Archive for the ‘Opening Remarks’ Category

photo: Churl/Flickr Creative Commons

Please Talk Up The TICKET!

NOTE: THIS PROMOTION HAS EXPIRED!

How would you like a free round trip BUSINESS CLASS ticket anywhere AirTran Airways flies? (Cancun? San Francisco? Denver? San Juan? LA?)

Would you like it even more if a friend or colleague won one, too? (Depending on destination, a business class ticket could be worth well over $1000!)

Here’s what we’ve got going on:

AirTran has generously donated FOUR roundtrip business class tickets to The TICKET for our new subscriber campaign. (see AirTran route map here)

We are going to give these tickets away to four lucky TICKET readers in a contest using word-of-mouth and social media to help increase the number of TICKET readers.

Here’s all you need to do to be entered into the contest:

Via email:

>Between now and March 30, send an email to a list of at least FIVE of your friends or colleagues and encourage them to sign up for The TICKET.

>When they sign up for THE TICKET, there will be a field on the sign-up page asking for the name or e-mail of the person who referred them. They MUST enter your name or email in this field for you to be entered to win. (See below for a suggested e-mail you can use to cut and paste into your email.)

this is a sample view of the sign up page for The TICKET. Please see box in upper right margin to sign up!

Via Social Media:

>Using Twitter or Facebook, suggest The TICKET via a tweet or a wall posting. Again, the new subscriber MUST enter your name or email address in the “Who referred you” field for you to be entered to win.   (See below for suggested tweet)

The more of your friends that sign up, the more likely you are to win.

At the end of March, The TICKET will hold a drawing. TWO current subscribers will win a free round trip business class ticket on AirTran as will TWO of their friends or colleagues who signed up. (Note: free tickets do NOT have to be used together. Winners will be contacted via the email provided on sign up page. Winners will be announced on the blog. )

Suggested email:

Dear ____________:

Have you ever heard about The TICKET? It’s a free online travel blog that I subscribe to. It’s full of helpful news and advice for frequent travelers that I read every month. I think it’s definitely something you could use, and get this: If I can convince you to sign up, we’ll both be eligible to win a free round trip business class ticket ANYWHERE AirTran flies. (see AirTran route map here)

So please check out The TICKET at the URL below by MARCH 30.  If you like it, SIGN UP (See “Subscribe” in the upper right margin of the blog) and BE SURE to include my name or email address as the person who referred you.

IMPORTANT: On the sign up page, please be sure to enter my email address where it asks: “Name or Email of who REFERRED you.” That’s the only way we can both win the tickets.

Here’s where to go: http://www.theticket-atlanta.com

Suggested Twitter Tweet or Facebook Wall posting:

Subscribe to The Ticket travel blog, use my name/email as reference, and we could both win free biz class tix http://bit.ly/8FO9vE

Hey Folks:

Thanks for all your compliments and suggestions on our new blog format.

We are still working away on improvements, so bear with us!

Here are some tips on navigating the new format:

• First, you can scroll down and see the familiar headline categories as you’ve seen in the past, such as “Airline News” and “Airport News” and “Hotel News,” etc. If you’d like to head straight to one of those categories, just click on the appropriate category on the list on the upper left side or along the bottom of your screen.
• Second, on the main page, only the first few paragraphs of each section are displayed. To read ALL the great info we have prepared for you, be sure to always click on the “read the rest of this entry” at the end of the second paragraph, which will open up the entire section for you.
• Third: PLEASE be sure and leave your comments! Blogs and other social media tools are all about interactivity and we want to hear from you! Sound off with your comments, tips and advice! (See “Comments” links at the bottom of each post) Thanks!
• NOTE! Which post garnered the MOST comments last month? The one about problems with the iPhone.
• Important: The URL for THE TICKET has changed. It’s now http://www.theticket-atlanta.com

Stay tuned for some new delivery options (like RSS feeds), but for now, sit back, relax and enjoy the new format! We’ll continue to send you an email once or twice per month to alert you to our latest issue.

Let us know what you think about the changes! This is a work on progress and we are counting on you to help us make it perfect!

Sincerely,

Chris McGinnis, Editor/Publisher, THE TICKET,  www.theticket-atlanta.com

The view from here is brightening and there’s lots of evidence to back that up. First off, while it’s not the best news for travelers, airlines feel confident enough about strong holiday booking trends that they are adding $10 surcharges on peak days around Thanksgiving and Christmas. They would not be doing that if they did not see clear signs of improving demand. (You know that there are a LOT of grandkids who did not get to see grandparents last winter when we were all in shock over the financial system meltdown and put the brakes on holiday trips. That’s less likely this year…)

Also, American Express is saying the decline business travel seems to be bottoming out, and demand is on the rise, which will lead to slightly higher airfares next year, while hotel rates will decline slightly (but not as much as they crashed this year.) We are thinking that everyone who has missed out on important meetings, tradeshows and conventions this year are now chomping at the bit and ready to hit the road again as the economy warms up.

So, I think all this points to a phrase we’ll all be hearing a LOT more this fall: PENT UP DEMAND. When it comes to holiday travel bookings, we suggest you go ahead and purchase now, because prices are much more likely to increase than decrease. And they might just POP up if we keep hearing positive economic news.

Happy Travels!

Chris McGinnis, Editor & Publisher, THE TICKET. www.theticket-atlanta.com

What do YOU think? Is a release of pent up demand on the horizon….or not? We’d love to hear your comments! Leave them right here:

Don’t Forget! BOOK ALL YOUR ONLINE TRAVEL VIA LINKS FROM THE TICKET!

airtran.com | delta.com |  Hotwire

IN THIS ISSUE:

>ATL gets lots of new flights to sunny climes, loses others

>British Airways is giving away business class seats

>Video interview with Southwest Airlines CEO re: flying to ATL?

>A live look at Delta’s new lie-flat business class seat (video)

>Do you feel like throwing your iPhone out the window?

>A new, hip (and cheap!) hotel in California’s Silicon Valley (video)

Dear TICKET Readers:

As you may have noticed by now, we’ve transitioned THE TICKET to a new blog format.

First thing you’ll notice: We’ve added a lot more VIDEO. Frequent travelers clearly prefer online video as a way to get their news, so you’ll enjoy a new visual sensation. Our video production skills are still in their infancy, so please bear with our learning curve and expect big improvements in coming months.

The new format is shorter and a lot easier to read. When you see THE TICKET, look for the list of “Categories” on the top left side. These are the titles of the various sections you have seen in the older version— such as Airline News, Airport News, Frequent Flyer News, etc.

So now, you can click on the categories that interest you, or you can continue to read THE TICKET from top to bottom, just like you’ve done in the past.

Important: The URL for THE TICKET has changed. It’s now http://www.theticket-atlanta.com

Stay tuned for some new delivery options, but for now, sit back, relax and enjoy the new format! We’ll continue to send you an email once or twice per month to alert you to our latest issue.

PLEASE interact with us. THE TICKET is really a community of readers and responders. Travelers are our eyes and ears out there, so we expect to hear from you frequently. Tell us when we are wrong or right! Let us know when you agree with us, or not. Did we save you money or time? Add your own quips and anecdotes!

Let us know what you think about the changes! This is a work on progress and we are counting on you to help us make it perfect!

Sincerely,

Chris McGinnis, Editor/Publisher, THE TICKET,  www.theticket-atlanta.com

e-mail:  chris@travelskills.com

Hello Dear Readers:

We are transitioning THE TICKET to a new blog format and ask for your patience and your feedback.

With the new format, we hope to provide you with more frequent, shorter updates instead of the lengthy monthly version from the past. (However, the August issue, which you will find below, is in the format of the older once-a-month version. Expect newer shorter updates going forward.)

The new format will also give you all the opportunity to contribute to THE TICKET immediately with your comments (similar to the old “MAILBAG”).  At the bottom of each post, you’ll see where to leave your comments.  Please do so! Reader feedback and interaction is what social media is all about.

Again, we beg your patience as we work through the kinks of our new format.

Enjoy this month’s issue and have a wonderful August!

Sincerely,

Chris McGinnis, Editor/Publisher

chris@travelskills.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Southwest Comes to ATL?
• Virgin America Comes to ATL?
• Delta Makes Big Moves at La Guardia
• AirTran Leaves Newark
• More In-Flight Wi-Fi Updates
• Delta Ups Checked Bag Fee
• Busiest Domestic Air Routes in the US…Guess Which is #1?
• American Express Honoring Clear Card Refunds
• Free Wi-Fi at ATL?
• A New TICKET Hotel Review Feature: Checking In
• Brand New Hotel in NYC
• Car Rental Rates Soar…Why?
• Business Meals and Entertainment Deduction to Increase?
• TASTE of THE TICKET Goes Asian This Month!

Hi Folks:

Here we are in the dog days of summer in the midst of a recession that won’t stop dogging us! (I recently heard someone refer to the situation as a “repression”— a combination of a recession and a depression!) We were hoping that summer was going to be a turning point or a bottom to the travel industry’s tailspin, but based on recently released 2nd quarter numbers from airlines and hotel chains, we just are not there yet. Airline revenue is down about 25% compared to this time last year. Average hotel rates have declined below $100 per night-– for the first time since 2007 (currently at about $97).

Business travel is still in the pits. Leisure travel is a hair better, but still not good. It seems like the travel industry is stuck in a “less worse” situation. But…bad industry news is good for consumers, at least in the short run…airfares are exceptionally low as are hotel rates nearly everywhere. Airport security lines are no longer an issue. Airline and hotel employees are treating customers a lot better for the most part.

Longer term, the news is not so good for consumers who should expect fewer flights on older, smaller and dirtier planes. Ancillary fees will continue to bloat. Hotels could start to appear frayed and tatty as renovations get postponed and staff get overworked. Rental cars might get older, smellier and clunkier.

Wish we had better news! For now, we’ll keep muddling through and chronicling all the changes for you, dear readers. Thanks for tuning it!

Best,
Chris McGinnis
Editor

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YOUR TICKET EDITOR NOW TWITTERING: follow my business travel commentary, newsings and musings here:  twitter.com/cjmcginnis

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