mark

Can’t Outsource Responsibility

The Chicago Tribune‘s Sunday Business section featured a 3,600-word in-depth analysis of a United Airlines flight that went terribly wrong. United Flight 1073 was supposed to leave Montego Bay, Jamaica at 1:55pm on Saturday, March 31, 2007. It didn’t leave the ground until the following Monday, April 2. The article is a very good read,…

Read More

Podcast #54 – Traveling Injured; How Bad Is Travel Experience Really?

Recorded in the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa, the former Playboy Club, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, I talk about the travails of “playing injured” — traveling while sick. A listener comment makes me wonder if I’m exaggerating the state of the US travel experience. We get a good suggestion on how to wrestle with charging…

Read More

Flight Delays Worst in 13 Years — Tell Me Something I Don’t Know

The front page of today’s USAToday — the unofficial newspaper of record for the frequent traveler — greeted its readers with an article stating “Flights on U.S. airlines arrived late more often in the first four months of this year than in any other year since the government began tracking the numbers 13 years ago.”…

Read More

Bumping on the Rise?

A New York Times article provides an interesting behind-the-scenes view of the balance airlines are trying to strike between maximizing revenue through overbooking, and raising the ire of customers and their front-line employees when passengers get bumped from oversold flights. Interviewing a number of people at US Airways, the article reveals the tensions between the…

Read More

Trade Your Bags For Another $1/Hr

We’ve talked many times here about how the act of travel has lost its glamor, is no longer fun for the frequent traveler. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, life isn’t so glamorous on the other side of the travel counter. Airlines used to offer prestigious jobs with good wages and coveted…

Read More

Podcast #53 – Wanting the Red Carpet; Family Travel Technology

Recorded in Marriott Courtyard in San Francisco‘s SoMa district, I confess to some base emotions — my inner child has been throwing tantrums now that American and United Airlines have taken away some of the special treatment they used to give their mid-tier status fliers. I also had a bit of an awakening while on…

Read More

Podcast #52 – Flying Friendless Skies; Latest Speed for the Road

Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside of Chicago, we talk through some of the problems that have made United Airlines‘ skies less friendly than their ads would like you to believe. This has definitely been the winter of United fliers’ discontent. I also follow up on last episode’s travel technology upgrade topic. I’ve now found…

Read More

Podcast #51 – Change Out Status; Upgrading Travel Technology

Recorded in the SFO Marriott at the start of a trans-continental travel week, we talk about the need to “re-balance” your frequent traveler elite status at the beginning of the year — should you re-up with your current airline or hotel, or move elsewhere? I’ve upgraded a good bit of my travel technology over the…

Read More