I told you I’d put together a couple of special Wednesday posts to look back on the past 10 years, but this one ended being bumped to Thursday. This week I’ve fought off a flu and what may or may not be strep throat only to get on an airplane up to Seattle to see the new Southwest interior. So you guessed it, I didn’t have much time or energy to put together a different post for Thursday. Instead, please enjoy this look back. I thought we’d look at the ten most viewed posts of all time.*
I do have to put that asterisk there, for three reasons. First, it used to be that you could read the post directly on the homepage, so visits to the post page were under-counted. Second, email subscribers aren’t counted and that number has only grown. Third, tracking wasn’t very good in the early days of my site. This, however, is as close as I can get, and it seems like it’s probably pretty accurate. So let’s take a look.
- I Now Have Global Entry and You Should Get It Too* (September 10, 2013): One thing you’ll find in this list is that often the most popular posts caught on with Google and became popular via regular searches. This is one of those. When I first discovered Global Entry, I was thrilled and wrote it up.
- Blaming United’s Problems on Continental (or Vice Versa) is Exactly the Problem (July 10, 2014): This post was one that caught fire inside the industry. I received a ton of email after this went live from within United and other airlines just hoping that what I had written would eventually change. It’s taken a long time, but it does look like things are finally improving.
- The 747 is Quickly Disappearing From Passenger Service (May 19, 2014): Ah the 747. So many different website have written about this topic, because the 747 is an airplane that inspires awe from even those who aren’t airline dorks. Sadly the next time I write about this, it’ll probably be to mourn the last flight of the 747 in the US.
- What Happens After You Check Your Bag (March 31, 2011): I’m thinking the generic title of this post has helped satisfy the curiosity of many a traveler over the last 3 years. People who haven’t been on the other side always wonder what happens to bags when they go down that conveyor.
- How Does Overbooking Work? (Ask Cranky) (January 21, 2014): Here’s another one to satisfy the curiosity of the masses. Though this one is probably a mystery to many people within the industry as well. After all, we’ve all either been bumped or seen someone get bumped, and we want to know why.
- Mixed Review of the New British Airways Premium Economy (Trip Report) (August 7, 2012): I knew a trip report would be here, but I was surprised this was the one at the top. I suppose I did write this in the early days of this version of BA’s new premium economy and plenty of people wanted to know how it was.
- The Emirates 777 and A380 Head to Head (Trip Report) (Guest Post) (January 18, 2012): This trip report wasn’t even mine! It was a guest post from Nate who compared Emirates on the 777 and the A380. It was an eye-opener for those who assumed that Emirates always had a superior product.
- The Good and Bad of MegaBus (Trip Report) (May 14, 2010): Anyone else find it hilarious that one of the top posts had nothing to do with an airplane at all? I took MegaBus once and wrote it up. Apparently plenty of others were curious about the experience. Go figure.
- The Good and Bad of Southwest’s EarlyBird Check-In (September 4, 2009): Number two is a bit of a sneak peek at number one. So let’s just move on and talk about it there.
- How Southwest Determines Your Boarding Card Number, and How You Can Now Jump the Line for $40 (January 24, 2013): The number one post of all time? Oh yes, it’s all about Southwest’s boarding process. If anyone at Southwest ever wondered if the newfangled boarding priority that was introduced a few years ago was confusing, here’s proof. Oh, and if you ever wondered if people like the process? Just read the comments. But we’ll talk about that next week.
Next week, we’ll take a look at the posts with the most comments.
