Queen of Sky, the Delta flight attendant who was suspended for posting pictures of herself (taken in uniform) online, has been fired.Now the offending pictures are back on her website. And she reports that she has hired a public relations firm.
The Lighter Side of Politics
George W. Bush and John Kerry are ninth cousins twice-removed, and have geneological links to Vlad Dracul, the 15th-century Transylvanian warlord who inspired “Dracula.” Kerry’s cousin Michael Paine was friends with Lee Harvey Oswald. Paine stored Oswald’s rifle which was used to shoot John F. Kennedy. Links via Wonkette.
View from the Wing Has Gone to the Crapper
Free toilet paper.
Partnership Plus
Gary Steiger of Free Frequent Flyer Miles notes a program called Partnership Plus which offers points for surveys on clothing that convert to American and United miles. The potential is 2,000 free miles a year for short surveys each month.
New Sydney Option
New routes always represent a good chance for award ticket redemption. Since they’re new, the allocated award seats haven’t been taken yet after all. Air Canada will be flying non-stop from Vancouver to Sydney beginning December 16. If you have United or USAirways miles, this represents a new way to get to Australia.
More on Queen of Sky
The BBC is covering the Queen of Sky story about the Delta flight attendant who has been suspending for posting a picture of herself in uniform on her blog.
ATA Files for Bankruptcy
American Trans Air has filed for bankruptcy. It says it will continue current operations while in Chapter 11. It hasn’t received debtor-in-possession financing and will instead seek to use cash held as collatoral for the federally back loan that it received. This move generates risk for taxpayers but is similar to what was recently approved in the USAirways bankruptcy filing. American Trans Air has agreed to sell gates at Midway and landing slots at Reagan National to Airtran. That deal will have to be approved by the bankruptcy court, and creditors may well argue that some other as yet undisclosed offer is superior — so the Airtran deal is hardly done.
GroceryMiles Bonus
Register and shop 10 times at Safeway and Vons between October 29, 2004 and November 30, 2004 and earn 2500 United miles.Only one trip to the market per day counts, and each qualify trip requires spending of at least $25. The bonus can be earned twice.Update: Edited to correct the start date of the promotion.
American Express provides $600 million to Delta
American Express is providing a $100 million loan and prepaying $500 million for Skymiles. The loan is presumably part of Delta’s process lining up debtor-in-possession financing for a bankruptcy filing. Today’s 8-K filing details the transaction in substantial detail. American Express, of course, issues the co-branded Delta Amex cards, Delta is a key partner in the Membership Rewards program, and Delta benefits are key to the Platinum and Centurion products. In other words, Delta needs to keep flying for American Express’ profitability. When United filed for Chapter 11, BankOne which issues the United Visa, provided $600 million in debtor-in-possession financing. Frequent flyer miles are truly big business. We’ve reached a situation where airlines need to exist for banks’ profitability if for no other reason.
Phillipine Airlines Offers Lifetime Elite Status… who knew?
Million miler programs are a bit mysterious. Some airlines reward their frequent flyers with lifetime status after accumulating one million miles. United offers Premier Executive (mid-tier) elite status after one million flown miles. Delta offers Silver elite after one million flown miles, Gold elite after two million flown miles, and Platinum Elite after four million flown miles. American offers lifetime Gold status after one million miles accumulated in a frequent flyer account from any source, and lifetime Platinum (mid-tier) elite status after two million miles accumulated in a frequent flyer account from any source. (Though I understand they are reconsidering this and may switch over to flown miles only – but that’s just a rumor.) In addition to lifetime status, there’s usually a few upgrade certificates to mark the milestone. The reason the programs are…
