Three years of covering aviation at TPG (and counting)
Reflections on a not-so-quiet year of airline reporting.
Hello, readers! I'll start with a warning: This is a fairly self-indulgent reflective piece on my work life. If you're here strictly for news, analysis and behind-the-scenes, you might want to go ahead and close this one. And if a mild display of conceitedness isn’t your thing, I’d probably suggest heading elsewhere (maybe go check out the new podcast by aviation reporters/analysts Brian Sumers, Jon Ostrower, and Brett Snyder, or Ned Russell’s thoughts on airport architecture).
If you’re still here: thanks for following along!
This month marked my three-year anniversary at The Points Guy. I left Business Insider in February, 2021, and took a 6-week break before starting my new job in order to, theoretically, relax, recharge, and recover from the stress of the early pandemic. In reality, I ended up picking up a lot of extra shifts at my per diem EMS job, including 12- and 16-hour days working at some of the first COVID-19 vaccine clinics. So while it wasn’t exactly restful, it was, at least, a change of pace.
Now, three years in at TPG, it’s nearing the longest that I’ve ever been at one company, and it’s already the longest that I’ve ever been in one role.
The company and the workplace have changed a lot since I started here, but it’s been an overall great experience (despite some criticism and trolling of the site in corners of the internet). I think my relative longevity is a testament to my positive experience here.
At the end of the day, even as things shift and change, I’ve been fortunate to hold and enjoy one of the most unique reporting jobs I can think of, where I can seamlessly shift from interviewing a Fortune 500 CEO one day, to photographing families reuiniting after years of pandemic separation the next, to touring a prototype airplane and speaking with test engineers the following week, and breaking news that moves a stock price a few days later, while packing for a whirlwind trip to somewhere like New Zealand or Jordan.
The first three months of this year have been — uh, let’s say “trying” — on the aviation beat, needless to say. Air travel has dominated the news cycle, with news breaking at all hours every day of the week, and a lot of new competition from more general assignment-oriented reporters and publications, some of which may not be doing the best job characterizing the current events. That certainly doesn’t make things easier for the reporters who’ve already been working the beat.
Nevertheless, my work anniversary has me reflecting back on the past year, and on some of the work I did that I’m proud of, which, like past years, included a heavy focus on written reporting, but also the opportunity to incorporate photography and photojournalism in my day-to-day.
I started my work year by returning from paternity leave, and hit the ground running: within three days, I flew down to D.C. to cover the FAA's safety summit following a handful of close calls at U.S. airports.
A few weeks later, I interviewed Southwest’s CEO and other executives about their recovery from the previous year’s meltdown — while we were onboard a flight to Honolulu (read the behind-the-scenes of that interview/story below).
In the spring, I covered the FAA’s initial slot waiver in NYC, giving airlines flexibility to fly fewer flights without losing coveted takeoff and landing slots — part of an effort to ameliorate traffic congestion in the skies amid a critical shortage of air traffic controllers in New York — and through the year I covered the various extensions and the flight cuts and upgagues that airlines made in response.
As summer approached, I reported on a massive spike in airfares for the summer travel season, including to Europe. Unfortunately for consumers, that one turned out to be accurate.
I enjoyed seeing current and former colleagues as Chase opened its first lounge for credit card holders, which happened to be at my home airport of Boston Logan. I've been back a few times, and aside from the menu never changing, I'd say it's holding up remarkably well.
I had interesting chats with airline and industry executives, along with peers, at luncheons hosted by the Wings Club throughout the year — including this interesting conversation with Frontier’s CEO.
After covering it from court the year prior, I covered the decision in the JetBlue-American Airlines Northeast Alliance trial, which came at the worst possible time (as I was driving to a wedding in rural PA). Thankfully I had a few pre-writes to cover a range of possible outcomes, and was able to dictate edits and additions to a coworker.
Speaking of, I was able to extensively cover the JetBlue-Spirit merger trial from the courthouse. A lot of that day-to-day coverage was on Twitter, but I ran a few notable stories on the site, too…
…and then covered the court’s decision to enjoin the merger, and its fallout.
In June, I went to my first Paris Air Show, following a nightmarish saga of delays and cancellations getting there. I was happy with my coverage, which included an exclusive interview with a Boeing executive in a new role, where we discussed the so-called "NMA" market.
I was also pleased with this analysis piece on Boom Supersonic (which, I should note, successfully flew its testbed XB-1 jet for the first time last week). And of course, I had fun watching some cool flying and touring some unique aircraft.
I had a few exclusives, and a few scoops, I got to watch a literal spaceship launch into literal space,* and I had the chance to stand on the tarmac and, frankly, take cool photos of a cool airplane, while adding some context about the state of the air travel industry. I also got to write more about airport restaurants than I’d ever thought about before.
In a moment of what I can only describe as maturation, I decided to get off of the frequent flyer status hamster wheel, and felt (and still feel) liberated by my new flexibility when I'm traveling.
And, of course, I toured new airplanes, took new flights, and interviewed CEOs. I was happy with the story I was able to write stemming from United Airlines’ inaugural flight to Christchuch, as well as the story I wrote a week earlier after a gaggle with the airline's CEO.
And, finally, as unhinged as the past three months have been, I’ve still managed to get the occasional mental break with some interesting side stories, like this chat about traveling and frequent flyer miles with Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg.
If you’re still with me here, thank you for putting up with my reflection on the past year.
As I said, it's self-indulgence. But I find it helpful to remind myself that, as crazy as the media industry is right now, and as absolutely mad as the airline beat has been lately, I’m incredibly lucky to a) have a job in journalism at all, and b) have a reporting job that’s so consistently varied, interesting, and fun.
I hope you’ve found my coverage interesting, useful, fun, or otherwise worth reading! As always, I’m eager for your thoughts, so please feel free to share.
* There’s some debate on what constitutes the border between the atmosphere and “outer space,” and a few different definitions depending on the context. While the Virgin Galactic ship doesn’t enter into a proper orbit of the Earth, for all intents and purposes for tourism, it reaches space.