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Summary: The prefect travel book
Review: Excellent learning tool for travelers. Learn to build valuable partnerships with airlines, cruise ships and car rental agencies. This is a win-win for the consumers who use the knowledge that they gain from this book to travel.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: I recommend this book without any reservations. It is a great book for travelers. I fail to understand one recent reviewer who feels that the author is somehow more blessed then most others. I have been traveling for a long time and learned a lot of "tips" that I did not know before hand. Further, these tips do work. I attest from my own personal experience. Believe me it is worth the investment.
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Summary: Do Not Buy This Book
Review: This is, without a doubt, the dumbest book I have ever read - on any subject.The core of the book is based primarily on the author buying the cheapest possible tickets and hotel rooms, and then magically being upgraded to first-class and oceanfront suites at no extra charge - every time. All he does is ask for it. Apparently he has the world's greatest personality because everyone he meets can't wait to give him free upgrades. It is truly unbelievable how many people all over the world are tripping over themselves to help this guy out. The author also stresses that his loyalty to one airline makes him a valued customer, and therefore results in frequent upgrades. I find this hard to believe since he always pays next to nothing for his tickets (something he constantly brags about). If airlines track their customer's flying histories, like he claims they do, his airline would see that he is nothing more than a freeloader who generates very little revenue for the airline compared to the amount of service he consumes. Why would an airline continually reward him for doing nothing for
them? It's not like he actually pays for anything he gets. Every time I fly I always ask the gate agent for a complimentary upgrade to first-class, and every time I am politely denied, usually with a little chuckle from the agent. We all know that in the real world things don't work like the author claims they do. So if you believe in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy go ahead and buy this book. If not save your money.
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Summary: Very good for anyone who travels
Review: this is a great book for anyone who travels. it has saved me a lot of money and has gotten me some great upgrades
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Summary: It worked for me
Review: I purchased this book 1-½ years ago. Since that time I have earned the Gold Status with Delta and have been upgraded on most of my flights. Likewise I have been referring to the book to get great hotel rates and upgrades. I was surprised to read the review dated June 3rd 2001. For this book does not provide mythical information, rather a clear and concise plan for going about improving you're traveling. For me it has proven successful and a valuable resource tool for my travels.
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Summary: Good Stuff
Review: I found this book to be very helpful. It provided me a novice travler with inside information as to what I need to do to get a great travel experince. In fact, I have already taken a trip using the information with 1st Class results.
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Summary: Equal part urban legend and myth
Review: The author of this book combines urban legend and outright myth in equal parts with common sense and obvious strategies. Alas, nothing can avoid the mathematical reality that a typical plane has fewer than 10% of its seats allocated to first class, and of those seats, many have been already sold to 'real' first class passengers or allocated to people with upgrade certificates, coupons, etc. Sorry, folks, it just plain ain't possible to magically get upgraded because there just aren't enough seats on the plane! Many years ago - in the 'good old days' - lots of people did get upgraded by 'schmoozing' and by various other strategies. But these days the airlines have realised that upgrades are both a major marketing tool and also a major revenue source. They have made upgrading such a rigorous and formal process that it is very hard to get something that you're not entitled to, no matter what Mr Widzer might claim to the contrary. The author has flown over a million miles - because of this his experiences are totally different to those of the typical potential reader of this book, who does not have super/elite status, etc etc. Lastly, I have a strong feeling that some of these five star reviews are being overly generous, and note that two of them are from the same person and are identically worded and two others from apparently different people on different days have identical errors in them. Hmmmm.....
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Summary: Great information
Review: First I would like to say that this book and his web site offers lots of great information. Whenever I'm traveling I always seem to resort back to them both!
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Summary: not worth the time
Review: I'm surprised by the book especially after reading all the rave reviews. As my fellow reviewers have pointed out, there are only a few pointers the author keeps stressing: be loyal to a few companies and try to get people to give you free upgrades. Frankly, though the author claims that everyone can practise what he proposes, if you don't fly often enough, no airline employee is going to hand you free stuff. Plus, I find it hard to believe that you can request upgrades all the time. If everyone does that, who is going to pay for first class? You have to have a thick skin to do this all the time. I think the airlines/hotels might even have a remark under your name: 'ask for requests all the time, better give him or he'll call someone else'. People are probably providing you good service for all the wrong reasons.
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Summary: Real Advice - Real Results
Review: Being a luxury travel newbie, this book was very helpful in presenting information which I'm guessing must come to seasoned frequent travelers over time. On the first day after I achieved Premiere status for the first time on my airline, I called the reservation desk to change the details of my return flight. After finalizing the changes (which took over 15 minutes of discussion), the customer service representative told me he couldn't believe I had just achieved Premiere -for-the-first-time-. "You asked all the Pemiere questions," he stated. That was due to the strong start I got from Joel Widzer's book. Here are some specific things which I do now which I didn't do before: 1) Concentrate my travel with one airline. It seems common sense in retrospect, but it wasn't something I did. I shopped price and was proud to do so. I flew the no frills airline which everyone in the southwest should know without realizing that other carriers could do more for me. 2) When speaking with any customer service representative, I ask for my current Premiere status. After emphasizing my loyalty by doing that, I then make whatever request I'm making. Even when I hadn't achieved Priemere the first time, this helped. 3) I use my miles to upgrade, not for free tickets. The common sense approach was to get things for free. Widzer points out that you don't get additional miles towards Elite status for award travel. Buy a cheap-as-possible restricted ticket and use your loyalty, leverage, and if necessary, ff miles to upgrade yourself. You fly the route without worrying about blackouts, fly first class, and get closer to Elite status. Some things which Widzer doesn't mention: 1) At least on my airline, United, it seems pretty difficult to get a compimentary gate upgrade, though I have done it. That seems to be the exception. You usually have to use miles or upgrade coupons, especially when competing for upgrades. 2) You've got to study the planes flying the routes you're interested in. My LAX to Seattle flight was on an Airbus A320(?) which had something like 4 First class seats. That's damn tough to upgrade into. 3) As a million miler, Widzer probably didn't run into many other travelers with similar seniority when it came to upgrade priority. Persistant asking probably can get you confirmed on the upgrade list when you consistantly fly 100K miles a year. For those of us at the 25K level, getting confirmed into Economy Plus is usually guaranteed. Just asking a lot isnt' going to get us in first class. 4) The E-Fares which United advertises on their web site are billed as "non-upgradeable." True for Elite flyers? I haven't had the opportunity to try. 5) "After calling the marketing department..." is a phrase Widzer uses more than once. This isn't something a non-travel writer can do, so shouldn't be mentioned in the book. To be clear, the book opened my eyes to the frequent traveling world. In Nov/Dec 2000, I found $500 fairs to London and Paris on my airline, and made my first trips to Europe, racking up 20K from Los Angeles in two trips. One round trip coast to coast later, and I'm an Elite flyer. I've flown a <500 mile segment with a comp gate upgrade, and a 2500 mile segment with a comp gate upgrade. I've changed details on restricted tickets, and had fees waived for me when using coupon upgrades. I didn't even know that such a thing as a concierge level at a hotel existed. I've stayed in them twice on special deals after reading the book, though I have yet to have Hilton volunteer an upgrade or agree to comp me an upgrade there. I wouldn't have thought to do any of the above without the book.
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