

The 30-day flight - MichaelApproved
http://dustincurtis.com/30dayflight.html

======
mhb
That sounds like a completely miserable way to waste a month.

~~~
paulgb
That sounds like a completely depressing way to approach life.

~~~
mhb
Really. What aspect of the project do you find most appealing? Standing on
line, seeing the inside of many airports and sometimes the same ones many
times, negotiating airport security, eating unhealthy food from airport
concessionaires, not getting any exercise, constantly being concerned about
your schedule?

But I am looking forward to the incredible web page which I am sure Dustin
will create based on the miserable experience.

~~~
paulgb
The challenge and adventure. How many people can say they've been to 43 cities
in a month?

It may well be a miserable way to spend a month, but I think it's cool that
someone is trying. Let me put it this way: I'd rather be the one traveling the
planet than the internet cynic talking about how miserable he will be.

~~~
hughprime
Going to 43 cities in a month is reasonably easy (for a reasonably generous
definition of "city") if you go on a road trip. You'd almost certainly see a
lot more, and have a lot more fun, if you set out to visit the 43 largest
cities in the United States
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population)
) in one month.

On the downside you'd also spend a bunch more money, and you wouldn't get the
warm fuzzy feeling that only comes from taking maximum advantage of a cheap
offer.

~~~
davidw
A road trip sounds like way more fun. Even more fun: riding your bike across
the country, or north to south, or some similar trip.

~~~
hughprime
If you really like cycling, sure. But cycling across the country in a month
doesn't leave you much time to see anything except pavement.

~~~
davidw
The record is a bit more than 8 days:-)

------
run4yourlives
People do realize that most airlines offer "round the world" passes designed
for this type of thing right?

I get that it's not as cheap as jetblue's promotion, but seriously, if you
really want to spend 30 days in airports, you may as well get your passport
stamped!

<http://staralliance.innosked.com/> for example.

~~~
Yrlec
A bit off-topic but I did exactly that a couple of months ago. Around the
world in 29 days. The best trip of my life!

~~~
wallflower
If you don't mind me asking, which cities did you enjoy most? And how did you
keep to your budget?

~~~
Yrlec
The city that was the most positive surprise was probably Honolulu. The people
were even friendler than I had expected, the city was the cleanest of them all
and I really liked the way they had combined beach- and "city"-life.

If you wanna see all the places I went to you can view them here:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/65204739@N00/sets/>

------
ryanwaggoner
Not that this isn't interesting, but aren't you supposed to be, you know,
running a startup?

EDIT: Now that I'm poking around a little, I don't see any reference to a
startup on any of your sites or anything, but I thought you had one (perhaps
Frogmetrics?). Was I mistaken?

------
dylanz
Dustin... awesome. Has anybody else done something like this? This could be
like a "Supersize" movie, but about the perils of travel. Film it! And @#$%...
make sure to stretch regularly.

------
agotterer
<http://www.twelvehoursinacity.com/> is doing 30 cities in 30 days. They have
gotten a ton of press and some sponsors.

------
mrtron
My main concern would be that you miss a flight - then subsequently miss all
your remaining flights and have to pay some sort of penalties.

Don't listen to the haters - this could be a great experience.

------
Laurentvw
Why not take it a little bit further and try to break the current world
record, which is set at 135 flights ;)

[http://community.guinnessworldrecords.com/_New-record-for-
th...](http://community.guinnessworldrecords.com/_New-record-for-the-most-
scheduled-flights-taken-within-30-days/blog/416112/7691.html)

But I guess that would ruin the fun.

------
bryanwoods
I'm suddenly reminded of the Eggers novel "You Shall Know Our Velocity!"
wherein the characters go on a week-long international journey trying to give
away an inherited sum of money.

Sounds like a great experiment. I'm especially interested to see if these
bizarre flights trigger any inquiry by authorities.

------
akamaka
Has anybody here looked into the health effects of spending 30 days in a low
air pressure environment? Even flight attendants don't spend this much time on
a plane.

~~~
phil
Supposedly airplane cabins are kept at the equivalent of about 6000 ft above
sea level, which would make a month on a plane only a little worse for you
than moving to Denver.

------
edw519
There's a difference between taking advantage of a bargain and being a
glutton.

83 segments in 30 days just to see how many you can do? Sounds foolish and
selfish (How many others with $599 passes won't be able to get the seats they
need because of you?)

Imagine how much fun you could have if you did this sensibly.

Sure, you can go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and eat until you vomit, but why
would you?

~~~
pavel_lishin
I believe that in order to qualify for the seat, you have to make your
reservations ahead of time. You don't just show up, then get your seat stolen
out form under you, and return home in tears.

Furthermore, you could apply this to virtually anything. Ever been to an all-
you-can-eat buffet? Every shrimp you eat is a shrimp that some poor retiree
won't get to eat.

You monster.

~~~
edw519
_you have to make your reservations ahead of time_

Doesn't matter. The seat was still taken by someone who really didn't need it.

 _Every shrimp you eat is a shrimp that some poor retiree won't get to eat_

Illogical analogy. The number of seats is limited. The number of shrimp (for
all intents and purposes) is unlimited. Also, the shrimp are not distinctive;
that is, any one shrimp is pretty much as the same as any other. The seats are
distinctive per flight (a seat on Flight 123 is _not_ the same thing as a seat
on Flight 567).

Lots of people made good faith purchases of these $599 passes for legitimate
travel, and some of them will be disappointed because others want to game the
system simply to see how far they could go with it. Not cool.

 _You monster._

I hope that's a joke (even though I don't get it).

~~~
byrneseyeview
_The number of seats is limited. The number of shrimp (for all intents and
purposes) is unlimited._

Actually, the opposite is more precisely true. The marginal cost putting one
more person on a plane is minimal, compared to the fixed cost of the flight.
The marginal cost of one more shrimp correlates more closely with the total
cost of shrimp.

~~~
edw519
In this case, marginal cost is not the issue. Supply is.

------
mcantelon
Take that, Mister Ozone Layer!

~~~
diN0bot
flying is terrible for the environment. i'm all for having a good time and
doing neat projects, but this one seems extraordinarily ignorant and harmful.

~~~
byrneseyeview
Do empty seats reduce carbon emissions?

~~~
jsrn
Yes. Flying is very different in this respect from cars/trains:

> "Half of the work done by a plane goes into staying up; the other half goes
> into keeping going."

therefore:

> "The plane was going anyway, so my flying was energy-neutral."

> This is false for two reasons. First, your extra weight on the plane
> requires extra energy to be consumed in keeping you up. Second, airlines
> respond to demand by flying more planes.

Quotes taken from "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air." by David McKay -
University of Cambridge. The book is available free here:
<http://www.withouthotair.com/Contents.html> the chapter about plane physics
is here:
[http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/cC/page_269...](http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/cC/page_269.shtml)

------
treyp
i'm also an AYCJ pass-holder. i'm a bit more tied down due to work, but this
seemed like something where collaborating would definitely help everyone make
the most of it. i created a facebook group because it seemed like the lowest
barrier to entry ( <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123309380809> ), but
if anyone else has other ways of discussing/sharing, post them here.
<http://wherewejet.com/> looks like they'll be updating, but i was hoping for
something social.

------
_pius
Nice. Btw, anyone know what font he's using in the logo?

~~~
dcurtis
It's Revue Std.

~~~
_pius
Thanks, looks good.

------
mhb
In the comments someone points out that the terms of the pass
(<http://jetblue.com/deals/all-you-can-jet/>) say:

 _You may only book one flight per city per day; if a violation of this policy
is found, JetBlue will honor only the last booking made and cancel the
customer's other bookings from that city on that day._

~~~
adbachman
> cancel the customer's other bookings _from_ that city on that day.

Means you can't fly out of a city, fly back, then fly out again. Also, you
can't double book yourself out of a given city and then choose which flight
you want to take.

I think he's going to get stung on the $100 cancellation/no-show fee:

> _Changes or cancellations of flight bookings made after 11:59 p.m. MDT three
> days prior to the flight's scheduled departure will incur a $100
> change/cancel fee. "No shows" for flights will incur a $100 fee, with Pass
> suspension until fee is paid._

Miss one connecting flight (e.g., due to an overnight delay) and they could be
looking at $300 in cancellation fees.

------
pavel_lishin
I wish the site were already up, with an RSS feed. I will not remember to
check that domain in a week.

------
liuliu
I stuck in airport for more than 30 hours just from SFO to UVa. How do you
expect all the airlines to have freemium model with so much delay and flight
canceling? (United has extra leg space option, but what if your flight
canceled?)

------
joshu
I hope they're buying carbon offsets so they won't feel bad. I also hope
someone will now explain why carbon offsets don't actually make it up, so then
they will feel bad twice.

------
matt1
Does anyone else get the feeling this is some kind of experiment like the
'Follow me on Twitter' tests?

