Yearly Archives

There’s all kinds of misinformation and speculation being reported as fact as to why John Mark Karr flew business class back to the United States. On an early news show this morning I heard it was for security, that somehow there was less chance of Karr escaping custody (from 35,000 feet?) from the business class cabin. Another theory espoused in the news piece I’m linking to here is that by treating him well he might spill the beans a bit more.Regardless, the description of Thai Airways business class is somewhat amusing (in a twisted sort of way, given the underlying subject matter): Before takeoff, Karr took a glass of champagne from a flight attendant and clinked glasses with Spray, who sipped orange juice. Dinner on board, served on a starched white tablecloth with silverware, was…

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Points.com is offering 5000 American, USAirways, or Alaska miles for upgrading to a ‘Gold’ membership for $49.95. The membership isn’t worth much, but buying miles at one cent apiece is generally a good deal. There’s no clear expiration date on the offer, so verify that your mileage choice is available before offering up payment.

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Passed along to me this morning, thanks to Don: American Express is promoting adding an authorzed user to your Starwood Amex account by offering 2500 Starwood points with the first additional card requested. The offer comes via email — the web page for adding an authorized user to your account does not mention the bonus. No offer code is listed. The terms and conditions (which don’t mention this as targeted or restricted in any way to recipients of the email) are as follows: Terms and Conditions (when applicable) 1. The Additional Cardmember must be 18 or older and never have had a defaulted account with American Express. Any account you have with American Express must not be in default. 2. 2,500 bonus Starpoints will be awarded to your Starpoints Account in 8-12 weeks for an…

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Taking off your shoes at the security checkpoint is now mandatory — as though it wasn’t before. Okay, it varied by airport, with some incredulous TSA staffers asking passengers “WHAT are you doing taking off your shoes? You don’t have to do that!” (in the same tone one might ask, “have you soiled your underwear AGAIN?”) But generally shoe removal was ‘recommended’ but optional — though if you chose not to, you received secondary screening that included taking off your shoes. Now you have to take them off in the first instance. And no more soiled comments from screeners. The joke of it is that the x-ray machines you’re putting your shoes through can’t actually detect explosives. So what’s the nonsense reason for taking off shoes? Consistency! Oh, and in case you’re concealing a James…

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The New York Times mentions one of the neat tricks about international travel. If you’re going to buy a business class ticket somewhere, it’s often no more expensive to buy a business class round-the-world ticket and get a lot of extra flying for free. Where you buy the ticket and start the journey makes a ton of difference in the cost, as the Upgrade Travel Blog observes:Start in Sri Lanka. If you’re going around the world twice or more, consider buying the second (and third, etc.) ticket someplace like Colombo, Sri Lanka. I’m not kidding. You can buy a business class RTW ticket there for about the same price as a coach RTW ticket in the US or most of Europe, on the same airlines. The article mentions this, but it’s really worth driving home.…

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