What Industry Are You in?
Nov 22, 2011, 9:16 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: SEA & OAK
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 75K, Hilton HHonors Diamond, Rogue Nation
Posts: 21
What Industry Are You in?
Curious what industry most of the Alaska frequent fliers trolling this board are in. Qualitatively based on riding Alaska for decades, I think the tops are high tech, aerospace, retail (Costco) and manufacturing. After that, its the typical demographics of frequently flyers - finance, legal, adult entertainment, military, energy, government and agribusiness. So what industry are you in. Me, manufacturing.
Nov 22, 2011, 9:23 pm
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,953
Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.261 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
Well I could say but then...
However my 100K+ miles this year is all leisure travel, no company trips. There are quite a few folks on this board who travel as much if not more, just for the fun of it.
Well I could say but then...
However my 100K+ miles this year is all leisure travel, no company trips. There are quite a few folks on this board who travel as much if not more, just for the fun of it.
Nov 22, 2011, 9:36 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SEA/YYZ
Posts: 1,561
100% leisure here 
Curious what industry most of the Alaska frequent fliers trolling this board are in. Qualitatively based on riding Alaska for decades, I think the tops are high tech, aerospace, retail (Costco) and manufacturing. After that, its the typical demographics of frequently flyers - finance, legal, adult entertainment, military, energy, government and agribusiness. So what industry are you in. Me, manufacturing.
Nov 22, 2011, 10:43 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2006
Location: TUS/PDX
Programs: WN CP/A-List, AS MVPG75K
Posts: 5,798
I don't know how you leisure travelers can stand to get top tier status on multiple airlines. I'm on the road 40-45 weeks a year for work. I wouldn't do that for fun. Ever.
How come I never sit next to the female actresses on any of my flights (WN, AS or DL)?
How come I never sit next to the female actresses on any of my flights (WN, AS or DL)?
Nov 22, 2011, 11:33 pm
#6
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVP Gold
Posts: 2,732
100% leisure traveller here as well.
Nov 23, 2011, 1:07 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: Alaska MVPG 75K, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, Amex Plat
Posts: 215
High-Tech.
Most of my miles are from flying SEA->SJC down to headquarters in the valley, a couple of international trips for conferences and the rest leisure (HI, AK, FL etc...)
Most of my miles are from flying SEA->SJC down to headquarters in the valley, a couple of international trips for conferences and the rest leisure (HI, AK, FL etc...)
Nov 23, 2011, 2:48 am
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
100% leisure here, too. (I lie slightly; I did my first business trip ever last month...I never thought I'd see the day when the owner of the small business I work for would loosen up his purse strings enough to actually fly me somewhere for a conference!)
I agree with baliktad's post. I find it enjoyable because I'm in control and can do what I want. I find travel adventurous, and so if I want to (and the fares are cheap enough), I can go to Orlando for a weekend, stop in New York and sight-see and eat incredible food, or pick up a rental car and explore the countryside of New England. No obligations = no stress.
It's actually probably not as grueling to travel as much as I do given where I live. A transcon nets me close to 10,000 EQMs (well, when you factor in some of the more fun routings ), so four trips is all it takes for Gold. When you live in Alaska, you sort of come to adopt a mindset that you a) will be leaving on a red-eye flight and b) it will take you a full day to get to and from your destination. Once you've accepted that and moved on, the travel days actually pass rather quickly and don't seem to bother you as much.
I also try to have fun while traveling (if I have time) by creating stopovers in PDX or SEA (both beautiful, vibrant, interesting cities) or at least breaking up the travel experience with a few hours' layover in LAX to walk over to In-N-Out or El Tarasco for a treat I can't get here at home.
I agree with baliktad's post. I find it enjoyable because I'm in control and can do what I want. I find travel adventurous, and so if I want to (and the fares are cheap enough), I can go to Orlando for a weekend, stop in New York and sight-see and eat incredible food, or pick up a rental car and explore the countryside of New England. No obligations = no stress.
), so four trips is all it takes for Gold. When you live in Alaska, you sort of come to adopt a mindset that you a) will be leaving on a red-eye flight and b) it will take you a full day to get to and from your destination. Once you've accepted that and moved on, the travel days actually pass rather quickly and don't seem to bother you as much.I also try to have fun while traveling (if I have time) by creating stopovers in PDX or SEA (both beautiful, vibrant, interesting cities) or at least breaking up the travel experience with a few hours' layover in LAX to walk over to In-N-Out or El Tarasco for a treat I can't get here at home.
Nov 23, 2011, 7:35 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MM, MVPGold100k, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 1,475
Wow, my trips are almost all business, but some are a combination work/enjoyment. (I work in the electrical field, evaluating unlisted equipment or teaching the NEC) Some of my work involves conferences that are part fun because we take an extra day or two days at the end to see the sights and enjoy the area and of course, I get to take my DH along.
CTP
CTP
Nov 23, 2011, 9:08 am
#12
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SF East Bay
Programs: 189 miles short of AS MVP, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,226
I would say I'm about 70% leisure and 45% business. I work as a consultant to hospital's and only travel to the client sites when I do mutliple days of training on our program. The rest of the time is on WebEx. Contrary to popular belief, hospitals are tight with their money so I usually only visit the client once. I'm curious of which industries really burn through money on travel expenses because that's where I want a job!
I enjoy the personal travel a lot and usually take a bunch of trips up to PDX to watch my Ducks play but the EQMS are pretty limited and the CPM has become pretty high for that route.
I enjoy the personal travel a lot and usually take a bunch of trips up to PDX to watch my Ducks play but the EQMS are pretty limited and the CPM has become pretty high for that route.
Nov 23, 2011, 9:33 am
#13
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AS MVPG, Hyatt Discoverist, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,399
Nov 23, 2011, 11:04 am
#14
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SF East Bay
Programs: 189 miles short of AS MVP, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,226
My bad. I kept on changing the %'s. Although lately I feel like I have been giving a 115%. My slow season is supposed to be now and it's busier than ever. I can't complain though with so many people out of work.
Nov 23, 2011, 2:12 pm
#15
Join Date: May 2006
Location: TUS/PDX
Programs: WN CP/A-List, AS MVPG75K
Posts: 5,798
It's interesting to see how many leisure travelers there are on here. I thought most people on here were biz travelers. Especially those of you who rack up 100k+ miles a year.
There are some positives to being on the road so much: a pack of garbage bags from Costco last me 3 years, for instance.
I'm in the chemical industry (never mention that to the CBP). We do Webex, but a computer is simply no substitute for face to face interaction with our customers. It doesn't work, no matter what Cisco says. The customers hate it and our sales folks hate it. It does help that we're a small company and not a conglomerate like Dow or Rohm and Haas.
There are some positives to being on the road so much: a pack of garbage bags from Costco last me 3 years, for instance.
I'm in the chemical industry (never mention that to the CBP). We do Webex, but a computer is simply no substitute for face to face interaction with our customers. It doesn't work, no matter what Cisco says. The customers hate it and our sales folks hate it. It does help that we're a small company and not a conglomerate like Dow or Rohm and Haas.