TravelCommons

TravelCommons

It’s As Much About the Journey as the Destination

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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.” Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →

  • 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, Continue Reading →

  • 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 Continue Reading →