Flyertalk confessional
 

I secretly get excited when one of my flights is cancelled due to mechanical. I enjoy the free hotel, and night in a city I didn't plan to be in. I've met some amazing people at these hotel bars, and have had some amazing adventures going out drinking with some perfect strangers in strange lands!

+1

Though I may share these gems with very good friends.

-I "dumb down" the way I talk about travel, miles, points, etc. when speaking with someone who is not a frequent flyer or doesn't care about miles and points. For example, instead of explaining status and saying "I'm 1K with United, which allows me to use system-wide upgrades," I might say, "I fly so much that the airlines throw me free upgrades now and then."

-I like to recline my seat

-For over two decades of my life--until I found FT--I never bothered to earn miles when I flew. I estimate that I left around 300,000 BIS EQMs and countless more bonus miles and credit card-earned EQMs sitting on the table.

-I drink heavily in airports and hotels when I travel and have no trouble holding my liquor, but I am ashamed order more than two drinks during a flight for fear of either being judged by the FA or cut off.

I never recline my seat; just don't find it comfortable!

I travel by train or car more often than not - only one international flight so far for business.

I don't stay at the same hotel chain or fly with the same airline enough to really benefit from reward programmes. That said when travelling to India this year with work I managed to collect enough miles for a free night which I used this year... saved me £105!

I am obsessed with packing / travelling light / new bags etc

My wife travels with work more than me (including domestics flights) and can travel lighter than me - and she doesn't even try as it seems to come naturally.

I turn up way too early to the train station / airport. In the case of the airport I can't 'rest' until I have passed security and the 'right' side of the airport.

I flew US-Europe around 20 times (mostly in Business) without really caring about miles or points at hotels since someone else was paying and I figured the whole FF thing was more trouble than it was worth; I used a corporate credit card that got me nothing and had a generic free personal cc.

i have a method for ensuring that there is an empty seat next to me during long-haul flights--and no, I won't share, but it's not illegal, and it doesn't involve eating garlic or otherwise being obnoxious. But it works often enough that I continue to use it with more than 50% success over the past few years.

Despite being a Minneapolis resident, I fly Delta only if there is no other way to my destination.

I have never flown Southwest.

I'd like to try Jet Blue, but it doesn't serve Minneapolis.

I avoid ORD if possible.

Some of my colleagues are like that. They said they use too many different airlines to benefit. Now, after ten years, they'd probably have decent status with every one if they'd signed on at first. It would also benefit their employer to have employees with status and lounge access etc. I just shake my head.

I like staying in hostels despite flying First and Business Class. :eek:

In my and their defense, it took a lot of work on FT to figure out how I was going to benefit from this and at the time I spent that time and energy on other stuff. But had I had a colleague who knew what I know now, I would have quite a bit more status etc. than I do today...

You mean had you listened to them .. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Flyertalk confessional
 

8 times out of 10, I will order an apple juice for my pre flight drink. (I love it but I don't buy it at home because of all the sugar.)

On 1-2 flights per year, just before take-off, I get a weird feeling and wonder if "this is the one that'll go down.." Clearly (and thankfully), it never is.

I loathe JFK's T4.

I want to punch people who crowd the gate when boarding. There is a special place in hell reserved just for you.

I grew up not minding flying on Christmas. Seemed quite a few good chartered deals on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas!:)

Flyertalk confessional
 

I look at my upcoming reservations at united.com almost every day. Sometimes I look at them many times a day.

I joined the mile-high club in the mid-80s with a FA on a Western Airlines flight from Honolulu to Anchorage.

not funny