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Nov 16, 2012 03:25
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I am a trainer for a software company and my travel is fairly erratic but I'm up to about 42k this year. Internationally I've been two England twice, Ireland, Denmark, and Poland. Domestically a couple trips to Boston, DC, Vegas, Charleston,and Chicago. I am based out Philadelphia and fly US Airways and Star Alliance partners 99% of the time to maximize miles that qualify for status. Unfortunately I got into the status game late and just recently started following specials to get bonus qualifying miles etc. I'm silver on US but could easily have been gold a long time ago if I had paid attention. We have a $40 daily limit on food but it isn't rigidly enforced. If we are taking customers out we can exceed this and expense alcohol. Our system for expenses is fairly easy just a spreadsheet with different categories. I just stick as many receipts as will fit on my scanner and scan them into 2-4 receipt pdf files. I've also begun to stretch my laziness factor and often won't even split it out my hotel bill into categories. My engagements are usually Tuesday-Thursday so I fly out Monday and back Thursday. This works great for Monday because I'm at off peak hours and if flying US often get upgraded. The return trip though always sucks because all the super frequent flyers are coming back Thursday night as well. If I can justify it I try to schedule a Friday afternoon flight but that almost never happens. The last 8k miles I need to hit gold are going to kill me but it would require some crazy luck to hit it.
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Nov 16, 2012 04:44
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They still care about liquids? I thought it wasn't A Thing anymore given the lack of overhead notices and signs at the security line.
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Nov 16, 2012 08:52
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1. There are still a lot of signs but they also just assume that since the rules have been the same for the last five years that you don't need a reminder. 2. educate yoself http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/prohibited-items 3. Hate to be like this, but you're the guy everyone hates because he is all They Care About Liquids Still blurghablur and holds up the security lines because I Didn't Know!
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Nov 16, 2012 13:12
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Northwest used to be an awesome airline but of course they merged with Delta. I've had poo poo experiences with a lot of other airlines. The problem with Delta is that a lot of their pacific international fleet is old. Many of them have domestic type first class while other airlines will at least have lie flat. I believe they are changing it but the price is also getting so sky high I may never get to do it again. My colleague does milage routes every other weekend, just flies around the country without stopping. I think he might have an addiction. He gets diamond already from roll over miles for the next X years, so...
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Nov 16, 2012 14:51
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:1. There are still a lot of signs but they also just assume that since the rules have been the same for the last five years that you don't need a reminder. I think he might have meant, "I didn't think [taking your appropriately sized and stored liquids out of your carry-on bag] was A Thing anymore..." I never take my liquids out of my bag these days unless there is a specific sign or the security personnel say it out loud. I haven't had any issues so far. One time they did put my bag back through the scanner because of a book I had in the outside pocket of my bag. Maybe it blocked the scanner or something? It was strange.
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Nov 16, 2012 19:49
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What I learned today in my first trip to Reagan (DCA) since I was 13: just because the nice lady at the desk tells you the rental car shuttle is a blue and white bus doesn't mean you should get on the first blue and white bus that pulls up to the rental car stop. One round trip to long term parking later... I am going back to flying into Baltimore.
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Nov 17, 2012 02:49
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Lyon posted:I think he might have meant, "I didn't think [taking your appropriately sized and stored liquids out of your carry-on bag] was A Thing anymore..." As a frequent traveler: I hate you, people like you make me wait in line longer. You are 'that guy'
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Nov 17, 2012 02:54
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On average I would say that I fly maybe two times a month and I have never been held up, not even once. The only time I ever got held up was for that book I mentioned which was a complete mystery to me. Also this exact same topic was mentioned by the OP on the previous page where your directly quoted the relevant part of his post? Edit: To contribute actual content, you guys should all check out Expensify. It is a website/app combo that you can use to record and consolidate all of your expense tracking. Lyon fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Nov 17, 2012 |
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Nov 17, 2012 03:26
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i like Ham posted:Holy poo poo you just made my day. With how much I'm on the road the only time I ever get to scan receipts is the once or twice a month I'm in the office. This obviously occasionally makes the guys who process expenses pretty mad from time to time. I've been looking for a solid compact scanner at a reasonable price for over a year and have not found one. My employer doesn't have any problem with iPhone photographed receipts. Before we switched to Harvest (time tracking and expensing web app which has an iPhone app that lets me scan and file an expense in about sixty seconds), I used TurboScan to "scan" right into my inbox. I have one of those "Neat Receipts" scanners gathering dust too.
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Nov 17, 2012 03:32
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Buckhead posted:I only fly domestically for work and stick to the majors, and Delta is far and away my (and everyone else's) favorite. United is a distant second, and American an even further distant third. AAdvantage is by far the strongest program for anyone who is going to hit top tier though - 8 SWUs, extremely valuable miles when it comes to redemption, and great upgrade percentages? UA is decent, probably better for those doing sub 100k/year. Delta award availability is a joke. I have several close diamond medallion friends and they do nothing but complain about (trying) to use miles. I did do a pure mileage run once. MIA-LAX and back on the same bird. There was an equipment switch last minute from 767 to 777 and thankfully got to do the MR in flagship first. It was to re-qualify for exec plat, one of the best returns on investments of any ticket ($300 for another year of first class).
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Nov 17, 2012 04:16
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Daeus posted:AAdvantage is by far the strongest program for anyone who is going to hit top tier though - 8 SWUs, extremely valuable miles when it comes to redemption, and great upgrade percentages? UA is decent, probably better for those doing sub 100k/year. Delta award availability is a joke. I have several close diamond medallion friends and they do nothing but complain about (trying) to use miles. I'm split between American and Delta and I definitely agree with that. American can be a bit of a pain in the rear end for golds and platinums due to the whole 500 mile upgrade thing, but for top tier Aadvantage is the best. You can hit executive platinum in 100k or 100 segments, as opposed to 125k/140 for diamond medallion. Between the SWUs and much more lucrative mileage redemption format, ex-plat on American really is the most rewarding of the top tiers. It does suck that you don't automatically get admiral's club membership, and the general lack of upgrades on your way to ex-plat is a bit of a pain in the rear end. If anybody is looking around and trying to decide on frequent travel programs I can lend quite a bit of insight into the pros and cons of Aadvantage and Skymiles.
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Nov 17, 2012 18:02
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I hit Platinum on Delta for the first time this year and holy poo poo is it a world of difference. I went from getting upgraded only on B and M fares on off days when I was going somewhere obscure to getting upgraded almost every flight. I got it on the outbound leg of a trip to Orange County. On the way out as a Gold I was 26th on the upgrade list. On the way back as a Platinum I was 2nd on the list.
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Nov 17, 2012 18:47
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i like Ham posted:If anybody is looking around and trying to decide on frequent travel programs I can lend quite a bit of insight into the pros and cons of Aadvantage and Skymiles. Please do, I am still new to this life and need to make a decision soon. I had been going skymiles but Delta doesn't seem as good out in California.
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Nov 17, 2012 20:22
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Frequent traveler checking in. Here's a quick note on Hotel rewards programs; some of them will offer you a quick path to to elite status. I called Marriott earlier this year and asked to be enrolled in their "Platinum Challenge". They agreed and required I stay 21 nights within 90 days. I was immediately bumped from nothing to platinum status and once I hit 21 nights I was permanently made platinum for the next year. I then called Hilton and made a similar request to make diamond status. They offered the same 21 night challenge if I could prove my elite status with a competing hotel chain. FWIW, a coworker tried the same thing with Hilton and they had no idea what he was talking about, so it pays to hang up, call again, and hope for a different rep.
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Nov 18, 2012 14:01
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I need to do a Star Alliance mileage run soon and I'm finding it amusing how alien the concept is to people I know who don't fly a lot.
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Nov 18, 2012 14:21
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:I need to do a Star Alliance mileage run soon and I'm finding it amusing how alien the concept is to people I know who don't fly a lot. I'm visiting friends in Seattle the weekend after Thanksgiving partly so I can get the 3500 MQMs I need to be DL Silver again next year, since AA has pissed me off with delays the last couple trips.
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Nov 18, 2012 17:56
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Cocoa Crispies posted:I'm visiting friends in Seattle the weekend after Thanksgiving partly so I can get the 3500 MQMs I need to be DL Silver again next year, since AA has pissed me off with delays the last couple trips. Seattle pretty much is awesome and Seatac is a good airport. 
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Nov 18, 2012 23:43
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If anyone else uses US Airways as their primary carrier you have until the end of today (I assume midnight) to purchase a club membership and receive $50 off + 5,000 PQMs. US Airways club membership gets you access to all United and (most) Star Alliance clubs as well. With this purchase I will be at 47k PQMs for the year so I'll potentially need to do a 3k mileage run to qualify for gold if nothing comes through for work. US seems to not get a lot of love but I haven't had any issues with them and have felt their service is on par with United (pretty much the only other domestic I've flown this year). Edit: I also have a free nomination to Trial Silver (possibly two) that I can give out on US Airways. What this means is you'll have Silver Status on US Airways for 90 days and then you'll get to keep whatever status you earn flying US/Star Alliance flights based on this chart.
Gold: Fly 15,000 miles or 20 segments Platinum: Fly 22,500 miles or 30 segments Chairmans: Fly 30,000 miles or 40 segments Lyon fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Nov 19, 2012 |
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Nov 19, 2012 03:29
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I don't fly a lot but I drive a poo poo ton (45k this year in one state). If you're having trouble eating healthy on the road and you have a car, it's not that hard to run to a grocery store or something and hit up the salad bar. Whole foods is good for this.
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Nov 19, 2012 07:26
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Shbobdb posted:Please do, I am still new to this life and need to make a decision soon. I had been going skymiles but Delta doesn't seem as good out in California. At the end of the day you need to take an hour and look at the routes you plan on traveling most frequently, and see which airlines have the most service and best prices on those routes. Unless you are particularly lucky, whether is it business or personal travel, you will generally be choosing your carrier based on ticket cost and will want to align your program to match that. With that aside here are the immediate pros/cons for Skymiles and Aadvantage as those are the programs I know best. I'll try to keep it as brief as I can. With Aadvantage your miles/points are effectively worth more than most carriers (with the main exception being Southwest, but that is a whole different conversation). When comparing roundtrip flights within the continental U.S. I can spend 25,000-50,000 on American or 25,000-60,000 on Delta. For a roundtrip to Europe it is 40,000-120,000 on American compared to 60,000-130,000 for Delta. The point spend is related to high and low seasons, and in this respect I tend to find it easier to find "low season" fares on American than I do on Delta. So on a recent trip I was planning I could spend 40,000 points on American, or 95,000 points on Delta. This is an extreme example, but it does happen and can really save a lot of miles/points. The top tier status for Aadvantage is Executive Platinum and Skymiles has Diamond, while both programs reward top tiers well I have to give it to Aadvantage. It is quite a bit easier to hit Executive Platinum than it is to hit Diamond as Ex-plat only takes 100,000 miles or 100 segments (flights), whereas Diamond takes 125,000 miles or 140 segments. You get a slightly better mileage bonus on Delta (125% compared to American's 100%), but the lower value of the miles negates most if not all of the benefit there. American gives you 8 system-wide upgrades when you hit ex-plat, these things are incredibly valuable as almost guarantee you an upgrade to next class of service (coach to business or business to first) on any flight, including international and intercontinental flights. With Delta when you hit Diamond you have your choice of two "gifts", you can redeem one of these for 6 SWUs, but Delta SWUs are a bit less valuable as they are pretty strict. The only really serious benefit that Diamond has over Ex-Plat is that you get a free skyclub membership, on American you get a pretty standard elite discount but are still required to pay. Trust me, if you are flying this much lounge access makes a HUGE difference. Now as I mentioned earlier I do think that as a top-tier member Advantage is probably the most rewarding program in the industry (with the possible exception of Southwest, but once again that is a VERY different story). However I do think it falls short for people who don't fly enough to hit ex-plat. As a gold or platinum member you are eligible for unlimited upgrades on full fare economy tickets, but you will quickly realize that you fly a lot less full fare economy tickets than you thought. When flying a discount economy ticket you have to use "500 mile upgrades" which are, in my opinion, the biggest downside to the Aadvantage program. Once you hit gold you start earning four 500 mile upgrades for every 10,000 miles you fly. When you want to upgrade on a discount economy ticket you have to use an upgrade for every 500 miles of travel. This isn't to guarantee you an upgrade, it is simply to get on the upgrade list. Because of this system you are basically capped at a 20% upgrade rate unless you are flying on a full fare ticket. It's very subjective but getting upgraded 20% of the time even as a low tier member is pretty terrible. The other downside to Advantage if you do a pretty small amount of travel is that there is no mileage minimum until you hit gold. With Delta you have a 500 mile minimum, so if you fly less than that it still posts to your account as 500 miles. So when I first started with American I did a ton of flights to Dallas from Austin. These posted as ~300 instead of 500, it doesn't sound like much but if you are only looking to hit bottom tier on a program it can be pretty meaningful. For year end it's pretty much a wash. Delta has rollover miles, which means that if you are a silver elite with 45,000 miles you won't hit gold, but the 20,000 miles you have over the silver threshold (25k miles, 30 segments) will roll over to the next year; this would allow you to hit silver the following year in 5,000 miles and gold in 30,000. However American is really good about offering challenges toward year end to allow you to get to the next status. I was still about 14 segments from qualifying for 2013 Executive Platinum a few weeks ago and I got an email from them saying if I enroll in the challenge and fly 8 more segments they will upgrade me. This isn't unusual for American from what I understand. grumpy posted:Frequent traveler checking in. Here's a quick note on Hotel rewards programs; some of them will offer you a quick path to to elite status. Most hotels and even some airlines do offer these challenges, and they can be a really great way to fast track yourself. I did this with both Hilton and Starwood when I first started traveling so much, however it's not all a complete freebie. Most of them will only allow you to do one challenge in your lifetime, so if you don't requalify the following year and find yourself traveling again a few years later you won't be able to fast-track again. The other thing to note is that apparently a lot of these programs have caught on to people piggybacking one challenge on another to get elite status across the board. Some now require documentation that you earned your stay with the competitor through stays not challenges. On points in general, whether they be for hotels, airlines, rental cars, or parking, there are a few key tips. First is that the vast majority of rewards programs allow you to sign up for free, and often there are deals across brands and categories to convert miles to nights or nights to rental days. It is always in your best interest to sign up for the rewards program for whatever travel you are doing. I fly 99% Delta and American, but due to pricing and weather impact I've had to fly two United and one Southwest flight this year. I signed up for loyalty programs for both of them because why not? I may get stuck on 9 Southwest flights next year and if I hadn't signed up and gotten credit for the one I flew this year I would still be a flight away from a free ticket. If I don't ever fly on them again I can likely convert those miles into extra points to pad my accounts for one of my hotel programs. It takes about a minute to sign up for a rewards program and there is simply no reason not to. Additionally if you have any amount of travel coming up do your research on how to maximize the points you get. A few minutes of googling can result in thousands of extra points and miles. Most hotel programs run promotions all year that change every quarter. Simply googling HHonors Q4 2012 promotion and entering your email address right now gets you 1,000 extra Hhonors each night on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday night of any stays through the end of the year. For a base level member staying at a $100/night Hampton Inn that is basically doubling your earnings. Airlines do similar promotions from time to time, but they are quite a bit less common.
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Nov 21, 2012 19:05
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I like ham, Can you please comment on the Southwest rewards program?
Nifty fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Nov 26, 2012 |
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Nov 22, 2012 00:10
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I just wanted to add to that crazy good programs post, that for Delta, if you use an address in Asia, you can get free lounge access at Gold Tier, instead of Diamond. Unless they've changed it since I did it. In addition, if you are travelling with a colleague who doesn't have lounge access, you can just tell the desk people you're travelling together and they don't mind. I am not sure about American however. Delta is really cool with messing around with free upgrades too. My girlfriend and I both got upgraded on a flight and they switched people's seats around so that we were sitting next to each other. I kind of get wary about asking people in first class to change seats, so it was nice. Uncle Jam fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Nov 22, 2012 |
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Nov 22, 2012 03:27
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If the OP doesn't mind, I'd love to throw some input in here. I have been traveling for 5 days a week for business for the past year and would be happy to share stories/tips. Posting while on a plane right now, actually.
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Nov 22, 2012 03:51
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How is all of this travel booked for you paywise? Are you compensated extra for the time spent traveling? Is it like 'time and a half' overtime? Or are most of you on a sales commission scheme rather than salary anyway?
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Nov 22, 2012 04:54
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Bloodnose posted:How is all of this travel booked for you paywise? Are you compensated extra for the time spent traveling? Is it like 'time and a half' overtime? Or are most of you on a sales commission scheme rather than salary anyway? In my case, I'm salaried, thus no overtime. Also, I'm not on the sales team, thankfully. However, if we travel on weekends, we get a comp day in my department. Our department philosophy is "This was a day that you would be resting or doing whatever you normally would on a Saturday or Sunday. This is our way of giving it back to you. Take it within 30 days". Not all departments in our company get that day back, though. Because my department travels so much, our management is very flexible about time. If you come into town on Thursday night and have to come into the office on Friday, they don't care if you're not there right at 8:30. If you're headed out the next day, they don't care if you need to leave before 5:30. If you need to run errands before you leave (pickup/drop off dry cleaning, pay bills, whatever) on lunch and need to be a bit late, it's fine. For the most part, we try not to take advantage of their good will.
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Nov 22, 2012 06:01
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:I need to do a Star Alliance mileage run soon and I'm finding it amusing how alien the concept is to people I know who don't fly a lot. Lyon posted:If anyone else uses US Airways as their primary carrier you have until the end of today (I assume midnight) to purchase a club membership and receive $50 off + 5,000 PQMs. US Airways club membership gets you access to all United and (most) Star Alliance clubs as well. With this purchase I will be at 47k PQMs for the year so I'll potentially need to do a 3k mileage run to qualify for gold if nothing comes through for work. So, what this all this poo poo? PQM? LMNOP? I'm guessing that you have to do X amount of miles in Y amount of time to earn levels for something? But what does that really mean and what do you get? It's a completely different world how we travel, but even I have perks. But it's from gallons of fuel bought: http://www.ultraonerewards.com/ultraone 50 gallons of fuel = a free shower woooohooo. Get 20,000 points in a year, and you'll get a better deals and earn more points, which you can use to buy poo poo. I like ham touched on some poo poo, but since I refuse to fly anymore, it's kinda alien to me. Also you'll have to forgive me if I'm rambling, long day at the office.
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Nov 22, 2012 10:46
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InterceptorV8 posted:So, what this all this poo poo? PQM? LMNOP? Sorry I've been reading FlyerTalk recently and they talk in crazy acronyms. I imagine each airline does it slightly differently but at US Airways there are two types of miles, Preferred Qualifying Miles (PQMs) and Redeemable Miles (RDMs). PQMs are the actual miles you've flown on US Air or Star Alliance partners, these count towards your status with US Air/Star Alliance and can be used to book free flights (award travel). US will do bonuses and specials occasionally where you can earn PQMs without flying (the above club access). RDMs are earned through credit card reward programs, purchasing them directly, etc and can be redeemed for free flights but don't count towards status. A mileage run is basically a flight with no purpose other than to gain PQMs so you can reach the next level of status. These are often bizarre bookings with a bunch of random extra connections or someone might fly out and back on the same exact plane. i like Ham covered the AA and Delta rewards program and US Airways is very similar. US award travel ranges from 25k-60k miles per domestic round trip and 60k-125k miles to Europe round trip. You're eligible for unlimited free domestic upgrades (and a companion if they're on the same booking with enough space for both), priority check in, security, and boarding, free checked bags, etc. The best perks (to me) are actually the personal reservation line so you can get through to someone a lot faster than calling the standard number if you need to and priority standby with no fee for moving up to an earlier flight. This means if I finish work early and get to the airport I can catch an earlier flight if there is room.
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Nov 22, 2012 13:42
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InterceptorV8 posted:So, what this all this poo poo? PQM? LMNOP? It can get really complicated. On Delta, there are 2 types of miles. The first is the miles that determine your status, silver, gold, plat, or diamond. These are harder to get. The second type is spending miles. You can use these to book free travel, buy poo poo from their mileage catalog... These usually have some sort of multiplier on them, 1.5x for example, and when the airline gives you miles when you complain about something, they go here. For example, I had a flight the day Northwest and Delta merged, and they had booked the plane twice for some reason. Luckily nobody booked my seat on the ghost plane so I stayed but still got 10k spending miles. The best reward on Delta is the lounges. Lounges vary in quality from airport to airport but they all have: Free coffee/hot chocolate, free wine, free beer (poo poo beer though), free liquor and mixers, free snacks like trail mix, free yogurt and fruit. They also have nice bathrooms and wifi. It is a lot quieter in the lounges and the seating is nicer as well. Some lounges have more amenities. Showers, bartenders, sushi chefs, warm food, nicer beer, free massages, private work areas, are all that I've seen. These are all free as well. People will construct their route based on which airports have nicer lounges, its a thing that frequent fliers love to argue about. The next best thing is free upgrades to the next class. Going from economy to business class is a world of difference. The seat is huge compared, and you get free drinks and food domestically. Sometimes you'll get a meal while economy does not. If you fly into some areas on certain days though, you'll never get upgraded because there will be someone with better status/fare ticket/booked earlier. California on Sunday/Monday comes to mind. Then there are things like skipping the line in check in, security, and boarding. Free checked bags. Asking how you are doing by name on the flight (kinda weird honestly). If you are a super crazy flier, there are additional things. My manager clears half a million a year, and he gets poo poo like getting picked up valet style on the airport tarmac. I fly on Delta though because they have a hub here and flying not nonstop increases the chances of being late a ridiculous amount.
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Nov 22, 2012 17:14
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Thursday night is when the Diamond Medallion guys come out to play in my experience. I've been 26th on the upgrade list on a 757-200 as a Platinum Medallion.
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Nov 25, 2012 19:53
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Thursday night is when the Diamond Medallion guys come out to play in my experience. I've never been upgraded on a Sunday night/Monday morning departure or a Thursday night return. My sister works for Bain and I know their standard consulting schedule was Monday-Thursday out at the client (or at least on the projects she worked). They would have the choice of flying out Sunday night or EARLY Monday morning and then they would return Thursday night after finishing up for the day. A lot of my other friends at Accenture, Deloitte, etc seemed to follow a similar schedule. In a similar vein, what are everyone else's engagements like? Are you typically going to the same client for several months at a time or always somewhere different for sales meetings? Are you guys primarily working with external customers/clients or traveling for internal meetings/reasons?
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Nov 25, 2012 23:25
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Nifty posted:Can you please comment on the Southwest rewards program? I'll answer as best I can, but if anybody here actually flies Southwest please feel free to correct me. Southwest as a whole is much different than most carriers, most travelers either love them or hate them, but I will say it is certainly a very interesting company. They have historically stayed at smaller airports and technically have no "hub". This means that Southwest has a tendency to offer a greater number of direct flights than most other carriers, but offers service to fewer airports/cities. They do not assign seats, you are assigned a group and seats are taken on a first come first serve basis. Because of this they have no first class, which means no upgrades, which obviously has an effect on their loyalty program. They assign points instead of miles, which means that everything in their program is based on revenue not distance flown. You earn 6, 10, or 12 points per dollar, depending on the fare class you book under. Similarly, you can redeem at 60, 100, or 120 points per dollar depending on the fare class you are trying to book. As you can tell it pays off on both ends to book early with Southwest. What this basically means is that on Southwest you average a 10% redemption rate, which is generally MUCH better than what you will get on other airlines. To put this in perspective if I were a Southwest frequent flyer I would likely hit top tier status in about 3 months as opposed to 6+ on most carriers, and on Delta/American I would venture a guess that I probably have closer to a 2-5% redemption rate. Their elite tiers are also very interesting. The way I view it is that they have two standard tiers, and one specialty tier. You hit the first two tiers at fairly standard intervals, 25 legs/35k points and 50 legs/70k points. Because there is no first class the first two tiers aren't particularly interesting to me. You get to board early so you are unlikely to end up in a middle seat, and you get some benefits like free wifi and point multipliers; but without the opportunity to get upgraded these tiers aren't particularly interesting. Now at 100 flights or 110,000 points the perks become very unique and very interesting. You are awarded a companion pass, which means that you can name a companion and that person is allowed to fly for free on any flight you are on (within North America I believe). It's one of those benefits that is either really interesting to you or you don't care at all, but it I've certainly not heard about anything similar from any other carriers. When I first heard about the companion pass it made me reconsider my travel in a big way. I have never been a huge fan of Southwest, and have honestly actively avoided their flights whenever possible. While their planes are nice and their staff is incredibly friendly, they are still a budget carrier and it comes across in certain ways to me. I hate the lack of assigned seats, I hate the lack of first class, and because of their cheap flights you get a lot of very inexperienced and very oblivious vacation travelers. Despite all of this I did realize that their prices are generally really good, and they offer service to almost all of the cities that I travel to most frequently. It would be absolutely incredible to be able to have my girlfriend take off work from time to time and just hop on a flight with me for free. As young people with no commitments here in town we are in an ideal place to really take advantage of that perk. At the end of the day I couldn't quite bring myself to make such a drastic adjustment to my travel preferences, but I would be lying if I said I don't find myself thinking about making the switch from time to time. i like Ham fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Nov 26, 2012 |
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Nov 26, 2012 06:16
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Lyon posted:In a similar vein, what are everyone else's engagements like? Are you typically going to the same client for several months at a time or always somewhere different for sales meetings? Are you guys primarily working with external customers/clients or traveling for internal meetings/reasons? When I was travelling quite a bit towards the beginning of the year, it was for an external customer's public developer relations stuff; as of today they've been my customer for about fourteen months, and I can't see this changing any time soon.
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Nov 26, 2012 22:51
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When I was traveling a ton I was going to the same customer every week - longest engagement of mine had me going the same place (via two flights and a border crossing, 10 hours door to door) for 9 months on end. I came on the project in the middle; by the time everyone rolled off at the end a couple of my colleagues had been traveling to that same client for 2 years. I left that company but a friend of mine still works there, and she had been assigned to one customer for about four years straight. Her schedule was so solid that every springtime she'd buy a bike off Craigslist, and her hotel would hang onto it over the weekends for her in a storage room. In the fall she'd put it back on Craigslist. Logistically, going the same place seems so much easier. I had my own desk and lockable cabinet at the client office so I could leave a bag of toiletries in there and not have to worry about a TSA Freedom Baggie. I could drop off dry cleaning on a Thursday morning and pick it up on Monday evening on the way out to the hotel. The club lounge attendants didn't bother to charge my room when I grabbed a beer. All good things.
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Nov 27, 2012 03:06
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Another frequent traveller checking in as well. I do about ~250,000 miles a year, mostly domestic, all on American Airlines. I normally book my travel on full fare first and as a result got awarded "ConciergeKey" on AA, much like the guy from "Up in the Air". I also do about 150 nights a year in Starwood properties and just hit lifetime platinum with them.
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Nov 27, 2012 04:05
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Belldandy posted:Another frequent traveller checking in as well. I do about ~250,000 miles a year, mostly domestic, all on American Airlines. I normally book my travel on full fare first and as a result got awarded "ConciergeKey" on AA, much like the guy from "Up in the Air". I also do about 150 nights a year in Starwood properties and just hit lifetime platinum with them. God drat, what do you do? That is a lot of freaking miles. I would love to travel more and have considered looking for a new position but I can't justify it until they don't give me a raise or I stop learning things.
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Nov 27, 2012 04:41
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Lyon posted:God drat, what do you do? That is a lot of freaking miles. I would love to travel more and have considered looking for a new position but I can't justify it until they don't give me a raise or I stop learning things. High level dude in a large company. Traveling is great but there are a lot of considerations you need to take regarding your personal life, which is really the big downfall for a lot of people. If you can travel on your companies dime it's an amazing opportunity to see the US or in some cases the world.
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Nov 27, 2012 04:55
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What sort of resources/websites/searches do you guys use to take advantage of exploring the areas you are in? I would love to know cool things to do and look at, but I feel like I'm not always using my time and the area I'm in to their fullest.
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Nov 27, 2012 05:10
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Belldandy posted:High level dude in a large company. Traveling is great but there are a lot of considerations you need to take regarding your personal life, which is really the big downfall for a lot of people. If you can travel on your companies dime it's an amazing opportunity to see the US or in some cases the world. Oh yeah, you're a high level sales manager (not to say your title is manager by any means) if I remember correctly from another thread? I'm young and love to travel, did about 50k this year and wouldn't mind doing a lot more but I love my job currently so haven't started looking yet. Getting to see the country/world on the company's dime and accumulating all the miles to then travel for free on my own is one of the best parts of work.
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Nov 27, 2012 05:49
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 18:29 |
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Belldandy posted:Another frequent traveller checking in as well. I do about ~250,000 miles a year, mostly domestic, all on American Airlines. I normally book my travel on full fare first and as a result got awarded "ConciergeKey" on AA, much like the guy from "Up in the Air". I also do about 150 nights a year in Starwood properties and just hit lifetime platinum with them. drat. I've done 100-150k a year on AA past few years almost all domestic but 250k is just incredible esp with only 150 nights. I have a few friends who do 250-300k a year but its mostly TPAC and TATL. Hope you get to spend the majority of the time in 767/777s...
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Nov 27, 2012 07:30
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