Howdy
 

I searched all over (but obviously not well enough) for a thread like this that I thought existed. Thanks to the newsletter....I am now found. :D

I originally found this forum because I was looking for someone to give our companion certificate to before it expired 2 months ago, but one of the nice mods explained I needed 60 posts and a few months before I could access that forum.

So I am starting small (I might not make 60 posts by the time it expires again next year. poo. oh well, I will keep pluggin along)...

Howdy, my name is Funk but I like going by Funky (much more fun!) and only recently started to travel by air instead of car. It was nothing for me to drive from Portland to Canada, California, Idaho, Utah, Colorado in search of some water to white water kayak or scuba dive.

However a recent trip to Bonaire to dive has me trying my pea pickin little heart out to gain more miles so we can get back there without buying 2 $1,100 tickets again!

Have a great weekend everyone...I am off to Utah (driving, haha) for my uncle's funderal since bereavement fares prices are not in my comfort zone :(

Great!
 

Wonderful site. Thank you! Excited to sharing stories, learning about travel tips, and experiencing the world!

008

Welcome to FT, Funky!

FYI. You got the data wrong. You may want to check out this thread about our 90/90 rule.

You may have some "funky" road trips to share with FTers in our Trip Reports Forum. Check out all the fora on FT and share your good tips. You shall have more posts than you can imagine very soon! :)

I'm a professional student and a lab tech. I've been fortunate enough to visit many countries as a student (1.5 years spent studying abroad and another year on an international research grant).

I joined flyertalk to share travel knowledge and occasionally I feel like I'm checking into a support group ;)

Welcome, yksmirk! I once visited Kathmandu when myself and family went for a 2-week trek up into the Langtang Valley. Good times!

Hello
 

Hello, have lurked on FT off and on for a while, usually when I'm ready to fly somewhere. Have learned a lot. Great site.

Hello from JetAviator7
 

I am an ATP pilot and, after a career as a corporate pilot, started my own aviation insurance business. I love to travel, and have traveled to many countries around the world, including some I don't care to ever go back to.

I write a blog about aviation called All Things Aviation which is mainly for pilots and those interested in flying airplanes.

I look forward to participating and learning more about how everyone else travels around the world.

Howdy yall!
 

Now that posting on flyertalk is something I find myself doing more and more, I figured I should introduce myself.

My name is Chris and I've read these boards for years. I'm twenty-four and just finished school at the University of Minnesota. Thanks to flyertalk I had a platinum AMEX and executive status at National before I turned 21. Always loved getting upgraded to a brand new Mustang and avoiding the underage surcharge.

I worked for Mesaba before Delta came in and mucked everything up with Regional Elite. I stuck with the company for a while, but was driven out for making too much noise about how much working conditions and pay had deteriorated. I wrote a letter to the CEO telling him it was unfair that anyone making under 30k a year would actually lose money by participating in the company's 401k just from "administrative fees." Two days later I was out of IROPS and was grooming aircraft for quick turns. Since then I've decided that DL isn't even worth flying for free.

Two weeks from now I'm taking advantage of the miles I accrued in the grand slam promotion last fall/winter and I'm very excited to find out what a real first class product looks like, especially for $650 in miles.

My Route: MSP-CLE-JFK-FRA(4 day stop over)-KIX(11 days)-SFO(2 day)-MSP

I couldn't be more excited, nor could I be more grateful to all the people who took the time to share their tactics for the grand slam. I was bummed out to drain my miles, but I just signed up for the BA credit card and I'm already plotting my next trip...

That is a great story and a great routing, congratulations! I hope you have a fun time and write up a trip report on it so we can all enjoy it.

Thanks I'm looking forward to it and I'll be sure to do that! If nothing else, doing so will give me an excuse to take plenty of pictures of the FRA 1st class terminal.

Just joined..........
 

We hail from northeast Ohio and use Amtrak to get to WDW alot....train one from Alliance, Ohio to Washington DC and then south to Kissimmee, Florida. We've done over 15 trips and looking to do another this September but thought we'd try to find some discount codes....which are as scarce as hens teeth. At least I found a forum to root around in.....

I fly frequently for business to ATL from DFW.

Hi Every one!!! How Are you All?.....
 

I am Bright Eye and Recently finished my school. I am Newbie in this Flyer Talk Forum And i need help from you guys to give me confidence. I am very happy being a part of this Community Forum.

Welcome yk. I am a "lab tech" as well. Not sure what you are working on but? Welcome to FT and just keep an open mind:D Lots to learn here, I am still learning

Flying Frequent from Shanghai
 

Ladies & Gentlemen,

I would like to take the most outstanding opportunity in introducing myself on such a well nominated website as flyertalk dot com.

I'm based in Shanghai for more then 5 years and have been joining this website for meeting with like-minded people and to discuss and share topics that all of us care about.

Personally, I'm extensively traveling around all continents and have been flying with many airline-carriers, some of them are a bit costly, don't offer added value at all, some of them lower on price, but absolutely amazing. (such as Emirates Airlines, Boeing 777-300er, Airbus A380-800, Airbus A340's are all pretty good).

When I was 11, I bought my first shares (together with my father) of an airline company and made a pretty good performance, so I could put most of my dividends or performance into my studies in the UK and from that time on, I already flew a lot and got to know more and more about airlines.

Although I'm a flying frequent, I'm not working for any airline company, I'm just one of those guys, sitting behind, enjoying being high up in the sky, un-touch-able, enjoying the cruising, no matter it is a business or economy class seat. (never ever had the chance flying on first class, but that won't probably anything for me yet, I haven't even reached my late twenties yet).

The reason for joining is to get connected with like-minded people, who are, as also, interested in sharing their experiences, knowledge and everything all around flying, flying, flying, flying.

Excellent website,

SQUALO
;)

Been reading FT for years, time to take the plunge. I work at a software startup in San Francisco. Fly a mix of international vacation travel and domestic business travel.

Grabbed the BA deal for myself and the wife earlier this week, looking forward to putting 200K miles to work. If we both get 2-4-1s, now we're talking!

Enough of a dent in AA (business travel in a previous life to India, Asia) that it's time to think about going for 1MM.

Hi all
Been reading for about 6 months and from Sydney . Love staying in top quality hotels . By far I would say the best in Australia I have stayed at is Versace on the gold coast in Queensland. I'm working towards staying at the park hyatt in sydeny when it re opens and trying to find the cheapest way to do it.
I currently have about 120k in Hilton honors points and just recently joined the gold passport hyatt points scheme. Im currently a diamond member and a platinum member in hyatt and Hilton respectfully.
I would love to join the chase credit card to receive two free nights at the park hyatt in sydney .
I also love reading how to increase points faster to achieve free nights.

HAPPY EASTER

My name is David. I teach at West Chester University in PA. Enjoy traveling but don't get to do it enough. I lived six years in Germany. Have a Ph.D. in Research and Statistics in education.

Hello All,

My Name is David, I am a project engineer on an FAA contract. Most of my travel is regional so I don't fly as much as I would like. However I do love to travel and I am glad I found this website just over a year ago.

I have been able to earn/hoard both points and status since joining and I guess you could say I am "addicted" to getting points. Hell my wife has now traveled with me and she laughs, she says I treat traveling like its a video game and I am just trying to get the high score.

Looking forward to my first FT gathering this weekend, and to many more years of staying one step ahead as far as travel and travel deals go.

Hey

My name is Peter. I am based in Perth, Western Australia. I fly around 150,000kms per year - mainly on Oneworld airlines (I am Qantas platinum).

For hotels I mainly stick to Hyatt, Starwood Group and sometimes Hilton, Intercontinental or Shangri-la

I also write a travel blog called Chatterbocks Travel Blog (I won't post the link or this may look like spam)

I only just discovered this forum - it is amazing!

Greetings
 

Hello All,

I am new to this forum. One of my cousins referred me and my friend this past week. Not really having the best of luck finding deals elsewhere. So I hope this is the place to be. Traveling by plane, bus or train ideal ways to get around.

Hoping to rack up rewards points. Any pointers navigating would be helpful.

Well I am off to do some investigating.

Safe travels all.

Kboo29

My name is Eric, and I am a poor college student from Nebraska. I am currently studying at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, though I am transferring to Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO for the rest of my college career and majoring in international business.

These forums look like a great source of help and information for me, since I plan to fly to various destinations from college about four to five times a year, and having such a limited budget, I need to do so as cost-efficiently as possible.

With that out of the way, I'm off to study for finals. :D

Hey,

My name is (redacted) and although I'm only 17, I love flying. I will be a student at Rice University in the fall, so I will be flying quite a bit to get from home in ATW over to IAH.

Most people I know think I'm crazy, but I live for long plane rides and extensive airport connections. I've flown to PEK/NRT around 5 times, to HNL 4, and once to CDG and those have been by far my favorite flights. In particular, a flight from DTW to PEK in J on a NW 744.

I've been lurking around here for a while and it seems like I've finally found a group of people who think at least somewhat similarly to me. I've seen the benefits of my dad's DL DM and about to be on my own, I'd like to try to get some kind of status for myself over the next four years. So I guess I'll be doing whatever little mileage running I can on my limited student budget...unless I can convince him to gift me GM ;)

Hi everyone, I am a mom of two boys 12 and 17. I don't do a lot of traveling but I am looking for a deal on a trip to Disneyland or Disney world in the fall. We are flying with buddy passes so my main search is for a good deal on hotels and passes to DL or DW. Hopefully I am in the right place!

about myself a bit
 

Well, I guess there isn't a lot to talk about. I am an accociate pastor for Living Faith Church in Colorado Springs, Co. I am a full time financial advisor and I have been helping impact people lives going on 3 yrs now. I have never seen a better time to help people then now. So many of them are hurting for solutions or at least the education to learn about how money really works. I am a foster parent and I adopted a 12 yr old boy, 17yr old Daughter (with a 3 yr old son) and have a baby on the way in August.

Hello friends,
I just join the forum to be a part of valuable discussions and explore my knowledge here.
Thanks

Hello fellow travellers,

I have just joined this forum (am a member of many other forums) but wanted to join one with frequent travellers. I am a consultant in the field of wireless communications and am a top tier Gold member of British Airways. I have in the past been top tier in multiple programmes also (BA Gold + Virgin Gold).

I have run out of people I know who can answer the questions I have left on frequent flying, that's pretty much why I'm here, I'm looking for more experienced travellers to chat with and maybe even swap hints and tips.

I hope this is the right forum to post intro in, my first post will be about an upgrade I got on Qantas but not sure where to post it yet.

Hello,

Long time lurker and finally registered..looking forward to increase my knowledge of air travel and mile accumulation.

Welcome to Flyertalk! Qantas has its own forum and I'm sure the members there would be more than happy to answer your question.

Thanks very much for the welcome!

New Member
 

Hello Everyone,

I've been lurking for the past few months trying to absorb everything this community of traveler's offers to someone who enjoys flying as much as I do. So far, I'm really impressed with FlyerTalk.com. Lots of information from a great group of people. I love it...

A little about me: I retired at the end of December 2009 the day after my 50th birthday. I was an IT Analyst. Great job, great career.

For the future - I am researching taking a Round the World trip in the next year or two.

I thoroughly enjoy watching Anthony Bourdain's: No Reservations. I like the way he approaches each country he visits, but his best trips seem to be when great meals and great friends get together in far away places on the planet. After reading many trip reports on FT, I see there are many people that love airports and planes. I think I could live in an airport, that's how much I love them!

So that's who I am and why I joined FlyerTalk.

New
 

Whilst I have been reading a number of forum posts with interest for some time I have just formally joined this site. I have been impressed with the 'intelligent' and helpful nature of the posts that I have read so far. This is certainly a contrast when compared with some other forums that I have been known to 'frequent' from time to time.

By way of introduction, I am an Australian living in Melbourne. I have spent 50 years in the rail industry and have been fortunate to spend quite some time in the last few years holidaying with my wife in Europe. This has encouraged an interest in flying so far as getting to/from Europe at a reasonable cost but also in reasonable comfort.

To the above end we have set ourselves three golden rules:

1 Never to enter the doors at Heathrow again.
2 Never to fly British again.
3 If we cannot go business at an acceptable price we don't go. Sorry QANTAS.

These rules stem from an earlier zoo class trip to Britain.

The last three trips we have been fortunate to get sufficiently discounted business class fares, firstly with QANTAS which was more or less 2 for the price of 1 to Frankfurt in 2009 and never to be repeated (?). QANTAS was good but the old 747 was getting tired and shabby.

Last year we went Thai/Austrian to Vienna for around the same price which was < half of the QANTAS fare at the time. We liked Thai and Austrian was 'Teutonically' professional as one may expect although the in flight entertainment was hardly state of the art in either case.

In all cases the seats were not 180 lie flat but at least you had room to move.

The only downside with Thai and Austrian was the cabin temperature was too high for our liking made worse by the lack of individual air vents on the 777 - an optional extra from Boeing, perhaps.

This is my first post even though I've been a member for some time. This is a great site- I've probably picked up $10k in monetary value from tips I read here. I just redeemed my millionth mile for free flights and I'm curious- is that exceptional, or just average for this group? My best score for a paid flight was $480 rt SFO-SYD 2 years ago when United was real hungry. Was going to use 80000 miles for a freebie but at 2 cents a mile for the 15000 miles rt the ticket almost paid for itself with mileage credit.

Hiya!
 

Hey y'all! I'm a brand new member and looking forward to really digging into all this forum has to offer.

I'm a freelance web developer so I take my work with me as I travel. For the past year and change I've been traveling around the United States and I'll be heading to Chicago this summer.

Starting in the fall I'll be embarking on a 15 month around the world adventure, this is the general plan I'm thinking:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=NYC-IDO...+AKL-NYC&MS=bm

Many stops, many miles, and so I'm hoping this forum is going to be a wildly useful resource!

- Kevin

Howdy
 

Just a quick shout out. New here, just started flying every week 3 weeks ago. Do communications contract work and looks like I'll be flying out to Texas till at least September. Use Delta as it's the only carrier out of my local airport. Next closest airport has Delta, Continental, etc. Will use that one as well for some flights. So far I've flown from PIB to MEM to LBB and to Houston...I gotta learn the airport codes still so don't bash..hard. MEM is a connect flight hub. Already signed up for Delta Skymiles and with Continental. Stay at La Quinta's primarily and a couple of others. Still learning the benefits of ffm's and points, and such, etc. I just wish Delta would swap out their magazine weekly, lol, I know, I know, bring a book.

Welcome to FT, Barry1973! Glad to see you here. :)

We're going to move this over to the legendary Who We All Are thread where it will join those of thousands of your fellow FT'ers who have introduced themselves.

See you around the forums.

Hello everyone,

I already visited this site a fair amount of times thanks to Google, and today I decided to sign up.

At 19, I'm probably one of the younger members here. As my age may give away, I'm a student, I'm currently in my first year of economics at UGent.

Travel-wise, there's not much exiting going on over here, I'm probably one of the few members over here who is not a member of any FF program (yet). I do plan to join Aegean's Miles&Bonus at a later stage (to grab an easy *Gold). I have also never flown any long haul flights (although this too will change in the not too distant future).

Xander

The Terror of LAX
 

Hello Everyone :D

My husband and I are retired, and living in lovely Newcastle Australia.

One of my conditions for making the long haul to the US or Europe, was that we NEVER go through LAX again. But guess what. . . .we're flying United to SOF via LAX. Oh the horror!

I have two questions that I'd really, really appreciate some help with.

Neil (DH) has booked with United, it arrives at LAX, Terminal 7 at 10.18, we then fly out for SOF from Terminal 7 at 11.30. This seems awful tight to me - your thoughts please????

The second question is really dependent on you saying that the above is ok. Can someone tell us the step by step procedure for getting between these two flights? I mean do we go upstairs, down, take this door or that. . . . .

Thanks ever so much.

Von and Neil

Hi!

I'm the Randy of Randy and Carey. We live in San Antonio, Texas, where I'm semi-retired psychologist with 42 years with the Federal government. Carey still works for the Federal government as a director with the US Army Medical Command and Office of the Surgeon General.

We travel as much as we can but with Mrs. K working major vacations are pretty much limited to one a year. Our next adventure is three weeks in Europe next year wrapped around a 14-day cruise from Barcelona to Istanbul. Our other personal travel are short three to four day escapes to Las Vegas. Carey travels enough for her work to maintain advanced frequent flier status, mostly with American Airlines.

Thanks to a father who was a career Air Force officer and my own travels I've lived in England, Morocco, and Germany spending around 12 years outside of the US. I think I've visited all but about two or three states and have lived in eight states. Carey has done some travel outside of the US but we married after my globe trotting days so she's catching up with me as we try to visit some of my old favorite places and explore ones new to both of us.

Looking forward to learning from you all and sharing whatever limited knowledge or experience I can.

Randy

salutations
 

Just going to introduce myself here! I'm 26, UK-based, just finished my PhD and moving to the US (in T-3 months!) for my first postdoctoral job. I found my way over to FT after joining Travelhacking.org out of curiosity, having never collected an airmile in my life. A combination of skepticism, investigative googling and a few hours of obsessive reading led me to discover within about 1.2 days that there's nothing on travelhacking.org which isn't here in triplicate and for free. So naturally, I'm giving up my Travel Hacking membership and hanging out on the BA, AA and OW forums (the first of which categorically demonstrated the total pwn-ness of their collective wisdom in my inaugural newbie thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ce-newbie.html). Happy to be here!