Fellow road warrior, Josh, recently pointed me towards this interesting page on FltOps.com. It aggregates annual pay based on guaranteed pilot hours for the major airlines.
Josh comments, "The article from which I pulled this link stated that the pilot involved in a regional airline crash last year (maybe it was the Buffalo flight) was making around $16K per year."
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Another road warrior commented, "…if you drop down to the smaller regionals (American Eagle, Mesa, Colgan, Wisconsin), it can get really ugly where a first year co-pilot on a smaller craft is only at $20 per hour flown (only guaranteed 75 hours/month) with a $1.40/hour per diem for time away.
I have a friend who flies for Colgan who would have qualified for food stamps in his first year (if he wasn’t married to a doctor)."
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I’m not sure you can draw any conclusions on this information alone but it does give some insights into how much (or little) a pilot makes depending on their experience and plane size. Unless I’m mistaken, many of the recent airline crashes involved smaller planes and inexperienced pilots.
Does knowing the pay scale change how you think about flying on certain flights?
Given the security changes regarding laptops, there’s been a request on an internal thread requesting recommended backpacks. I plan to update this particular post with anything I hear from the thread since the folks responding have battle-tested their preferences. I believe real-world experiences are worth something above and beyond the academic reviews we typically see on the syndicated travel blogs. Hopefully you find this useful. Keep your eyes on this post if you’re in the market for a new laptop bag.
The first request makes references to the old Tumi standard, Ogio, Lowe Pro and Spire (http://www.spireusa.com/products/laptop-backpacks.htm) as highly recommended from some friends. The initial guidelines for key requirements were as follows:
Must haves:
- Heavy duty zippers and reinforced seams
- Comes in all black
- TSA friendly (quick release sleeve or foldout)
- Good pocket organization for paper and electrical accessories
Nice to haves:
- Side handle to carry like a brief case
- Cell phone pocket
- Soft iPod/Phone pocket
- Padded straps
Responses:
I’m in love with my Brenthaven backpack: http://www.brenthaven.com/catalog-prostyle-bp-xf.html
Pros: all the features you were looking for, and a lifetime warranty to boot. I had my last Brenthaven for over 9 years, and I got this one for "free" when my old one died.
Cons: quite weighty, even when empty (but you could consider it a workout substitute)
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I currently use an Acegene backpack (http://en.acegene.jp/spec_ev106.html - I have the black version). It fits the majority of the “have’s” listed; however, I’d suggest getting a slightly larger version – the T400 fits inside the backpack but not the padded laptop-designated pocket. It’s worked out fine for me because I end up putting my notebooks/papers in that pocket and laptop outside of it – allows for easier access to my laptop at airport security and such.
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I’m a huge fan of Mint.com so when I heard AwardWallet.com mentioned in the same sentence, I decided to take a look. The concept is straight forward. Enter your login credentials and AwardWallet.com will track your balances and notify you of events such as expiration of points/miles.
The Good:
- The interface is clean
- The website had no issues gathering my balance information; I tested 2 hotels, 2 airlines, 2 car rentals, and my corporate card
- I really like having all my membership numbers in a single location
The Not-So-Good:
- I got a email telling me about my travel itinerary as soon as I entered my airline information; I did not ask to track my travel plans.
- Instead of displaying my Hertz balance, it had a link asking me to upgrade to AwardWallet Plus; I haven’t had a chance to see the value in the service and I’m already being asked for money?
- A connection section; No I’m not interested in sharing my travel plans with all my connections
Suggestion to AwardWallet.com: You need to focus on being awesome in a single space. Stop trying to compete with TripIt. Build a great service, then ask for money. Asking me to upgrade before I can truely understand the value is wasting both our times. Not everything needs to have a social networking component to it (Mint.com did not and look how well they did). Some of us think Facebook is a waste of time (and frequent flyers don’t have alot of time). Understand your target customer and get some of them on your board. Your website is called "Award Wallet", not "Travel Itineraries" or "Travel Connections" - either change your name or stop trying to be all things. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS
I plan to report back after I’ve given it a few cycles. Let’s see what happens.
Google offers free wifi at select airports from now until January 15th, 2010. In addition, you can give back in appreciation of free wifi towards several non-profits and Google will match your donations! Very cool.
Spread the cheer!
Here are the participating airports:
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As a road warrior, I live by my EVDO card. Anytime access to the Internet is a godsend. If you haven’t jumped on the EVDO bandwagon you should seriously think about it. In the meantime, enjoy the free wifi - compliments of Google.
Today, British Airways announced it was planning to cut 3000 jobs by the end of the fiscal year due to falling passenger numbers and yields. I will guess that most airlines are going through similar challenges.
In an economy as bad as this one, customer service makes all the difference. Flyers may not have as many choices as we are a "semi-captive" audience due to the constraints of available flights and routes by airlines, but bad press is bad press. Don’t kid yourself as the next generation of frequent flyer will read stories like this and wonder what kind of business United is running.
The title of the article says it all:
Man denied first-class seat on United for wearing track suit
If you want to run your airlines into the ground what better way to do it that humiliate and embarass your best customers? The weak response in which United claims to have mistaken the passenger as a employee only adds insult to injury.
Nice try, United. How about admiting you have customer service problems and make amends. That’ll get you a lot farther than trying to tactically address every customer service blow-up that happens.
United, time to wake up and smell the coffee.
This is pretty big news. I recall this used to be customary on certain airlines back in the late 90’s and early 2000. It’s somewhat indicative of the traffic in this economic downturn for United to make an offer like this, but its a big bonus for frequent flyers who have elite status.
United plans to launch this in the 2nd quarter of 2010 so you’ll have to wait a little bit, but if you’re thinking about getting elite status this year, this might be the extra incentive you were looking for.
All the details can be found here (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53216,00.html).
From the website:
Upgrades. They’re complimentary. They’re unlimited. They’re yours. When Unlimited Domestic Upgrades are launched, we’ll be transitioning all of our elite members to the new upgrades, replacing 500-Mile Upgrade certificates. Elite members can still use their existing Regional Upgrades during their full 12-month validity period. However, new certificates will no longer be issued. If you’re not an elite member, don’t worry – you’ll still be able to use your existing certificates any time during their full 12-month validity period, just like you do today. Further details on Unlimited Domestic Upgrades and other exciting enhancements will be available on Mileageplus.com in early 2010. Stay tuned.
We know how you value the ease of travel being an elite member brings to you. Now we’re making it even easier. In the second quarter of 2010, we’ll automatically request an Unlimited Domestic Upgrade on behalf of all elite members and up to one companion when they travel within the Continental U.S., Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Happy flying.
Like Southwest, US Airways is also holding a promotion for flyers interested in retaining or obtaining status.
Promotion Details:
Get ready for the fastest, easiest way ever to get (or keep) Preferred status. Just fly between October 1 and December 25, 2009 on any US Airways or US Airways Express flight, and you’ll earn Preferred status faster than ever before. The more you fly, the more you’ll earn. Think of it as an end-of-the-year shortcut.
Here’s how it works:
- Fly 7,500 miles or 10 segments and earn Silver Preferred status
- Fly 15,000 miles or 20 segments and earn Gold Preferred status
- Fly 22,500 miles or 30 segments and earn Platinum Preferred status
- Fly 30,000 miles or 40 segments and earn Chairman’s Preferred status
Don’t worry, the miles you fly will also count towards the total miles you flew for the year – you’ll be awarded the highest status between the two. So if you fly 55,000 Preferred miles for the year but only end up flying 8,000 Preferred miles during the promotion period, you’ll still earn Gold status for the year.
We’ll determine and award your Preferred status on January 10, 2010. You don’t need to register (we’ll keep track of your flights). We told you it was easy!
Something to think about if you live in a city where US Airways is a hub.
Southwest rarely jumps on the promotion bandwagon but it looks like they are interested in building some loyalty and bringing in some new customers. Register for the promotion here.
Promotion Details:
Fall in love with Rapid Rewards this fall! Take advantage of our Double Credit promotion - one bonus Rapid Rewards credit each time you buy and fly on Southwest Airlines between September 17 and October 31, 2009! That means you can get two credits for every one-way flight (four credits when you travel roundtrip) from any city that Southwest serves. Combine Business Select with this promotion, and your credits will add up even faster by receiving 2.25 credits for shorthaul flights and 3.0 credits for medium and longhaul flights! To take advantage of this special offer, simply follow these steps:
I have to admit I’m a big fan of Southwest because they are almost always on time. I gladly traded away my elite status on United for the security of getting home on time. Happy flying.
We’ve all seen the attempts at helping reduce waste at the hotel chains. At the Marriott, they have a nice placard explaining how much water is wasted due to laundry and politely ask customers to re-use towels by hanging them up.
A few fellow roadwarriors have noticed Starwood’s spin on green when they received a door tag on their desk with the following:
“You have the option to decline housekeeping service for the day. For helping us conserve natural resources, we are happy to offer you a $5 gift card for use at participating food and beverage outlets within our hotel or 500 SPG Starpoints redeemable at checkout”
At the W in San Francisco they are offering to purchase $5 worth of carbon credits for each day you forgo the housekeeping. Gift cards, carbon credits, and points are great incentives. More hotel chains should take note and offer something similar.
United is running a promotion for those of you interested in qualifying for status with the airlines. This is your last chance before the end of the year window closes. After registering, you will receive double miles or segments towards status if you travel between Sept 3rd and December 15th 2009. You can find the offer details here.
From the website:
A special opportunity to help you retain elite status or earn a higher level. Earn your choice of either double Elite Qualifying Miles* (EQM) or double Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS) on qualifying United® or United Express® flights.