Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for November 2004.

Another silly proposed security rule

by Gary Leff

united
Nov 16 2004

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants passengers on planes headed to the U.S. to be on board an hour before flight time. They trot out the usual justification The United States wants to tighten passenger checks to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11 Even though, of course, this measure wouldn’t have prevented September 11 in the first place. As if we didn’t already have to get to the airport early enough, not only would the push back that time even further but connections would have to be much longer. It would no longer be enough to have an hour between connecting flights if you actually have to be onboard the new plane an hour before takeoff.

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What happens if you read this website and you have too many miles to use?

by Gary Leff

airplane
Nov 16 2004

You can always give them away to charity. Miles aren’t taxed when you obtain them (except if you win a contest or buy them), and they aren’t deductible when you give them away. But you can make some needy folks much better off. Liz Morgan, general manager of customer loyalty at Delta, said that last year customers donated 88 million SkyMiles award miles to 26 charities, including Operation Hero Miles, the United Way and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In one sense, that’s a lot. On the other hand, it’s a tiny fraction of the miles earned each year. Hal Brierely, an airline-marketing consultant in Dallas, said there were awards representing more than a trillion miles sitting unused in the accounts of Americans who bank them like any other asset. Unless the miles are going to expire,…

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Vacationing and Flu Shot Arbitrage

by Gary Leff

flu shot
Nov 15 2004

Via Travel Notes, a Jamaica Resort is offering travel packages which include flu vaccines. ”There is no shortage of flu vaccines in Jamaica and there’s no mad rush of people trying to get one,” said Zein Nakash, marketing vice president at SuperClubs, which owns the Grand Lido Negril resort and spa. … ”We should have enough (vaccines) for anyone who wants one,” she said. Which leads me to ask: how is it that ‘too many’ vaccines made it to Jamaica and not enough to the U.S.? And if the packages are in high demand, as suggested by the article, why aren’t flu shots being exported to the U.S.? Surely the flu shot package cost exceeds the the transportation cost of the vaccine. I can speculate, but I’m not enough of an expert to offer a…

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America West Improves Credit Card Signup Bonus

by Gary Leff

america west plane
Nov 15 2004

The offer for an America West Visa Platinum has improved — 10,000 bonus miles after your first purchase if you apply online.That just more or less brings the signup bonus to industry norms, and so I’d only get this card (which comes with an annual fee) if I really wanted America West miles in particular, though other cards like the Starwood American Express will still earn the points more efficiently for regular spending.

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Seattle to Rome: $107 + tax roundtrip

by Gary Leff

USAirways has a fare of $107 (a bit over $200 with tax) from Seattle to Rome with a connection in Philadelphia. Naples and Florence price the same way (with a likely connection in Munich). Lots of availability as it’s a coach ticket booked in H inventory, one of the higher coach classes. You cannot depart after March 31st, there’s a six day minimum stay, you must travel on the weekend, and you cannot travel during the Christmas holidays I’m able to get this to come up on Expedia, Orbitz, AA.com, and United.com. Sometimes I can get it on USAirways.com, but their website is glitchy. Use a multi-city search and enter Seattle-Philadelphia, Philadelphia-Rome, Rome-Philadelpha, Philadelphia-Seattle. Since this has been available since yesterday, I wouldn’t expect it to be up for much longer.

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Infone offer up on Free Handbag site

by Gary Leff

free handbag
Nov 14 2004

The Infone offer is currently available with the free handbag offer. The free handbag requires you to create an account, complete a marketing offer, and get five referrals to complete a marketing offer. The great thing about Infone is that they don’t ever charge you anything unless you use the service more than five times. So a quick signup is all you need, no need even to cancel later and no cost. Plus the offer credits instantly. So sign up now while Infone is up. If you’ve already used Infone to complete another giveaway offer, no worries. It seems that as long as you use a different email address and perhaps name and phone number on the Infone site, you can site up again and still get credit. When you click on the Infone offer,…

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Cheap Kitchen Supplies

by Gary Leff

Can’t vouch for the quality, but JCPenney has a 75 piece kitchen set for $39.99, marked down from $139.99.Free shipping this month with promo code NOV4WEL. Cookware is 1.2mm aluminum with non-stick interior. Bakeware is durable carbon steel, also with non-stick interior. Knife, gadget and cutlery sets are stainless steel. Dishwasher safe. Includes: 1- and 2-quart covered saucepans, 5-quart covered Dutch oven, 9-1/2″ frypan, 12″ pizza pan, roaster pan, cookie sheet, grater, peeler, pizza cutter, bottle opener, can opener, stainless steel knives (bread, chef, boning, utility, paring and 6 steak), sharpener, wood block, 6 nylon kitchen tools (slotted spoon, spoon, turner, skimmer, pasta server and soup ladle), 10-pc. measuring cup/spoon set, 12-pc. cutlery set (4 pieces each fork, knife, spoon), 6-pc. round storage set, 2 bag clips, plastic cutting board, 6-pc. cookie cutter set, salt…

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Competition Enters the Market for Free Giveaways

by Gary Leff

free electronics
Nov 13 2004

Gratis Networks, which offers free stuff like the photoiPod, has competition from a new site which lets you choose from several rewards like a portable DVD player or cash. The website looks alot like a Gratis Networks free site, but their FAQ tries to differentiate them — they don’t make you fill out surveys that have nothing to do with the free offers, and they promise to ship rewards quickly.

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QuikBook Kicks Back an Amazon Gift Certificate

by Gary Leff

QuikBook, the hotel consolidator, is offering a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate when you book and stay by March 31 with promotion code AMMI (one per customer, gift certificate delivered by email within 30 days). QuikBook is a pretty useful tool, though with limited application. It sells only hotel rooms, and then only in some major cities. But its rates are often better than the other travel websites (other than Priceline, for instance, when PL has inventory). In many cases it is buying and reselling rooms, so even when hotels are more or less sold out QuikBook may still have inventory. When there were no rooms to be had in New York City at any price (other than the Howard Johnsons at Penn Station for $220 and similar), I managed to get the Holiday Inn Midtown…

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