The IRS is apparently seeking to tax Latin American airlines for wages paid to flight attendants and pilots during the time they spend working over US airspace. (Link via Today in the Sky.) Critics of the move point out that other countries might respond by doing the same to U.S. airlines. Anyone with thoughts on why the IRS is focused on Latin American carriers — and not European or Asian carriers — feel free to offer them in them in the comments.
One of the more amusingly named mileage offers (via Free Frequent Flyer Miles) has to be The Danny Schurman Homeselling System:This written guarantee will give you the assurance that if your home doesn’t sell within 120 days, we will give you up to 2500 Airmiles. Gary Steiger says these are Alaska miles and wonders what the phrase up to is doing there. This may be of limited interest to those readers in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
I just an an really interesting piece to be published in the Georgetown Law Journal (shocking itself, it’s also a good read) that argues there’s a 50 square mile area in the U.S. where felonies can’t be prosecuted: the portion of Yellowstone National Park which is in the state of Idaho. The Constitution’s 6th Amendment requires that juries be picked from the same district and state in which a crime is committed. Federal law sets the district governing all of Yellowstone as Wyoming — logical, as the park is 91% in the state of Wyoming. The districts of Montana and Idaho exclude the park.So juries must be chosen from the District of Wyoming to prosecute crimes committed in the park. However, if the crime is committed in that part of the park that is in…
Northwest has new offers up for their co-branded credit cards issued by US Bank. I’ve previously mentioned that US Bank is one of the biggest sticklers for one signup bonus per customer. However, a recent exchange with Gary Steiger (of Free Frequent Flyer Miles, where I came across this offer) made me realize that their limit is per card type. I first signed up for the Platinum Visa a few years ago when the offer was for 25,000 bonus miles over 2 years, requiring $500 in spending with Northwest for part of those miles. That signup qualified me for the 2002 Fly Free Faster promotion that netted another 10,000 miles. In 2003 I signed up for the Northwest Business Visa for 10,000 miles to qualify for that summer’s Fly Free Faster promotion. That was a…
ING Direct is offering 2.8% on their FDIC-insured online savings account.That’s a pretty good rate for a savings account (my local bank is offering a similar rate on 12-month CDs). What’s more, ING Direct offers new customers $25 just for opening the account when referred by an existing customer (the referrer gets $10). There are no account minimums and no fees. You can open the account with $1 and get credited an additional $25. They’ll make you wait some time, I think a month, before you can withdraw their $25. Other than that, no restrictions. There was once a $50 referral offer, I haven’t seen that in a couple of years though. I signed up at $25, pulled my money out, but then a couple years later realized I still had the account (with 17…
Flyertalk’s ScottC has reactivated his free travel deal alert email service. He says that all of the subscribers to the old email have been imported into the new system. This isn’t a ‘TravelZoo Top 20’ or airline weekly e-fare list — it’s a low-volume alert list to let you know about breaking deals and fare glitches, such as the famous $61 roundtrip to Iceland, $20 British Airways fare to anywhere in Europe in World Traveler Plus, and $55 business class deal to Puerta Vallarta. Definitely worth signing up.
Independence Air’s 20% discount which had been set to expire March 31 is now valid through July 31. You have to answer a short questionnaire about your company and you’ll be emailed a unique link that generates fares 20% off what would otherwise be the lowest price for an itinerary. There’s also a 20% off link from Business Week that’s valid through June 30, no questionnaire required.
Randy Petersen points out that airlines are booking balance sheet adjustments to increase their expected liability for their frequent flyer programs. When an award is redeemed, frequent flyer programs recognize revenue from mileage they’ve sold and they have to pay for the awards that are claimed. A domestic saver award might entail a frequent flyer program ‘buying’ a seat from the airline for $25. A partner award is more expense, and an ‘anytime’ award (that generally requires about twice the number of miles to redeems) is more expensive still. Frequent flyer programs are apparently seeing greater redemption of anytime and partner awards than past experience would predict, so they have to acknowledge an increased future liability. Randy believes this phenomenon is good for members of frequent flyer programs, because it illustrates the value of partner…
Bob Poole wants to mend the TSA, Jim Harper wants to end it in a debate on transportation security. Some important points from Poole, the defender of government’s role in aviation security in this debate:Against a comprehensive terrorist threat whose true dimensions are necessarily unknown, a free and open society has endless points of vulnerability. Attempting to “harden” all likely targets is a losing strategy—and a recipe for bankruptcy. …The single most effective thing that’s been done in this regard is to retrofit much stronger cockpit doors, to deny terrorists access to pilots and controls should they manage to get on board. But the rest of aviation security policy is an inconsistent mix of overkill and underprotection. Mandating 100 percent inspection of checked bags for explosives, but not of carry-on bags, makes no sense. Neither…
Via Tripso.com, Mariah Carey is a pretty demanding hotel guest. When the singer’s aides arrived at a London hotel at 2am yesterday to check preparations for her imminent arrival, they were dismayed to find the red carpet had not been rolled out. They explained that, whatever time of day or night she arrives, Miss Carey is always welcomed by a thick-pile red carpet illuminated by large white candles. Her limo circled the block while the hotel prepared for her arrival.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
