This month, I’m turning my blog space over to the reader who submitted the following letter to our magazine.—Jeff Burger, editor of AIN sister publication Business Jet Traveler
An Open Letter to the Editors of Business Jet Traveler:
My wife and the elves all say I focus too much on pleasing other people and not enough on my own needs. Fair point. So here’s a confession: I’ve been hearing for some time now about how your subscribers zip from city to city on fancy business jets while checking email on Wi-Fi and watching Blu-ray movies. And I’m jealous. Frankly, a man can take only so much of that kind of talk while he’s flying around on a dilapidated sled with reindeer that should have been put out to pasture during the Nixon administration.
Hence this letter. I’ve spent far too long at the North Pole to have met anyone important, but judging by your recent cover stories, you know at least a few celebrities who have money to burn. Might you be able to ask them whether they’d be willing to help me upgrade my lift to something that’s a little more 21st century?
What I’d really like to do is ditch the sled and reindeer in favor of my own long-range bizliner with an extremely large baggage compartment. But if that’s asking too much, I’ll settle for a fractional jet share or jet card. After all, I really need to fly only one night per year, though a post-Christmas Caribbean jaunt sure wouldn’t hurt.
Keep in mind that I am a registered charity and I spend fully 91 percent of my funds on gifts for boys and girls–only 9 percent goes for administrative costs, polar excise tax on my annual flight and the occasional trinket for Mrs. Claus.
One last thing: I’d appreciate it if you could get me into the NBAA’s Block Aircraft Registration Request (Barr) program. Why go to the trouble of flying halfway around the world and stuffing myself down a chimney to surprise some kid only to discover that he’s been tracking every minute of my flight on his iPhone?
Ho, ho, ho, indeed! And is there anything you can do about user fees and the price of Jet-A?
Merry Christmas,
S. Claus
Jeff Burger joined Business Jet Traveler in March 2004, a few months after the publication’s launch. Besides editing the magazine, he has written many articles for it and conducted its interviews with such luminaries as Sir Richard Branson, James Carville, Suze Orman, Donald Trump, F. Lee Bailey, and Steve Van Zandt. Burger helped to oversee the introduction of BJT’s annual Readers' Choice surveys and Buyers’ Guide.
During his years with the magazine, it has won well over a hundred editorial awards. In 2011, Burger received the Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence from the National Business Aviation Association and the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association. He has also won writing and editing awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. BJT, meanwhile, was named Best International Publication in 2017 in the Aerospace Media Awards. It was also a Magazine of the Year finalist in 2011, 2013, and 2016 and an Overall Excellence winner in 2018 in competitions sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Before coming to BJT, Burger spent 14 years at Medical Economics, the nation’s leading business magazine for doctors, where he served on the editorial board; directed staff recruiting; oversaw a $2 million annual budget; and was financial editor, news editor, and director of special projects. He has been editor of several publications, including Phoenix Magazine in Arizona, and has been a consulting editor at Time Inc. His articles have appeared in more than 75 magazines and newspapers, among them The Los Angeles Times, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Gentlemen’s Quarterly , and Family Circle. Chicago Review Press published his books, Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounter, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, and Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters. His music writing appears on multiple websites, including his own byjeffburger.com.
Burger, a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, lives in Ridgewood, N.J. He and his wife, Madeleine, have two grown children. His off-hours passions include cooking, travel, technology, movies, and music.
