Web Resources

Page 1 | 2 | 3

NBTA
I was in Los Angeles this past week to attend a National Business Travel Association (NBTA) tradeshow. NBTA connects members of the business travel world and promotes the value of business travel management. They represent over 3,000 corporate travel managers and travel service providers who together, manage and direct more than $170 billion of expenditures within the business travel industry, primarily for Fortune 1000 companies. This is the granddaddy of business travel shows and all the airlines, hotels, car rentals, travel service suppliers were in town with their sales reps. I love to walk the tradeshow floor and check out all the airlines' new business and first class seats, which they were showcasing for the first time. Here are some pictures of premium class seating on: Qatar Airways, Iberia, Jet Airways, JAL, EVA, and new start-up airline V Australia. Some of the booths are the size of a house and they have all kinds of goodies from champagne and cookies to flight attendants (Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Qantas) and former NBA stars trying to drum up some business. Another highlight is attending the press conferences where companies go into full detail about their new products.

EARTHQUAKE
This year, the NBTA conference took place at the L.A. Convention Center. I was listening to Dale Moss from Open Skies describe their new 757 all-premium service from New York to Paris (and soon JFK to Amsterdam in mid-October) when the 5.4 quake hit. I was sitting next to my buddy Brett Snyder from CrankyFlier.com when the shaking began. We looked at each other and said, "Earthquake", then instinctively headed for the door. I was about to dive under the coffee table if it got any worse but instead, I settled for the doorframe. It shook pretty good for about five seconds (it felt longer) and I knew it wasn't that bad if the epicenter was nearby but who knew where it was located? If the epicenter was a few hundred miles away, it would have been catastrophic. To find out, I pulled out my laptop and quickly logged on to the USGS website. Within a minute, I learned and informed everyone in the room that it was a 5.8 magnitude quake (later downgraded to a 5.4) and the whereabouts of the epicenter. People gathered around my laptop to get the 411. A few minutes later, I received a CNN text message alert confirming the magnitude and at about the same time, a representative from the Convention Center made an announcement over the PA system with details of the quake and said that the facility had been checked for cracks and everything was fine. Many of the attendees were from out of town and had never experienced a quake before and were visibly shaken. I overheard one person call their airline to change their flight so they could leave ASAP, and there were still two days left of the conference.

EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
This earthquake got me thinking: Maybe I should brush up on my earthquake survival skills. I did a Google search and read what FEMA recommends you do during an earthquake.

MORE ON NBTA
Once everyone had called their loved ones to let them know they were okay, the conference continued. Lunch was served and it always amazes me how food can be provided in such a timely fashion for over 4,000 guests. Heck, short order cooks amaze me too. Each day, NBTA had a different keynote speaker. They usually have A-listers like Al Gore, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Ridge and George H. Bush. This year, they had Craig Ferguson, Alec Baldwin and Alan Greenspan. I was only at the conference one day and I saw Alec Baldwin speak. He was very funny but he definitely crossed the P.C. line by talking about the Mile High Club (of which he is a proud member) and gay flight attendants. "You know what's wrong with the commercial airline industry today?" he asked. "It's that all the female flight attendants look and act like menopausal gym teachers and the male flight attendants are good looking, fit gay guys," he continued. I don't think NBTA will be airing his speech on their website like they are doing with the Airline CEO Panel, which took place earlier in the day. This panel itself was entertaining and educational and was moderated by Peter Greenberg. Click here to watch all 70 minutes of it. FYI: Next year's NBTA tradeshow will be held in San Diego from August 23rd to 26th.

1 | 2 | LAST PAGE >>

*PLEASE tell us what you think of this week's newsletter!



Copyright 2008 JohnnyJet, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.