As a traveling guru, I think myself cool for knowing all the airlines, the alliances, and how to apply that knowledge towards a $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World itinerary.
While some of the names are self-explanatory: Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, and SriLankan Airlines (newly added to One World), others are only recognizable by their livery and country of origin.
Beyond that, I have no idea why they are called what they are called. Similar to the International Brew Awards, I’m learning tidbits of knowledge that can carry a conversation if you’re ever bored at an airplane lounge. For example, I found out that Carlsberg is from Denmark in my ‘Go To Brew‘ post and the origin of the term ‘banquet beer‘ in the next nomination. Researching airlines, I also found some fun facts starting with Abu Dhabi’s own Etihad Airways.
As an intermediate’ Arabic speaker according to my Linked-In profile, I should know what ‘etihad’ means. Since I didn’t I had to ask my mom for a proper translation because Google’s translation of ‘united’ wouldn’t convey the message in English as well as an explanation in Arabic. Roughly speaking, etihad translates as ‘together’ or ‘join in one’ which goes with the name of the country United Arab Emirates. The UAE is divided into seven emirates with the more known emirates being Dubai, Sharjah, and the capital Abu Dhabi. Incidentally, each counts as a ‘country’ according to the TCC country count list.
Make no mistake, though Etihad may mean ‘united’ or ‘come together’ there is a strong rivalry that exists among the emirates. The rise of Etihad Airways to a global player not a regional carrier is a result of Dubai’s Sheikh Maktoum’s refusal to sell Emirates to Abu Dhabi after seeking a bailout during the financial downturn. Emirates Airlines is the pride and joy of Dubai and there was no way that Sheikh Maktoum would part with it. Dubai did change the name of one of the world’s tallest buildings from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa, the name of Sheikh Khalifa, the president of the UAE, to pay tribute.
I’ve yet to fly on Etihad but when I do I’ll at least know what it means.
This wasn’t the case for the football club Manchester City whose marketers didn’t do their due diligence when agreeing to call their field Etihad stadium, unknowingly incorporating the name of their bitter rival Manchester United.
You may be asking where in the world is Miles City? That answer is irrelevant because there’s no reason to go there especially considering the below average awful service received at the Holiday Inn Express Miles City.
Here’s the letter going to IHG on a forgettable experience:
Upon arriving at the Holiday Inn Express Miles City, Dixie checked us in. To put it mildly, Dixie was very rude. We had reserved a room with two queen beds at the brevity rate of $89.
We went to our room which had one queen bed. We called to request the room we had reserved and were told, “You have two TV’s and a pull out couch.” We informed the front desk that we had reserved two beds, for two adults in the room. We were told that the $89 rate was unheard of and that we couldn’t change rooms. Dixie then proceeded to hang up the phone. When I called back, Dixie curtly remarked that the phones are “really busy” and that the hotel was full. She did say that I could check back later in the evening. It was 11PM.
The front desk then called and told me that my credit card had been declined (probably because I was in the middle of nowhere), and rudely told me to come down. She said, “I need a working card if you want to keep the room.”
At the front desk, I again requested a room change and was told I could go to another IHG hotel conveniently located 75.4 miles away.
Dixie then, impolitely remarked, “We have two funerals and a basketball tournament, you’re lucky you have a room.”
What an incredibly insensitive thing to say given that we were in town for a funeral.
Again, I would like to state that our reservation for 2 queens but we were given one. But lucky for us, we had two televisions.
Aa ha! It is I Alexander the Author hijacking ThePointsOfLife page because I have 11 lowly Twitter followers on @AuthorIskender and I wanted to share the website I built today to promote my other favorite pastime, writing books.
Since I gave up modesty for Lent, I have to answer ‘yes’ to the question in the title of the post. I’m sure some of those angries (check out the comments on that post) will dissent and make their feelings known below. But a little click-bait never hurt anyone especially because I’m proud of all the work I did to put the site together.
Check it out! www.alexandertheauthor.com
Interrupting
Sorry guys,
It is I ThePointsOfLife. This guy really doesn’t get that nobody cares about his books. I’m changing the password tonight and will teach everyone how to fly to the moon on points tomorrow.
Goodnight
I started my blog on March 19th, 2014 to promote my book. (click to see one of my very first posts, it’s worth a read.) Since then ThePointsOfLife has grown into a travel blog and a points strategy operation. Due to this evolution, I regret to inform the readers that there really is no more room for Alexander The Author. We thank him for his service and wish him all the best with his future endeavors.
What does this really mean? Simply that ThePointsOfLife will stop pushing book sales (click here to buy my book) and focus on what the analytics have shown to be of interest to the readers: points and travel.
Minus the occasional unexpected pop in by The Author for shameless self-promotion, all book related activities can now be found on at www.alexandertheauthor.com (site looks like crap currently), facebook.com/alexandertheauthor, and on Twitter @authorIskender (Alexander in Arabic).
While I enjoy writing books as much as I have grown to enjoy blogging about bullshit, I believe it is time to separate my personalities so that readers read what they want to read when and where they want to read it.
So if you’re interested please check out my alter ego, Alexander The Author. If you’re not then kindly bid him adieu.
This year I’ve written about what I’m keeping in my wallet in 2015, my hypothesis that churning is getting easier from a software perspective, and how I felt like Vivian at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel while trying to feed THEbird. Today I did my baby churn consisting of two cards: the 50k United from Chase and the 50k US Airways from Barclays. These are great offers of which I wish I had an affiliate link. Alas, I’m not one of the chosen ones. As far as those banks are concerned, the days of instant approval are gone. The quick call to the recon department was delayed till tomorrow because both offices were closed. All of this had me wondering and wishing for two things as an entitled, lazy points churner:
Bone Thugs foreshadowed our daily first of the month routine. What they didn’t forecast was the hassle of reloading the bird. I don’t know what is worse: the stares from the Target employees who think I’m doing something illegal or the absurd hold times by the fraud department wondering why I’m making purchases at Target. It’s Target! CVS wasn’t more suspicious?
“$1000 please,” leads to “Sorry, your card is declined,’ leads to hold time leads to please try again and more uncomfortable looks. Brief satisfaction of feeding the bird subsides when I realize that I have to come back to Target again and do it all over again.
All in a day’s work I guess.
Oh God how I love when the 1st come around
Now I’m feelin’ black and mild, headed cross town
