View from the Wing [VFTW] discussions
#361
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,374
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.
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.
#362
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: VPS
Programs: IHG Diamond, Delta PM, Hilton Gold, Accor Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 7,268
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.
#363
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,620
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.
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.
#364
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
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.
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.
I find that VFTW also seems even more sensationalistic on slow-news Sunday.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jul 26, 2015 at 3:55 pm
#365
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: UA-1K, MM, Hilton-Diamond, Marriott-Titanium
Posts: 4,432
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.
#366
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,620
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.
#368
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
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.
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.
#369
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?
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?
#370
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,620
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?
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?
#371
Moderator: Delta SkyMiles, Luxury Hotels, TravelBuzz! and Italy
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 26,543
#372
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,620
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.
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.
#373
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
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.
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.
#374
#375
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,620
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.
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.
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.
That's not supply and demand. That's not how markets are meant to work.