Hello All
 

New member, although I’ve been aware of FlyerTalk for a couple of years. Always found it a little intimidating, to be honest.

I really want to travel more so I reckon it’s time to dip my toes into this pool. I’m planning a trip to Europe over the winter holidays, and if I’m really lucky, I’ll make it to Indonesia in the Spring.

I live in California and I design books for a living. My nickname is a type of bean grown in a very tiny patch of northern Spain. It’s amazingly creamy and tasty!

See you around. :)

Thank you, is so nice to be welcome!

Hi guys! Been reading this site for a couple of months and finally decided to join the conversation.


I'm probably one of the younger FT'ers on here. 24 years old. I'm an assistant project manager in the new construction department for a major US marine transportation company. We are building vessels on the West Coast, Gulf Coast, & Great Lakes. I love ships, I love planes, and I love to travel. I guess I got lucky with where I am!


I've achieved UA Premier Silver last year and just achieved UA Premier Gold this year.


Based in EWR. Frequent IAH & SEA as we have offices there. My favorite airports I've been to so far is SFO, PDX, & IAH. Never flew international, but hoping to soon. My top dream destinations are HKG, SIN, & KEF


I also enjoy photography. You can check out snippets of my travels on my Instagram @cruiserchris.

Been lurking, as is the norm, on FT for a while and have really enjoyed the nuggets of travel hacks gleaned here!

Early 30s, based in Singapore.

SPG Platinum since 2012. Been treated well by Starwood although after the Marriott takeover we'll have to see how that pans out. No chance of lifetime Plat but I will make an effort to try and qualify for a top-tier loyalty membership since I've gotten used to breakfast/room upgrades/lounge access.

No airline status as I tend to travel mainly by low cost carriers for short trips (2 hrs or less) and business redemption tickets (Krisflyer, Asia Miles) for everything else. I travel mainly for leisure hence I plan my travels around what's available on redemption.

Pleased to meet everyone!

Mid-30's Los Angeles resident. Trying to enjoy Virgin America while they're still around.

Sometimes on Southwest or Delta for OAK or PHX travel.

Thankful to all the FT folks for their info and tips over the years.

Just as my moniker suggests; I do travel, and I do leisure, tho other activities do interfere. I
I joined FT as a means of learning more as I started to crank into the serious travel mode that free time allowed.

I'm old enough to be retired, though that was early as I could, and it's now been 10 years. I wrote a section in the 'travel wish list' the other day, and realized I'd been to about most every major place in the last ten year, but so many more to go! Before that, teaching business at one of the U TX outposts.

I really like to talk to business travelers about their business and what they do, if I'm seated next to a business traveler, though I respect the need for quiet and work if that's the preference. I enjoy thinking about other pathways I could have taken in my professional life, and am curious about what drives others toward theirs.

I grew up in mid-Michigan, in a family of non-travelers, and as an adult, moving about the U.S., living in west and then north Africa once I got married to someone who could work in those places. I consider myself a generic traveler. I have wanted to travel since I was a child, reading about others who were traveling or lived elsewhere, collected stamps, and had a Greek penpal.

Like the last poster, I am grateful for all that I've learned and laughed at while reading FT. As a non-business traveler, I sometimes feel like I don't have much to offer. Glad someone can take the time to share their time and stories. To those who do, 'Thank You."

T&L says "Hi, y'all!"

I love this train of thought, so much to be gleaned from the wisdom, experience and lives of others!

Originally from Cyprus, 50, currently leaving in PHX, AZ.

I caught the aviation bug as a 9-year old boy, when I flew from my native Cyprus to visit some relatives in Detroit, MI. The airline gave us a copy of their timetable, and I got hooked while reading that. I started visiting airline offices when I got back home to get more timetables and other airline paraphernalia; also started sending letters requesting similar items from airlines around the world. First response I got back was from Suriname Airways (which created an interest in obscure airlines).

I caught the FF/miles bug in 1986 when I came to the US for college, and took my first trip while here to visit those same Detroit relatives for Christmas break. Flights were on American, and I was asked if I wanted to join AAdvantage. That disease progressed to a point where, several years ago, a coworker nicknamed me the "miles skank"! :D

I have had silver status for the past 11 years in a progression of airlines: US 2007-11, CO 2012, UA 2013-present. I have enough revenue travel planned this year to extend the streak to 2018. Since the vast majority of my travel is leisure (and I'm not independently wealthy), I've had to do 4 mileage runs over the years to keep the streak going (first MR was in 2009; longest was in 2015 to Vietnam, since I had mostly used award tickets for other trips that year). BTW, learned the term "mileage run" on FT years ago! While benefits have dwindled for silver in recent years, for me it's still worth it for the access to the premier customer service; that has saved my butt a few times! :rolleyes:

I have been using FT for many years to search for answers to aviation questions. I finally got an account in 2014 when I had a question that hadn't been asked yet. I am very appreciative of all the folks that have shared their wisdom with all of us for all these years! :cool:

Occasional poster, 27. I travel almost entirely for leisure, and I have barely dipped my toes in the water of traveling compared to what I want to do. I come from a family that barely travels (dad doesn't fly at all) so I guess that's a factor.

I'm primarily a train enthusiast, but planes are pretty cool too, and as a Mechanical Engineer, I do nerd out a bit about the technical aspects of them.

I started flying with Northwest to DTW, since I have family there. I primarily fly WN now, although I have flown DL and AS depending on where I need to go. I have some extended family scattered throughout Alaska, so AS it is for getting around up there. I have flown BOS-BRW (2 connections), which is probably about as far as you can fly domestically from the northeast.

I have never flown internationally, but I most definitely want to visit other parts of the world, including New Zealand, Australia (via QF8), Europe, China, and Japan. As much as Canada is basically a nicer version of the US, visiting Vancouver (via SEA) gave me a bit of a taste of traveling, and I want more.

I live a few miles from GON, which thankfully was put out of it's misery as a pathetic excuse for a commercial airport by WN at PVD. Some of the guys at work still reminiss about the crappy little turboprops that used to fly to PHL and a few other places from GON. After flying a few DL regionals in 2012, I now avoid regionals like the plague, so I often fly WN, as they fly almost everywhere in the US, and don't randomly sub in regionals like DL.

During #deltameltdown last week, I got to do some planespotting at DTW, and seeing Japanese in the terminal, and watching widebodies take off for Amsterdam and Seoul gave me a bit of the travel bug.

Guess who's back!?!?
 

I'm baaaaack! Wow! I've had an account since 2000. Holy CRAP!

I'm still a LEO and now I'm a part time travel agent. Nope, not making that last part up. My knowledge as a frequent traveler helps my other business but my travel agent side has surpassed what I thought I could ever know. Never would I think to use a TA and boy was I wrong. That all said, I'm not asking for any business, just an interesting observation.

As a frequent traveler who doesn't really travel all THAT much for work, I'm a Marriott Platinum and Delta Silver who will make Gold next month. I'm pretty proud of that since its 90% personal travel and I dont make a crazy salary.

Anyways, I look to be active again, breaking hearts and smashing heads. Or eating donuts. Just kidding, I'm super nice but I do like donuts.

New FT Member
 

Hello everybody,

I've been reading a lot of posts as a 'guest' and just signed up as a member. After scouring through the different forums and sub-forums, this seems like the best place to introduce myself.

I live in the UK (The Cotswolds) and I work for a US Enterprise Cloud company. My role enables me to travel regularly and my preferred airline is BA. I've got over 200,000 Avios saved up from the last 3 years of travelling and I made Silver status the last 2 years.

Unfortunately my TP collection ends on May 8th and I'm not in a position to do a mileage run in order to retain my status. This means I'll be starting from scratch in a few weeks to try and build up my status again. Luckily for me, I've got a few flights coming up in May and June that should see me at least reach Bronze fairly quickly.

Anyway, I know there's dedicated forums and threads specific to TP runs, so I'll wrap up this intro with a quick summary

Name: Damien Davis
Profession: Partner Support Manager (ITSM)
Birth Date: 14th Jan '76 (I'm 41)
Location: The Cotswolds, UK
Favourite Air Carrier: British Airways
Comments: In my spare time I practice the art of landscape photography - and no, that's not intended to be a plug (it's just a hobby).

Happy Flying!

Welcome back!!!

I took a couple years off but I'm also back in full force as well ;)

Howdy!

I joined FT awhile ago (but fairly recent if compared to a lot of people on here!) and I'm addicted to points, gimmicks, planes, everything. I don't really do hotel status, I mainly just book whatever looks cool on hotels.com.

I started flying as a kid because my mom had family in Lousiana and we lived in California. I would always ask to fly out there because I LOVED the flying aspect of the trip. Being there was "meh." Growing up, until I was 24, the only flying I had done was between California and Baton Rouge. After college I caught a gig working in South Korea for a temporary 9 month stint which has turned into... 3 years and counting. My first non-Louisiana flight was over 3 years ago when I moved to S. Korea. Anyway so I currently live about an hour south of Seoul. I'm also probably one of the younger FT members, at 27.

Currently I'm 1K on United and have been for the past 3 years, and for the past two years have passed ~130K miles. 25% business related, 75% pleasure. I made a pact with a friend to travel to one country a month for a year and it blossomed into traveling all the time. I make a joke every once in awhile that I'm the only self funded 1K!

Anyway it's a pleasure to interact with everybody here, finally talking with people who are as obsessed (sometimes moreso) as I am when it comes to flying and chasing miles.

I read this quite often, but I really think I am one of the younger members (22) on this site. I found it a couple of months ago, and have learned a ton!

I am located in Utah, studying Global Supply Chain Management at BYU. I have done a decent amount of traveling compared to a lot of people my age. My parents are big in the points game, so we were brought up in it. Favorite place I have ever been is Singapore, and hope to get my wife out there someday (and if I'm lucky, move out there :p ). We are currently trying to plan a trip to Europe in August for our 1 year anniversary!

Thomas(28) from Derry, Ireland. Work in local government and unfortunately don't get to travel much other than locally. Generally fly out of DUB and book low fares when travelling to Europe. Favourite long haul is Lufthansa although the beer offerings on BA are now better so I'm now a bit torn between the two. Currently looking into flights to get me into and out of TBS and/or KUT for the Ireland match in September.

We all fly a lot, but why?
 

In my short time being a member here and a frequent flyer, I have realised that we seem to come from all walks of life and find it really interesting how we bond over this.

Even though I haven't posted so much I have really enjoyed this forum and the community on here.

So as a fun little interesting experiment, I thought it would be cool if we shared our occupation and why we travel so often.

I'm a sales manager for a software company and as a result fly at least once a week for sales meetings.

What are you :D

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie there
 

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie there. Hopefully share and get much useful knowledge from you all

Hello Williamhdc2 and welcome to FlyerTalk. This place is a fantastic resource filled with many knowledgable and helpful people. It's also a great place to chat about travel and planes.

So please do have a look around and join in.

Welcome!

Welcome to Flyertalk. We look forward to many interesting discussions with you.

Hi All!

I am Ben, 25, from London.
I am working in digital design.

Look forward to chat with you!

Welcome to FlyerTalk mrpacifist.

The FlyerTalk weekly email is something I look forward to every Friday. It's comforting to know that others (MANY others) experience some of the same difficulties and pleasures of traveling and are willing to share their solutions and favorite places.

My travel has mostly been for business over the years, for 35+ as a national account manager in the casualty claims industry and since my retirement three years ago, for my 30 years as a licensed/independent contractor avocation as a CFA allbreed cat judge. That's right, there actually is such a thing! It takes me all over the world (Bangkok two weeks ago, followed by Jeffersonville, OH) and provides wonderful opportunities to meet people involved in the hobby of pedigreed cats. Next stop: Taipei.

My home base is southwestern Michigan (I'm a Yooper by birth) and I fly out of GRR and occasionally SBN. Delta and previously Northwest have been good to me, which basically means have never left me stranded anywhere (yet). My husband and I enjoy the fruits of my Delta Diamond status several times a year when we vacation, but we also love staying home with our Russian Blue cats and the company of close family nearby.

Retirement from a 'real' job adds a certain pleasure to traveling internationally...no need to worry if you have delays or a cancellation and there's that knowledge that if you want to hop on the flight to Paris instead of the flight to Detroit, there's nothing holding you back.

Safe travels!

Been reading these forums off and on for a while but just now jumping in. Having started a new job/career earlier this year that has me travelling all the time, I've found the info here to be incredibly valuable as I learn the ropes of life on the road.

Currently I live in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and fly out of RNO(Reno, NV).

Welcome, TuxTom! :) Glad to see that you've decided to register and join our little corner of the interwebs.

Many Thanks Calchas! :)

Hello,

My name is Jamie. I'm 23 living in Chicago. Excited to be part of the community!

Totally never did this when I joined a few months back...I'm Brandon, moved from Dallas to St. Louis for work over a year ago; and regularly travel to different cities in the north central US for work.

Food, sports, and video games are the way of life!

Welcome!

and belated welcome!

I didn't realize this thread existed when I joined. My name is Stephanie. I fly out of BNA (Nashville). I'm still trying to learn all of the abbreviations used on the forums, but that makes it all the more enjoyable as I try to break the codes1 ;-)

I generally travel with my other half. Most of our travel is for the sole purpose of seeing a place we haven't seen before. I have learned so much already just from reading threads and either shaking my head or nodding - yes! I had something happen just like that!!

I've also learned most of my best travel lessons when something went wrong, and I had to figure out what to do next. Reading here is a bit like a crash course in 'what to do next' so thank you all very much!!!

Welcome aboard (belatedly)!

Hmm... I've been here for a while but just realized I've never posted here.

So, I used to travel more than I do now, and am mostly a leisure traveler at this point. I wish I was traveling more for work, but I've got a pretty good deal where I am now, so I'm staying. I'm at a university and professional staff get basically the same deal as tenure. I'm due in Feb. 2019 so I should have a job for life at that point.

I'm a software engineer and tech enthusiast so I try to hang out in the Tech section in case any questions pop up that I can answer.

Home airport is BUF but I think I'm going to start driving to YYZ to start my trips more often - fares are usually way cheaper up there. Even after parking and a hotel on return I'm saving $450 and have one less stopover on my next trip than if I left from BUF. I might check out ORD next, but that's a much longer road trip.

Most common trip I take is BUF <-> RSW since my parents are in FL.

I really appreciate having FT around; I've learned a ton from reading all your posts, so thanks everyone!

HI FT,

My name is b00mer89 and I think i may be developing a problem... My wife and i started into the travel game a couple of years ago and it has grown from there. We are huge into exploring the world and seeing all it has to offer, trying to learn everything we can about a location before we go so we can understand better and not be surprised by any culture shocks (insert sheltered American joke here). bringing back a real piece(art or some other hand crafted item) of a country when we travel is important to us, it allows us to a tell a story about how/why we picked it up. we have a travel wall that over the years i hope expands to encompass more of the apartment.

right now were mostly cattle class, but as we learn, were starting to use more C+/E+ seating options as upgrades when it makes sense since I'm 6'2". ive been a long time lurker, and finally decided to become a bit more active on here so i figured i would post and say hi.

i look forward to seeing the world, and maybe getting together for a beer or glass of wine in the future with some of you wonderful individuals.

b00mer89

Welcome! Nothing wrong with a ton of research and bringing some culture back with you. I think almost anyone on here will agree that being treated like "cattle" with any airline is one of the worst spots to be in. Get the status and get the upgrades. Plenty of good advice from people on here.

Hi All,
I'm 'slownetguy' from Aus (other Aus members know we're basically on dial-up down under).
Been getting into more flying for work and leisure.

Next flight is from Brisbane --> Sydney, Sydney --> Honolulu.

Looking forward being part of the community!

Hi Steph! Welcome! I came aboard once retired, and just travel AND leisure. I hope you get the second part in, too. Good to hear you're getting the rewards you want. I've not traveled much as part of my former profession, but since 2006 (early retirement) I've been to innumerable non-urban locations, some quite wild and some not, as well as some places where 'everyone' goes. Feel free to PM me if you have Q about places you might want to go; and I will let you know what I know or if I simply don't know. I've found that this group is like a family. Occasional haters, but most of the time, we all just want to help.

Thought Id introduce myself. I am wife to mdovenmuehler here and am usually the quiet one :). What a great community here, I know for a fact we have spent plenty of time roaming the forums for help, tips and info regarding my husbands point habits and adventures. However a lot of the info we have found was super useful in our daily travels, vacations and good life tips in general. Glad to finally be onboard and I will be doing the Secret Santa as well this year :)

I'm an industrial design master student in the Netherlands. I've worked for a number of aircraft interior companies to design concepts for better passenger experience. I'm using this forum to gather information about lavatory cleanliness. I'll post my own thread soon, but for now if anyone is interested in directly helping please get in touch!

Thanks everyone!

Hey everyone.

My name is Joel. For the past 5 years, I've worked as an analyst at a community bank in southern Michigan after graduating with a degree in mathematics.

I started playing hockey before I even started kindergarten and played all through high school. I've been to a handful of NCAA Frozen Fours and try to make it whenever I can.

I'm a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, Green Bay Packers, and Michigan State Univ.

I've always been interested in airplanes. I always catch myself staring in the sky whenever I hear the roar of an engine, trying to spot it in the sky. My personal highlight so far was getting to fly in an A380 two years ago.

Hi Boomer - Welcome to FlyerTalk. I read your posting with much interest. Seems we have a few things in common. My wife and I enjoy traveling a lot - and have done a lot of it for many years. We also have a "travel wall".. It covers about 15 feet of our family room wall and displays items from at least 40 countries. We also usually fly economy, and in years past, we would get the emergency door seats (free) - which you now must buy. :( This was a big deal for me as I am also 6'2"! How about that!

Keep traveling and Stay Loose.