Posted by Seth on October 21, 2011 under Flying, media coverage, News | 
The Wall Street Journal has a piece today about inaugural flights and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner discussing next week’s initial flights for the aircraft and the efforts some folks went through to secure a seat on the flight. After reading the details of what some of the others were willing to go through I can quite easily say that I’m both a bit jealous and also quite certain that I stood no chance of getting anywhere close to being on that first flight.
There is a Mr. Lee who lives in California and who was on the first scheduled flight of the 747 and the Airbus A380. He managed to convince ANA to give him a seat on their inaugural as well, though he does have to pay the same amount as the other lottery winners (~$1,000). Or Mr. Bertuccio who fat-fingered his bid in the auction to win a seat and ended up paying about $7,500 more than he intended to bid, but he got the seat for about $33,500.
And then there’s my line, all the way at the end of the article. Yes, I am indeed ecstatic to have the opportunity to fly on the Dreamliner in its first week of commercial service. I also had a lot more to say in the interview though I’m also not surprised at the line that got quoted. It was definitely the best sound bite I tossed out there.
It does gloss over that I’m stringing together a roughly 20,000 mile journey across 10 flights, three airlines (more if you count regional operators) and sleeping in five different cities in the span of 8 days in order to make this happen and the fact that I did it all for only about $1,200 in airfare. Then again, column inches are tough to come by these days, I suppose.
Only 13 days until I’m on the Dreamliner…I’m definitely getting excited.
Posted by Seth on June 27, 2011 under frequent flyer, media coverage, News, points |
As part of a story in the June issue of Inside Flyer magazine I was included in an interview panel with some big names in frequent flyer points analysis. Reading the responses of Steve Belkin, the only man I know who was interrogated by the DEA for his mileage earning schemes, and Gary Leff, author of View From The Wing, was an interesting way to spend a few minutes. I was somewhat intrigued to read the varied views on some of the points earning and redemption valuations and opportunities. Most surprising, however, was the claim made by Gary that points are growing in value.
His claim is a reasonable one – alliances have made it easier to go farther with award travel than was possible 10 years ago.
But it’s hard to say that the era of great value is over when there are more opportunities than ever to redeem your miles, and in better ways. When I redeemed United miles to go to Australia in business back in 2000, the Mileage Plus agents offered me the chance to fly Air New Zealand and then I could fly United in coach to California to catch that flight “as a courtesy.” Now I redeem my Mileage Plus miles for awards that include Lufthansa, Thai Airways, All Nippon, and Asiana–all on one award–and my United segments are in first class, too! The partnerships are expanding and becoming better integrated, improving the award experience all around.
I cannot deny that the global alliances have made things generally better, though, as Gary notes, he was able to get that "courtesy" flight anyways so it wasn’t all that much different. And while award charts are definitely trending towards more expensive there are still some decent values out there. At the same time, however, getting access to the award seats is more difficult as demand rises and airline capacities are tightened.
Points definitely still have value. As I note in the story, I’m traveling more and better than ever, thanks in large part to the points. But I do not believe the points are growing in value. Odds of getting better value from your points tomorrow versus today are pretty low.
There is no doubt that the loyalty programs and points still allow for some incredible redemption opportunities–experiences that I’d almost certainly never be able to pay full price on–but the overall trend is definitely one of stagnant to decreasing value.
That’s why I’m so strongly opposed to hoarding of points. Yes, I have about a million points in various accounts that I’m managing through my account at GoMiles.com, but I avoid ever getting too many in one place before I cash them in. And I’m ALWAYS cashing them in. I just booked another couple trips last week using points and I’ve got my eye on a couple for the end of this year as well. The points aren’t accruing interest and they aren’t doing any good as a big number on a balance sheet.
The whole reason to earn the is so they can be spent. So get out there and travel!
Posted by Seth on May 31, 2011 under frequent flyer, media coverage, points |
A couple weeks ago I recorded my first ever podcast. I’m rarely convinced that anyone wants to listen to me ramble about travel so I’m always pleasantly surprised to hear that someone really does. Or at least they think people do.
And chat we did. About my trip on the Lufthansa A380 Inaugural from San Francisco, Starwood promos, American Airlines promos, United Airlines changes and many other topics. I think the best part for me was that I was learning so much throughout the conversation, even as I also got to provide some information about the service and the trip I took.
Anywho, it is a great chat with a great group of guys and well worth listening to if I do say so myself. Oh, and it is a week old. Apparently I missed it going online last week due to working too hard or something. Whoopsie.
Check it out here: http://upgrd.com/upgrd/upgrd-86-springtime-travel.html.
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Posted by Seth on September 8, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, media coverage |
Just how crazy do you have to be to take advantage of the JetBlue All You Can Jet pass? How about no money, no job and selling out the entire contents of your apartment to fund the trip?
Or just a crazy guy who loves to fly and looks to book a ton of miles and fly all month long (that one’s me).
A couple great stories, and some quotes from the Senior VP of Marketing for JetBlue, too.
Definitely worth a look and a read over at the Travel With Val site. Or just straight to the video at NY1.
Posted by Seth on March 22, 2010 under frequent flyer, media coverage, News, points |
This week seems to be all about good ideas related to frequent flyer points and the best ways to both earn and burn them. A few weeks back NY1, the local news station in New York City interviewed a bunch of folks about best recommendations and habits for making the most of the points and the opportunities they present. There’s lots of good advice in the segment that was ultimately produced, including a couple appearances by me. I cannot get the video embedded here but you can check it out on the NY1 page: Take Your Frequent Flyer Miles To New Heights.
Got your own good idea about points to share? Drop a comment here this week and enter for a chance to win a trip to the Gold Coast in Australia!
Posted by Seth on March 11, 2010 under media coverage, News |
Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine held a party in New York City last night to celebrate their 100th issue going to press. Unlike many other publication parties, however, the folks at BT decided to invite their readers to the event, not just others in media circles. The result was an eclectic mix of travelers, marketing folks and editors, sharing tales of travel and the history of the magazine and planning future trips, all in the comfort of the 3rd floor reception area of the magazine’s offices.
Standing in the corner, surveying the room I was somewhat surprised to hear an English accent over my shoulder, “Hey, you’re the Wandering Aramean, right? I recognize you from your photos.” That was a bit surprising to me but quite welcome. We chatted for most of the evening, trading stories of best hotels, meals and most overpriced indulgences around the world.
Being the attention seeking media glutton that I am, I was quite happy to spend a few minutes chatting with Kelly Samardak, a writer from MediaPost.com. And my unnamed “stalker” was apparently working overtime as a publicist at this point, trying to convince Kelly that, while I may be crazy, it is the good kind of crazy. It seemed to work well enough as I earned a mention in her write-up of the event.
Overall, a rather enjoyable couple hours of travel talk with a new group of friends. And some decent munchies to help absorb the open bar. I’m glad I came home a bit early from Burlington to make it to the event.
Posted by Seth on February 3, 2010 under media coverage, News |
It turns out that the folks who love flying so much don’t only enjoy those experiences in the air. Folks fly to hang out and party together on the ground, too.
As a follow-up to the article in the February issue of Conde Nast Traveler, the magazine, Lufthansa and Boarding Area sponsored a reception in New York City earlier this week. More than 50 folks showed up, many of them coming in from across the country for a quick evening of revelry before heading back to the real world, work and other obligations. It was a lot of fun.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a frequent flyer event without plenty of discussion of travel and deals. That was magnified in this case by the fact that there were a couple great deals on offer briefly Monday evening. The number of flights booked to Mexico City via Panama in the bar that night was rather significant. Good times!
More on the party here.
Posted by Seth on January 27, 2010 under frequent flyer, media coverage, News, Trip Reports |
Back in November when me and 220 other aerophiles were jetting around in a chartered Boeing 757-300 there were a couple reporters along for the ride. They each focused on different aspects of why all all of us were there and what motivates us to travel as much as we do. Some of them got it and some of them most certainly did not. But none of them managed to relay the story quite as eloquently as Greg Lindsay, writing in the February 2010 issue of Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
His article, Triumph of the Air Warriors captures the spirit of that specific trip as well as the joy that many frequent flyers find in hunting down deals, identifying loopholes and otherwise fighting back just a little bit against a system that is decidedly stacked against the customer.
"I call it Airworld," Bingham says in the novel by Walter Kirn on which [Up in the Air] is based. "The scene, the place, the style. . . . Airworld is a nation within a nation, with its own language, architecture, mood, and even its own currency—the token economy of airline bonus miles that I’ve come to value more than dollars. Inflation doesn’t degrade them. They’re not taxed. They’re private property in its purest form."
For you, Airworld is the nowhere you pass through on your way to a meeting or a vacation. It’s the series of tubes from security to your gate, and to the rental car lots, chain hotels, and fast-casual restaurants. At every stop, if you’re savvy, you earn precious miles. American Airlines launched the first frequent-flier program almost 30 years ago on a lark; United followed suit a week later. Therein lies the tale—and many free trips to Hawaii. These led to real-life Clooneys endlessly chasing miles—and who knows what else.
And that’s what it is for me. The chase of the miles. The hunt for bargains. The chase for new cities, airlines, aircraft or just random trips that I’m just crazy enough to take. Lindsay spoke with a couple dozen “Air Warriors” – residents of AirWorld – about their adventures. And the stories we tell are full of frivolity, challenges and conquests. From one guy’s tale of his earliest memory – falling down the stairs of a 747 as a three year old – to a story of a mass revolution against an airline’s declining product quality, the stories are great reads.
Plus, I’m quoted a few times in the article; I’m sure that contributes to my appreciation of it.
You can read it here (http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/502250) or pick up a copy on the newsstands. The print version has a pretty awesome photo, too.
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Posted by Seth on January 12, 2010 under media coverage, News |
Medical solutions for jetlag have been featured quite a bit in the news lately. Another article came out this morning from ABCNews.com. The story is pretty much the same: Nuvigil, a drug from pharmaceutical company Cephalon, has been submitted to the FDA to “treat” jetlag and they’re hopeful that it will receive approval soon. And the story behind the story is almost as entertaining as the actual news.
It turns out that testing the effects of a drug against jetlag means inducing jetlag and that means flying across an ocean. The testing experience was some fun and some not so fun to be certain, but the end result is the same: it is a great story. Plus, the drug seemed to work pretty well for me. Perhaps too well. Taking it for multiple days was more than I think I really needed, but it definitely kept me up and more alert than I think I otherwise would have been.
Oh, and there’s a great picture of me on page two of the story.
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Posted by Seth on January 7, 2010 under media coverage, News |
Is there such a thing, and does it really work? The folks at Cephalon, a mid-size player in the pharmaceutical industry seem to think so and they’ve got the medical test results to back up their findings. Plus, I’ve got the first hand experience to back it up, too.
A year ago this week I was locked in a medical lab in rural France participating in a study for the drug Nuvigil. And the drug was supposed to be approved by the US Food & Drug Administration shortly before the new year but that decision has been delayed now a few months “to allow more time to analyze the data,” according to Cephalon.
The drug works by preventing users from feeling sleepy, not by actually changing the circadian rhythms of the body. And it works pretty well in my experience, maybe too well. On days two and three of the trial I was somewhat jittery with the dosage I was on. The easy answer to that is simply to not take it for as many days as the trial required but it is worth being aware of.
Another potential limiting factor in the drug’s acceptance is the price. It is expected to cost at least $9 per pill. That’s a lot for a drug but not so bad when you consider that most folks will only use a couple pills per year. For the cost of a couple extra large coffees on arrival a medical solution is possible. Not too shabby.
There’s some coverage of the drug in today’s New York Times, including a couple quotes from me at the end. Yes, the food really was that bad.
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