Tag: jaunted interviews View All Tags

Jaunted Interviews: Chatting with Matt Gross

June 25, 2008 at 2:05 PM | 3 Comments

We've been following Matt Gross on his Grand Tour across Europe this summer, barely keeping our jealousy contained as he partied in Rome and volunteered at an organic farm in southern France.

But we were eager to ask him if travel through the unaffordable continent is really that great. And how the hell was he getting by on just €100 ($155) a day?

To find out, we called him up on Skype and recorded our video chat. Check it after the jump.

more ›

Jaunted Interview: Chatting with David Cush

May 13, 2008 at 10:30 AM | 4 Comments

A Jaunted Exclusive

Virgin America will ask the FAA for a share of the Chicago market this week, and if all goes well, VA will be flying to O'Hare by November.

After Virgin confirmed the expansion plans, we were excited to talk with CEO David Cush, posing here with Cisco Adler, about the future of the airline, how the FAA allocates landing rights and what it's like to compete with a former employer.

Jaunted: We've been hearing rumors about Chicago for months. Why make the move into that new market now?

DC: You're not an airline until you fly to Chicago. We want to fly four flights a day from LAX and SFO to ORD because this is third largest travel market in the US and we think Chicagoans are going to love our product.

Currently, Chicago/O'Hare has virtually no low-fare competition to the West Coast and none from SFO or LAX. We think we can compete with the big guys and inject a little healthy competition into a market that desperately needs it.

more ›

Jaunted Interview: Chatting with Stephanie Oswald

April 24, 2008 at 10:30 AM | 0 Comments

If you didn't know by now, girlfriend getaways are the hottest thing going in the travel world. The trend has already spawned a magazine and a website and now, clearly, it's time for the TV show.

Host Stephanie Oswald's All-Girl Getaways debuts tonight on the Fine Living Network, so we wanted to ask her: Is it just gonna be spas and pampering? And is this whole trend contrived? Her answers, and the bonus story of the last crazy meal she ate on camera, are after the jump.

more ›

Jaunted Interviews: Phoodie Editor Joey Sweeney

March 21, 2008 at 1:35 PM | 1 Comment

When we made our geeky trip down to Philadelphia last month, we didn't have any trouble finding a couple spots to eat. But that's because we kept our focus on places with private karaoke rooms: It's not like we had tons to pick from.

But Joey Sweeney has way more than just niche spots on his radar. The editor of Philebrity recently started up Phoodie, a blog that obsesses over his city's dining scene. It's one part news site, one part gossip rag and one part media filter.

Post click, Joey fills us in on what's gracing Philly's tables these days.

more ›

Jaunted Interviews: Matt Ballard Fills Us in on Project New Horizons

March 18, 2008 at 10:01 AM | 1 Comment

A Jaunted Exclusive

We're obsessed with the idea of Jet America, the new ultra low cost carrier that could start flying in Charleston, West Virginia. But we don't really know that much about it. So instead of just speculating, we decided to actually ask someone who knows what he's talking about.

We got in touch with Matt Ballard, the President and CEO of the Charleston Area Alliance, a non-profit development group that chipped in some seed money to get Project New Horizons off the ground. Matt was bound by a confidentiality agreement and SEC regulations, but he did manage to illuminate some things for us.

One biggie: You won't see this airline till 2009 at the earliest.

more ›

Jaunted Interview: Talking with Brian Tan

March 7, 2008 at 10:36 AM | 1 Comment

Earlier this week we had a chance to chat with Brian Tan, the founder of a new travel website, Zicasso. We know, right? Another travel site. But after talking with Brian, we were surprised to find out that his service is a little bit different than what's out there.

Unlike an aggregator (think Kayak) or a fluffy info dump (think Fodors), Zicasso is a marketplace that matches travel buyers with travel sellers. Brian calls it a mix of Lending Tree, eBay and online travel planning tools, a description we'd definitely agree with. Basically you put out a bid for the kind of trip you want and tour companies have to come back to you with a good itinerary at a good price--or risk losing a sale to another operator.

Think of it as an interactive version of that list of deals in the back of Budget Travel magazine.

more ›

Jaunted Interviews: Surprise Call from Richard Branson

February 13, 2008 at 11:05 AM | 3 Comments

So last night we were snowed in and watching a movie when Charles Ogilvie of Virgin America called up. Did we have a second to chat with Richard Branson, he asked? Are you kidding?!

First and foremost, the Virgin boss wanted to assure us that the "We Met on Virgin" couple was the real deal and not some guerilla marketing scheme. True, they were on VA's first flight from SFO to San Diego, but that was at the airline's invitation thanks to a serendipitous meeting of the couple and a Virgin employee.

Branson also told us that he's excited for his in-the-works project in Russia. It's not a place with quality, innovative airlines, he said, and he wants to bring that kind of service to the country. He's also scouting South America, and something tells us an announcement on that could happen soon.

Related Stories:
· YouTube Travel: Virgin America Not Making Viral Videos [Jaunted]
· Richard Branson Now Hyping Virgin Russia [Jaunted]
· Richard Branson coverage [Jaunted]

Jaunted Interview: Chatting with Fred Reid

December 6, 2007 at 9:00 AM | 0 Comments

A Jaunted Exclusive

Tuesday night Virgin America threw its holiday party and the airline toasted CEO Fred Reid by naming its very first aircraft in his honor: The A320 in question will now be known as Fred, White and Blue.

The current chief is riding off into the sunset soon, but we couldn't let him escape before asking his thoughts on the Department of Transportations plans to regulate takeoff and landing slots at JFK--something that could have a profound effect on new airlines like Virgin America.

Fred's take on travel hell, the New York market and growing grapes.

more ›

Jaunted Interview: Chatting with Tim and Nina Zagat

November 19, 2007 at 3:30 PM | 0 Comments

Late last week we sat down with Tim and Nina Zagat, former lawyers who were dealing in user-generated content before anyone dreamed of YouTube. Their guides to restaurants, nightlife, hotels and attractions (and more) rely on the first-hand reviews of people around the world--which explains those quotation marks you'll always find in their guides. As Tim says, "We're giving anybody who really cares about something the opportunity to be heard."

more ›

Jaunted Interview: Chatting with Peter Greenberg

October 15, 2007 at 9:35 AM | 2 Comments


Late last week we got a chance to sit down with Today Show travel editor Peter Greenberg to chat about airlines, hotels, Kyla and his new book, The Complete Travel Detective Bible. This is one serious travel tome: It appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list just one week after it went on sale. Peter's mission is to keep travelers from getting abused on the road, something we definitely wanted to know more about since, as he says, "There are about 47 different points of abuse from the time you decide to go somewhere until the time you limp back home."

more ›

World Wikia Interview: Official Wiki Travel Guide

August 8, 2006 at 9:11 AM | 0 Comments



As we mentioned last week, Wikipedia is set to launch a series of travel guides, called World Wikia. We had the chance to talk about the new project with Gil Penchina, the CEO of Wikia, about the project. As travelers, we find it exciting that local knowledge could become available to everyone. But, also as travelers, we want our information to be as reliable as possible, not something Wikipedia is known for, to say the least. We'll see what develops; below are answers to our questions (in bold) about the project.

How much of the travel guide information will be taken from Wikipedia?

Wikia and Wikipedia have the same parents (Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley) and use the same open source software and the same copy-left license for content (GFDL). Wikia did take a small amount of content and pictures from Wikipedia as part of the launch, but is focused more on guides than historical facts; so much of the wikipedia content is really not appropriate for World Wikia.  Under GFDL, all of Wikia's content is also available for free to any other site that wants to take it.

How will they be edited? Won't entries be more subjective than regular Wikipedia?

Correct; there will be a combination of facts ("Singapore Air has the most direct flights to Singapore") and opinions ("this hotel is the worst ever").

Will you be launching the whole world at once? How will you determine what guides come out first?

We don't determine how it works, the community and partners like Hostelsclub.com contribute content and it grows organically.  We expect English and Spanish language destinations to be the fastest growing because those are the two largest languages on Wikia.  In addition, we have over 60 city guides at various stages of development including boston.wikia.com, vancouver.wikia.com, and more. You can see all of them at, http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Places .

Wikipedia posts in other languages--will you be integrating reviews from other languages into the guides?

Absolutely, Wikia is available in over 40 languages already and we expect the same to happen with World.wikia.com

Are you internet guys or travel guys over there?

Personally, I have earned 6 million frequent flier miles as part of visiting almost 40 countries.  Bill, the World.wikia.com founder, has also organized tours around the world and has visited all seven continents.   Both of us have been working in the consumer Internet for almost a decade.

Thanks!

So there you go; World Wikia is an opportunity to get your hatred of any given airline into reference document form. Comments or questions on our World Wikia inteview, let us know in the comments section below or send 'em to tips.

[Image via songlines/Flickr]