Grant Martin
- http://www.gadling.com
Grant is the Editor in Chief of Gadling.com, specializing in airline travel, trends, technology and stressing out. So far in 2009 he has slept two Fridays and one Saturday in his own bed.
Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
How to effectively complain about your trip via Twitter
What a powerful tool this Twitter is. A few well written comments to ten thousand listeners can spread vitriol quite quickly, so even if a customer's ire is misplaced it's important for companies to respond. And once they reach out, those 10,000 ears hear the praise. Southwest, for example, reached out directly when a traveler posted a comment complaining about the check-in procedure at the airport. Though they couldn't disperse the queue, their attention turned a negative situation on its side, comforting the traveler and ultimately winning credibility.
Before you run off criticizing every facet of your trip to @AAirwaves and @MarriottIntl though, think about your approach. While Twitter is a great tool for delivering a concise message to corporate America, if you want results you're going to need to frame yourself correctly. Here's how:
In the Wild Wild West: Dine in a trailer park
The new trend on dining out in Austin, Texas is in trailer parks. Street food trailer parks, to be exact. Warm, temperate weather makes the capital of Austin an excellent destination for outdoor eating, so why not plant a few street food stalls in permanent slots and let the masses come forth?South Austin's Trailer Park and Eatery is a series of several, small street food stands parked on a dusty lot on South 1st St. At just over one mile from the capitol building, it's packed on a Sunday morning, imported cars and strollers stuffing the small parking lot as patrons wait in line for a greasy taco or hot dog. A fan of picnic tables snarl out from the village, constantly populated by families and hungover youth, ravenously feasting on their morning fare.
Arguably the most popular trailer at this spot is from Torchy's Tacos, an Austin favorite for well done and better priced tex-mex fare. Breakfast tacos will set you back a solid $2.50, while perennial favorites such as the Democrat (shredded beef barbacoa and onions topped off with fresh avocado, queso fresco, cilantro and a lime wedge served on a corn tortilla with house green salsa) cost an easy $4. First hand, it doesn't get much better than this.
Up in the Air: George Clooney becomes a frequent flyer
Trailers for Up in the Air with George Clooney started surfacing on my desk this week, and I must admit, I'm eying them with curiosity, fear and interest.
I'm curious and interested because in a way, the film narrates the lives of many people I know, perhaps myself included, the life of a person always on the move who travels light -- both physically and metaphorically.
What I'm afraid I'll see is how these people are portrayed, the hollowness and vanity that sometimes comes with frequent travel and how this is reflected onto myself. Watching the trailers now available on YouTube, much of the dialogue rings familiar, even if it doesn't apply to my personal life:
"Do you know that moment when you look into somebody's eyes and you can feel them staring into your soul and the whole world goes quiet?"
"Yes!"
"Well, I don't."
But as all Hollywood movies go, I'm sure that Up in the Air will have a perfect ending and lesson learned, with all of us feeling as if we're that clever, attractive businessman that finds love and starts life afresh.
I'm looking forward to the film.
Nice work on the product placement by the way. In this two minute trailer I saw American Airlines, Blackberry, Hilton, Travelpro and Mastercard. Incidentally, that shot of Clooney in front of the 747 and fountain was shot at Detroit's Delta terminal.
I'm curious and interested because in a way, the film narrates the lives of many people I know, perhaps myself included, the life of a person always on the move who travels light -- both physically and metaphorically.
What I'm afraid I'll see is how these people are portrayed, the hollowness and vanity that sometimes comes with frequent travel and how this is reflected onto myself. Watching the trailers now available on YouTube, much of the dialogue rings familiar, even if it doesn't apply to my personal life:
"Do you know that moment when you look into somebody's eyes and you can feel them staring into your soul and the whole world goes quiet?"
"Yes!"
"Well, I don't."
But as all Hollywood movies go, I'm sure that Up in the Air will have a perfect ending and lesson learned, with all of us feeling as if we're that clever, attractive businessman that finds love and starts life afresh.
I'm looking forward to the film.
Nice work on the product placement by the way. In this two minute trailer I saw American Airlines, Blackberry, Hilton, Travelpro and Mastercard. Incidentally, that shot of Clooney in front of the 747 and fountain was shot at Detroit's Delta terminal.
Frequent Flyer Master -- A product review
If you've ever heard of the brand The Art of Non-Conformity you may have heard of Chris Guillebeau. Self described as a man who "writes, travels and helps people take over the world," Guillebeau is a frequent traveler, speaker, entrepreneur and all-around social maven out in the blog and Twitter sphere. Among his claims to fame are a host of online guides for purchase, speaking on topics from successfully working at home to how to make money as an artist.His latest is called Frequent Flyer Master, and it's a guide to maximizing your earned frequent flyer miles, or as he puts it, "democratizing free travel."
Earlier this week Mr. Guillebeau asked me to take a look, so as a frequent traveler myself I accepted a free copy of the $49 guide for a review.
Am I now a frequent flyer mile guru? Has my life changed? Has abject foreshadowing already ruined my review? Find out more below.
Are the economics of Twitter airfares worth it?
More and more budget-travel tipsters are pointing towards Twitter, Facebook and social media outlets as the source for wild cheap airfares these days. And it's true, in a way. By subscribing to the pundit feeds online it's possible to get the inside scoop on a few good routes, often saving a few shekels on a future itinerary. Broad, dirt cheap fares (sometimes called bingos), however, are harder to pin down. You've probably heard about the one guy who got a $7 airfare to Iceland or the other woman who flew to Buenos Aires for $40. These (mistake) fares usually occur two or three times a year and more often than not, last less than 24 hours. Yet these are the tickets that fuel the pundit followers.
Now, with the proliferation of active Twitterers, Flyertalk and Slickdeals, bingo fares are becoming harder and harder to find. Rick Seaney (@rickseaney) is a great example. The CEO of Farecompare has access to a broad spectrum of ticket data before it gets sent to travel agents like Orbitz and Expedia and as such, has a virtual crystal-ball into airfares that are going to soon be available. Great position to Tweet from, right? But can't the airlines follow the same feed? Could they perhaps pay Mr. Seaney to find mistakes before we do? It's not unlikely.
On the road in Oregon with the 2010 Cadillac SRX
Earlier this year, Gadling ran a promotion challenging readers to define their perfect road trip. The winner of the competition won a two day road trip of their choice in a brand new Cadillac SRX, with fuel, lodging and airfare all covered. We had a wealth of excellent entries ranging from trips through the Florida Keys to leaf tours through the Northeast to jaunts down the California coast, but our lucky winner chose a long road trip through the great state of Oregon, beginning in the metropolis of Portland then working down the coast to Crater Lake National Park.
Dilligent bloggers as we are, we sent a team to follow in the footprints, documenting the journey and consuming the Oregon asphault in a similar SRX.
What emerged was more than a simple road trip through the Northwest. Two old friends on the hilly backroads of Oregon experienced one of the finest states that America has to offer, a perfect cross section of city, country, desert, forest, good people, better food and a few beers along the way.
A remarkable, moving experience, our journey began in Portland.
Gallery: Cadillac SRX in Oregon
Fun with your global positioning system: GPS drawing
GPS systems are everywhere these days, thanks largely in part due to ubiquidous iPhones and Blackberries. The technology, proper, isn't very cumbersome either -- one can get a GPS chip small enough to uplink into a laptop computer or even to tie to a dog. That's what Jeremy Wood did in the below video, creating a virtual map of two dogs running around a park in Oxford.
Me and You from Jeremy Wood on Vimeo.
It's all part of his project over at GPS Drawing where Mr. Wood has collected oodles of drawings created by adventurous GPS owners and a lot of spare time. Excellent examples are the Elephant in Brighton, UK and Mosquito (!) from Bangkok, Thailand. See if you can do better next time you're out on the road.
Continental moves to Star Alliance -- your impact as an everyday traveler
Continental Airlines finally made its big move to the Star Alliance last week, a long awaited, much talked about transition from its former partnership with Delta and Northwest Airlines. It's a move that will affect the way that you earn and spend frequent flyer miles across the board, but what does it mean immediately to the every day traveler?On the surface, not much. Continental will remain the best legacy airline in the country, with onboard meals, top notch service and a happy customer base just like before. Most routes and services wont change but for a few ads and partnership banners here and there. So the infrequent traveler who just wants to get from point A to point B has little to read further into.
For the more frequent traveler, its time to take another look at your frequent flyer account. Star Alliance's network is huge (especially overseas,) and there are now a wide spectrum of airlines and awards on which you can earn and spend your Continental miles. It's worth taking a look at the Star Alliance webpage to see which airlines are involved and how you can earn miles on them.
It's also important to check your current bookings to make sure that the proper frequent flyer number is loaded. Obviously, none of the Skyteam Alliance members will now earn miles on Continental, while flights on United and US Airways will. For the ten minutes that you spend proofreading your itineraries, you could earn a ton of extra miles, so go ahead and do it now. We'll be here when you get back.
Man reconstructs entire Pan Am first class cabin in LA condo
Airline nostalgia is a hobby of many hobbyists out in the travel world. I know that I've got an unwrapped deck of NWA playing cards from a 747 flight before the airline merged with Delta, and others I've met have collected things ranging from silverware to barf bags to life vests.Never, however, have I seen someone collect an entire first class cabin.
As it turns out, it can be done. Anthony Toth, a sales director at United Airlines has been working on his mock-up of a Pan-Am first class cabin for twenty years. Reconstructed in his Los Angeles garage with original vintage and reconstructed materials, the model is a near replica of the Pan-Am cabins from yore, down to the flatware, seat covers and almonds.
Right now he uses the $50,000 investment to host friends and colleagues from United, but some day Mr Toth hopes to turn the mock-up into a museum. With the broad legacy that Pan-Am has left upon the current airline world, it would be a shame for it to be used otherwise.
Check out the Wall St. Journal link below for actual pictures.
Relive 1960's air travel with Plane Talk
It's fun looking back at the way that air travel used to be in the 60's. We all love to reminisce about the good old days of "space" in first class, three course meals, pianos and smoking lounges, but things as simple as the airline paint schemes, styles and strategies are always fascinating to revisit.
Watching this video about the industry, one finds himself marveling at the optimism and difference between air travel back then and today. "Why aren't you charging that man to standby on an earlier flight? What is this strange customer service that I see before me?"
Irrespective of your feelings for the new or old airline industry, "Plane Talk" is still an interesting and entertaining watch. Take a look below:
Watching this video about the industry, one finds himself marveling at the optimism and difference between air travel back then and today. "Why aren't you charging that man to standby on an earlier flight? What is this strange customer service that I see before me?"
Irrespective of your feelings for the new or old airline industry, "Plane Talk" is still an interesting and entertaining watch. Take a look below:
