Which New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Are You?
About Gary Leff
A New Hyatt in Afghanistan
Via Instapundit, a new Hyatt Regency will be built in Kabul, Afghanistan. Currently reasonable accomodations are more or less limited to the Hotel Inter-Continental. While it doesn’t look bad, on-line booking is limited to an email query form on the Ariana Afghan Airlines website. Interestingly the Hotel Inter-Continental is not in any way related to InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. Similarly in Iraq, there’s a Sheraton in Baghdad and Basra. Sort of. (The Basra Sheraton was bombed last year. Here’s a photo of the looting. The Baghdad Sheraton was attacked last month.) The hotels aren’t part of the Sheraton hotel chain which is owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and you won’t be collecting Starwood Preferred Guest points there. It turns out that the properties were ITT Sheratons prior to the Gulf War. They continued to…
The European Commission Does Something Right! (Maybe)
The European Commission is funding a test of a system designed to allow mobile phone use inside a passenger aircraft.
I won’t be flying to Tampa anytime soon
This story offers a local Tampa, Florida perspective on airlines scaling back domestic first class. United will serve Tampa only with its all-coach Ted, and much of Delta’s service will be by all-coach Song. USAirways’ 757s offer only 8 first class seats, down from 24. (Separately Continental has been downsizing domestic first class cabins as well.)
Making the best of a bad situation
I guess if I ever had to fly coach I’d want one of these.
Amtrak Bonus
Two roundtrips on Amtrak’s Acela Express or Metroliner by June 15 will earn a free round of golf and free spa treatment. All city pairs are included, so if anyone knows a routing that will allow two roundtrips for less than $108 please let me know. Update: A reader suggested BWI airport (BWI) to Baltimore (BAL). Same-day roundtrips on Acela Express and Metroliner run ~ $35 each ($30 on Saturday with promo code V745). Two of those are enough to qualify for the promotion plus the usual Guest Rewards points on top. Just make sure the coupons will be useful to you before booking!
Cheese promotion
A reader sends along this bizarre promotion. Can you get from London city-centre to Paris or Amsterdam’s city-centre for under
Feeling safer all the time
Reuters reports that an air marshall left a gun in a restroom at Cleveland Hopkins airport. A passenger found the gun and turned it in to authorities. The marshall has their gun back and remains on the job.
You have to try this….
Pop bubblewrap online.
Priceline Rewards Linkup
Priceline has a new tie-in with Ebay to offer Anything Points for hotel, airline, and rental car bookings. I don’t see any details on the Anything Points website yet, but the article says Points are deposited into members’ PayPal accounts and can be applied as currency to purchase items on eBay or pay for eBay seller fees. Point totals vary according to products purchased. “It may be a little offbeat, but it certainly is an alternative to frequent flyer miles,” said Priceline Spokesman Brian Ek. “If you are someone who can’t see seem to collect enough frequent flyer miles, this is another option to receive rewards.” eBay users can earn up to 1500 points for booking plane tickets and hotel rooms offered through Priceline and up to 500 points for renting a car. Customers can…
