L.A. Times Travel & Adventure Show - Meet Johnny Jet

Grab a friend and come out to the Los Angeles Times Travel & Adventure Show this weekend at the Long Beach Convention Center.

All this week we’ll be featuring bios from a few of the speakers and panelists. For a full list of speakers and a program schedule, please visit the 2008 Travel & Adventure Show website.

Johnny Jet will join me, George Hobica of AirfareWatchdog.com and Juliana Shallcross from HotelChatter.com on the panel “Online Travel Tips & Tricks from the Experts” Saturday at noon in Room 104A.

Here’s Johnny’s short bio and nine quick things to know before you meet him on Saturday.

John E. DiScala (pictured) is best known as Johnny Jet. His website JohnnyJet.com has been featured more than 1,000 times in major publications, including the L.A. Times, USA Today, Time, Fortune and the New York Times. JohnnyJet.com has also been named “one of the top best money-saving websites for travel” by Budget Travel Magazine.

Website(s): JohnnyJet.com, AirlineNumbers.com, HotelNumbers.com, CarRentalNumbers.com, CruiselineNumbers.com, AlternateAirports.com

How long you’ve worked there: I founded it in 1999

Best feature of your website: A travel portal that shows you every travel website out there.

Last place you traveled: Last night from the Super Bowl and two days ago from a ’round-the-world trip (London to Abu Dhabi to Thailand).

How you booked it: Southwest.com for PHX. My travel agent for the Etihad legs.

Best travel deal you found (and used) in 2007: $99 one way fare Los Angeles (LAX) to Erie, Pennsylvania (ERI)

What question do you get asked the most about your job: How do I get one like yours? Or, how do you make money?

Travel booking tip you tell only your closest friends: When you find the deal with one of the online travel agencies, go directly to the airline’s site to save on the booking fee.

Any travel plans on the horizon? Of course — I am going to Florida and Berlin in a couple weeks.