mark

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

What Was She Thinking?

I don’t know what’s going on with the flying public these days. Last month, it’s a woman lighting matches to cover body odor. Last Sunday, it’s a 28-year-old woman getting drunk and then breaking damn close to every rule in the air on a United flight from Boston to San Francisco. According to the article…

Read More

The Shoe Carnival Still Alive in Orlando

The shoe carnival — that degrading one-legged dance we do for the entertainment of TSA screeners across the country all because one guy tried (and failed) to light his shoe on fire some six years ago — has survived the introduction of the ShoeScanner in Orlando’s airport. Home of some of the worst TSA lines,…

Read More

The December Storms Hurt the Airlines Too

My first-hand experiences with last month’s travel delays were major topics in the last two podcasts. As you would expect, the delays inconvenienced the airlines too. United Airlines announced late Friday afternoon how much of an impact the December storms had on its operations. “During December,” United says, “operations were affected by severe winter snowstorms…

Read More

Podcast #50 – Yet Another Winter Storm, Travel Super Elites

Recorded in the TravelCommons studio after hanging around home for the holidays. I talk about yet another tough struggle to get home when a pre-Christmas blizzard shuts down Denver, a couple of listeners share their trials of sitting next to travelers with killer bad breath, and we talk about new class distinctions among frequent fliers…

Read More

Those 3-Letter Codes Are Important

One of the first successes of the Web was on-line travel — the elimination (“disintermediation” was the term during the Bubble Years) of the travel agent, allowing you to book your own travel. I do this every week, though not always perfectly. There have been a few times when I booked a room on the…

Read More

What Was She Thinking?

It’s been a few months since the liquid restrictions went into place, and not everyone flies as often as I do (I’m averaging 3 out of every 4 weeks in the air), so I can understand when someone in front of me in the TSA screening line doesn’t quite have the “travel-size toiletries in the…

Read More

Podcast #49 – Working Hard to Get Home, Wireless Apps That Help

Recorded in the TravelCommons studio after a week in the Bay Area and a tough struggle to get back home in the teeth of the first winter storm of the season. A listener passes along the story of a trip as an inadvertent stowaway. I walk through the timelime of my efforts to get home…

Read More