Can I leave my house now? I broke Chicago’s containment for my first post-lockdown trip, a fast drive down I-65. We talk about hotels swapping hospitality for sanitation, Hertz’s bankruptcy, and tips for travel credit card usage from Brett Holzhauer, the travel card expert at ValuePenguin.com. All this and more at the direct link to the […]
Tag Archives: American Airlines
Podcast #155 — RJ Delays; Street Food in Poland and Hungary
Posted by mark on September 20, 2019
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Polish health food Didn’t have any problems with the 787’s flying 4,800 miles to Krakow or back from Budapest, but the 560-mile regional jet flights between Chicago and Charlottesville, VA have been causing me no end of hassles. We talk about this, revisit our discussions about iPhone dual SIM capability and American Airlines’ MD-80 retirement. […]
Podcast #153 — Travel By Algorithm; Leaving Places Behind
Posted by mark on July 26, 2019
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What’s Behind Me Is Not Important Going upscale, recording in the podcast studio at the 1871 tech incubator in Chicago, I talk about my surprising smooth 2-week trip in Ireland and Scotland. We also note the retirement (finally!) of American Airlines’ MD-80 jet, a very interesting new social media app, talk about how algorithms are […]
Podcast #146 — Rental Demolition Derby; Traveler Gift Guide
Posted by mark on November 20, 2018
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Getting this posted just in time to give you something to listen to while jammed up in Thanksgiving traffic, be it on the road or in the airports. We talk about working the angles to maximize credit card benefits, which leads me to one more story from my fall trip to Europe — a rental […]
Podcast #144 — Outside Airports; Hospitality Mentality
Posted by mark on September 15, 2018
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Back in front of the mic after 12 days of skipping across northern Europe — Copenhagen, Brussels, and Scotland. In this episode, we get nostalgic about outside airports in California, talk about how a hospitality mentality is pervasive in hotels but not in restaurants, missing customer service responses from United Airlines and Marriott, and European […]
Podcast #143 — How Bad is Business Travel For Your Health; Make Layovers Fun
Posted by mark on August 9, 2018
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No long-distance travel this month. Instead, I”m getting back into regional jets, and waiting out a long delay in Cincinnati has me wondering about American Eagle’s flight scheduling algorithm. My flights into CVG cause me to think about the impact of losing hub status. CVG looks overbuilt, but MEM is spending money to shrink itself. […]
Podcast #137 — New Year’s Travel Status Tips; How to Shop for a Suitcase
Posted by mark on January 25, 2018
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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
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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 […]