Nicholas Kralev, the former Washington Times diplomacy reporter who also wrote a weekly travel column (and who is especially known in frequent flyer circles for ‘breaking’ the story publicly about United’s Starnet blocking, proactively programming their computers to tell customers that award seats were unavailable on their partners when those partners were actually offering seats, so that Mileage Plus wouldn’t have to pay for the awards), has a new book out, Decoding Air Travel.
I read an early draft and I’m reading through it now, it looks to be really excellent so far and offers some of the most extensive step-by-step tutorials I’ve seen on identify the lowest airfares and constructing itineraries to get those fares and also find and secure confirmable upgrades. I plan to post a full review once I’m through, which should be in the next several days (I hope!).
At least I commit to reading the entire thing by next Wednesday, since there’s a book launch party at the Arts Club of DC at 7pm on Wednesday, June 29. The event is open to the public, but advance registration is required.
I’ll be at the event and I look forward to meeting any readers of this blog in the area who can make it, and toasting Kralev on the success of his new book.
Consistent with the theme of discount air travel, I asked if I could get a code to bring down the price of the book, and managed to secure V9S696JF for 25% off valid here.
Thanks for sharing!
Will definitely be there! Wow, some interesting things do happen in DC after all 😛
Thanks! Just ordered it
looks like a good read, but I don’t think I can bring myself to buy a $40 black-and-white paperback (or even $30 with discount).
Just ordered mine.
@Ken, sometimes you have to spend a little money to save a lot of money.
‘…$40 black-and-white paperback…’
Yes, at that price, some color and a centerfold will make it more attractive. 😉
I am not opposed to $30 for a worthwhile book, but I’ll wait for full reviews.
Gary,
You’re welcome to state that the publisher, CreateSpace, is a self-publishing vehicle (owned an operated by Amazon) and is not in anyway a traditional publishing house via a literary agent.
Good luck with your friend’s book.
Agree that $30 sounds like a lot of dough for a book that regurgitates what’s already probably in the public domain on this site and Flyertalk. These types of books were more viable before the Internet. Perhaps the author can still turn a nice profit with the self publishing model, but I certainly wouldn’t buy it.
nice to see that most proceeds go to the author and not to a publishing machine, since the audience for a book like this is fairly small. I’m guessing most of us would have gladly paid $30 to avoid reading thru the “Trick it” thread on Flyertalk…