Doing something no one has ever done before is both exciting and scary at the same time. In other words, I can use all the help I can get to spread the word.
The “On the Fly” Seminars I mentioned in my column last week are now officially open for registration. The first classes will take place on June 25 and 26 in Washington. If you come, you will learn now to travel cheaply but luxuriously.
For a long time, one of my missions has been to encourage more people to travel — both domestically and internationally. I realize travel has become difficult in recent years, and most of the pleasure that used to come with it has been sucked out by the airline industry’s desperate attempts to lower costs.
There was a time — more than a decade ago — when sitting in the coach cabin didn’t bother me too much. Planes and air travel always excited me, and the promise of what awaited at the other end of my journey left me little time for self-pity. Plus, I’d take only a couple of trips a year.
But then I began traveling around the world for work, as the Washington Times’ diplomatic correspondent, and flying between three continents in a week in coach and enduring today’s airport routine started to seem really ugly. So I decided to look for ways to travel in business class — paying for it wasn’t an option, given my budget limitations, and the only alternative was to achieve the highest elite status by flying 100,000 miles a year.
At the beginning, that wasn’t too easy — it required me to fly on the same airline or its alliance partners. The global alliances — Star, Oneworld and SkyTeam — were not as big as they are today, and none of their member-carriers served some of the countries I went to. Even when they did, that option might not have been the cheapest.
With some creativity and strategic planning, however, I managed pretty well — and the benefits of top elite status changed my life. At the airport, priority lines, business lounges and red-carpet boarding have made the experience much less of a hassle. On board, I’ve enjoyed flat beds, great meals and on-demand entertainment, thanks to complimentary upgrades I’ve been able to confirm long before a flight.
The real challenge was how to maintain that combination of paying low fares and flying in luxury year after year. Since knowledge means power, I decided to take the power in my own hands and stop relying on travel agents or online booking engines to find me the best deals — by learning all I could about airfares and airline inventory, and by accessing raw, real-time airline data right from the source where it’s published.
Now I’ve decided to share my knowledge and experience with others. Come see for yourself.
Tags: airfares, airports, booking, business class, elite status, first class, Oneworld, Seminars, SkyTeam, Star Alliance, Travel, Washington
