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Old Jul 18, 2015, 2:14 pm
  #361  
 
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Two facts of miles/points/frequent travel are underplayed on blogs in general:

1. You need a highly flexible schedule to redeem the best awards. "Aspirational" award space is often available for 1 person but not for 2 people.

2. Healthful food, drink, and sleep are hard to come by. Some remedies are simple enough: skip desserts (except fresh fruit); drink 1 glass of water for every 1 alcoholic drink. Another concern is sodium: airline and restaurant food is full of it.
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Old Jul 18, 2015, 3:57 pm
  #362  
 
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On healthy travel: When possible, walk the whole way from gate to gate instead of taking the 'plane train'. For me, travel days are generally lost planned workout days, so if I've got a longer layover, I'll do what airside long walks that I can. A few out and backs of T to F terminals at ATL isn't intense exercise but is still enough to help me sleep better that night.
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 9:38 am
  #363  
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Limiting bag fees is anti-freedom, says the blogger who likely has never had to pay a bag fee.

And, apparently, the DoT should ignore consumer complaints rather than investigating them because Adam Smith.

Government BAD!

Makes sense:
Gary first came to Washington as a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow at the Tax Foundation... @:-)@:-)@:-)@:-)

I actually agree with some of Gary's libertarian bent. But the knee-jerk anti-regulation thing gets as old as Rand Paul's haircut. And his denial that over-consolidation of the domestic carriers is bad/terrible for consumers is just silly.
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 1:43 pm
  #364  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
Limiting bag fees is anti-freedom, says the blogger who likely has never had to pay a bag fee.

And, apparently, the DoT should ignore consumer complaints rather than investigating them because Adam Smith.

Government BAD!

Makes sense:
Gary first came to Washington as a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow at the Tax Foundation... @:-)@:-)@:-)@:-)

I actually agree with some of Gary's libertarian bent. But the knee-jerk anti-regulation thing gets as old as Rand Paul's haircut. And his denial that over-consolidation of the domestic carriers is bad/terrible for consumers is just silly.
Copy that, for I agree in full with the above, with a carve out for "never".

I find that VFTW also seems even more sensationalistic on slow-news Sunday.

Last edited by GUWonder; Jul 26, 2015 at 3:55 pm
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 2:05 pm
  #365  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Copy that, for I agree in full with the above,

I find that VFTW also seems even more sensationalistic on slow-news Sunday.
True that. Today's post on men's rooms has a very inteesting click bait title.
As an aside I am wondering how the Thought Leader is feeling about being totally eclipsed by all the media coverage OMAAT is getting

Also I am sure the "surfer dude" is thrilled.
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 2:25 pm
  #366  
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Originally Posted by cruisr
True that. Today's post on men's rooms has a very inteesting click bait title.
As an aside I am wondering how the Thought Leader is feeling about being totally eclipsed by all the media coverage OMAAT is getting

My guess is that Gary is perfectly comfortable being the 'serious' and 'grown up' Thought Leader in Travel on TV rather than a Buzzfeedy kid who calls frequency program executives 'idiots' to be tricked and kept ahead of. @:-)
Also I am sure the "surfer dude" is thrilled.
I'm sure he is. But maybe kicking himself that he didn't make Ben a 'co-co-founder' of MP, too.
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Old Jul 26, 2015, 7:23 pm
  #367  
 
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Who is Alan H.? Hope he gets a cut for driving so much content to VFTW, wow!
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Old Jul 27, 2015, 3:31 pm
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
Limiting bag fees is anti-freedom, says the blogger who likely has never had to pay a bag fee.

And, apparently, the DoT should ignore consumer complaints rather than investigating them because Adam Smith.

Government BAD!

Makes sense:
Gary first came to Washington as a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow at the Tax Foundation... @:-)@:-)@:-)@:-)

I actually agree with some of Gary's libertarian bent. But the knee-jerk anti-regulation thing gets as old as Rand Paul's haircut. And his denial that over-consolidation of the domestic carriers is bad/terrible for consumers is just silly.
You left off the best part: "Gary first came to Washington as a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow at the Tax Foundation where he co-authored (with Arthur P. Hall) the excitingly-titled A Half Century of Small Business Federal Income Tax Rates and Collections." Bolding mine.
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Old Jul 31, 2015, 7:52 pm
  #369  
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Hello Friends. Expect for perez hilton (?) and one or two "haters" we are all fans of The Thought Leader in Travel. So as leffeners what can we do to get the focus away from that young upstart and back on to The Godfather of The Hobby?

I'm not suggesting any sexual acts on a plane - but maybe somebody knows a staff writer for AARP - The Magazine? Maybe time to form a Leff for Congress PAC?
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Old Jul 31, 2015, 9:31 pm
  #370  
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Originally Posted by chad75
Hello Friends. Expect for perez hilton (?) and one or two "haters" we are all fans of The Thought Leader in Travel. So as leffeners what can we do to get the focus away from that young upstart and back on to The Godfather of The Hobby?

I'm not suggesting any sexual acts on a plane - but maybe somebody knows a staff writer for AARP - The Magazine? Maybe time to form a Leff for Congress PAC?
He's already got the backing of the Kochs. He's got Citizens United money. No traditional PAC money needed! @:-)
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Old Jul 31, 2015, 10:52 pm
  #371  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
He's already got the backing of the Kochs. He's got Citizens United money. No traditional PAC money needed! @:-)
Seriously. Citizens United Money. So that new piece in NYT was courtesy of Citizens United? @:-)
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Old Aug 2, 2015, 1:43 pm
  #372  
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This thought leader congratulates that thought leader's blog post about an article about his blog posts about Delta.

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/08/01/in-deltas-frequent-flier-magic-trick-not-just-rabbits-disappear/

No krug and tugs. In fact, Barely a mention of champagne. Nice to have a grown up to read about.

That said, I continue to be shocked that a libertarian free market advocate like Gary would be against dynamic market-based pricing of award tickets.
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Old Aug 2, 2015, 3:00 pm
  #373  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
This thought leader congratulates that thought leader's blog post about an article about his blog posts about Delta.

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....its-disappear/

No krug and tugs. In fact, Barely a mention of champagne. Nice to have a grown up to read about.

That said, I continue to be shocked that a libertarian free market advocate like Gary would be against dynamic market-based pricing of award tickets.
Being a supposed "libertarian free market advocate" does not mean a consumer needs to cheerlead on behalf of every customer-unfriendly move made by a supplier in the marketplace. And we all ought to know: that this airline passenger service market within/to/from the US is no longer a highly-competitive market; and that it is really anything but a completely free market. What we have is a government-backed oligopoly, where the airline lobby and its supporters have gotten to have their cake and eat it too.
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Old Aug 2, 2015, 4:28 pm
  #374  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
That said, I continue to be shocked that a libertarian free market advocate like Gary would be against dynamic market-based pricing of award tickets.
He should at least support dynamic pricing as an ADDITIONAL offering to supplement a capacity-controlled award chart.
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Old Aug 2, 2015, 6:44 pm
  #375  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Being a supposed "libertarian free market advocate" does not mean a consumer needs to cheerlead on behalf of every customer-unfriendly move made by a supplier in the marketplace. And we all ought to know: that this airline passenger service market within/to/from the US is no longer a highly-competitive market; and that it is really anything but a completely free market. What we have is a government-backed oligopoly, where the airline lobby and its supporters have gotten to have their cake and eat it too.
The ultimate result of totally free unregulated markets tends to be oligopolies and monopolies.

And too many of us are all about buying the fake dream that we are a part of, or party to, the party.

Enclosed cabins with double beds, mini-home-theater systems, gourmet meals curated by a chef and sommelier, and so on.

Now, the fact that all this airborne decadence is something of a Potemkin village – you’re still aboard an airplane, in a space smaller than a $39 single at the Motel 6 behind the Conoco station – and that most of the passengers in first class or business are mid-level corporate suits rather than genuine tycoons, tells us something important about the New Gilded Age. It’s pretty much a fake. It’s like a giant game of three-card monte, in which the superrich move just enough money around to make society appear dynamic, to convince many of the rest of us that lives of wealth and luxury await us, just beyond the horizon. The first-class cabin, like the McMansions Thomas Frank recently wrote about, is a vulgar echo of something that once seemed impressive, a promise that is never fulfilled. It’s a reminder that in America we are never to see ourselves as members of an exploited class, but only, in the apocryphal but revealing phrase attributed to John Steinbeck, as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
The Kochs wouldn't be caught dead flying in CX or LH F (let alone precious AA's F). Commercial is for suckers and the little people. @:-)

Originally Posted by nsx
He should at least support dynamic pricing as an ADDITIONAL offering to supplement a capacity-controlled award chart.
This is what I don't get. I can buy C or F on any flight for cash with dynamic pricing. Using points I only have a binary option: published points fare or no fly at all.

That's not supply and demand. That's not how markets are meant to work.
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