69 – Travel Hacks & Preferences

What do we travel with? How do we prefer to travel? What are our travel hacks? If you are seasoned travel or just getting into that hamster wheel, this is the episode for you. Our thoughts, best practices and hacks on traveling.Share with us yours on LinkedIn or X.Our co-hosts:Bertrand Schmitt, Entrepreneur in Residence at Red River West, co-founder of App Annie / Data.ai, business angel, advisor to startups and VC funds, @bschmittNuno Goncalves Pedro, Investor, Managing Partner, Founder at Chamaeleon, @ngpedroOur show: Tech DECIPHERED brings you the Entrepreneur and Investor views on Big Tech, VC and Start-up news, opinion pieces and research. We decipher their meaning, and add inside knowledge and context. Being nerds, we also discuss the latest gadgets and pop culture news Subscribe To Our Podcast Nuno Goncalves PedroINTRODUCTIONWelcome to Episode 69 of Tech DECIPHERED. Today we'll go on a slightly softer note and discuss our travel hacks and preferences. Bertrand and I often are asked, "What do you guys travel with? What do you prefer to travel with? What are your travel hacks?" And a few other questions in this world of hamster wheel travelling.Today we'll share a bunch of our preferences. We'll share a lot of the things we travel with, from luggage to electronics to other services and devices. We will share to the best of our knowledge, how to really do it in style, if that's at all possible, once you're in that hamster wheel. We'll share some of our hacks, not only for business travelling, but also for leisure travelling. Interesting stuff. We all have our hacks. We all have our stuff going on.PREFERENCES TRAVELAirlines, alliances, loyalty programsMaybe we start with airlines and all the things around that. Bertrand.Bertrand SchmittYeah, sure. Don't get me started on Air France, who cancelled on me a huge quantity of miles without alerting me, without notice, just a few weeks before I was supposed to take a flight. I will try my best to never use them again.Nuno Goncalves PedroIt was that bad. Air France is out, so that's the beginning. Let's maybe talk about the guys who are in. I'll give you my top airlines around the world. Obviously this depends. Depends if you have to travel through that region or if you're travelling to that region. My favourites, I think maybe not sure if it's in full order, but I would say Emirates, obviously, Qatar Airways. If you're hubbing through Middle East or if you're going to the Middle East, two amazing airlines, probably two of the best in the world.I would say maybe Emirates is my favourite now. I have to be thoughtful in how I put that forward. Qatar is also exceptional, obviously if you're hubbing through Doha. Incredible airline as well. The Asian ones in general, we'll leave the Chinese for a second because that's a different ballgame all together. Let's not say all Asian ones and obviously different ones are great.I'd say Singapore Airlines continues being systematically an exceptional airline. They've become very expensive, but an exceptional airline. A little bit SOP driven, only airline in the world, true story, that I complained not once or twice, but three times on the same incident, and I actually never got a response from them on an incident which is interesting. In general, service is exceptional. Their facilities at Changi Airport are exceptional. The planes are really well-kept, the food is great, very attentious, and really like them.Cathay, I haven't flown with them in a while. They went through a bit of a slump at some point. They were my favourite for a long time. Then they went through a bit of a slump in terms of product in particular, in terms of the quality of the product, in terms of the quality of the seats, service on board, et cetera. I've heard positive things recently, so maybe worthwhile putting them back on my Top 5 list around the world.Then the Korean Airlines in general are pretty strong on service. Depends a little bit on the plane. I've had always better experiences with Korean Air than with Asiana. Maybe Korean Air gets that last Top 5 thing.Talking about the negative ones for me that I try to avoid. I try to avoid as much as possible some of the European ones. TAP Air Portugal, the Portuguese one, is actually pretty decent by European standards. British Airways depends on the format of the plane. I find their business class service and product not to be as compelling as other airlines right now. I always found the service on British Airways, you only get great service on reshares if you're in first class. On long haul, even in business, it's a little bit matron. It's like, "Sit down and just stay put, and we'll serve you, but we won't really be particularly paying attention to you." In some ways, TAP Air Portugal, I think they're a little bit more thoughtful and nicer.Lufthansa is similar to British Airways. I've had very mixed experiences, but in general not great. The service, they got a lot of bad rap on their first class stuff. In Europe, I'm not sure there's anyone that I'm excited about. I haven't flown with Air France a long time. Apparently I shouldn't. Iberia I've flown with and it's okay-ish. I don't remember any airline in Europe that I'm particularly fond of. Maybe I'm missing someone. SAS is okay, I guess in the Nordics, but not a great deal of amazing airlines in there.Then negative Chinese. Most of the Chinese airlines, I haven't flown with them in a long time, so I obviously have to be careful in not pushing it forward. Not a huge fan of JAL and ANA in Japan. When in doubt, I would go ANA. Then in Taiwan, also not particularly excited about any of the Taiwanese airlines, but they're not bad either, so it's okay kind of thing. Then on the American Airlines, which I'm sure people are excited to know about, I'm really not a fan of United. Sadly, they're on Star AllianceBertrand SchmittDo you remember this video on United? There was this guy being dragged out of the plane, bloodied and everything.Nuno Goncalves PedroIt sounds about right, I think.Bertrand SchmittI think it's just before COVID or at the beginning of COVID. I forgot. It was bad. It was so bad.Nuno Goncalves PedroMy favourite was only domestic flights with Virgin America. By the way, Virgin Atlantic, I'm going to fly again with them in a couple of months and I remember them fondly. Their upper class product was really cool back in the day. Their lounge was really cool at Heathrow. This was many years ago. Looking forward to experimenting with it again. Virgin America was really strong and then obviously they merged with Alaska. Alaska is okay. It's good. I feel it still has a little bit of the Continental and Virgin America ethos, which is pretty good.I'd say of the big ones in the US, the only one that I think has improved quite a bit in terms of service has been Delta Air Lines, although their hub is Atlanta, which as I call it, is where you get lost in space in general. It's a black hole, I guess. We'll come back to airports later. American is okay-ish, but I've had some really bad experiences as well in American. United is the bottom for me. Southwest, I haven't flown in a while. They're quite expensive now, Southwest, actually.Bertrand SchmittI think they have changed dramatically, Southwest, from what I read in terms of what you get, what is included, not included, how they work. It's not the same.Nuno Goncalves PedroTop 5 guys that I would make an effort to fly with: Qatar Airways, Emirates. Emirates obviously doesn't really belong to any of the alliances, which makes it a little bit more cumbersome for points gathering and all that stuff, but I think they're really top end. I think Singapore Airlines belongs in that group. Then just below for me, Korean Air Lines and Cathay and then the rest.There's preferences. I have preferences as I said. If I have a chance, I'll go Delta rather than American or United. If it's to Europe, then I prefer a European airline to American and to United. To Asia, the same thing. I prefer an Asian airline to American and United. Delta, it depends a little bit on the plane and all that stuff. That's my rough preferences. I've had my worst experiences with United. My worst experience I think probably were all with United, delayed flights issues and all that stuff, bad service.Bertrand SchmittIf I have to fly to Europe, I used to try to use Air France, but two issues again, they take away your miles. That was during COVID. Two, you run the risk to have a strike in France. That's obviously the risk. Now I'm probably more trying to fly Delta if I go to Europe. Asia, I will try to stay away from Air China, that's for sure. I got some memorable experience when they were so scared away I would bring down a plane by using my tablet. It was just as crazy. I would say the Taiwanese airlines, I have overall positive experience. Not great, not bad, I would say.Nuno Goncalves PedroWhich is your favourite of the two?Bertrand SchmittLet me be careful. It's China Airways, China Air. There is a new one, actually, a third one that started recently. I cannot say I have a big preference, a clear-cut preference between the Taiwanese airlines. Taipei Airport is quite convenient to branch from in Asia.Nuno Goncalves PedroIt's EVA Air or EVA Air and China Airlines?Bertrand SchmittYeah, EVA Air is one of them, China Airlines, and there is a third one now that just launched.Nuno Goncalves PedroSTARLUX, is that the one? STARLUX Airlines?Bertrand SchmittMaybe. Yes. In the US, living in Seattle, this is a hub for Alaska. We use Alaska quite a bit. I will use Delta as well, and United if no other choice.Nuno Goncalves PedroAnd American? Do you have a perspective on American?Bertrand SchmittI have never used them, actually.Nuno Goncalves PedroReally? It's American Airlines.Bertrand SchmittSame for the other one we talk about, Southwest. I've rarely, rarely use it....