Here’s the second TravelCommons podcast. This week, I talk about the evolution of the Southwest Airlines customer, the growth of travel meta-search sites such as Kayak and Sidestep, and how Mexicans vacation in Cabo San Lucas. There’s also a clip from fellow travel podcaster Curt Taylor of emptyseat.net. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Here are the shownotes from the second TravelCommons podcast:
Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
In town all week, but getting ready for killer travel next week — 7 flights and 4 cities in 5 days
Interesting travel statistic from Curt Taylor at emptyseat.net
Changes to the typical passenger on Southwest Airlines
Growth of Travel Meta-Search Sites, such as Kayak, Sidestep, and Mobissimo
Differences between American and Mexican vacationers in Cabo San Lucas
Feedback at comments[at]travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
Direct link to the show
Mark – Caught up on you second podcast this afternoon. Good job!! Thanks much for the recommendation to Emptyseat, I appreciate it. I really like the format you are using. Still working on my second and you are providing a lot of inspiration. Did a couple of promos this week, but don’t like them and still tweaking.
By the way we (wife, younger daughter, and myself) were in Cabo during spring break. Sounds like you had a great time. We got really ripped on the hotel, but with all the stress the 3 of us were under, sitting by the pool, sipping margarita’s was about all we were up to. I was really amazed at the amount and variety of activities being peddled. Some seemed pretty ridiculous, like the ultralight airplane rides. We have tried a lot of other places in Mexico and don’t think we will be going back real soon. May try Costa Rica or Belize. We are not much for ‘action packed’ vacations and really like to go someplace to decompress. I don’t think this is a strictly Mexican phenomena.
Look forward to your next cast.
Keep it up, travel safe…
Thanks for the nice tip on the SW check-in while on the road w/o a printer. I have been printing the Boarding Pass prior to leaving from home for the outbound, but always have been left with “Cs” on the return leg. Never again.
Also, I have been lucky enough to always get a window or aisle seat even with a “B” bp on SW. Since SW is an all Boeing 737 fleet I would not be surprised if the number of “A+B” passes = the number of window + aisle seats. And the number of “C” passes = the number of middle seats. Just a guess.
AAM
Hi Mark,
I too am slowly (very slowly) warming up to Southwest, but I suspect that it is because business travelers seem to be replacing some of the leasure travelers. I just could not stand arriving at the gate in high heels and a skirt and subsequently having to stand in line for an hour because people were already staking their place so damn early. I always had to decide between sitting on the floor in line in my business clothes or getting the crappiest seat on the plane because I chose to wait in the seating area – decisions, decisions. The business traveler seems more ‘last minute’ and is content to sit working on their laptop in a real chair until close to boarding time.
On the good side, I find that many of their flights are frequent enough and changing tickets is easy, that I do appreciate about Southwest. Oh, and they stopped all the cutsie talk they used to do, the jokes and such.
Great Podcast!
Chris