Mark Peacock's Page

The International Air Transport Association reported in April that premium ticket purchases fell 21% globally in February — which follows January’s decline of 16.7%. Part of the drop is due to falling air traffic, but a good bit of it is from tighter corporate travel policies that are pushing mid-level executives to the back of the plane. Not good for the airlines because, according to one… Continue

Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside of Chicago at the end of a full week home, decompressing after 6 weeks of straight travel. We talk about some "travel rules" violators -- the woman whose airport meltdown is a YouTube hit and an Amazing Race couple whose violation got them eliminated. A listener suggests a topic -- what is the one thing you never want to hear on a flight? And we close with a couple of suggestions on how to avoid the growing cacophony of flat screen TVs shouting out… Continue

I don't mean to pile on United Airlines, but they do bring it on themselves sometimes. The latest TravelCommons podcast talks about how the "friendly skies" of United Airlines have become a bit thread worn -- duct tape holding together armrests, seat backs that can't stay up (which was my experience again on my Monday flight from ORD to SFO). Not surprising since United is the only major US airline without any… Continue

Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside of Chicago, back doing my thing to support the travel industry with lots of travel in January. We talk about some recent TSA observations, good and bad; my latest spin of the “travel roulette” wheel, trading the plane for a train in an East Coast snow storm; a look back at last year’s travel courtesy of Dopplr’s Personal Annual Report; and being saved by duct tape while flying the tatty skies of United. Here’s a… Continue