Comments for The Passenger Seat

Comment on Great airline industry podcast, blog by Max Flight

Max Flight — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:21:27 +0000

Wow, we’re giggling like schoolgirls over your mention of our podcast. Thanks for the very kind words. Heather is like magic and I think you captured her very well. Interestingly, amongst all the positive feedback about Heather, there were a couple of folks who were less impressed than the rest of us. Go figure.

In the most recent episode (#73) we talked about our sources for aviation news, which partially answers your question about some things we recommend. But I thought I’d give you this podcaster’s favorite aviation podcasts:

Uncontrolled Airspace (http://www.uncontrolledairspace.com/) is a must listen for private pilots. It’s hangar flying by some experienced pilots. The Pilot’s Flight PodLog (http://pilotwill.libsyn.com/) is also great.

Airspeed (http://airspeed.libsyn.com/) is more the “thinking man’s” podcast (no offense to the other pilots). Well produced with lots of audio and video from aircraft you’ll never fly in!

Mark Peacock’s Travel Commons (http://boardingarea.com/blogs/travelcommons/travel/) is about the live of a frequent flyer with lots of content about life on the road.

Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! (http://betty.libsyn.com/) is by a flight attendant who carries her recorder with her as she travels the world. This is one where you can go back and start from the beginning and laugh the whole way up to the current episode.

Finally, there are our friends at Plane Crazy Down Under (http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/) who prove that you don’t have to be Australian to enjoy listening to aviation topics from that region.

There are other aviation podcasts I listen to, but these are some of the ones that come to mind. There’s lots more out there, and there’s room for more!

Cheers.

Max

Comment on Great article on how to tip at hotels by Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:41:09 +0000

We recently stayed at a hotel in Dubuque. We got the hotel free as part of our Priority Club points. Upon arrival to the hotel we called the front desk to see if we could upgrade to a Jaccuzzi suite. At first they said no, then they saw that they had a whole bunch available so they let us upgrade for free. We left a 50 dollar tip at the front desk. We were willing to pay the difference for the upgrade, then they gave it to us for free, so we gave it to them in a tip! They made our night!!

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by Will

Will — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:04:50 +0000

The major problem with the Northwest version of Detroit(and Minneapolis) flights were TERRIBLE timing to make connections. People(myself included) don’t want to spend hours and hours sitting in an airport waiting for their connections to the cities where they really wanted to go.

Thomas, you are correct that Allegiant has avoided very long routes since the fuel run up in 2008. They did have some pretty long routes ex- Las Vegas before that though. Toledo,OH being one of them. But they already offer LA-Des Moines now. If RFD gets that 300k from SCASD, I could certainly see a portion of that being offered to Allegiant for revenue guarantees.

And before anyone howls that revenue guarantees don’t work. Remember the RFD-Denver route was actually making profits in the months preceding the fuel run-up. In fact United made a profit level where they didn’t even qualify for all the guarantee money that was being offered.

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by mca

mca — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:02:53 +0000

I flew Rockford to Melbourne, Florida when they had it in 1994 for $180 round trip including taxes. I talked about that for years after they got rid of that flight. I would love to see that flight come back as it is closer to where I vacation every year with my family. Sanford/Orlando is about a two hour drive from where we like to go.

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by johnny

johnny — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:41:19 +0000

to detroit?? really?? detroit?? i wouldn’t fly to detroit if it were the nation’s capital. what is in detroit?? motown?

how about flights to washington d.c.?? i would love to fly to wahington for a few days and land in rockford……………..10″ from my home.

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by Kirsten

Kirsten — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:24:20 +0000

What happened to the Rockford/Ft. Lauderdale connection? That was extremely busy, and a lot of people fly down there in the winter.

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:48:39 +0000

Would like to see a flight to Detroit. Had one once and it was a pleasure flying out of Rockford and being there in less than an hour. I would think Detroit would draw alot of passengers.

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by Thomas V. Bona

Thomas V. Bona — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:24:37 +0000

Will,

And you in turn hit it on the head. RFD has often gone to Allegiant first to say “We’d like this destination, would you be interested in serving it?” In fact, when it last applied for SCASD funding, Mesa was a target … and then Allegiant said, “Hey, we want to serve that market” and voila!

If RFD-Punta Gorda proves to be a success, Allegiant could someday look at it. Same with Myrtle Beach, but that’s a much bigger hill to climb.

LA? I know enticing Allegiant to serve that route is an idea … but so far Allegiant has shied away from such long routes. We’ll see how their model evolves over time.

I suspect if Direct Air came in totally on its own dime wanting to do Melbourne, RFD might consider … but what likely happened here is DA asked for the standard year of waived fees and airport marketing dollars toward the destination. RFD’s stated policy is it won’t use such incentives on competing routes … of course, it depends on what the destination of competing is…

I think the most important reason RFD didn’t pursue Melbourne is it wants to focus its marketing efforts and DA’s marketing efforts on making Punta Gorda as successful as possible. For the airport to grow much, it needs to have successful routes beyond the Allegiant 4…

Good comments, Will.

Comment on How do you choose what gas station to use? by Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:14:47 +0000

Funny!! 95% of all the gas stations in Rockford area come through the same terminal!! Yes a few have different additives for “brands” but the base product is the same.The only gas that comes from a designated terminal would be the formerly Amoco, now known as BP. I try to avoid the M’s amd the R’s in town. It should be a crime to “regulate” the market as these 2 do. There is a Citgo back in town on Riverside near Alpine that trys NOT to follow the “trend” of the big 2 in town.

Comment on Rockford airport said “no, thanks” on Melbourne, Fla., flights by force

force — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:52:56 +0000

How about getting flights to where people work? I like the baltimore or DC flights but the airlines have to pay alot of fees to land there. Smaller airports like rockford would be better to land at. And going to vacation destinations doesnt serve so well when not alot of people in rockford have jobs or money to go on vacation. How about flying to China and mexico? That seems to be the place where all of our jobs are going.