Recorded in the Gaithersburg, MD Marriott outside Washington, DC at the end of an intense week of travel that had me flying from the East Coast to the West Coast and then back east again… on four different airlines. With many airlines’ plummeting customer satisfaction scores, we ask the question “Who raves about their airline?” Recent trips allow me to do a “seat-to-seat” comparison of two high-buzz airlines — JetBlue and Virgin America. Our recurring Travel Tech topic talks about replacing a laptop with the latest evolution of Nokia’s Internet tablet, and hunting down power outlets in airports. Also, a listener suggestion on local food in DC’s Reagan National Airport leads to frustration at missing a great burger. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.

Here are the show notes from TravelCommons podcast #58:

• • Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
  • Recorded in the Gaithersburg, MD Marriott outside Washington, DC
  • Had an extensive tour of East and West Coast airports over the past three weeks — EWR, DCA, IAD, FLL, RDU, SNA, OAK, and SFO
  • Flying to the Northeast is much more painful than flying to the West Coast, even though the ORD-SFO flight is twice as long
  • Bridge Music — Nachoon Gi by Junoon

Following Up

• • Dave of the Sand and Tsunamis blog talked about hitting the Five Guys Famous Burger stand in DC’s Reagan National Airport. I wanted to try it out on my DC trip last week. Unfortunately, Five Guys is buried behind security in the USAir concourse and I was flying United
  • Chris Christensen of the Amateur Traveler podcast sent along a review of TravelCommons from Acura Style magazine
  • Bridge Music — Old Mexico by Jeffery Luck Lucas

Who Raves about Their Airline?

• • Most of the airline customer satisfaction problems are with what used to be called “legacy” carriers, now called “network” carriers — USAir, Northwest, Delta, American, United
  • Many elite fliers living in hub cities of network carriers (e.g., Philadelphia for USAir, Detroit for Northwest) complain about being “trapped”
  • A stark comparison to the ringing endorsement of JetBlue offered by Business Week’s executive editor in this podcast
  • Virgin America still feels like they’re in “beta” mode
  • JetBlue offers a great in-flight experience — good leg room, choice of snacks, free DirecTV in seatback screens — but the ground experience in JFK is a hassle
  • Udayan Tripathi describes his flight across the US on Frontier Airlines
  • Bridge Music — Johannesburg airport tower party by Bruno Misonne

Travel Tech Potpourri

• Marc Löhrwald is very satisfied with the Nokia N800 as a PC replacement, and doesn’t have to take it out of his briefcase when passing through security. He is, though, going to upgrade to the new N810
• Finding power outlets in airports can be a bit of an Easter Egg hunt
• O’Hare’s Terminal 1 has put in a number of free workstations with plenty of plugs at eye level
• Other airports push their pay-to-charge vending machines
• Here’s a picture of the Medusa-like cell phone and PDA charger in Raleigh-Durham airport
• Closing music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
• Bridge music from Magnatune and Bruno Misonne
• Feedback at comments@travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
• Direct link to the show