Dec 31st, 2012 at 11:00AM: Tom Stuker took the term "frequent flyer" to new heights this year, logging just over 1,000,000 miles in 2012 all on United, all in first class. The 59-year-old Chicago native and New Jersey resident says he's flown a total of 13 million miles, much of that in his capacity as an independent consultant and sales trainer for automobile dealerships around the world.
This year, Stuker says that ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
frequentflier posts
Tom Stuker Flew Over 1 Million Miles This Year - Why?
Dec 31st, 2012 at 11:00AM: Tom Stuker took the term "frequent flyer" to new heights this year, logging just over 1,000,000 miles in 2012 all on United, all in first class. The 59-year-old Chicago native and New Jersey resident says he's flown a total of 13 million miles, much of that in his capacity as an independent consultant and sales trainer for automobile dealerships around the world.
This year, Stuker says that ...Airline Fees: You Get What You Pay For Or Weapons In Travel Class Warfare?
Jun 29th, 2012 at 1:00PM: Last month, the media was abuzz over increased airline fees for pre-assigned seating, with many concerned that it would especially affect families who want to sit together for no additional cost. Even New York Senator Chuck Schumer got involved, asking airlines to waive fees for families traveling with children. Rather than look for victims or call airlines "anti-family," however, look at the ...Babies and first class: why is this an issue?
Mar 12th, 2012 at 3:00PM: Earlier this week, I saw a story about babies and first class air travel posted on Facebook. The Facebook poster asked our own Heather Poole (flight attendant, mother, and new book author!) for her thoughts on the story, and she replied, "I'm fine with babies in first class. Usually they just sleep." Columnist Brett Snyder is a frequent flier and new dad wondering if he should use miles to upgrade ...'Mile Runners' are in it for the long haul
Oct 16th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
A group of frequent flier hustlers is so obsessed with wracking up miles they are willing to do absurd acts such as flying around the world in 48 hours or going through Detroit five times on a single trip just to earn freebies.
For $320, Randy Petersen accrued a marathon of 35,000 miles for the following flight sequence: ...MilePoint opens to the public - and gives away one free iPad 2 a day for a month
Mar 8th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
Last month, we mentioned the (beta) opening of new frequent flier forum MilePoint. Now all the bugs have been fixed, the board has finally opened for anyone to join.
The forum has been chugging along nicely for well over a month, and has already attracted over 8000 members who have posted over 200,000 articles - not a bad start for a brand new site.
Of course, new sites like this pop up ...Video: I need an upgrade. Give me an upgrade. I am an elite member.
Feb 25th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
Looking for the perfect video for the lazy Friday afternoon? Check out this animated clip showing an average business traveler demand an upgrade from the poor ticketing agent.
As funny as this may seem, this is actually based off real passengers and real interactions with airline employees. Obviously, the whole thing looks funnier in an animated clip, which is what makes it perfect for ...
Five business travel challenges for small companies to overcome
Feb 17th, 2011 at 11:00AM: Regardless of economic conditions, owning and running a small business isn't easy. It's always tough to find clients, allocate your funds effectively and maximize your bang for the buck. And, business travel is a big part of this. When you go out on the road, you know you're committing some serious cash to the endeavor, and you want to make sure you get as much value out of it as possible.
Part ...Five good reasons to screw up your frequent flier mile strategy
Feb 2nd, 2011 at 11:00AM: There isn't much that's precious to a business traveler (except time off the road) - at least not that you can touch. Maybe that's why road warriors find frequent flier miles to be so important. They are at once a visible reward for suffering the slings and arrows of business travel, an indicator of class in an implicitly hierarchical community and a ticket to leisure travel later. If they ...Traxo: all-in-one mileage, points and status tracker
Nov 15th, 2010 at 10:00AM:
Last week, we took a look at ten ways to prevent your hard earned miles and points from expiring. From that article, we received a tip to check out another new online mileage tracker - Traxo.
Traxo describes itself as "an automatic, intelligent new system for organizing, managing and sharing all of your trip details". What this means to us travelers, is that the site automatically monitors ...Ten ways to prevent your frequent flier miles from disappearing
Nov 8th, 2010 at 9:30AM: After reading the story of Scott Kelby, you may be interested in some tips that can help keep your airline mileage account alive. Thankfully, not everything that earns miles has to involve taking a flight.
Mileage expiration dates vary from airline to airline - some provide a relatively generous 18 months between activity, others only give you six months.
So, here are ten tips that will ...Five United Airlines non-answers about the frequent-flier future
Nov 5th, 2010 at 12:00PM: United Airlines decided to dive into the weeds. Executives from the airline met with close to 200 members of the online forum FlyerTalkers to discuss some of the major issues they see with the carrier, according to USA Today. This may not seem like a bold move, but to put the company's top dogs out in front of some of the highest-value customers comes with plenty of risk, especially for an airline ...Frequent flier classes help you learn (and game?) the system
Jun 12th, 2010 at 12:00PM: Who knew a seminar could turn you into Gadling top dog Grant Martin? That isn't the explicit promise of Grant-caliber savvy – nobody would be so bold – but two courses developed by Nicholas Kraley can bring you a little closer to maximizing your miles and taking that all important mileage run in December.
Kraley is something of an expert, having picked up more than 1.5 million miles ...Whose frequent flyer miles are most useful?
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:00PM: Like airlines, hotels, rollaboards and car services, not all frequent flyer programs are created equal. Plenty goes into measuring the quality of a particular rewards program. How difficult is it to redeem the miles? Can one redeem said miles on a partner airline or for other travel tidbits like hotel stays or car rentals? How many miles are required to make a booking?
It's difficult to ...Christopher Elliott on the reality of frequent flier programs
May 17th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Few people know the airline industry as well as Chris Elliott - he's a regular contributor on MSNBC, The Washington Post (and Gadling) - so when I came across one of his columns on frequent flier programs, I paid close attention to what he had to say.
In his article, Elliott makes a very valid point that airline loyalty really only works one way. Millions of people work hard to earn airline ...United Airlines finds $64 million lying around - thanks to your expiring miles
Apr 29th, 2010 at 3:30PM: Hands up if you have checked your mileage account, only to notice that you forgot to have any activity, and all your miles are gone.
Well, thanks to you, United Airlines just managed to make an extra $64 million.
The bonus bucks were earned thanks to a new accounting method and a huge stash of previously undiscovered expiring miles.
So, yes - air miles are big, big business. So big in ...Southwest Airlines offers double Rapid Rewards credits
Apr 8th, 2010 at 5:00PM: Southwest Airlines is offering "Double Credit Days" today through May 26.
To be eligible, you must be a member of the airline's frequent flier program, called Rapid Rewards, but you can join today and still earn the extra credits.
If you already belong to the Rapid Rewards program, you still have to register online to get in on the promotion. If you fly and don't register, you won't get the ...Spirit Airlines credit card comes with three free roundtrip tickets
Mar 28th, 2010 at 12:00PM: We don't always cover frequent flier promotions or airline credit card bonus perks - but when we run into generous ones, we'll always try to share the news.
The newest promo from Spirit Airlines rewards you with three free roundtrip tickets, just for signing up and making one purchase on their card.
Of course, the promotion isn't as impressive as the recent 100,000 mile bonus British Airways ...Airline secret societies
Dec 6th, 2009 at 1:00PM:
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/12/06/airline-secret-societies/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
There's a special type of membership level, but the airlines don't want you to know about it ... unless you're dropping an easy $50,000 a year on full fare tickets with the same airline. The topic, which comes up from time to time, is in the headlines again thanks to the work of George ...Southwest gains a passenger midflight
Dec 4th, 2009 at 5:30PM: When a Southwest Airlines flight took off from Chicago Midway Airport today bound for Salt Lake City it had 123 passengers. When it landed, there were 124. The addition joined the flight at 30,000 feet somewhere above Denver.
As one of the passengers discovered, the floor at the back of an airplane can work fine as a delivery room in a pinch. Luckily, there was a doctor on board who could help ...jetBlue to bring back "All-You-Can-Jet" pass?
Dec 4th, 2009 at 11:30AM: This year, airline jetBlue allowed a few lucky people to take "frequent flying" to the next level. The carrier offered an "All-You-Can-Jet" pass for 30 days (September 8 to October 8) for one low price of $599. While the pass may not have been the best deal for the occasional flyer, it would have saved anyone with multiple longer flights some serious cash.
A few folks went beyond flying to ...
