Category Archives for Commentary.
Via David Rowell, 280 fully armed soldiers boarded a chartered DC10 to fly from Atlanta to Kuwait. M-16s, pistols, bayonets and knives were everywhere. But, as the soldiers made their way through airport security, they had to surrender nose hair clippers, pocket knives and cigarette lighters.
Yesterday someone came to this website while searching for Singapore girls peeing. Today someone found me looking for united airlines Stewardess strippers calendar. At least in the latter case I help out. The website is down but here’s the Google cache. Here’s the news story: [F]ive women, ranging in age from 55 to 64, posed for a 2006 calendar that depicts them in various states of undress in front of a vintage plane, on a park bench and on a plane’s wing, among other locations. Reflecting a mix of humor and anger, it was released to coincide with a bankruptcy court’s approval this week of United’s plan to terminate $9.8 billion in employee pension obligations. While United is never named nor its airplanes shown, every photograph in “Stewardesses Stripped (Of Their Pension?)” is accompanied by…
It’s terribly ironic that the federal government’s (IMHO, correct) decision to deny United taxypayer backing for billion-dollar loan may have lead to the situation where the federal government is taking on an even larger liability for the airline’s pensions. Of course it’s possible that providing the loan would still leave the government in the position of picking up the pensions also. But United provides an interesting illustration of failed U.S. industrial policy. The airline has been operating under bankruptcy protection for two and a half years and continues to lose nine-figure sums each month. Despite cost-cutting and layoffs the airline has no path towards profitability, and labor relations are at a low point. The airline has been kept afloat by the government, by the courts which have kept aircraft lessors at bay (though a recent…
There’s a vending machine in the Atlanta airport that sells iPods. I hadn’t seen this. Though I don’t like Hartsfield one bit, it’s long had the best vending machines, especially for ice cream.Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the pointer.
The federal government spent billions of dollars on screening devices that didn’t work when it took over airport security. It didn’t make us any safer, but it made us feel safer “After 9/11, we had to show how committed we were by spending hugely greater amounts of money than ever before, as rapidly as possible,” said Representative Christopher Cox, a California Republican who is the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. “That brought us what we might expect, which is some expensive mistakes. This has been the difficult learning curve of the new discipline known as homeland security.” How bad are the screening systems? Customs officials at Newark have nicknamed the devices “dumb sensors,” because they cannot discern the source of the radiation. That means benign items that naturally emit radioactivity – including cat litter,…
I’m unsure how reliable my internet access will be over the next few days, so there may be little if anything new on this site until Monday.
Matt Lauer did a piece on the Today Show this morning (video clip) on the recent spate of travel pricing errors. He mentions the USAirways $1.98 fare, the $55 Fiji trip, and the Lanesborough Hotel pricing error. He manages to hit key questions like whether airlines and hotels have to honor pricing, what role the internet plays in disseminating mistakes, and whether lists and websites promoting the errors are monitored by travel companies in order to correct errors more quickly.The piece actually seems to be driving a bit of traffic to this website today. Mentioned in the interview are Flyertalk, FareAlert, and the New York Airfare Blog. Lots of people looking for similar sites are happening onto this one.
Tyler Cowen doesn’t want to see cell phone use on planes. He has a strong opinion and is looking for academic arguments to support it: Can I claim that cell phone calls are a socially wasteful means of signaling to your spouse that you care? Can I claim that commercial airplanes are modern (short-term) monasteries, and that markets undersupply such temples of silence? Phone use is actually allowed onboard planes now — the phone is in the seatback and the cost is several dollars per minute. The change is making low cost calls available via personal cell phones. Tyler would presumably tax that useage substantially in order to maintain existing cost levels which prevent would-be phone users from invading his silence. I think Tyler is incorrect if he’s imagining people on cell phones yammering on…
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 »
