While Joe Brancatelli is on a much-deserved break from his weekly business-travel column, we thought we'd take a look back at the last 16 months of work for Portfolio.com. Here's where he's been most memorable, most useful, and most accurate at predicting the future.


Most Popular
Urban Travel Legends
Joe debunks long-held beliefs about secret codes, upgrades, key cards, and hotel-room cleanliness.

A Watery Grave for Hotel Tubs
Travelers have strong feelings about…bathtubs. An October column about how hotels are sending tubs down the drain drew a heated response.

Worst. Airline. Ever.
Few airlines are performing well these days. But since this column, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that less than 60 percent of United's June flights were on time. That makes it the country's second-poorest performer for the month.

Most Practical
How to Complain
When things go wrong (as they so often do), you need to bring business sense to the process of getting compensated.

Eating Well on the Fly
As airline food gets worse, airport selections are getting better. Great eats in 18 American cities. 

Surviving Siberia
Into every executive's life, some coach-class travel must fall. That's especially true when flights are packed and the economy is lagging. How to cope with the back of the bus.


Most Prescient
Frequent-Flier Fallacies
Last year, Joe advised readers to view their frequent-flier miles more realistically—and to stop banking them like money. This year, airlines are upping the miles needed to redeem tickets, and adding on extra fees.

Southwest's Seven Secrets for Success
One week after a column detailing why Southwest has done so well for so long, the airline posted a 15 percent jump in second-quarter profit.

Ship, Don't Schlep
A few months after Seat 2B explained the ins and outs of shipping luggage instead of checking it came a wave of new airline fees for bags.