Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Dishonesty at GlobalPass

by Gary Leff on July 24, 2005

Jul 24 2005

InsideFlyer interviews the President of GlobalPass who tries to explain the gutting of their program. The most offensive piece has been taking existing mileage holders and requiring them to earn additional points in order to use miles already in their accounts. The new program offers points for booking travel through their portal, which may even be more expensive than competitors, and then for each new point earned one can use an existing point.The explanation is that the program needs frequency from their members, people got too good a deal in the past, and the old model of awards they promised wasn’t good for the company so they shouldn’t have to live up to those promises.Not at all surprising, but also a good reminder that this has never been a trustworthy program. GlobalPass is not a…

Be careful whom you trust

by Gary Leff on July 22, 2005

Jul 22 2005

USA Today reports on bloggers on the payroll of government tourist bureaus. Blogs tend to criticize other blogs, and many blogs permit comments (my current technical difficulties notwithstanding) so the blog’s culture of critique should limit the harm from this. Blog content should stand on its own, regardless of funding. But be aware of potential shading, influenced by financing of blogs. This isn’t new, surprising, or all that different from traditional travel writers whose perspectives may be colored by the advertisers at their publications or the free trips and upgrades handed out by travel providers. It’s always worthwhile using a skeptical eye towards travel writers. I want to know, though, how to get my hands on some of this money — then you could hermaneut my own writing all you want!

Travel and weirdos

by Gary Leff on July 22, 2005

Jul 22 2005

Tyler Cowen wonders whether airplanes make weird people seem less weird. More broadly, travel brings different types of people together and that kind of mixing tears down frames of reference that allow people to judge others weird. If his hypothesis is correct, he then wonders Does this mean that weird men are more likely to have foreign wives?

Wedding Crashers

by Gary Leff on July 20, 2005

Jul 20 2005

Last night I saw Wedding Crashers. I don’t usually comment on movies here, but the opening scene features Dwight Yoakam and Rebecca DeMornay fighting over Yoakam’s frequent flyer miles in their divorce settlement conference. This was a raunchy, funny movie. Senator John McCain with a very brief appearance in the film has been all over the media, getting asked why he’s in this kind of movie when he spends his time railing against Hollywood for producing just this kind of product? The answer, which he won’t give, is that he’s a cynical politician who exploits anti-Hollywood sentiment but frankly enjoys these movies. Maybe McCain is a Straussian after all. While funny and creative, the opening of the film was absolutely brilliant taking the main characters through a series of different ethnic weddings each one funnier…

Oops… bad timing

by Gary Leff on July 15, 2005

Jul 15 2005

A new Destiny’s Child pre-paid Visa debit card was introduced last week. It’s probably been in the works for awhile, so I’m sure there were plenty of groans when the executives involved learned that Destiny’s Child is breaking up.

Threats to National Security

by Gary Leff on July 15, 2005

Jul 15 2005

Steven Levitt studies terrorism as an academic and realizes this makes him a threat to the state. It’s dangerous to carry pictures of 9/11 terrorists when you fly… It’s also dangerous, by the way, to claim not to have a bomb or to carry a bible through a security checkpoint.

One small step for sanity, one giant leap for my bladder

by Gary Leff on July 13, 2005

Jul 13 2005

The thirty-minute no pee rule at Reagan National has been repealed.

Food poisoning in the air

by Gary Leff on July 7, 2005

Jul 07 2005

Joe Turner got food poisoning on a JAL flight. Not fun, and I can relate — I picked up salmonella last month on Qantas (in first, flying Melbourne to Los Angeles). Doesn’t discourage me from flying, though, I’m just not sure how to ‘be more careful’ and avoid such things in the future. Thoughts?

Air Marshall Mission Creep

by Gary Leff on July 7, 2005

Jul 07 2005

Watch what you say. Don’t make fun of the law, or joke that you might be breaking the law. An air marshall might be listening. Apparently an air marshall overhead some men on a plane talking about having crossed into the U.S. illegally so he had the plane met and the men taken into custody. Some might say: great, law enforcement is present and acting against criminal activity. I’m actually frightened by this, on several levels. The expansion of law enforcement in our midst has been accepted as a way of fighting terrorism (though it’s unclear this particular method is effective in that fight). Now, once in under the cover of fear of terrorism, law enforcement has far greater access to our conversations by simple virtue of being closer to those conversations in daily life…

RSS Feeds

by Gary Leff on July 3, 2005

Jul 03 2005

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