Growing up, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel a lot thanks to the jobs of my parents.
This instilled in me a love for traveling, discovering new cultures, and the travel industry in general.
One major benefit of traveling with my parents on business, was that we were usually able to travel in Business. I came to appreciate the associated benefits, most notably the comfort of airport lounges.
Later, as a student, I wanted to continue traveling, and, if feasible, do so in comfort.
However, my budget was tight, and so I had to find new creative ways to my voyages.
Hence, I learned more about how airlines and hotels operations, and how to take advantage of the system to one's favour, thanks to resources such as FlyerTalk.
This is also when I learned more about loyalty programs, started to reverse engineer the airline's revenue management, and understand how to use that knowledge to optimise both price and comfort for my own travel planning.
Today I have had the incredible luxury of traveling to many places, and in a classes I wouldn't even have dared to dream of as a child.
Furthermore, I have held frequent traveler stati, that too seemed completely unachievable for my travels and budget.
Today I plan and optimise travel, as well as loyalty for a select few.
All of this I learned thanks to experience and the combined knowledge of the hive-mind that is FlyerTalk.
I would like to continue the cycle of information being passed on for free.
While it is hard to pass on years of experience doing this, I have done my best to write down a basic guide, which you can find below.
Your mileage may vary. Caveats
Basics about airline operations, systems, and revenue management. The airline landscape!
Basic text
All my tips for booking and getting cheap flights, find listed fares, and then find dates that fit criteria with availability. Reposition for cheaper fares / offers etc.
Basic text, give tips on how to optimise travels, treat staff well, give it a try at check-in. Asking usually doesn't hurt, unless your request is very silly. Give examples. Strategically mentioning things and going to talk to people. Usually people are willing and trying to help you out. Example: last minute rebooking and I got put in the worst seat on the plane. Use expertflyer and airline check in system to check seat map and any available flights. No joy. At check-in go to the agents and talk to them, if there are any seats available, mention that you saw it was overbooked, op up hint hint. While in this case i did not get the op up, the person that was left behind one of the best seats in Business into which I was then moved. This is not standard procedure and simply because I had talked to the agent did she shuffle things around in my favour. Very nice. DO care, but not too much, so when things don't work out, you shoul not be disappointed. Don't forget to actually enjoy the experience. When trying to optimise every aspect of travel, especially during traveling, it is easy to forget to enjoy the little things. Give examples.
More strategic, instead of focusing only on one journey and finding the optimal price, optimise travel to be focused on one airline / alliance and maximise status and benefits that way. While it may be cheaper to always book the cheapest option, depending on your travel pattern, this will usually prevent you from significantly accumulating miles or points, which would let you achieve a higher status with this airline and alliance. Hence by focusing your flights on an alliance, and optimise the routings you book, you may be able to achieve status, with which you get benefits, such as lounge access. Overview of the three alliances, regions and status levels and how does alliance relate to airline and vice versa. Generally you are only able to earn with one loyalty program
Let us clarify the terms!