For most of my American readers, happy forced-vacation-day! 🙂 Here’s what’s been going on in my blogging world lately: Imagine having one credit card that could be instantly reprogrammed to mimic any of your credit cards or loyalty cards. FrequentMiler profiles a venture in Ann Arbor that is creating such a product. Sounds nifty, but…
Sometimes you should just take the effort to make someone’s life a bit more pleasant. Here are a few ideas of ways you can make your airline gate agent’s day: Bring them a can of soda or water from the lounge. Especially on days when flights are delayed and people need to be rebooked, the…
Most business travelers have been there: You’re flying back home on the last flight of the night, you’re making a connection, and your first flight is delayed. You realize that you’re going to miss your connection. Since you’re on the last flight of the night, that means you’re bound to be stranded. What do you…
What’s going on around the blogosphere? The girlfriend shared a fun video of the one of the most interesting things I’ve ever heard to happen during a flight delay. Orchestra delayed on airplane performs ‘pop-up’ concert Reader Anne sent me a link to The Geek’s Guide to International Travel, some reflections on making the switch from…
A few of my friends pointed out recently that Citibank is being a bit deceptive when charging foreign transaction fees. Most credit cards charge a 3-4% fee for purchases in a foreign currency. Citibank appears to be charging these fees for all purchases that are processed outside of the US, even if the charge is processed…
Last week, United let some unfortunate news out of the bag: Starting in 2014, elite qualification with United will require a minimum dollars on United Airlines tickets to maintain elite status with the airline. The table that United published sums up the changes: United will waive the Premier Qualifying Dollar requirements for anyone who spends…
I’m back! If you’re wondering *why* I took a vacation from blogging last week, here’s the explanation: Last Saturday, I gave a talk entitled “Speaking a New Language: Using Business Strategies to Build a Case for New Music Therapy Programs” at the Missouri Music Therapy Institute. My partner, Kirsten Meyer, and I were a bit behind in…
Just a heads-up: I haven’t forgotten about the blog; I’m just taking a vacation from blogging for about a week. The girlfriend and I are preparing a presentation for a music therapy conference in Missouri and work on that is taking priority this week. Don’t worry, starting next week I’ll be back at it, with…
Just a quick amusement today. The tunnel that connects concourse A with concourses B and C at the Detroit airport is one of the most…interesting airport tunnels I’ve been through. Even if you don’t need to walk through the tunnel to catch a connecting flight, the entertainment value is worth the 5 minute walk through…
Earlier this year, we heard a few rumblings about Southwest joining the TSA PreCheck program. It looks like there has recently been some movement that might indicate Southwest is close to rolling out participation in PreCheck. A poster on FlyerTalk points out that Southwest is adding information to its boarding passes and speculates that this information is…
The Flying Consultant 