Over the weekend I quibbled with a financial analyst’s claim that airlines make more money selling miles than selling air transportation.
Nonetheless, airlines have discovered a true holy grail. In nearly every business marketing is an expense. To major airlines marketing is a (huge) profit center.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
No Mas Coach reports that there is a business class roundtrip on Virgin Atlantic (Delta codeshares) that seems bookable at Priceline.com from $1151 roundtrip.
I’m headed out the door and haven’t had time to test this extensively, nonetheless I wanted to bring this to folks attention so they could play with it.
I’ve found that power outlets on planes ‘wear out’ and it’s hard to get your power cord to stay in the socket, sometimes I’m jiggling the cord to get the perfect goldilocks spot — not too far in, not too far out, the plug has to be just right in order to pull any juice.
In A Few Good Men Lieutenant Sam Weinberg (played by Kevin Pollak) asks Demi Moore why she likes the marines they’re defending so much. She replies, ‘Cause they stand on a wall, and they say “Nothing’s gonna hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.”
The Indian Member of Parliament who attacked an Air India employee when he was denied business class on a plane without business class has been banned from flying, so he’s been trying to fly using fake names. But getting caught each time.
In the bible, Joseph established the world’s first flat tax — a 20% rate on agricultural production. Leviticus describes the world’s first tax cut – the rate was dropped to 10% after the Hebrew Exodus.
But the first time I recall earning miles for taxes was a MileagePlus credit card offer of 5000 miles for any tax payment a dozen years ago. I didn’t owe any taxes but made a $1 tax deposit with my United Visa for the miles.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Justin Bachman has a Bloomberg piece on the business of airlines selling miles. He’s basically covering the financial analyst Joseph DeNardi’s thesis that airlines are undervalued because their mileage programs have huge margins and represent a stable source of income not nearly as cyclical as air transportation.
You know that news stories on the threat are actual propoganda when they end with the claim that laptop bombs could be considered “a testament to the success” of US airport security.
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 »
