Marketing Me! Airline travel fun!

I have been traveling nearly every week since the year began. All of my travel is by plane, so I spend a lot of time at airports. Too much in fact.

The system is broken and I wonder how much it is affecting our national economy through lost productivity.



For instance, I had a flight last night at 7:30 PM. To ensure I made my flight, I was advised by the airport and airline to arrive two hours before my flight. I arrived two and a half hours early due to traffic.

To make that window, I sacrificed a 3 o'clock meeting. The client agreed to the change because he had an evening flight as well and was worried about making his departure time.

We both missed an opportunity to meet in person during business hours, to discuss our businesses and potentially find a way to increase each other's revenue. What a waste.

Could we have scheduled later flights? No. They flight I was taking was the last direct flight for the day.

What would be better?

- I wish there was less hassle for frequent and regular fliers.
- I wish there were lines for passengers who have "Never Flown Before" at TSA security check points.
- I wish there was a service which sent accurate TSA security line times to my Blackberry. They do this for highways, why not the TSA?
- I wish planes had internet access. That's two to three hours I could be doing something more useful than reading American Way or watching reruns of the "New Life of the Old Christine".

Wishes are sunshine and not worth the paper they are printed on.

I hope you have a successful flight and a great day!

Airline power management

So you just boarded your flight and plan on getting some work done on the old computer. Uh-oh, your laptop battery is just about dead! What to do?

Not a problem on some flights.

Look for a lightning symbol on the bulkhead just below the overhead luggage bin. That means there is an electrical outlet in the row of seats below.

Look underneath the middle seat (ask your seat mates if they mind; people have a problem with others reaching beneath their feet unannounced).

Under the seat there should be an outlet like one found in your automobile (in the old days, they were called cigarette lighters, but now they are known as power outlets).

You will need a power adapter which will plug into the plane power outlet and provide your computer or cell phone with a standard AC outlet. I found a neat one on Amazon which works quite well. this product

Now your computer, cell phone and laptop can all be charging in flight while you work. Pretty neat.

Remember to not leave your adapter or power cable behind on the plane!

Airline internet, freeters

First, it has been a bit since my last post. I have several in draft form, but none posted because of time, travel and work.

Airline Internet -
I was on a flight this week which was 3 hours 20 minutes each way. Further, we sat on the ground (common these days) for a total of 1 hour 30 minutes waiting to take off. This is a grand total of 8 hours and 10 minutes (a working day) which could have been spent doing something far more productive than reviewing PDF files, editing power point presentations and reading the airline magazine.

I want Internet access on commercial airlines tomorrow.

Top things I want to do with commercial airline Internet:
- Catch up on email. All of it; work, GMail, Yahoo, etc.
- Register and manage domains. Every time I come across a neat name and idea, I cannot register it until I hit the airport. Very frustrating.
- Work on websites. No phones, so a great time to get some web work done online.
- Blog and manage blog postings.
- Catch up on favorite, yet ignored blogs and websites.

This is 2007. Why can't we have this service today?

Freeters -

Have you heard of this? Freeters (combination of Free and Arbeiter - Deutch for work) are a Japanese phenomenon coming to a town near you.

Apparently, there is a trend among young people, called freeters, in Japan to work sporadically or at contract jobs and live, literally live, in Internet cafes. Yes, freeters sleep and eat in these places when not at work or doing other socializing.

Seems there are several Japanese internet cafes which cater to freeters. These cafes provide semi-private cubicles with recliners to sleep in, showers, and clothes hangars for a few dollars a night.

Although social activists in Japan are decrying the freeter situation, they seem to be missing the point. Many of these young freeters are living this life by choice (according to what I have read).

Rather than living the traditional business life of long hours and company loyalty expected in Japan, freeters choose to work part time when they please. Yes, there is a high cost of living in Japan and long commute times which many freeters cite as reasons for their living situation, but the key reason is that freeters drop out on purpose.

I expect we will see a version of this soon in the U.S., perhaps in some of the more costly cities like San Francisco, Boston or New York.

What do you think?