American Airlines

Podcast #153 — Travel By Algorithm; Leaving Places Behind

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…

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Podcast #146 — Rental Demolition Derby; Traveler Gift Guide

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…

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Podcast #144 — Outside Airports; Hospitality Mentality

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…

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Podcast #143 — How Bad is Business Travel For Your Health; Make Layovers Fun

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….

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

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…

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

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…

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

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…

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

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…

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