Category Archives for Commentary.
A 10 year old grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary on it sold for $28,000 on eBay. Alas, this grilled cheese sandwich with an image of Hello Kitty is only currently pulling in $5.50. Hat tip to The Volokh Conspiracy.
Steven Aftergood writes in Slate about the growth in rules dubbed “Sensitive Security Information” as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 — government rules that we have to follow but aren’t allowed to know the details of. “Before the Law stands a doorkeeper” begins Franz Kafka’s famous parable, which tells of a man who seeks “admittance to the Law” but who is denied access by the doorkeeper—something he did not expect. The Law, he thinks, “should surely be accessible at all times and to everyone.” Federal employees can’t be prosecuted for revealing the contents of such information (only fired), but they’ve been threatened with prosecution nonetheless. And the TSA has used federal funding as a carrot and stick to impose secrecy rules on local police departments. “If I hadn’t seen this contract…
This morning’s New York Times carries a piece by Christopher Elliott on airline audits of frequent flyer accounts. Suspicious activity can cause an airline to freeze an account and investigate. The piece suggests that audits are on the rise, but provides no evidence of this other than that audits happen. It speculates that airline financial problems have spurred more audits, but I know of no carrier that sees auditing of accounts as a meaningful new revenue source. Instead, if audits are becoming more common it’s likely due to technology. If you don’t provide your frequent flyer number on an airline reservation at booking, and then after the flight submit the boarding passes to the airline you flew as well as their partners, the various carriers are much more likely to catch that now than they…
The old one was glitchy at best, this new one should work better for those who use blogreader type programs: http://blogs.flyertalk.com/viewwing/index.rdf
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants passengers on planes headed to the U.S. to be on board an hour before flight time. They trot out the usual justification The United States wants to tighten passenger checks to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11 Even though, of course, this measure wouldn’t have prevented September 11 in the first place. As if we didn’t already have to get to the airport early enough, not only would the push back that time even further but connections would have to be much longer. It would no longer be enough to have an hour between connecting flights if you actually have to be onboard the new plane an hour before takeoff.
You can always give them away to charity. Miles aren’t taxed when you obtain them (except if you win a contest or buy them), and they aren’t deductible when you give them away. But you can make some needy folks much better off. Liz Morgan, general manager of customer loyalty at Delta, said that last year customers donated 88 million SkyMiles award miles to 26 charities, including Operation Hero Miles, the United Way and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In one sense, that’s a lot. On the other hand, it’s a tiny fraction of the miles earned each year. Hal Brierely, an airline-marketing consultant in Dallas, said there were awards representing more than a trillion miles sitting unused in the accounts of Americans who bank them like any other asset. Unless the miles are going to expire,…
Via Travel Notes, a Jamaica Resort is offering travel packages which include flu vaccines. ”There is no shortage of flu vaccines in Jamaica and there’s no mad rush of people trying to get one,” said Zein Nakash, marketing vice president at SuperClubs, which owns the Grand Lido Negril resort and spa. … ”We should have enough (vaccines) for anyone who wants one,” she said. Which leads me to ask: how is it that ‘too many’ vaccines made it to Jamaica and not enough to the U.S.? And if the packages are in high demand, as suggested by the article, why aren’t flu shots being exported to the U.S.? Surely the flu shot package cost exceeds the the transportation cost of the vaccine. I can speculate, but I’m not enough of an expert to offer a…
Yo, bust this: Rapper Psalm One has an upcoming album titled “The Death of Frequent Flyer.”I may think on this one for awhile.
New Zealand has decided not to tax Air New Zealand airports dollars. Apparently there was some concern over the issue, now that Air New Zealand is rewarding ‘dollars’ instead of points those dollars might have been taxed. That fear has apparently been put to rest.
Randy Petersen has a new blog. Anyone interested in miles and points should check it out.
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 »
