Tomorrow night are the Freddie Awards, the only award show I’m interested in, at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Airport. I hope to see some of you there, and may the best program win!

Tomorrow night are the Freddie Awards, the only award show I’m interested in, at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Airport. I hope to see some of you there, and may the best program win!
More interesting (to me) than Delta’s $794 million first quarter loss is the new bag fee they’re putting in place on July 1. We’re all used to bag charges by now, either because we’ve paid for them at the airport or at the very…
I took Air New Zealand to New Zealand (gasp!) two years ago, and I really enjoyed my experience with them. Their Business Premier product is quite good, and New Zealand is one of the most amazing places in the world. Ever since then, award availability…
Well, life on the road may not always be glamorous, but it's certainly never boring. I'll just get right to it: A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were working in different cities, when I got this late-night text message from him:
Over the years airlines have updated many policies. For example, as a kid I remember flying Condor between Tampa and Frankfurt every summer, where they had a smoking section onboard. Smoking policies have changed significantly over the years, and at…
Gosh what a mess this situation is. Just before Christmas, Gatwick airport, the second busiest airport in the UK, was closed for 33 hours because two drones were spotted in the airport area. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, delayed or re-routed, with…
It goes without saying that planes are among the safest form of transport out there, and you should always feel safe when flying. As 2018 comes to a close, it's interesting to look back at how 2018 compared to other years when it comes to safety. 2017…
As the year comes to a close, I thought it would be fun to look back at the past year on the blog, and highlight the most popular posts. While this site gets a lot of traffic, I spend a surprisingly limited amount of time focused on analytics. Sure,…
I get a ton of emails from PR people, and most of them I don't even look at, but I got one yesterday that caught my attention, about the "ultimate new year's eve private jet party." I'm not sure this is actually even that creative, but I thought it was…
About lucky
Ben Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.
And how is lucky going from TPA – FLL? 🙂
Hah, I figured someone would ask! I’ll be driving, believe it or not. The only miles I’ll be earning are for the gas costs. 🙁
How can UA win anything this year…. they pulled out of FLL! 🙂
I find that to be pretty ironic as well, hobo13. On the plus side, rumor has it United will send several representatives this year, which is a huge step in the right direction.
I look forward to reading your report on the event. I haven’t any idea what there is to enjoy at the Freddie Awards?!? Do they have cool things for flying customers to enjoy, what are the costs of attending, etc. Can’t wait to hear your report. All I know about the Freddies is that Alaska Airlines has been pretty vocal in the past about making sure their passengers vote, whereas United hasn’t been as effective at informing me I should vote for them.
@ Justin — It’s actually a lot of fun. Here’s the schedule for tomorrow:
* 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m. – Cocktail Reception
* 6 p.m.-7 p.m. – Dinner
* 7 p.m.-10:30 p.m. – Freddie Awards Ceremony
* An after party will be held immediately following the conclusion of the Awards Ceremony
Best of all, Randy generously invites all FlyerTalkers for free! Think of it as a Hollywood award show, except for airplane geeks. There are industry reps from most of the major loyalty programs in attendance that we can interact with as well.
It’s a good time!
I didn’t hear a word from United regarding voting for them. So I didn’t.
Actually, I didn’t vote at all. Oh well.
Hmmm, Oliver, could you think of one, actual, thing, for which you would vote for UA? 😀
(Well, actually – I’m sure they’re “new” F and Biz could win something).
@ Gray — You know, this is an area in which I differ from other voters greatly. Many view the Freddies as a way to let programs that made negetive changes over the past year “have it.” It’s a complete joke when airlines like Southwest win the “best frequent flyer program” award (as much as I think Southwest is a great airline and deserves to win in other categories). I think American or United deserve to win awards like the best frequent flyer programs, yet they stand no chance in hell. While the programs aren’t as good as they used to be, they’re still MUCH better than anything else out there, overall.
That’s my opinion, at least….
Lucky — How could you not take the opportunity to fly Spirit Airways non-stop from TPA to FLL? They’ve got rates from $43 each way.
Sure… with parking, airport hassles, and the inevitable delay that Spirit Airlines will have it’ll take you just as long as driving, but where’s the fun in that? 🙂
Last time The Freddies were in New York City, United won an award. Randy gave them a cake. Since no one was there from UA to accept the cake, a few of us took it to dinner with us. In those days, we had about 50 people attending an afternoon event. Six or eight of us went to West End Cafe on West 42 street. We asked the restaurant to put the cake in the refrigerator.
I think it was a day or 2 before any of us even remembered anything about it!! :>)
UA last sent a rep to the Hyatt in NYC about 4 years ago.
Have fun. Many of us will be watching online.