One of the most wasteful agencies in the federal government makes some cuts and Hilary Clinton complains. I knew I didn’t like her.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for May 2003.
Where I stand and why
I’m often asked about my political beliefs in non-political settings (even at the Freddie Awards!), probably because I work in a very political environment. People often assume that I’m a Republican because I’m a strong advocate of market solutions to social problems. And I’m not. And that confuses people. When I tell them that I’m a libertarian (but not a member of the Libertarian Party for heaven sakes), they assume I’m just a pie-in-the-sky utopian ignoring political realities. I certainly don’t think that I am! I thought I’d pass along Jacob Levy’s articulation of why he’s a libertarian and not a Republican, because I found it to ring quite true: I’m not a Republican because I’m unwilling to draw the line where the Republican Party draws it– trying to exclude David Duke and Pat Buchanan…
Hotels.bomb
The ‘discount’ hotel website, Hotels.com (also known as Hotel Discounts.com) almost never offers the lowest rate. A Consumer Reports study finds that Travelocity scored the best among online sites a plurality (29%) of the time, and that Orbitz and Expedia tended to do better as well. (Link via Joe Brancatelli.)
Senatorial privilege
A man pretended to work for the Senate and convinced travel agents to give him free airline tickets, which he resold. The man has been arrested. I’d love to know what he promised them or threatened them with in exchange for the tickets…
Starwood contest
Enter Starwood’s Modern Luxury Sweepstakes for a chance to win a choice of a shopping weekend in New York, golf weekend in Florida, or a spa weekend in Arizona. When you check out the details, the prizes are actually better than they sound.
Hey, thanks! I’m getting alot of hits today!
Not sure why. But if you like what you see, please bookmark me and spread the word. And if you’d like to receive one nightly email with the day’s posts, you can easily subscribe by entering your email address in the box underneath my picture on the upper right side of the screen. I have never used the e-mail list for any other purpose — and I will not.
A new fundamental right in Denmark: Beer
A Danish court upheld the right to drink beer during unpaid breaks at work.
Watch your bags at all times – even during screening
ABC News reports on TSA security screeners stealing from passengers while their bags are out of sight. Several arrests have been made, and more than 300 complaints have been logged at New York’s JFK airport alone. Faulty background checks are blamed.
A mess of mileage opportunities
Five opportunities I may not have mentioned before: United Visa customers get 250 miles for creating a dining profile with iDine. Sprint customers get 250 miles for signing up for email notification about the miles they earn and can even choose the program from America West, Alaska, United, USAirways, and Midwest Airlines. Get 12,000 Delta miles for funding a brokerage account. This is better than Delta’s Ameritrade and Etrade offers at similar initial deposit levels. (Although if you want to give Etrade $150,000….) I think I’ve mentioned earning miles for conference calls before, but am too tired to search for it on my site. 5000 Delta miles for getting a satellite dish.
Industry of the past?
Videoconferencing is increasingly becoming an alternative to travel. This phenomenon more than any other may hold down airfare prices over time, as full fare travel becomes relatively less attractive. Solo travels may find teleconferencing a better option for deals and accounts with smaller potential payoffs. Teleconferencing also holds down the time devoted to any particular meeting, making scheduling easier and frequent contact among more conference participants a reality. Airlines may need to worry more over time about technology than discounters.
