Tag Archives: American Airlines

Podcast #137 — New Year’s Travel Status Tips; How to Shop for a Suitcase

Posted by mark on January 25, 2018 2 comments

So we’re four weeks into the new year and 30-50% of us have already ditched our New Year’s resolutions, but we still have time to get our 2018 travel status lined up. Over the holiday break, I bought a non-smart carry-on to replace my now-banned Bluesmart; I walk through my shopping criteria. All this and […]

Podcast #136 — Is Cash A Waning King; Don’t Make It Hard to Cash in on Loyalty

Posted by mark on December 19, 2017 Comments Off

After traveling with younger colleagues who pay for everything with cards, I wonder if I’m the last generation of cash payers. I also talk about the upcoming smart luggage ban on US airlines and a long Saturday afternoon trying to redeem some British Airways Avios points. All this, a new Uber driver story, and a […]

Podcast #135 — Airport Bingo; My New Old Travel PC

Posted by mark on November 20, 2017 1 comment

Here’s something to listen to while in the Thanksgiving airport lines and traffic jams. We list out some of the squares we’d like to see in an airport bingo card, and I end up going back to the future with my new travel PC. We also talk about my growing stack of subway “tap” cards […]

Podcast #134 — Value of Loyalty; Need Those 5 Stars

Posted by mark on October 31, 2017 Comments Off

Finding a Jag in the Hertz Presidents Club aisle has me thinking about the differing value of loyalty from hotel, airlines, and car rental companies while 5-star rating schemes are pushing grade inflation. All this and comments on luggage discounts, traveling while injured, and #metoo while flying at the direct link to the podcast file or […]

Podcast #131 — Twitter Concierge Customer Service; London Tube Story

Posted by mark on July 30, 2017 1 comment

This past week in Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, when I traveled across four terminals to find a restaurant serving a nice selection of local Atlanta beers, I finally had to admit that I have a craft beer problem. In addition to this confession, I talk about about taking the London Underground back from the big Adele […]

Podcast #129 — Airport Fight Club; The Bourdain Effect

Posted by mark on April 27, 2017 Comments Off

Difficult to do a travel podcast without talking about this month’s incidents on United and American Airlines. The videos that hit social media were damning, but as more of the facts came out, the stories around each incident became more complex. On a much lighter note, we also talk about the explosion of food tourism, […]

Podcast #129 Uncut — The Video Version

Posted by mark on April 27, 2017 1 comment

Pulled out the GoPro again for the recording of the latest episode. The GoPro is a bit too far from me for good audio, so I cut in the podcast audio from the Zoom recorder when it was available, hence the change in audio quality. I’ll post the final audio on Saturday. [youtube]https://youtu.be/et5b0N8xx9c[/youtube]

Podcast #127 — Critiquing My Top 10 Travel Tips; Reviewing VPNs

Posted by mark on February 20, 2017 Comments Off

In this episode, I talk again about digital security on the road, especially the use of a VPN. I review three VPN products, including NordVPN which is giving away a year’s subscription to a TravelCommons listener. I dig into the process of generating the Top 10 Holiday Travel Tips listicle I do every couple of year, […]