Now that I’m back from New York, I thought I’d talk about my experience using Trippy. You all know that I’m compensated to be on the advisory council, but that won’t stop me from being blunt. Overall it’s a tremendously helpful tool, but it needs a little work. I suppose that’s why it’s in beta. (And remember, if you want to try it, just go to trippy.com and use the code “cranky” to gain access.)

When I filled out my New York trip, I wasn’t sure what kind of response I’d get. Thanks to all of you, I got 82 recommendations, many with helpful comments on why you made the suggestions you did. Of those, I ended up using four of them, and I probably never would have found any of them without Trippy.

So, thanks to Jake for suggesting lunch at Katz’s Delicatessen, Luke for dinner at Kin Shop, and Lou for dessert at Sweet Revenge. They were all awesome. And thanks to John for suggesting the High Line as a way to spend the afternoon. I had no idea that place even existed, and it was a beautiful day to be wandering outside.

The best part of this is that each one of these recommendations came from people who I wouldn’t have reached out to directly on my own. Trippy really opened it up for me, and I’m definitely going to be using this more, even after my advisory council membership ends down the line.

But there clearly are some issues, and I’ve gone ahead and forwarded these on to the folks at Trippy, and they’ve been really enthusiastic about getting the feedback. The developer crew is working on all these things. If you have any more you’d like to add, let me know. Here are the ones that stand out so far:

• Facebook is the only way to access Trippy and that was by far the biggest complaint. A lot of people don’t use Facebook, nor do they want to allow Facebook Connect to share details. Alternate access methods will happen down the line so others can take advantage. That’s incredibly important.
• The only way to share photos with people in your trip is via an iPhone app. I don’t have an iPhone, so that’s completely unhelpful. An Android app is coming soon, so that will provide relief for many. There still needs to be more open ways to share.
• Many of the locations aren’t categorized. They just default into the “Things to Do” category if they aren’t recognized as hotels or restaurants. That will certainly get better with time.
• There doesn’t appear to be a way to order your days on your trip. I wanted to see my day in order with lunch, followed by the afternoon activity, then dinner and dessert. Doesn’t work that way for now.
• It would be nice to have a way to “not recommend” something in cases where others had previously recommended it. Even a “disagree” button would be a good idea so you can see that some may not have liked it. This would have come in handy for the Momofuku Milk Bar which was panned in the comments since there wasn’t a way to pan it elsewhere.

Those were probably the biggest issues culled from all your helpful comments publicly and privately. Yes, there were some other minor ones that are easily fixable as well, and those have been passed on too. Thanks to everyone for giving it a spin and helping plan my time in New York. Now, who wants to chime in on Sonoma?

[Please note that this post is on a Wednesday and is not taking the place of a regular post. I'm hoping to use Wednesdays for more of these types of things.]

Who wants to help me plan my trip to New York this weekend? If you have a Facebook account, log on to Trippy and help. (Use beta code “cranky” to get access.)

Trippy launched in beta yesterday, and I’m happy to be a member of the advisory council. One of the reasons I really like the advisory council idea is that Trippy is looking for real feedback to make it a better site. They’ve reached out to me and others to try to get some real usage going. So, hop on and take it for a test drive.

The idea is one you’ve heard before – it’s all about social travel planning. Sounds like a bunch of buzzword-y, but it makes sense. If I go on to many sites, I’ll just get unfiltered reviews. Why do that when I can just ask people in my network?

Of course, the problem is that I don’t want to push my friends to sign up for a new site and then make them leave a bunch of detailed reviews. That can be a real pain, so that’s why I like Trippy.

You can login with Facebook Connect, so you don’t have to sign up for yet another username and password. (If you don’t use Facebook this isn’t good, and I’ve already passed that feedback on.) You can also help me with my trip pretty easily. It doesn’t require a long review or anything like that.

So let’s take a test spin using my trip to NYC this week. Take a look and see if you can help make some recommendations.

And of course, please leave your comments about the site here. What needs to be fixed? What would make it more usable? Anything you can add will go directly to the guys at Trippy. Can’t beat having a direct feedback line like that.

In the interest of full disclosure, as always, I do get compensation for participating on the board. Still, I wouldn’t do it at all if I didn’t think there was something to it.

Check it out and see what you think.

As I said yesterday, nothing has made this blog more successful than the 23,000+ comments that you guys have left. And there are some of you that contribute a lot more than others to the cause. In fact, there are 22 of you who still actively comment and have had more than 100 comments on the blog. You can probably guess the number one commenter . . . male performance enhancers. But for some reason, those comments always seem to be a little off topic. Anyway, there are others who clearly stand at the top of the pack. And now it’s time for me to say thank you by giving a bunch of stuff away.

I dug into my memorabilia box (much smaller than it used to be now that I’m married) and pulled out some things to give out. I also went to airlines to see who might want to participate and Alaska, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest all agreed to join in the party.

If you read the comments, you probably know who the top two commenters are without a hint. David SFeastbay tops the list with over 1,000 while Nicholas Barnard is right behind at just shy of 900. They have both been active on the blog for years, and I’m happy to be able to offer them something to say thank you.

David SFeastbay, to thank you for having the most comments on the blog, I’m excited to be able to send you a retro Delta L1011 model thanks to Delta Air Lines. (I was very tempted to just keep that for myself.) Nicholas Barnard, I’ll be sending you a complimentary Delta Sky Club day pass, also from Delta. In addition, you’ll both receive:

• One free roundtrip Flight Monitoring and Flight Planning service using Cranky Concierge
• A Cranky t-shirt of your choosing
• One complimentary day pass to an Alaska Airlines Board Room lounge and a complimentary wifi pass on an Alaska Airlines flight (thanks to Alaska Airlines)
• One premium Southwest pen and a Southwest thumb drive (thanks to Southwest Airlines)
• Choice of a JetBlue LEGO airplane, JetBlue frisbee, or JetBlue water bottle (thanks to JetBlue)
• First pick from the Cranky memorabilia pile

It’s not just David SFeastbay and Nicholas Barnard who get to share in the fun. There are 20 more of you who have commented more than 100 times and continue to be active (meaning you’ve commented this year). Here are the names in descending order of number of comments:

Oliver
A
Dan
Ron
frank
james
Bill from DC
Bobber
DesertGhost
axelsarki
JayB
David
Jason H
sanjeev M
Yo
Consumer Mike
Dan Webb
DRG
tharanga
David M

Ok, so David M only has 99 comments but come on, close enough, right? You guys will all get the following:

• Your choice of one complimentary day pass to an Alaska Airlines Board Room lounge or a complimentary wifi pass on an Alaska Airlines flight (thanks to Alaska Airlines)
• Your choice of one premium Southwest pen or a Southwest thumb drive (thanks to Southwest Airlines)
• One pick from the Cranky memorabilia pile

I’ve already sent emails to all of you except for “David” who I believe uses a fake address (though it’s consistently the same fake address, so I know it’s you). So David, send me a note and I’ll respond with the details.

For the rest of you, if anything is left over after these guys are done with it (and yes, I believe they’re all guys, ladies), then I might put some kind of contest up to give away the rest of the stuff. And while you’re at it, come on in and join the comment party. Though it can get heated, it’s almost always respectful and the discussion is usually more interesting than the post that kicked it off. Besides, you never know what top commenters will get at the 10 year anniversary.

Thank you to Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, and Southwest Airlines for being willing to contribute to the Cranky celebration.

Exactly five years ago today, I published the first post of The Cranky Flier. Actually, back then I wasn’t on any sort of schedule so I put five posts live. I guess I had a lot more to say. Want to know how much times have changed since then?

• One post was on Delta’s ill-fated effort to build a regional jet hub to Mexico from LA.
• Another post was about getting a snail mail anniversary card from Southwest for my time in the program. (Snail mail? What’s that?)
• A third post was about the Mini car ad promoting a $39 drive cost from LA to San Francisco. I’m guessing it’s not that cheap anymore, but I haven’t done the math.
• A fourth one discussed the hot market for airlines trying to get China rights. (That’s not a problem today.)

Yep, times have changed, but one thing hasn’t. As I said in my very first post, “I have a lot of seemingly useless knowledge about the airline industry that somehow comes in handy sometimes. I’m always getting emails and phone calls from friends asking for advice on buying tickets, getting to the airport, etc. Now I’ve decided to move these conversations to a public forum so others can benefit.” Since then, it’s been a great ride.

I’ve published 1,641 posts since that day, and there have been more than 23,000 comments (not including spam). There have been more than 4.5 million page views from over a million unique visitors in 226 countries from Christmas Island to Niger, French Guiana, you name it. On top of that, there are nearly 7,000 subscribers. (If you want Cranky in your inbox for free, go here.)

Simply put, it’s pretty awesome, and I have you all to thank. Sure, I can write this stuff, but if nobody is commenting, then it’s no fun at all. Where else could you get more than 300 comments on an airline that doesn’t exist and probably never will?

I’m spending the rest of this week like Oprah. No, I’m not giving out cars or anything like that, but I’m giving other stuff away to thank you for coming to the site and for participating. I’ve contacted a handful of airlines to see if they’d be interested in contributing to the celebration, and a few have agreed to contribute some trinkets to the cause. I’ve also dug into my memorabilia stash and decided to give away a few small things. Stay tuned this week for more info on that.

And as I said up top, if you’re in Southern California, mark this Saturday on your calendar. I think it’s time for a Cranky get together, and what better place to do it than at the In ‘n Out at LAX? I’ll be there from 11a to 1p, and my friend Johnny Jet will be joining me. So if you’d like to come by and do some good old-fashioned spotting, swing by and say hello.

Thanks for five excellent years so far. What are some of your favorites posts? Images? What would you like to see more of in the next five years?

Yes, it’s another Wednesday post. That makes two in a row. So what’s so special today? I’m happy to announce that Cranky Concierge is partnering with Momaboard to help traveling families with what is inevitably a very difficult experience . . . traveling with kids. No, we can’t prevent the TSA from feeling up your child, but we can combine Cranky Concierge’s air travel expertise with Momaboard’s baby-savvy ways to help make life easier for traveling families.

Those who choose the Family Plan will get all of the usual Cranky Concierge services but also a special focus on certain things that matter to families. For example, we’ll look at travel options that work around nap times*. We can offer information on inflight entertainment and accommodations for children, and we can brief you on TSA rules regarding what you can and can’t bring for the kids. (*Diaper changes not included)

Momaboard’s founder Kaamna Bhojwani-Dhawan made her first child a world traveler while he was in diapers, but she found that getting good information was difficult. So, she created Momaboard and has been growing it as a resource for traveling parents ever since. Her city guides have some great information, so when she approached me about a concierge service specifically for families, I thought it was a great idea.

If you’d like to learn more, head on over to crankyconcierge.com/familyplan for more.