Commentary

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Why Couldn’t I Have Been on THAT Flight?

by Gary Leff on February 8, 2005

Feb 08 2005

Lara Flynn Boyle flashed her breasts and tried to climb into bed with a male stranger on board a British Airways flight in first class from Los Angeles to London.Passengers say they saw the star naked and “wild-eyed” as she leaned over a male passenger, tried to get into his bed, pushed up the window blind next to the man and shouted: “We’re landing, get your clothes on” – even though the flight was still more than four hours away from Heathrow. The cabin crew gave the actress a blanket to cover herself. But the show continued as she ripped out a reading light from her seat, thrust it at a steward and demanded: “Get rid of this and get it out of my sight for ever and ever.’ She then walked to the lavatory,…

Pork for Alaska’s Airports

by Gary Leff on January 29, 2005

Jan 29 2005

John Stossel’s ABC News piece last night contained some interesting nuggets, including this about proposed changes to the Ketchikan International Airport in Alaska: Years ago Congress gave money to the little tourist town of Ketchikan, with only 14,000 residents, for an airport on a nearby island. Ketchikan International has six to eight flights a day, and people get there by taking a short ferry ride — which they love. The scenic ride takes 500 air travelers a day to or from the airport in just seven minutes Alaska resident Mike Sallee likes the ferry ride. He said, “I think our existing ferry system is just dandy and it doesn’t cost $200 million.” The $200 million refers to the fact that Young recently persuaded legislators that Ketchikan needs a bridge to the airport. And Young doesn’t…

Bush Administration to Raise Taxes on Travelers

by Gary Leff on January 28, 2005

Jan 28 2005

The Bush Administration is proposing to more than double the airline security tax under its budget for the Homeland Security Department. Bush’s plan calls for boosting the security fee from $2.50 to $5.50 for a one-way airline ticket and from a maximum of $5 to $8 for multiple legs. The hikes are expected to generate $1.5 billion. I know this makes sense to me, since the Department of Homeland Security gets so much value out of the budget they have now. Any money will surely be well spent. Heh.(Hat tip to Tripso Daily.)

Surely this must make sense in some parallel universe

by Gary Leff on January 22, 2005

Jan 22 2005

The Hagerstown, Maryland airport currently serves an average of fewer than 45 passengers a day. So it may be no surprise that the airport is currently slated to lose commercial service on April 30. But they’re spending $60 million to upgrade the runways for bigger planes starting in April anyway. And bizarrely enough, the fact that they’re losing all service is seen as bolstering the decision to invest in support for larger aircraft.

Time to Vote for the Freddie Awards

by Gary Leff on January 15, 2005

Jan 15 2005

Balloting for the Freddie Awards has begun. For 17 years, frequent travelers have been asked to make their picks for the best frequent travel programs via the Freddie Awards. Introduced by InsideFlyer magazine publisher Randy Petersen in 1988, the Freddies allow consumers to rank airline and hotel programs from their point of view. The awards have grown in stature and importance and are the most prestigious consumer-generated awards in the industry. The nice thing is that the Freddies are voted on by hundreds of thousands of real travelers. I get rather sick of having to roll my eyes at the hotels and airlines that claim to be world’s best this and that as determined by an award they’ve funded themselves. When a program wins a Freddie Award they tend to trumpet it pretty loudly. I’ll…

You learn well, young grasshopper

by Gary Leff on January 7, 2005

Jan 07 2005

I’m very proud of Courtney.

Donate Miles in Addition to Money

by Gary Leff on January 1, 2005

Jan 01 2005

Here’s an updated list on how to donate miles for tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia. Not everyone can spare tons of cash, that’s certainly understandable although in times of severe crisis I hope that folks will dig as deep as possible. But those of us with even a small amount of spare frequent flyer miles — possibly not even enough to use for free tickets — can help provide free travel for relief efforts. While minimum donations vary by program, in some cases you can give as few as 1000 or 5000 miles. You may have this laying around in an otherwise-forgotten account. These miles might even expire on their own, going to waste. But you can do some good with them. And since most frequent flyer programs keep accounts active with any activity…

Support Disaster Victims

by Gary Leff on December 28, 2004

Dec 28 2004

Flyertalk is accepting contributions for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in support of the earthquake and tsunami victims. Red Cross contributions are tax deductible, and there are of course only a few days left in the calendar year to seek such deductions. What better cause?

Season’s Greetings

by Gary Leff on December 22, 2004

Dec 22 2004

Happy Holidays from United Airlines. Turn on your speakers. I have an inexplicable affection for Rhapsody in Blue.