Greetings All,

My name is bhatnasx & I'm a Flyertalk-aholic! I joined FT over a year & a half ago. Before I joined, I thought I was the only one who was all about miles & points - then I read an article in the Washington Post about the DC Happy Hours (join us if you'd like) & logged on that same afternoon & spent the rest of the day at work doing absolutely nothing but surfing FT!

Since I joined, I've met a great community of people that I've grown to know & trust, I've flown to Iceland for 61 bucks roundtrip and got so drunk that I blacked out & (selectively?) forgotten some of it, I've had the my name mentioned in the Washington Post (everyone loves their 15 minutes of fame), and I've done mattress & mileage runs (which I didn't even know existed til I joined FT!), and most recently, I've gotten a free iPod (and created a headache for the mods - sorry!) & a free TV. I've randomly met other FT'ers with the Flyertalk Luggage tags in AMS & DTW and went to a Sunday morning afterparty in DC & ended up meeting an FT'er there.

It took me about 2 months before I had the balls to post something in the Mileage Run form because I had no clue how to even understand how to route a trip and I didn't want to seem like an idiot. Of course, that changed when made my first post on the MR forum. I just looked up my first ever post in the Mileage Run forum and it was of me sharing the fact that there was a $10.00 off coupon for flights for Priceline available & that it might help some mileage runners (gee, I guess I really didn't know anything!) I've almost got the hang of it now though. I've started trying to maintain three threads to give back to the community that has helped me travel as much as I love to - the Mileage Run Tools thread, the DC Monthly Happy Hours thread, & the Amtrak Discount Codes thread (which I just cleaned & updated today after a year of poor organization).

I'm 25 years old & a JMU graduate (December 2001 - I was on the 4.5 year plan), as I was hoping for a position with the marketing or loyalty program of a major airline, 9/11 kind of hit the industry hard & that was a dream out the window. So I bummed around for a few months working as an art salesman & a market research interviewer. Then I got in with the company I'm with now (which I'd prefer not to mention) and have been gainfully employed ever since - I get no business travel. The only job I ever had where I got to travel was with a company called Rein Teen Tours where I was a traveling cook for 35 fifteen year olds as we drove from NY to Canada to SFO in about a month - I drove a Ryder truck with the supplies & somehow did it on about 3-4 hours of sleep per night.

So I guess that's me...

I can't find my original post either; no great loss, it was either totally out-of-date, or I just made stuff up, anyway (can't remember)?.


I consider myself a semi-original here ? I lurked in the very first days, when almost all the airline threads had no posts. I soon lost interest, but a co-worker steered me back in 1999, and I?'ve been here ever since.

From 1992-2000, I was flying on transoceanic trips about 7 times a year (mostly work, for a company who didn?t believe in business class), so I turned to the teachings of Our Dark Lord Randy in order to find clever ways to sit in the front on the plane. I had a huge success rate (97%) in getting upgraded. I never cared much about free trips, just upgrades.

My frequent flyer loyalties have shifted over the years from Eastern (R.I.P.) to American to Continental to United to Delta. In my peak travel years, I was a Delta Platinum and a United PremEx.

My current job had less travel, although in the last 6 months, I seem to be on an airplane every week. So far this year, I've flown F or C on Air France, Delta, Continental, America West, Alaska, Northwest and United. Somewhere, Our Dark Lord is laughing.

I?m 48, married, no kids. I've worked in the medical equipment business as an engineer and a director of engineering. Currently, I am a Director of Product Marketing. My little company is shrinking, however, and I will be moving on (and, perhaps out of California, where I've lived since 1986).

I ran a mobile DJ business for many years (I might be one of the first to do this, a few years before "Saturday Night Fever"), and I occasionally play a gig or two, mostly for my own amusement. Unlike most old fogies my age, I actually own and know current music, so I can play Usher and Nina Sky along with Bananarama, if I have to.

My first Flyertalk event was the FAQ in Montreal, hosted by flyme, Great event, I met a lot of FT VIPs, including Our Dark Lord, who was merciful and spared his humble servant. I've attended a few events since, and they've always been a blast. I even got to meet Pudding Guy. If you don't know who Pudding Guy is, do a search, or rent "Punch-Drunk Love", which is (very) partly based on his story.

Over the years, I've written many trip reports for Flyertalk -- although I've been lazy, and haven't written any for a while. I have reposted them on my personal website, http://home.pacbell.net/opus17/ (I might have to move that site if I move out of California, since it is tied to my DSL account ). A large percentage of the reports are true, and any exaggerations or distortions were done solely to get a laugh, since I'm needy in that way.

Life's been very busy in the last few years, so I haven't been posting as much as I used to. Traveling less made me less of an "expert", so I didn't have the "scoops" anymore (as far as I know, I was the first one here to say that the name "Skyteam" was in the running for the DL/AF alliance, and the first one to mention that DL was abandoning Portland as a international hub). So, I've spent more time on Omni, posting music quizzes and baiting right-wingers. Hopefully, with the upturn in my travel, I will be back to contribute to the "main" boards again.

My name is Dale Parkes. When I'm "home" I live in the western part of Orange County in the south part of California. LGB is the closest airport, SNA next closest and LAX third closest. I'm 42 and single. I drive a truck for a living. For my first ten truck driving jobs I pulled a trailer full of cargo, usually a 53' dry van but occasionally a 48-footer a 57-footer or a 28-footer (called a "pup") or two 28-footers (called "doubles"). So far I've been to or thru all 48 states except Vermont and I've been to BC several times and once to Calgary. My latest gig has been shuttling different types of trucks so the vehicle itself is the cargo. Consequently I've travelled by air more in the last 4.5 months than I had in the last 20+ years because I usually have to travel somewhere when it is time to pick up a truck and often have to fly to get home.
My father (retired since October 1988) was a captain for American Airlines; for many years he was on the B-707 (back when they were called "Astrojets" and back when there was no security checkpoints). For a short time he was on the B-727 and he ended up on the DC-10; by the time he retired American divested itself of all its 747's. Consequently I went on holiday a lot with my folks to visit relatives or just sightsee numerous times over the years way back yonder. I have an uncle who lives near SEA and he (now retired) was a captain on United and he ended flying the 747s on their Pacific routes.
I also do a limited amount of street preaching and when I do that I often use a banner or sandwich sign. I also publish a newsletter as I am able to do so (I don't solicit funds and don't want the government entanglement that goes with applying for tax exempt status). I also like to take pictures of places I go to and have quite a few books full of pictures.

name is amit.
been a subsriber to Mileage email for quite a few years, finally joined FT in aug this year.
am SW engr by profession, based in Bay Area, california.
very loyal united flyer.. mainly fly for personal/pleasure.. became PremEx last year.
also *wood Gold and hilton silver.

I'm Rob :)

25, Canadian currently living in Michigan

travel for work and working for travel!

Just a reminder that all these posts can be found in one compilation at:

http://members.shaw.ca/deercroft/wwaa.xls

(700 Meg Excel spreadsheet). A lot of information is out of date now but it is an interesting collection of folks! ^

I've been a member of flyertalk for a while, but I must admit I follow along more than posting.

I'm an electrical engineer in the Washington DC area, and I travel both for business and pleasure.

I've been a UA flyer forever, but now I've started to fly to South America a lot so I'm building miles on AA and DL. Too bad UA lost some good routes when they went in bankruptcy, but it's understandable.

700k :) not 700 MB :P

I guess it's time ....
 

.... that I introduce myself.

I'm currently a grad student at UC Berkeley, and I've been at FTer for about a year. I'm originally from SAN, but I've lived in WAS and NYC as well as PIT. I really enjoy flying, traveling, etc. a LOT and I have since I was a small child. I've a big US travel buff, and I've been to 48 states (sorry Kansas and North Dakota), but internationally I've only been to Canada, Mexico, and Israel. Actually, I *say* I've been to Canada and Mexico but in reality I've been to Niagara Falls and Tijuana. :D

I went to college in Pittsburgh, PA, so all of my miles and status are still with US Airways. Now that I'm in the Bay Area I fly United a lot, but still credit all my flights to my US account. We'll see if that's a mistake or not quite soon I bet .... I'm one of those strange people that enjoys to fly and actually flies for the sake of flying. Hence the reason I love flyertalk. Aside from flying, I enjoy going out, reading, movies, and cheesy reality television.

After I finish my master's degree I hope to begin a career in the airline industry. I'm in the IT field, and I'd love to be able to affect the performance and efficiency of airlines by improving their IT infrastructure. I think a lot can be studied in this area, and I'm looking forward to being part of it. I'm in the job searching process right now.

"700k not 700 MB"

That WOULD be quite a large download :D

A friendly reminder to whoever is compiling Talk Mail... there are lots of very interesting and very LONG-STANDING FlyerTalk members who have their bio posts very early on in this thread who have never been featured in Talk Mail.

I think it is very cool that you guys are profiling folks ^ :cool: ... I just hate that it is only the most recent posters who get the spotlight. :td: :confused:

I am Phil, a third year doctoral graduate student here at Johns Hopkins University-Bloomberg School of Public Health. I have been on flyertalk.com for about two years. Thanks for all the folks here, I learned a lot about air travel during these two years.

Since I have family and friends in China, I travel once or twice to China every year. That is where UA vs NW comes from. Before I moved to Baltimore, I flew a lot on United and ORD is always an exciting place for me since United did not serve CMI(Urbana-Champaign University of Illinois Willard Airport). Until now I still don't understand why no United service at CMI. Ever since I came to Baltimore, I solely fly on the skyteam alliance due to higher fare and less miles when traveling on United--I am still a poor student. Sorry, United--but I have always help my friends book their China trip on you. (I have helped them book 5 trips on United this winter).

Before I came to flyertalk.com, elite status for me is just a dream. However, after I came here, I found that it is not that hard to achieve it with one US-China trip every year. Last year, after a BWI-DTW-LAX-NRT-HKG-NRT-LAX-DTW-BWI trip, I finally became NW silver. Again thanks a lot for the Bump experts here, I collected $1200 DL voucher during last Thanksgiving bump and used those voucher to earn Gold elite by this year. Delta, please bump me again this Thanksgiving.

Just as Jumpgate says about him/herself, I also belong to those strange people group who just enjoy flying for the sake of flying. That is why I always make as much as possible connections when traveling, for which my friends always make jokes about me.

In the future, I am planning to visit every US state (I have been to 37 of them) plus Australia (next year), Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand,UK, Turkey and Africa during the remaing two and a half years in graduate school. Happy to meet all the great flyers here.

Phil

Except that for many of us the posts are rather obsolete. Of course, we probably should post again, but that would be too easy.
;)

I’ve been around for quite a while, and really have no excuse why I haven’t posted here yet, but I guess there’s a time for everything :)

I’m Kai, 21 years old, and a slightly different version of FlyerTalker. I’m more of the “I’m here to help” type of FlyerTalker, yet I do have a passion (boy do I ever) for travelling. I live in Petaluma, CA (45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge sans traffic) and actually trek to SFO a couple times a week to work for SkyWest Airlines in San Francisco for our United Express operations as what I like to term “Airline Gate Nazi” (No seat for you! ;)), or CS Agent for the uninitiated.

I’ve grown up flying, from the time I was but 9 months old or so I’ve been making regular trips to Finland to visit family and such. I’ve always been a bit of a plane nut, and love getting on a plane, knowing it’s going to take me somewhere fun (usually). My job satisfies me in the way that I help other people do the same exact thing. If you ask me to assist in planning a trip I just light up! So come see me :) I was always a bit of a oneworld nut, until I started working for SkyWest and converted to Star (and SkyTeam I guess). I’m the proud owner of a SPG Amex card too :)

I was hired just days before September 11, 2001, but thankfully was not laid off. Nay, I’ve prospered and kept very busy. I’m part of an internal ground agent team that travel the country assisting on an as-needed basis in stations wherever our aircraft are handled, whether by SkyWest or a contracted carrier (which includes mainline United and Delta in some locales). I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working in Redding, CA (RDD), Pasco, WA (PSC) and Allentown, PA (ABE) thus far.

I’m currently also doubling as your typical frenzied college student carrying 14 units. I’ve received my AA thus far, shooting eventually for a BA in International Studies with an Aviation emphasis. That is subject to change, I’m sure :)

In my travels, through my travel privileges, I’ve visited Taiwan, Sydney (twice) & Cairns, London, Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm, Berlin, Munich, Boston, New York, Dallas, Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles (more times than I can count), San Diego, Salt Lake City, St. George UT, and Washington DC. More to come? Duh! :)

I have two younger brothers and two wonderful parents who I bum off of while I’m schooling. I love them all to pieces, and they mean the world to me. Also many of my friends, both from FT and off. I’ve attended the Do In Exile and met a lot of wonderful Fters (including the wonderful SanDiego1K, as well as a “mini-Do” in ATL many moons ago where I met cigarman and the legendary techgirl. We’ll see where life takes me, but travel will never be far from me.

Happy Travels! :)
Kai
--------------------
SkyWest Airlines - your friendly regional carrier and largest United Express carrier!

Any opinions expressed by myself are mine alone and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, SkyWest Airlines, or those of our major partners, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Continental Airlines, respectively.

And Kai is the king of impromptu DOs. In fact, we had one a couple of weeks ago when I stepped off a plane in SFO thinking "gosh, I haven't seen Kai in AGES" and wham! I look up, and there he is right in front of me - on his day off. I thought I was hallucinating! Anyone going through SFO should look him up... he is an angel!

Well, as techgirl pointed out, a lot of stuff happens in four years. Four years??? Anyway, here's the revised version:

As you can probably guess, my name is Nick, and my FT name is a cautionary tale - think through the selection. I thought I'd post a couple of times and that would be it... doh. I don't live in Elmhurst (IL), anymore, I live in a different suburb of Chicago. I work in downtown Chicago. I'm a Principal at a boutique managment consulting firm that specializes in government transportation policy, analysis, and software. Before that, I spent nine years at Northwestern University's Transportation Center as both a doctoral candidate and then after that an Assistant Professor. I'm 40 now, which isn't as bad as I had thought it would be.

I don't travel as much as I used to when I first joined FT. I no longer have responsibility of day-to-day management of projects, so the work travel frequency is about half of what it was at my peak but concentrated on running design sessions and relationship management activities. I travel primarily to whatever state capitals where we have projects (these days, mostly IND and ALB) and to our company's four other offices. I've lived most of my life in Chicago, with the exception of a three year stretch at our company's Boston headquarters.

My leisure travel has been split rather evenly between the US and Europe. I'm thinking about a long HKG/SIN/SYD/AKL award trip in 2006 when I'll have saved up six weeks of vacation time, and I may go to South America next year.

I've hit the phase of the FT lifecycle where I only get involved in the really hot-button threads in the program forums (such as AA deciding to remove LRTC and charge for international upgrades within a few weeks). Most of my time on FT these days is spent in FT Community, usually in the role of the snarky cynic in the Chicago FT Community Lunch Carousel - coming soon to a restaurant near you. Even though I rarely travel to an out of town event, I've met a number of incredible people through FT that have affected my life in ways that I would never have imagined from just another web site...

Hello from beautiful downtown Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas! This is my very first post on Flyertalk. I thought that introducing myself would be a nice way to start.

I am 29 years old, married with no kids. We have a beastly 80lb English bulldog named Lord Byron Maxwell (sometimes new people at the vet's office call him "Lord" and I find that hilarious!) and a rescue cat named Dakota who likes to bat around treasures from the trash on our bed at night.

I have worked in our family's insurance brokerage business since graduating from Hendrix College in 1997. I majored in Business with an emphasis in Economics and minored in Religion. I really hated every moment of Economics and lived for my religion classes!

I have been traveling since I was very small. I'm an only child and my parents most always took me wherever they went. I am currently trying to learn personal fiscal responsibility and my travels have been limited to driving distances only. However, I have become increasingly restless and must hit the air soon! Thanks to all of you, I'm learning so much about everything and now I'm starting to utilize your advice. I'm earning miles without currently flying!

My current dream travels are a Windjammer cruise to anywhere, a week in an eco tent in Maho Bay-St. John, hiking Ireland and a Costa Rican jeep vacation!

I also like to read, cook, run (although lately I've been a lazy slob about it), dance, hike, backpack, canoe and pretend to garden. We are moving back to Little Rock soon...Hooray! I like a good Merlot and a nice homebrew.

My nickname of Nymph was given to me by my best friend who said that I was little and mysterious like a wood nymph.

I look forward to getting to know everyone and being here for a very long time.

Mahalo!

Welcome to FT!


Sam


Please join us in Dallas at Chuy’s Thursday 10/28 6:30pm for an FT Happy Hour.

Hi everyone!
When introducing myself in public situations I usually say that I don't like when people tie small plastic bags, because they can be so hard to open again. Nowadays however, I've started doing it myself...

I'm a Swedish male of the age of 24. An interesting FT-fact about me could be that I didn't join any FFP until september 2002! I had always enjoyed flying even before that but mostly flew domestic Sweden. Around that time however it was time to fly intercontinental which I hadn't done in a couple of years, and my flying-nerves got all active again. I started following the forum at Airliners and occasionally there was a reference to FT there. I looked at FT but thought it looked boring and didn't click on this site for another few months. Luckily, after many more references to FT I decided to look closer at this board. What I saw was deals such as BA WT+ for 20$ and ARN-JNB for SEK 960. Apart from that there seemed to be tons of information in this board (and indeed there is!). I registered and have been following this board mostly daily since then.

I'm studying human resources at Lund university in Sweden. Hoping to get a job involving travel, my career choice might not be the optimal one :) . I've spent a year in Bregenz, Austria as an exchange student in high school and have ever since been active as a volunteer for the organization I went with (http://www.afs.org). Through that organization I met my girlfriend from Finland. Although those who know me said part of my love came from having to fly to Helsinki all the time, that is not true. As things go, I have now moved to Helsinki for the autumn, studying at the university here. For the spring I'm planning to return to my Austria, studying in Graz. Then hopefully I'll be back in Sweden.

I work extra as an night-portier in a major chain and use almost all my money on travelling (read flying). Getting this job was good as I can now stay very cheap all around the world with my staff discount. I pay for almost all my trips myself, and thanks to FT, I managed to get my SAS silver-card this year. However right after that SAS announced reduced earnings on their discounted eco-tickets. Discounted eco-tickets being my main way of travelling and points-earning one of the main deciding factors on which airline to choose, I have more or less decided to jump ship to KLM/Skyteam.

This spring I bought an LH-voucher and didn't know what to do with it. Eventually, it led to my proudest moment relating to FT :D This was a trip I booked with LH in C including one night at 4* Marriott for SEK 2200 (310$). Thanks to FT I had learnt about Expedia's fare list. There I saw that LH was matching SK's saturday shopping run (travelling both out and in on the same saturday) in business. Thanks to FT I had learned to read routing and saw which connections were available. Thanks to FT I had learned about ITA and started looking at availible options. Thanks to FT I had learned that a 24h connection is not a stop over and so I transformed my one-day trip to one day in LON, overnight in MUC and one day in MUC. Thanks to FT I had learned about Priceline and found a 4* hotelroom in MUC for 60$. So instead of flying SK GOT-LHR direct on the same day, I got to a good weekend trip and more flying! Thank you FT!

I'm very interested in music, and listen mostly to soul and reaggae from the 60s & 70s. I know my way around in the world of beers and have learnt a little wine as well. Reading is also something I'm fond of and so I've studied modern literature as well. Ehm, dogs are much more appreciated than cats. Mostly my friends call me Gnopps, and I don't remember why I registered with another username here. Favourite tv-show is still Seinfeld. I eat more icecream than most people. I've had a lot of different occupations: postman, firefighter, working at the icecream company and so on. I've introduced FT to my older brother as well. We both love flying and our parents believe they'll loose their only sons in a planecrash (well, almost).

That'll be that for now. I've got my yellow luggage tags so I maybe I'll see you around!'

Bye for now!

Ps. Yes, you guessed it. I should be writing an university-paper right now, that is why there are all those links in the text. ;)

I'm Spiff from Louisville, KY.

I'm a Professional Engineer and a college Professor. I travel a bit for work but more for leisure these days. I'm hoping to get more business travel in by doing consulting, possibly overseas. My work schedule permits long weekend travel and I can usually take my work with me if I have to, so it's rare for me to pass up a terrific sale, especially to Europe or Asia.

I have three sweet (but often naughty!) cats who love it when I'm home, which doesn't seem to happen very much these days. They are all named after professional ice hockey players, which is the sport that I also play (not professionally, though!). I usually play forward, occasionally play defense and never goalie - that position is for crazy people!

I took my first solo commercial flight when I was 6, flying from Honolulu to New York for Christmas. I was amazed at how big the seats were, since I was able to crawl under them! Now I've become quite a bit taller and do my best to sit in business or first class whenever possible, or in an exit row when doomed to coach.

My favorite destinations are Frankfurt, Tokyo and London. I have recently discovered a new favorite, Hong Kong, which I visited this year over Labor Day Weekend at the Fourth Annual AAAsia Run. I sincerely hope that our tradition continues with a Fifth Annual AAAsia Run next year. Australia and Ireland are at the top of my future destinations list - if only the fares on AA or oneworld carriers would go down... Speaking of AA, that's my favorite domestic airline hands down. Even with some of the recent reductions, I still think it's the most generous FF program and have the most enjoyable domestic flights with AA.
I've had the great fortune to meet hundreds of FlyerTalkers all over the globe and hope to increase that number. FlyerTalk Dos are always a blast. Annual events not to be missed include the Annual AAAsia Run, Weekend at Bernie's in Dusseldorf, SeaDo, and the Oregon Brewers' Festival, which was my very first FT event 3 years ago. I attended the Freddies for the first time this year and met even more great FlyerTalkers including Randy Petersen and several members of the Webflyer staff. It's wonderful to have people to talk with who share my addiction for travel. After all, it's really all about the miles and points, isn't it? :)

I'm Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie. I've been on FlyerTalk forever although these days most of my travel is to play major poker tournaments, which I write up on my blog www.liontales.com. I live in Kirkland, Wash., a trendy suburb of Seattle and the home of Costco, with my wife Heather, also known as Shortstack and Hunnybear. If you search the archives you will find many trip reports through the years. I was a 1K on United for many years but mostly fly Alaska now since my most common run is Seattle-Las Vegas. I was a Harvard dropout and an early Microsoft employee. I wrote the first version of Microsoft Word, released in 1983, was Bill Gates's assistant for a year, and contributed to the first version of Microsoft Access. I've been retired since 1994 and have been pursuing hobbies since then. I have published two books, a self-help book Getting Past OK and the first book on the science of memetics, Virus of the Mind. More information is at www.memecentral.com.

The thing about these "who we all are" notes is that some of the posts seem so short. Many of us know Richard (QuietLion) has a much more accomplished resume that what he put down. But he is a classy guy.

I will never forget my one great colossal winning night in Las Vegas and it was all thanks to Richard. Also, my one tour of the Mansion (the finest hotel in the world at the time I think) was thanks to Richard. If anyone really wants to know about Las Vegas, this is the guy to talk to. Or as he says, read his website. ;)

I registered with FT a couple of years ago but have really only been paying attention since this summer. The trigger was the realization by my spouse and me that our days of daily work obligations might be numbered in the sub-thousand range, so given that travel is our passion it would be well to position ourselves among the knowledge elite in that world. And, when one thinks of elites, well....

Self - 50+ (that's plus), named John by my mother. Currently Seattle, previously Alaska, Scotland, Oregon, SF and LA. I work with a nonprofit as a developer of housing for homeless families with children, so a somewhat different workplace culture from many road warriors or other business flyers. My work currently entails roughly zilch in business-related travel, except the odd conference or such. Previous lives have included gigs as a local government manager in Washington State and the Alaska bush, partner in an architecture and planning firm, university lecturer and traveling consultant* in Scotland, US federal employee, student, child, infant....

*As in, "Give me your watch and I'll tell you what time it is."

Spouse, younger, asks to remain nameless so that if I'm captured she can disavow any knowledge... Self employed, highly regarded in her field, loves her work. Previous lives also include Alaska, Oregon, California; plus Israel and wherever the hell else she's been. She flies more than me, but not a huge amount.

We have a wonderful son, and soon a wonderful daughter-in-law.

I grew up in an aviation family. Mom and Pop met at Douglas Aircraft; he was in engineering throughout the war, moved to sales (military mainly, then rockets) after the war; she was the secretary to the test pilots at the dawn of the commercial jet era. I knew my Skyrockets (D558-II) from my X-3s before I could do long division; as a child met many of the pioneers in the right stuff biz. Through obvious strings I worked summers and off-times at the Douglas A, C and D plants, fetching secret stuff from files and eventually bucking rivets and building jigs for DC-8s and 9s.

Later, in Alaska I worked where I had to travel into the bush twice or three times a month; my "regular" route was to the Aleutian chain, where I eventually got to know the ops people at the regional airline so well that I got to ride jump seat pretty often in some very cool planes; also spent lots of hours - lots and lots, really - riding right seat in a variety of twins, Geese, and other small craft. I never tried for a license but probably could have managed things pretty well in a crisis. Brave talk. Had three negative plane/ground interfaces over a few years and felt like that was enough.

We are going to move into a new paradigm (don't you love that word? So...20th Century?) in the new year, marked by what we hope to be a series of RTWs and other elective travel adventures. To make it more effective, we both decided to suspend accruing dear old AS miles for AA, took the challenge, and will now put our butts in (comfortable, for the most part) AA and OW seats for the requisite miles to maintain the addiction. Turkey in January, onward through the year to Africa and beyond... What fun.

I am just knocked out by the people who post on this board. Funny, wise (well, some of you) - elites all.

I'm a 47 year old married woman living in St. Louis, MO. My husband and I travel for pleasure, mostly on AA because there aren't many other choices here if you want to travel internationally.

Hubby and I are the proud "parents" of two dogs and three cats, all rescued from shelters or the streets of St. Louis. I work in the legal profession and my better half is a contractor.

Our favorite destinations are the Caribbean, Paris, Bali and Sedona Arizona, but we're still looking for new favorite places. I grew up in Africa and travelled through Europe at the age of 7, so travel is in my blood. I'm lucky to have found the perfect travel companion.

I usually lurk on Flyertalk and have found the advice here to be invaluable. We've also been able to meet other FTers in Paris. I'll try to post more often and look forward to meeting other fellow travellers in the near future.

Who am I?
 

I am a 41 year old IT director in the Washington DC area for a small division of a global publishing group. I am a native Washingtonian, yes I was born in the District proper. I have been working with Computers and Telecommunications systems for over 20 years.

I am married have two kids and a dog. l recently moved to Southern Maryland, which is a heck of a commute but we have a nice house and a large yard.

I tend to travel for business once or twice a month. This is much less than I have been accustomed. I still try to get out of town personally for at least a long weekend every other month.

I have made it to 48 of the 50 states and 5 continents.

I love Flyer Talk and although I have not posted much, I have been a "Lurker" for a couple of years and learned quite bit. I tend not to post unless I have sometihing dirct on point. I look forward to posting my experiences in the future.

Kind Regards,
Richard

I did not notice this thread until 4 am this morning (the day after Thanksgiving Day 2004). I guess I had a little too much to eat and drank a little too much of Italian wine at the Thanksgiving Dinner last night that I have been up since 2 am feeling dehydrated. After spending the last 2 hours surfing the web, I finally came to the most interesting thread I have ever read on FT.

Here is my brief Bio:

As you can all tell from my handle, I am a loyal UA flyer. I joined Mileage Plus in 1991 when Pan Am and UA had a joint triple mileage promotion that allowed you to earn triplr miles in either program for any Pan Am/UA flights. I flew Pan Am until it died (1992) and UA got my business by default. My association with UA has been wonderful over the years.

I have lived, schooled and worked in North America, Europe and Asia. I have two young kids (a boy and a girl). I met my wife while on an international assignment in Asia. We were both working for the same company (she was in the Asia division and I was in the US group) that needed a team to set up a practice in Shanghai, China. We had never been to China before we met, and we ended up staying there for 8 years – a lot of flying on UA between China and US.

I graduated from the University of Miami in Florida – a dedicated Miami Hurricane fan that took several classes with many current and former NFL players!! I lived in South Florida for about 12 years after spending 4 years in the UK as a young teenager. I enjoy working on international assignments, and love being an expatriate working in foreign countries. With two young kids, I am settled on a less traveled job at the moment. I still do some travels for work and make personal trips. Never had to do mileage runs to keep my status, although I did drop to 2P in one year. I should reach the 1 million flown miles on UA in 2005, and am looking forward not to need to re-qualify for elite status each year.

My favorite airports are SIN and HKG. I love flying into LHR, PVG/SHA and MIA for sentimental reasons.

My current most frequently flown routes are: IAD-FLL (Ted), IAD-LHR, IAD-LGA, DCA/IAD-ORD, flights to NRT/HKG from North America, and intra-Asia flights to SIN.

My most flown route ever: SHA-PEK-SHA (1 or 2 weekly round-trip for several years) on Air China, China Eastern or Shanghai Air….endured a lot of delays and the old Beijing Airport Terminal in the earlier days.

Mmmm, time for me to introduce myself since I've lurked here in the past and finally registered and posted some.

My name is Heather and I'm 26 years old. An interesting fact about me is that I'm deaf. I have profound sensorineural hearing loss in both of my hears. I lost my hearing when I was around 1 years old. I first got hooked in traveling when I went to England as a exchange student in 1995, although I've traveled before that but only within the US. Every time I boarded the airplane, I've always wondered what its like to sit up front instead of the cattle class but I had no idea about the frequent flyers program and such until my mom signed me up for USAirways Dividend Miles program in 1997.

I don't travel as much as I wish due to having 2 sweet sons at a bit young age. I'm still in progress to get my bachelors in IT field even tho I'm a computer nut and have pretty extensive knowledge about it. My husband also works in the IT field.

Since we've recently moved to Germany (my husband is from Germany), I think I will be able to travel a bit more, maybe once a year back to the USA to see my family relatives and good friends. We currently live about 20 km from Bielefeld. I'm orginially from Roanoke, Virginia.

I'm still learning a lot of pointers from you fellow seasoned travelers and hope to see some of you on whatever flight I take or pass in the airport. I certainly will look around for the yellow tags even tho I yet need to get one myself!!!

:D

Aloha from California

I've been too busy checking out great tips in the Miles & Points section that I didn't even notice this forum... until cawhite60156 pointed it out to me (wave!). Turns out I know her from another online community. Small world!

My name is Lani. I maintain a Web site called The Travelite FAQ (www.travelite.org) where I provide tips on how to travel with just your carry-on. Unfortunately, I don't get to keep it as up to date as I'd like, because my spare time is tied up primarily with producing content for MousePlanet.com, an unofficial Disney information/news site.

I was once a United Mileage Plus Premier when I lived in Hawaii. Since moving to California, most of my travel have been by car... but with a few business trips this year, I am back at 2P again. With the double-status-mile promo this fall, I should make 1P for next year.

I am a tech writer for a software company in the SF Bay Area. My most frequent drives are up and down I-5 to get to Anaheim (to Disneyland -- work-related for MousePlanet), and flying to Orlando (guess where).

I'd been familiar with Webflyer for eons and only haven't spent much time on FT until now because... well, because I hadn't been flying too much before this year.

Who We Are
 

I am based in BHM and fly DL mostly due to my location. I am in my 50's and am a director of accounting services for a newspaper company. Unfortunately, I am one of those that travels only 16 states in the US.
My job is great as is the company I work for. Most of my travel is to PA,KY,NY,TX,OK,IA,MN,IL,IN in the smaller communities.

My hobbies include travel to warm weather destinations, reading, swimming,and meeting new people.

I'm a Philadelphia native, and just returned to the East Coast after 8 years living in San Diego. Right now, I'm kicking myself for having taken an oath of poverty to return to graduate school to chase my MBA. I worked for a consulting firm in San Diego, and still work for them but in a different business practice. I'm also learning to like the cold. Okay, maybe not... I swear I heard my car sneeze this morning...

I used to surf on a semi-regular basis (any info on East Coast surfing is MUUUUUCH appreciated) before leaving my 9ft baby behind and coming out here. My hobbies are spending money at Home Depot, driling holes in my wall and then covering them up only to drill again, searching the internet for fares to take me someplace warmer, and doing outdoor stuff (sports, hiking, camping). The great thing about my particular location is that I'm close to Home Depot and close to REI. What a mean trick.

Domestically, whereas I used to do the AA SAN-DFW-DCA/IAD/BWI route a lot, the only places I seem to wind up with any regularity are SAN and LAS. I'm always ready to go to LAS, just say the word...

Happily single, no pets, but one very hardy pothos plant that seems to survive no matter how long I go away.

Go Iggles!

Just found this thread, thought I'd add my small bit.

My name is John. I went to Georgetown U for college (hoya) and was briefly a 4th grade teacher before returning to grad school to get my PhD in education policy (teach). I'm originally from Boston and shook with joy this past October when the Sox finally won it all! Woohoo!

I've been a traveller since I was an infant, going from BOS to NRT every couple of years to visit my mom's side of the family. My parents relocated to Tokyo in 1991 and I finished high school at an int'l high school there in 1994. Mom and Dad are still there and I visit when I can -- more often now that I've discovered FT. :) In fact, I used to pick the cheapest carrier even if the difference was just a few bucks. Since signing up for FT, I've returned my regular travel to NW and fly them when I can. I figure I'll be silver come the end of March for the first time since 1996. Thanks, guys. ^

My one big hobby is photography and I'd love to hear from any FT shutterbugs about good travel photography locations. I write a lot, too, but that's as much a function of being a grad student as it is something I enjoy. My dissertation is looking at the history of challenges to the teaching of evolution in public schools in the United States. For fun, I've written and am now editing a novel manuscript based on my experiences teaching kids with behavior disorders.

I've ordered a FlyerTalk pin I plan to affix to my backpack when I travel so if any of you spot me, come on over and say hi. :)

I'll see you out there.

I'm not yet "retired" from DC. Don't get to travel very often, butI grab at the chance when I can. Graduated from PSU and only moved to this interesting area 3 years ago. Just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate this forum and all the helpful tips you all have to offer. :)

Gday all,

Like most, I am predominantly a lurker but post every now and then. I have yet to meet anyone off this forum, but hope to do so soon. There's really not much to me, and can be somewhat of a bore. Getting on in years, turned 26 last August. Having said that, I am looking forward to the big 30 in four years time.

I hail from the land down under. Melbourne, Victoria to be more precise. I live with my partner and 58 other creepy crawlies, consisting of; parrots, fish, lizards, a duck and a dog. Needless to say, the homestead is never dull.

I recently established my own software development and consulting firm, predominantly catering to the private primary sector and SMEs. hmm, think that'll do as i'd hate to bore you all with my inherent "dullness" (vocalising my own internal dialogue but echoing all your sentiments).

My interest in commercial aviation stemmed from years of travelling between Australasia and Europe, primarily for business. It was a "join our circle or else" situation. During those years, i had the privilege of tasting a varied number of airlines. These days I consolidate my international (and local/regional) travel with One World (specifically QF). However, if the need arises for travel outside their bounds, I have no hesitation flying on MH, SQ or EK metal.

That about wraps it up for me. Please feel free to email or PM if you're interested in catching up. I commute quite regularly between MEL and KUL/SIN. However, I will be visiting various capital cities in North America and Europe later this year.

regards
Tim

All Who We All Are posts are updated in the 750K spreadsheet at:

Who We All Are

Hi! There

Name: Angel Ramos
Profession: Aviation Civil Engineer (Airport Design)
Birth Date: November 5 (currently 28 yrs old)
Location: Miami, Forida
Favorite Airlines: Delta (Skyteam) and American

Love to travel. I do it both for Work and Leisure. If you like to talk about Airports and Airplanes I'm there. I always have something to say about those 2 subjects.

Not Sure If I replied to this thread, If I did, oh well…

My Name is George, and I’m an Alcoholic… Oops wrong place… :D

Seriously I’m not an Alcoholic, and a very modest drinker….

I’m 20 years old, maybe the youngest member of FT? I’m a college student, seems like I've been spending more time here, than at College… Hehe…

I live in Jersey City, NJ right across the Hudson River from NYC….

So what else do you want to know about me?

Go ahead and Ask...

-George

Pleased to meet you, ewrfox.

There are quite a number of FlyerTalk members who are younger than you. Some are as young as 12 years of age, to my knowledge.

Travel (and FlyerTalk in particular) is a great hobby in which to get involved. One can only benefit, as there are places to see, people to meet, things to do and knowledge to gain. It also keeps one out of trouble — usually, anyway...

It was my love for aviation that drew me to this site, along with a trip to South Asia… I needed some advice, and I found FT members to be very helpful planning my trip… Though I’m not as active in other FT Forums as Omni, but I do peek in every now and then.. Hehe :D

As I am approaching 2000 posts, almost 4 years on this board, I figure that it might be time to introduce myself. I'am a 38 years old male born in the South of France, I have been living in the Bay area for almost 14 years. I love the Bay Area and I'm proud of calling this place home. I grew up with the aviation bug. My dad is a pilot, he works for Airbus industries and will retire in less than a month. He strapped me in an airplane seat when I was 5 and showed me the world from above (sometimes upside down as well !!). My sister is a flight attendant for Air France. I did not end up in the industry but travelling is my passion, my drug. Finding deals, planning trips, the experience of travelling, the perks, the comfort, the recognition as an elite flyer.. I love it.
I am a regional Manager for a retail company based in the Bay Area. We specialize in outdoor living. (www.smithandhawken.com). My territory is Northern California and Colorado. I'm married to a wonderful attorney (yes, they do exist) and I have two wonderful boys from a previous marriage. We love going to Maui where we own a timeshare. We go to Europe at least 3 times a year to see the family and discover new cities.
My favorite city in the world is Barcelona in Spain. I love the energy there and feel very comfortable with the culture and the lifestyle. Our goal is to retired there in 10 years. I became hooked on Flyertalk 4 years ago, by accident, just browsing. I was a lurker for a long time before I became a contributor. I am especially proud of having discovered a $25 a night mistake at the W Times Square in New york.. Hundreds of rooms were booked after I related the information on this board.. what a day !!!
I love reading trip reports, the United forum, the Starwood forum (even though I am becoming less and less impressed with Starwood) and of course OMNI and the community board.
I have met some wonderful flyertalkers around the world (Bangkok, Firenze, Barcelona, London and of course San Francisco). Look forward to more..