Hi all,

I've been doing this on and off flying thing, and last year was my off period (sadly I didn't know this forum exists, and I got demoted on my flyer program, so sad). I hope to join the forum and talk with some expert of points collectors here =)

My home base, which is temporary, is Hong Kong, and I've been with Asia Miles / Marco Polo for quite some time. As I mentioned above, I got to Silver and that's where work grounded me for a year, and not surprisingly, bumped back to Green. Bummer!

Anyway, hope to chat and learn stuffs from y'all. Cheers!

"I just achieved AIR CANADA ELITE (GOLD) status today and I am just one flight away from achieving Gold on American Airlines as well. I keep wondering if someone has ever achieved Gold status on both Star Alliance and One World in the same year..."

Congratulations. Unfortunately you will find around here that is hardly a rare achievement. Many have mid and even top tier in two or more programs, be they in the same or different alliances. But you gotta start somewhere...and as you say, you pay for your own tickets which does make a significant difference!

Yes, I currently hold Pandion (EBG) and BA gold.

Hi!

Been lurking a good few months, finally joined :)
I'm a student in Edinburgh. Compared to most of you here, I travel infrequently, but I'm going to play the student card in my defence! Based at EDI means a good half of my travels are with EZY. The rest? I try and find more interesting options, but more often than not EZY. I have a preference for BD, Britain's favourite dysfunctional airline, although going on today's news I think I might be a bit late on the scene!

I am a recently retired Naval Flight Officer who is exploring the job market trying to find my next career (or as I like to say - figure out what I want to be when I grow up). In my 20+ years, I have held numerous and varied leadership positions covering the gamut of one direct report, crews of 23, divisions of over 100, and departments of over 30. My education is a BS in Aerospace Engineering and a Masters of Aeronautical Science specializing in both Aviation/Aerospace Operations and Aviation/Aerospace Safety. My indoctination into FT came when I was working within Naval Research and Development as a Project Officer and Test Director, needing to travel to our three prime contractors covering both Coasts and the Heartland. I hold a high security clearance and have a background in aviation; program management; integration, test, and evaluation; security programs; aircraft maintenance; operations; administration; scheduling; instruction; and maritime intradiction and counter-piracy.
I open to career opportunities that will allow me to capitalize on my skill sets and experiences, either in my current home area outside Oklahoma City, or relocating to either Phoenix or Tucson. So if anyone has any leads here on FT, I would appreciate it.

I think you should try this thread instead:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...yertalker.html

Good luck! :)

freelance documentary movie maker

A support staff in a travel.:)

New to FlyerTalk
 

Hello to all the FlyerTalkers,

My name is Aaron and I just wanted to drop in and introduce myself. I am originally from Norfolk, VA and have relocated to the south west. I am excited to become part of the great community. I am currently in the airline retail industry and have been for about 7 years total and I just recently started my own marketing consulting company this year.

Although I am a new member to FlyerTalk, I am very familar w/ the blog. As a matter of fact, you may even find me mentioned in a few lol ;). With that said, I am just here to learn, share, and contribute in any way possible.

I have no airline preference as they all have their perks and upsides and I have had great experiences with all of them. :D Thank you for having me and happy flying to everyone out there!

Expedia
 

Hi
I am new. This registration was prompted by a booking error I feel made by Expedia's website. Tonight I made two bookings for two hotels in two different cities. I entered all details correctly for my second booking. When I confirmed the purchase, the details reverted back to the first booking but with the name of the second hotel. I called Expedia to correct but was told that I had to contact the hotel concerned. I have sent an email to the hotel and am waiting to hear. One of the conditions of the booking was that it was not refundable, no changes allowed.
After recalling my own actions, I am convinced that the error is not on my part.
I have called Expedia to express my utmost concern and distress that their website has made that mistake because why would I make a booking for me to be in two different places at the same time.
I am waiting to hear.
I wanted to also hear other people's experiences. I have made flight bookings through Expedia with no problems, but this one is worrying.
I am ex-aircrew of eons ago. Travel is in my blood. I still love it.
I live in Melbourne Australia. I am semi-retired now having been in education for the last 20 years. 2010, travelled to Antartica in January, Vanuatu in April, Thailand in June, Isreal in September, Phuket again in July and just returned from Broome Western Australia, been in 110 places in 32 countries and and landed on all the 7 continents on earth without being a member of anything, except newly Qantas Frequent Flyer. Have my heart set on the Arctic, once from Norway and again from Canada. My name is Jan.

Dear all!

My name is Oscar and new in the airline industry, I actually doing currently my thesis research for KLM which is about improving service on board! KLM has a pilot where 50 pursurs received an iPad on which personal data of passengers can be loaded to give better and more personal information! To make this project a success they asked us to research among the loyal customer of KLM (FLying Blue customers) what their opinion is of the new services they can offer with an electronic device as the iPad.

To make it a success we need your input and experiences. We have developed a short questionnaire of 8 minutes which will test your experience with KLM and your thoughts about newly offered services. If you are willing to help us with our research and help us getting our degree ;-), please fill in the following questionnaire:

https://nyenrode.eu.qualtrics.com/SE...GOCnn6JFX2DXjm

Thank you in advance for filling it out!

If you have any questions you can alsways contact me!

Hi,
I'm a small business owner that travel's a lot!

My name is Felecia and I am a stay at home mother of two children, I am loving and easy going. I like to meet new people and try new things.

Happen to stumble accross this website as I tried to find a way to use my Delta Miles to fly LAX-BKK BZ class. searching high and low to get those low tier awards, seems that with a 120K mile you just are not up to snuff. Tho 2 years ago flew on AF through Delta website, BZ class LAX-Berlin.

Guess the good time are over, unlesss someone has a better plan.

Live in LA, traveled all over the place in my 55 years, one thing I love to do is Travel ( don't we all)

Want to get to Asia, for about 5-6 months maybe more if something develops that interests me.

Great Forum, to seek out the best flight plans with like minded people.

New to Flyer Talk
 

Heard about this forum from a seatmate on a flight to LAX from IAD. As a retiree, I do not have business travel, but pleasure travel, both domestic and international, has become my main hobby. its a pleasure to be aboard!

consultant travelling every week. currently in columbia sc.

hello
 

I had been a longtime deal watcher at FT but joined FT after being a victim by Korean Airline KE-ICN-ROR scam (?).

I usually travel from Bay area (SJC/SFO) to Hawaii or South Korea. I am always looking for exotic places with golf & snorkeling.

First Post
 

UK Based Finance Transformation Manager (don't ask) stuck on a joyless and constant treadmill of flying between India. UK and New Jersey

Hi All,

I guess I could have posted this a looooong time ago! :)

Anyway, my name is Robin...I am one of six girls (yes, all girls) and originally from California. I got to the UK via NC, Atlanta, and Afghanistan...I currently live about an hour north of London and work as a civilian with the military; I am also a Chief in the Navy Reserve. In my free time, when I'm not going to/from LHR, I read, shop, run races, and spend time with friends and family.

85% of my travel is personal with the remainder being for work or the military; mostly flown on DL, then AA/BA, plus some random carriers...not sure anyone else on here has much experience on Safi. I even get to go to exotic destinations such as KBL once every year or so.

FT is a great forum with many personalities...great place with a wealth of knowledge.

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

:)robin

I'm a long time lurker and feel I should say hello.
Hello!
I had never been a member of a FF programme until I joined the BAEC prior to a LHR-ORD-SLC-DFW-LHR WT+ trip. Nine months later and after some great travels and the odd unnecessary POUG to CE, I'm BA Silver and slightly addicted to this forum.
I blame you all.
I'm even changing careers slightly in order to potentially travel more.

Hello Everyone and Happy Thanksgiving.

I am an International BDM working in the Smart Grid Industry based just outside London.

Dear fellow world travellers!

I'd like to make my first post an official "HI!!!" to everyone who travels, likes to travels or wishes to travel a lot (careful with wishing that though - it is not for everyone!).

Myself, I'm a 28yo manager within a Global organisation, being on the road for approx. 50% of my time for the past 2 years - with its peaks to 90% when working in Shanghai - and a BIG fan of all points & related :-)

What I'm looking for? People that as me have a travelling lifestyle with all the perks and drawbacks to share experience, tips and so on.
But why a forum, some might ask? Well - I'm kind of the only one in my circle who travels this much. Thus in lack of tips (dude, no clue, who the hell goes to St Louis anyways?) or support (why are you complaining? its GREAT to see Sao Paulo, I wish I had these chances! without realizing it is only 2 for days, making travel time almost as long as my stay)...

My memberships?
- FB Platinum
- M&M Frequent Traveller
- Fortune Wings (starting status)
- A-Club Gold
- Hilton Diamond (dropping soon though)
- Thalys Gold
- Hyatt Gold (d'uh - you start there - soon up though ;-)
- Club Carlson (starting status)
- JinJiang Prestige (starting status)

Current visa?
- Russia 1y
- China 1y
- India 6m
(and a ton of stamps!)

Well - enough for now - but hoping for a supporting community & for sure I'll "give back"!
Bob

Hello All!

I'm very happy to have found and joined this group. I have a probably unhealthy interest level in world travel and have always wanted to better understand the how airline fares are put together to get the best deals and maximize my miles for gaining elite status and free airfare. The idea of mileage runs and crazy out of the way routings doesn't appeal to most of the population perhaps, but it is very nice to find a group that does have interest in these things to learn from and share findings with. I'm also looking to join forces to keep up on all the changing aspects of the airline industry which impact us.

I have AA lifetime gold - unfortunately that doesn't make achieving a higher status any easier each year. I'm thinking of shifting my efforts to United/Star Alliance as they may have better world coverage and so fit in better with my overall see the world strategies. My home airports are SFO and SJC.

Looking forward to exchanging information with you!

JoAnn

I'm Owen - a mid 50's Sales Engineer whose true passions in life are travel and coffee. I do a fair amount of traveling for work and also as much as my money and time budget permit for personal travel. In 2010 I was lucky enough to circumnavigate the globe for the first time on a work related trip. Syracuse NY to Dusseldorf... train to Zurich... then visits to Frankfurt, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei with a layover in Tokyo before heading home through Chicago. Last winter I took my first "coffee origins" trip and toured coffee plantations in Southern India. I try to make at least one major overseas trip each year and always to a place I have not previously visited. My favorite airline for general domestic travel and benefits is United but my best flying experiences ever were on Asiana and Singapore Airlines (in that order.)

New to frequent travel
 

Hi,

I work in the IT industry and am likely to be taking a new job for a software company in their professional services division. IOW, traveling to clients, mainly on the West coast of the USA. I've always had office jobs, this would be my first travel gig. Joined the site to learn how to work the mileage and points game. What credit card should I get, what airlines and hotel clubs should I join, should I always use the same airline and hotel chain, etc?

I have a daughter in middle school and will also want to network with you frequent travelers about how you stay in touch with the family while away. I expect much Skype, IM, etc.

Personal obsession is long distance motorcycling. I am an active member in the Iron Butt Association and have finished the Iron Butt Rally, rode nearly 9,000 miles in 11 days to a respectable finishing position. Hope to be riding to clients instead of flying whenever possible.

Jerry

Greetings all! My name is Ian and I live in Washington, DC (hence, my handle). I travel every week for work (I work for a rather large German company), so I have ample Platinum statuses (with both Marriott and SPG, and UA and CO). I think I've been to over 70 countries on 6 of the continents, so pleasure travel is a big interest of mine. Recently this fall, my overseas trips have consisted of just a week in Hong Kong and a week in Brasil.

Anyways, I look forward to the pointers and leads on travel deals here.

my intro
 

Helllloooo forum!

I'm Lindsay, 32, Canadian and currently living in Switzerland. Most of my travel is for fun, but I did a few work trips to HK and Slovakia in the past.
I found this forum since I just got addicted to the Lufthansa reindeer game. Decided to join as I find the info here most useful and will be planning a round-the-world trip starting in 2012.
Just finished my last working day yesterday - so ready to start some travel plans!

ps. I'm a FTL with Swiss M&M.

Cheers,
Lindsay

Self Introduction
 

Hello everyone :)

My name is "O" I did my Master in Hospitality Management the US and currently getting my PhD in the UK. My research topic is on passenger's perception toward in-flight meal and exploring passenger's inflight meal acceptance.

I used to work as a flight attendent for 3.5 years flying mostly long haul routes and I see that there is so much food waste on board. So I decided to do something about it. Hopefully by understanding more about what passengers consider to be acceptable to eat while they are on the plane for 6+ hours, airline can encourage them to eat the food that has been put on board instead of throwing them away. Wasting both food and money.

I am developing a questionnaire at the moment and hopefully will be asking those of you who are interested to participate :) if that is alright.

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in what I do and want to be the voice of many passengers in trying to reduced waste on board and improve in-flight meal.

"O"

Hello Persoon

It's good to know someone else out there is doing a reseach on airline in-flight service too. I am currently doing a PhD researching passenger's in-flight meal perception and acceptance.

I am very interested to learn what you have found out so far about your topic. I tried to go in a fill out the questionnaire for you but unfortunately it was closed already. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need any further help on your study. Good luck with it :)

hello there
 

Yr 12 student, occasional flyer HKG-LHR mainly CX (hate the shell seat!)

Hello !
 

Hi all ! ;)
Please let me introduce myself first, my name is "I" (for my detail name you can ask me). Living in Indoneisa, and I just 17 years old. (i'm student anyway).

Glad to found this forum (after i knew more about this forum, i think "why not to join?"). From last year i've interested about airlines, especially about frequent flyer and programs about it. From this forum, i want to deepen more my knowledge about FFP & miles.

Greetings and i hope someone can share the information..

Cheers..
Spirow

Never to believe
 

Hi and you got it right; from my user name it is very clear not to believe any such "gentlemanagreement" specially from a country person suppose to be from the origin of English. So, I have this email address as well as the ID. There is no such thing called gentleman in sports, at work or on the street of English countryside any more. I wouldn't like to give out much without hurting someone or many who will read this. The only thing I can say is that it is all down to Education. Better go back to school and learn how become a gentleman.

Just to give you a hint "Dumex" is the company name slightly changed characters. They have trucks all over UK specially in Southampton.

intro
 

Hello, I am in Central California - retired early due to some high stress issues - now hoping to travel more than I was able to in the past. I am not made of money (well, neither am I destitude) therefore bargains mean something to me.. I don't like paying full price if there's a better way - so I am here to somehow get in the know.

In the past I have traveled to destinations in Central & South America, Europe & Israel ... maybe every 3 to 4 years. Hoping to increase that to 2x a year. I figure I can stand to be gone at the max, 45 days at a time - not too long, and not too short - (as I have dogs that I would miss too much:)

My travel style is solo backpack, staying in no star or 1 star hotels (& once in a while youth hostels, if they're not too crowded) - I love the Ritz, but I don't mind the Chinz (as long as it's clean)

I have collected Delta air miles... sheeeze, what a study in depreciation!

Transformers Games
 

keep it up! Thanks

hi
 

I'm 40
Live on the South East side of Lake WAshington. I work at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and I manage a portfolio of Real Estate in 4 states. We specialize in Low Income Housing (USDA/RD, LIHTC, and HUD Properties).

I fly about 30,000 a year 1/2 work and 1/2 fun. However I'm looking to significantly increase that. I'm currently only an MVP with Alaska Airlines.

Not sure what else to put but would to meet other MR's in the Seattle Area for coffee.

Derp.

Heckuva first post!

Hi y'all, just thought I'd introduce myself even though I've been hanging out on FT for a few years now. I live part time in Los Angeles and part time in St John (USVI)... my boyfriend and I love to travel all over the world so of course, we learn all the tricks to do that effectively and economically here on Flyertalk :-)

If anyone has questions about LA or St John I can try to answer 'em... (and if you are working your Starwood points, I can vouch that the Westin here on St John is quite lovely and the pool is huuuuuge with a great hot tub! :) )

best--
E

Welcome to FlyerTalk! "Derp" right back atcha! ;-)

This was posted recently in the private TalkBoard forum and that's when I realized I've never posted to this thread. So, here goes (written on Christmas day):

I'm Rich, I'm 42, and I live in Columbus, WI -- a town of 5000 about 20 minutes north and east of Madison. Here I share my house with my wife of 15+ years Michele, my almost 7-year-old daughter Casey, my 76-year-old mother-in-law Sharon (she cooks, cleans, does laundry, raises my kid, and goes to the gym 5 days a week), and my puppy (Cody, 6 months old today) and two kittens (Shadow and Teddy).

I work for a UK software company and have done so since 2003. Prior to that I moved around the country seeking out the best employment back when it was easy to job hop every year or so and avoid the dreaded merit raise. We've lived in Knoxville, New Orleans, Seattle, Boston, and Madison from 1997-2002, but this has been home for almost 10 years now and will probably remain so.

I started flying for work in 1999 when I started work for a F500 software company. I spent time as a Delta PM and a Continental PLT (my company was in Houston) then as well as a Hilton Diamond and an SPG PLT.

After taking 18 months off the road, I joined my current company. I tried flying AA at first, but I couldn't deal with the ORD connections, so I moved my business to NW. Was PLT with NW until the merger and a PM with Delta until this year when my flying dropped dramatically. I don't miss it -- I like being home with my daughter and family and I like the work day ending in the afternoon and being able to do other things besides crashing in a hotel room.

My big hobby / avocation is sports officiating. I'm a HS football crew chief and I'm a HS/Juco basketball official and a HS/College baseball umpire.

I also love beer and watching sports, especially hockey. I grew up near Allentown, PA and I've been a Philadelphia Flyers fan since 1977 and a Phillies and Eagles fan since about the same time. One of the things that annoys my wife (not that much) is how I'll look for a sports bar so I can watch the Flyers even when we're on vacation. In MCO, that was easy. It was slightly harder on Maui (that's also when I learned Monday night football was shown on tape delay in Hawaii in 2005) and really, really difficult in SYD (although I have a SlingBox now so I can watch anywhere I can get wifi).