This week, we interview the most interesting man in travel: Peter Thornton! As Thrifty Traveler’s Senior Award Deal Analyst, Peter is responsible for finding all the best uses for your points and miles, but his long career in travel has touched nearly every aspect of the industry.
From being a flight attendant to finding mistake fares for Airfare Watchdog and now unearthing points and miles deals, Peter knows more about airfare than just about anyone out there. And he’s also (probably) the only one who played guitar for Ja Rule, Paul Walker, and Vin Diesel at MTV Spring Break 2001 – yeah, we get that story on the pod, too!
Join us for all the travel news that’s fit to podcast! Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! And be sure to subscribe to get each new episode every Thursday morning.
Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s episode, Abundo Wealth! Mention “Thrifty” when you inquire for 50% off your first month with Abundo Wealth!
Have a question you want answered on-air or an idea for the show? Let us know at [email protected].
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Show Notes
- 00:00 – The worst airline websites that expert Peter Thornton has to deal with
- 04:50 – Something Hot: Peter’s favorite flight deals of all time – including some classic mistake fares
- 09:50 – Something Cold: Why you should never drive in London – and what not to put on your immigration documents
- 12:10 – A word from our sponsor: This week’s show is sponsored by Abundo Wealth!
- 13:00 – Road tripping, the Rand McNally Road Atlas, and falling in love with travel with Peter Thornton
- 15:25 – Becoming a flight attendant and getting into the industry with North American Airlines
- 18:15 – Joining Airfare Watchdog and pioneering the cheap flights game
- 21:00 – Accepting his job offer to Thrifty Traveler at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
- 22:30 – How to find points and miles award availability as TT’s Senior Award Analyst
- 25:00 – Calling the airlines so you don’t have to – and the worst airline hold music
- 28:00 – What do you wish more travelers knew about award travel?
- 32:00 – What’s to blame for what Gunnar calls “Hot Flight Summer?” Why has points and miles availability been so good?
- 35:00 – Looking forward: Making predictions about airfare, points and miles availability, and more in the world of travel
- 39:15 – The legend of “Cave Matthews Band” and why Peter was featured on a game show called “Dude This Sucks” for MTV Spring Break
- 42:15 – Listener Question: How far in advance should you book award travel to get the best rates?
- 46:00 – On the Spot: Overlooked destinations that should get more love than they do
Produced by Gunnar Olson
Edited by David Strutt
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
My husband and I have 15-20 credit cards each and are entering retirement (i.e., much lower spending). We’d both like to get down to about 4 cards each. How do we do this without cancelling most of them and totally taking a hit to our (stellar) credit ratings?
Episode #19 – Kyle, I feel ya big time RE: standing in line for security and people are not prepared or act surprised that they need to remove metal, liquids, etc. Hello… what have you been looking at for the last 20 minutes while waiting? Paying attention to your surroundings and taking social cues helps everyone. Phew, exits soapbox! (I think this can apply to the check-out line in the grocery store too! :-))
We loved Oban. We went to Oban by train from Glasgow. We took a boat tour to Mull, Iona, Staffa, and Lunga. We went during puffin nesting season and saw so many puffins. I highly recommend this tour company.
https://westcoasttours.co.uk/tours/tour-mull-iona-and-staffa/
Fellow travel enthusiast from the Midwest here!
Just wanted to share my travel social media username/handle – @TravelSizeBudget on Facebook and Instagram. I attended Thrifty Traveler University a few years ago regularly follow TT’s amazing content. I started @TravelSizeBudget last year to offer my own unique spin on travel – from the usual (points and miles, affordable fares) to the less common (savings and convenience on food, souvenirs and more). Thanks for continuing to inspire me, Thrifty Traveler!
Great podcast! Thanks for all the great information.
Hello Gunnar,
I am enjoying and appreciating all you travel savings information. Would you please help us finding an appropriate venue to get results form lost bag by United? In June last yWe re senior citizens 1K United. Last year in June we checked 6 bags from LAX to HNL. One of the bags never arrived and we filled a claim at HNL. There was lack or no communication from United including corporate. We provided photos and invoices for 4 pro racing high end OZONE kites $12,500.00. The bag never made it “downstairs” after being check at 1K counter at LAX. I wrote countless letters , got a lots of lying and contradicting run around or no responses. Now we found out someone is selling our stolen kites on E-Bay because they all have serial numbers and person who bought one of the kites very ‘cheap” called Ozone co. to ask why is someone selling a $4,000.OO kite for $1,500.00 and the company contacted us since they have record of us paying a full price. E-Bay is not taking any responsibility. Now United finally e-mailed us claiming they do not cover “sports equipment”. Our bags were handed to United employees and they should be responsible. Would you have any suggestions how can we recover our losses? I would appreciate any suggestion you could provide. I know its not what you are about but since you have lots of travel experience maybe you know something that can help us. Keep up the good work.