Hi, Been reading, finally joined. Live in Hobart, Tasmania Australia which makes getting flights that count for awards damnably difficult due to QF basically pulling out of Tassie and leaving us with Jet*. Now tend to fly Virgin Blue due to cost. Do a lot of intrastate driving, and have probably experienced the full gaumet of dogey hotels.
Currently QF Silver, but will probably lose that in May due to lack of SC. Other than that, I have lived in the UK, and Qld as well, and love travelling but dont have enough holidays from the Uni to do it (PhD students are kept on a tight reign).

name: folashade
profession - marketing/business development in the QSR industry (aka fast food)

I work in lower manhattan. Born and raised in Bklyn, NY. Lived in the city during college. Travel a great deal for work as well as personal. Don't travel as much as I used to since most of my travel buddies are now married/children.

Have always been a points junkie since college. In my spare time I plan group trips ie. ski trips cruises etc (like the points, perks etc) plus I get to travel free .

Love to read, photography, more likely to listen to music vs watch tv,and am a gadget junkie (more so than some of my male friends) and love to shop.

This site has been a great resource and has really helped me maximise my points

Hello Fellow Flyers!

I joined flyertalk back in 2001 as I have been frequent flying since the age of 3, and I'm now 33 Was off the boards for a few years as I was consumed with work; running my own business in the IT industry. Decided to make a career change and now am back to contributing on flyertalk.

My real name is Monica. I chose Fox Trot as it relates to my trotting around the globe; and may have some military influence as I studied International Relations at University and interned with our government. At that time I planned to go into the Foreign Service, and who knows I may end up there one day

I enjoy contributing trip reports, photo's, reading and keeping up with the constant changes, challenges (promos/MR's/qualifiers) in the travel industry.

I'm currently working for the family business (commercial scales and food machinery) as a consultant and in IT. This makes for some flexible time and I enjoy the perks of attending conventions and the travel. However, the majority of my travels are done on my own dime.

Concurrently sending out my resume to several companies I'm interested in working for; as I'm willing to travel 75% of the time and enjoy meeting people at home and on the road. Eventually, I'll get married and settle down, for now I'll continue to travel frequently.

Flyertalk has impacted my life in so much as I have made some dear friends through meeting on Flyertalk and then meeting in the real world. It's amazing how our interests in travel bring us together in the virtual world. Hence the saying "Birds of a Feather Flock Together"

TVL4FREE has been a great friend since day one on the boards. The majority of my MR's are booked with his advice. My first MR was a tough road and it's to bad the trip report is no longer live on the boards (at least I can't find it). I flew from SAN-LAX-HNL-GUM-NRT-SIN-NRT-HOU-SAN in economy on CO. I made CO Plat thanks to TVL4FREE and continued to hold status until 2004 (living in SAN at the time).

Then I moved to the Bay Area and started from 0 to gain status with UAL. I made the mistake of getting comped status with UAL and AA in 2003 and did not use the status. Hence, UAL would not comp again so I jumped on the band wagon to attain 1k from GM in 3 weeks (with the double EQM promo) recently. Again TVL4FREE helped out with the most varied routings that are virtually impossible. I've also recently met Pat89339 who was kind enough to sponsor an upgrade to business from SFO to HNL at the start of my 0-1k journey.

There are several other members who I have lost touch with and hope to re-connect in the future. If you read this and remember getting together in SIN in 2001 at the Conrad lounge send me a PM.

My post is a long one, so I'll close in saying that it is a pleasure to meet everyone and an honor to participate on the boards.

Just joined FT a few months back, slowly getting acquainted to the board... tons of information. I wish I knew it existed years ago. I've been looking/searching for information that is posted/available in many threads on this website.

As for myself, I'm a retired military guy, working for the government now, so I try to take advantage of either military or government rates if lower than other special rates advertised. I've been around the world at least twice both on official or business and leisure travel. Favorite place was on a classified mission to Kwajelein Island, had the most beautiful, relaxing, soul searching and spiritual time in my life... the stars at night are within an arms reach.

I look forward to learning all the abbreviations and lingo in the threads... I gotta keep looking at the glossary to figure things out.

MS Sammigaile C
from Tx
DOB 9/11/66
My Job ??? wish not to say, takes me all over

Mom of 3 kids and a Fiance

I�m not sure what the proper thread etiquette is in this case, but since I�ve had a radical change in who I am since the last time I posted on this thread, I though I would give it a go again, my apologies if I�m breaking any rules.

I�m an ex finance guy turned wine Merchant. After some 11 years in banking (having lived in 7 different cities), I decided that Id had enough of the corporate world and hung up my suit & ties � and returned to my native City. I started a couple of ventures related to the Food Industry, with wine as a central part of my business. When I first went into banking, I started developing an interest in collecting wines, and as my cellar grew� I grew increasingly tired of paying retail prices for my favorite wines. That was how I finally decided to buy up half of a Fine Wine Retailer here in Buenos Aires. I still travel a fair amount, although it�s mostly within Argentina � although I do regularly visit CGK for both business and to see good friends.

I�ve given up on all my Frequent Flyer habits and don�t really know what status I have on all those old programs� although I still have a couple of miles/points hanging around here and there. My original FT name is related to the fact that my first top elite status objective was 1K on United Airlines.

I�m also basically retired from all the points & miles boards, focusing all my attention on a couple of threads related to Buenos Aires. I have a sort of personal crusade to try and help all those that wish to come & visit Argentina. I encourage everybody thinking of an �alternative� vacation abroad to consider coming to Argentina� more details about Buenos Aires can be found here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310939

Greetings from Buenos Aires,
Alejandro (Gaucho100K)

^ ^ to Gaucho100K!

What do you mean by "alternative" vacation? Is that like the gay cowboy movie? What if we don't want to spend time with lonley gauchos on the prairie?

JUST KIDDING! Argentina is a great place to visit. Glad to hear the update about what you're doing.

Hello.

I'm new here, so I guess this will be like an introduction.

Screen name: Canada Flyer
Occupation: Travel Agent
DOB: Augaust 2, --N/A--
Interests: Travel, music, pop culture (the medias)
Location: -----, Canada
Favorite Movies: Flightplan, War of the Worlds, The Aivary
Favorite Songs: "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani, "You and I" by Celine Dion, "Only Time" by Enya, "Amarantine" by Enya
Favorite Professions: Flight Attendant, Geographer, Writer, Travel Agent
Favorite Airlines: Alaska Airlines, WestJet, Air Canada

Hello,

I've been reading FlyerTalk for a while but am only just getting ready to start posting. This looked like the right place to say "hi" so here I am.

I grew up thinking I would be a travel agent, but it didn't work out. Then I thought I'd be a tour guide, but that didn't work out either. I actually applied for a job as a TWA customer service agent back in 1982, but after making me fly myself to New York for an interview they decided they weren't hiring anyone new.

I used to fly quite a bit but I'm out of practice. Right now I have 3000 legacy miles on AA that I never used up, and all the rest of my miles on all the programs have expired. Maybe I'll start racking them up again.

Hello there!

Just like someone above mentioned I am not sure about the proper etiquette for this thread. Since I am also a newbie (not to flying but to FT), I would appreciate to be enlightened regarding the custom if I�m �out of bounds�.

My thirtieth birthday is around the corner. I work as a Business Development Manager for a sign manufacturer and my main business is to do �start ups� for new distributor and/or to help our existing ones throughout the world with marketing and sales. Our departments head office is located in ARN were I also live.

Since I travel out of Scandinavia * Alliance (have always preferred LH to SK) is the natural choice. Glad that I discovered FT and enjoys reading about air travel and travelling in general.

Welcome!

I wouldn't say there is any specific etiquette that would be unknown elsewhere. Busy boards like BA or AA sometimes can get edgy to the point of rudeness, but such instances are rare.

You will find an average Frequent Flyer quite good natured because, as a rule, those with severely deficient inter-personal skills generally don't end up in jobs that involve a lot of flying.

Members are generally very unforgiving to "Don't You Know Who I Am?" attitude where someone recently silvered or golded, or flying for the first time in C or F, comes up with a long story of complaining based on a single incident (luggage lost / upgrade denied / stodgy cheesecake in First etc.). Most members are very experienced and know how this industry works and know the difference between an incident and a trend.

I would say it is a very kind-hearted and good-natured forum.

I think most of my "single incident" complaints are about fellow passengers, not the ground or flight crew. The passenger who made the 13-year-old unaccompanied kid cry; the passenger who told the stewardess he worked for the head office and would have her fired (for not giving him alcoholic drinks on a BOS->LGA flight when she wasn't allowed to).

Then again, a "single incident" could be worth complaining about forever if it is egregious enough. I know I have read stories of being discriminated against racially, or of deliberate destruction of someone's travel plans rather than accidental damage -- things like that are worth hearing.

I agree - even single incidents are interesting. I was referring to much grander generalizations made by (usually) less experienced travellers.

I once read (not on FT) a totally insane comparison of two airlines with an argument that one of them uses primarily Airbus aircraft "which go much faster" , when challenged about this, the OP explained that he measured the time and distance and "on airbus you can even feel the speed is higher".

I am referring to the type of comment like: "What's wrong with United? They need to get their act together! I flew LAX to O'Hare and they refused me an upgrade. Last year I flew with Continental once and they upgraded me, so I know it can be done!"

The sad routine "I can get you fired, you know" is pathetic but I think all cabin crew hear it at least once a week so they do not take it seriously (I hope)

Does anybody have any idea how many people are registered at Flyertalk? I am amazed at the depth of knowledge so many have and the amazing experiences. I've recently been reading the posts a lot and going to other areas of the site. My husband says I am getting addicted.

Cheers

On the main forum page www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php? you can see the number of FTers near the bottom. Currently 89,896.