“Tim was devoted to his readers. On Monday April 2nd, he posted his last blog post on InsideFlyer.com at 4:16 pm. Hours later, he would pass away. In an ode to Tim from the movie Up In The Air — ‘Tonight, most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs and sqealing kids. Their spouses will ask about their day, and tonight they will sleep. The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places, and one of those lights slightly brighter than the rest will be Tim’s wingtip passing over.’”
In Memoriam: Tim Winship
The paragraph you just read was written by none other than Randy Petersen, who had known Tim Winship for almost 30 years prior to his untimely demise on Monday, April 2, 2018 when he lost his long battle with cancer.
I never met Tim; and yet I have worked with him indirectly for years. In fact, I used to joke to myself that he was following me around the Internet: when The Gate returned to FlyerTalk in May 4, 2011, Internet Brands purchased FrequentFlier.com — which was founded and authored by Tim — not long after that. When The Gate returned to BoardingArea on August 1, 2014, Tim launched a new weblog called The Real Deal With Tim Winship not long after that; and not long after I became a contributing writer for InsideFlyer, Tim regularly wrote articles which appeared there…
…but the truth is that even though I had been a frequent flier for a long time, Tim Winship had been writing articles pertaining to miles, points and travel long before The Gate was launched in 2006. In fact, Tim Winship co-authored a book with Randy Petersen in 2005 called Mileage Pro — The Insider’s Guide to Frequent Flyer Programs.
“He was a lovely guy”, Jeremy Tarr — who is the current digital editorial director with both Fodor’s Travel and FlyerTalk for Internet Brands, which owns both sites — said to me last week. He was the editor of articles which were written by both Tim and I when our weblogs were still at FlyerTalk.
Tim was the editor-at-large for SmarterTravel until the day he died; and this article dedicated to his memory was posted there as well. “Tim’s contributions to SmarterTravel and travel media in general are almost too many to list. Over the course of more than two decades as a writer, editor, and spokesperson, Tim provided critical context to complicated consumer issues in a way that was both accessible and engaging.”
Summary
No, I have never met Tim Winship, and I did not know him personally, as the opportunity never presented itself. We did communicate a few times via e-mail messages; but that was about it. Still, I felt a void when I learned about his death.
I noticed the times when he did not write articles for InsideFlyer for as long as three weeks. I never did learn why he disappeared; but I will bet that those absences had everything to do with his fight against cancer. What a reminder that life is short and that we should enjoy it to its fullest.
Disappointing to me is that few other people in the frequent flier and travel communities mentioned anything in memoriam of Tim Winship. I waited with expressing my thoughts because I wanted the editors at SmarterTravel and Randy Petersen to write and post their articles first. After all, they knew Tim Winship rather well; and they worked with him.
My thoughts and deepest sympathy are extended to the many friends, family, colleagues, and loyal readers of Tim Winship who are grieving his loss. May he rest in peace after having embarked on his final flight…
Source: InsideFlyer.
