Rapid Travel Chai

Pranks aside, the Freddie Awards was a delight and The Rapid Traveler was honored to attend, even though he and the other bloggers were cordoned off from the industry groups at a remote table. But the plan was not fool-proof as the main exit passed in front of the blogger corral and the industry attendees could not escape unpestered.

Randy Peterson at the Freddie Awards

Some items:

• The emollient for unhappy customers in a bankruptcy? Offer double elite qualifying miles. American Airlines rode that to a large Freddie haul.
• United was not even a finalist for any of the awards. Not getting the word out or are customers that dissatisfied?
• TAM won best redemption ability for the Americas. Delta was a finalist, throwing credibility of all the awards in question. 😉
• Going to Europe? If flying airBaltic is a quarter as good as their social media savvy, it must be pretty cool. They have quite a big route network, too.
• Accor has renamed their A Club to Le Club Accorhotels, but wisely did not go through British Airways Avios route. Truffles, croissants, macaroons, etc would be too funny, though would make more sense than naming after a car rental agency.
• Bloggers write about Starwood and Hyatt. Many US road warriors spend their time in Marriott, Wyndham, and Choice. There is an opportunity for aspiring bloggers who double as US domestic road warriors.
• There is myriad innovation in 3rd-party points platforms, and The Rapid Traveler is ignorant of most of it. Time to learn.