Well thanks, thanks a lot!! I was feeling pretty good about my business travel until I read this thread--and found out that other people who travel have time for social activities!! For me, it's usually airport to site, work, work, work, then site to hotel, work some more and start over the next day. The only "social time" I get is sitting in airports waiting for delayed flights. The best "social time" I had this year then was in Pittsburgh, IMHO the best airport shopping experience around.

I'm obviously doing something wrong, aren't I?

I'm more the shy type and wait for the other person to make the first verbal contact. If it's interesting, I respond, and sometimes a conversation develops.

I have NOT made friends from random seat mates (although twice almost came close to dates with attractive women next to me, but as I said, once she said the "B" word as in Boyfriend, the other I stupidly forgot to get her business card at the RCC.)

Flyertalk is a more fun place to make friends and like Punki said it's even better to go to a strange airport and have a welcome face there to spend some time with you.

I love hosting at EWR and have hosted several Flyertalkers for quick get togethers (Old Gold, Mweiss, etc.)

SO come thru EWR and I'll be happy to show you a great time.

I don't mind chatting up a fellow passenger if I am not sleeping, but once at a hotel, I am all zzzz's.

BTW, WSJ published a few articles before on in-air espionage stories. A few examples include:

1. People think they are anonymous so they freely talk up business.
2. Other passengers viewing your work on your computer screen from the side or from behind you or when you leave your seat.
3. While you are sleeping, stealing (a read) your computer and work from under yor seat or form overhead.

This is becoming more prevalent especially a "nerd bird" flights such as BOS-SJC, or for that matter, any SJC flights, according to WSJ.

Were there "a few" Ken? I saw just the one by Eleena de Lisser on the very front page of the printed WSJ edition last week on 11/8/99. If there are others, I must have missed them. perhaps you can direct me to the others, if possible.

You may also recall that there was a posting on FT asking for those that would be willing to speak to a WSJ reporter regarding this increasingly common phenomenon.

Mark, you are far better at searching the web and the Wall Street Journal for clues/tips/ideas than I am so I will defer this task to you.

But for your information, the 11/8/99 WSJ article was not the first article published that discussed in-air espionage. If my memory serves me correct, a previous article discussed stealing things from under one's seat and US intelligence community's former accusation that Air France planted microphone in its first class seats' head rests.

Hope that's enough clues for you to find it.

All they would get out of me would be intelligence on snakes, frogs, butterflies, birds, plants and frequent flyer miles http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The Orlando Sentinel had a neat suggestion for those laptop snoops. Whenever this guy sensed that someone was looking at his screen, he executed a macro that brought up a Word document with the single line:

IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!

Cheers,

'toad

Thanks Ken. I thought I missed something but do now recall the AF story -which they have always denied. I'd actually thought they were all in the one WSJ article, which is not the case I guess. I still can't remember where the AF story was!

BTW- Toad- They ran the same material "...ASHAMED..." in this WSJ article Ken mentioned.

I am going to fly from Cleveland to Detroit to Tokyo to Shanghai today. Hopefully I will be able to find some pleasant conversations on the way especially during my reading breaks.

I guess I am lucky since I am usually seated next to VERY interesting people. Otherwise I read a book or sleep.

My most interesting neighbour to date was on a YUL-YYZ route when the person seated next to me was the captain of my original flight CDG-YUL!

I recall a LHR-JFK flight in the late 70's. BA on a VC-10 for those who remember the last great British long-haul aeroplane! I found myself next to a Japanese businessman who spent the entire flight disassembling and reassembling a pen he had just bought, and making copious notes and diagrams on what he found. Turned out he was a designer who just had to know how it had been put together.

That flight certainly showed me something about Japanese ingenuity and commitment to innovate.