail.com for any questions, comments, or stories you’d like him to blog about.
Your boarding area blog is looking great. Keep up the good work!
- Neal
love your point of view and energy to keep blogging away. My vote for “Best New Biz Travel Blogger!!!!”
Great blog. Been reading your FT posts for over a year now, and just found the blog today. Take care.
Hi, tnx for ur replies to my Qs. I would like some help on Seatcounter if u have time. Flight is from BOS to IAD (we dont plan to use upgrades for this segment) , IAD to FCO on June 7 and return is from MUC to BOS on July10. Thanks a lot.
P.S. I apologize for having to do this here. Somehow I cannot log on to FlyerTalk.
Nice job on your new site! I found you through FT. Keep up the good writing.
I was glad to (belatedly) find your blog! As an avid Flyer Talker (but less often poster), I have always found your comments on the UA board to be about the best there is out there.
Ben:
You attributed the quote to ALPA when the quote was lifted from a company (United) letter…..re-check the link and don’t blame ALPA (your last line below):
Just when I was starting to trust ALPA a little bit…
As I posted about just yesterday, United sent out an email to some of their frequent flyers encouraging them to approach pilots in airports. Being the natural skeptic I am I questioned how the unions would feel about this, and not surprisingly they responded. How they responded, though, is beyond disgusting in my opinion. Here’s their press release. Please read it. Read the whole thing. Every filthy last word of it.
Let’s look at some of this together:
“Now when you see our flight crew in the concourse or at the gate area, ask them about our airline, the plane, the flight in general, or even questions regarding their own travel experiences and adventures as pilots.”
If our customers engage you, here’s a good ice-breaker: Remind them that if they can see a pilot, then that pilot is not being paid.
Please tell me you’re kidding. The union’s trying to be funny here, right? No human would ever say this to someone paying their salary, would they?
Please correct it,
Dan Gradwohl
Mooresville, IN
Thanks for the message Dan. All I was doing was quoting the press release which was quoting United. As you can see it was in quotes while the rest wasn’t. I’ll go ahead and clarify it further though.
Was recommended to your blog via Google’s RSS reader. I’m looking through your blog now, looks interesting!!
I also see that you’re interested in travel promos, I’ve currently got one going, let me know if you’re you’d like to participate. Not the reason I dropped by though.
Ben,
I for one would love to see a detailed post about why you like ICH/Priority club and why you have chosen then to be your primary hotel chain. I am looking to expand my hotel points and am looking at PC and Marriott rewards.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the comment! That’s an interesting topic which I’ll post about in the next couple of days at the latest.
Thanks for reading.
Hey Ben,
The “Next page” link at the bottom is not working. It’s giving a “file not found error.” I am really enjoying the blog!
-Quinn
Thanks for the heads up Quinn, it’s working fine for me, but my computer is strange at times.
Does this link work for you?
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/page/2/
Hi Ben
Great Blog you have opened.
I would love to write some experience from my travels with Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. (www.swiss.com) Could you open a new category?
Would be great.
Greetings from Europe
pete
how does a student afford to travel 200k miles a year? sign me up!
Big fan of your website - the question begs, what are you going to do when you graduate college and have to get a real job?
Keep up the great work.
Thanks Stevie. Well, hopefully I’ll either get a job in the travel industry, get a job that requires a lot of travel, or get a job that leaves a lot of time for travel.
I have been enjoying your blog, I travel a pretty good amount myself and enjoy your persoective.
I will say this college must have changed alot over the last 20 years, when I was in college and Law school I had to roll pennies for gas I was so broke couldn’t have imagined shelling out the dough for 200K miles of flights . Of course it was all about the beer and girls in those days .