Andy Bowers writes that online checkin is a security threat. I always thought it was a great way to meet friends and family at their gate and use airline clubs as a free pub on days I’m not traveling.
Through February 11, USAirways is offering 10,000 Dividend Miles for signing up for a lounge membership with promo code CLB10. That’s a pretty good bonus offer, but while USAirways has some breathing room to operate I’m not sure I’d be investing in anything that last’s a full year with them. They may well be around, but I’d rather fly to Vegas and put the money on black. Better return that way. Besides, it still offends me that USAirways charges extra for accessing partner lounges. If I just wanted access to the club on the carrier that I was flying on the day that I was flying with them, I’d probably buy an Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge membership.
eBay has a new member-get-member promotion. Existing members can refer new members. If a new member buys something for $10 or more or lists something for sale within 30 days, both the referring member and the new member receive 500 eBay Anything Points. Those points, of course, can be used for eBay purchases (500 points = $5 credit) or converted to airline or hotel points at Points.com. I can of course refer anyone who wishes to join eBay, just drop me an email. But most people have joined at one point or another I imagine?
I still don’t know what I’m going to do with a free Mac Mini but this Wired piece suggests it can turned into a livingroom video recorder, a media center for cars, or a toaster. Though that last one may be a little too MacGyver for me.
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…
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.)
Southwest Airlines has an offer for a free movie download from Movielink.com as part of their effort to introduce in-flight entertainment. They won’t install movie screens or inflight audio. Instead, they encourage you to download a movie and watch it.
The eFax 30 Day Free Trial offer is back on the Free Mac Mini site. I did the eFax trial for my photo iPod. It’s a 30 day free trial, which is good because it makes it plenty easy to cancel. Cancellation is done via online chat, so you can even save the chat in case something goes wrong (just copy and paste it into your wordprocessor). So if you’re looking for an easy offer to complete, this is a good one. The past few days had seen only sketchy offers like 7 day trials that required you to stay signed up for the full 7 days, or even a 1-day trial for $1. Too much hassle. Much prefer to have a month…
Randy Petersen believes that United’s Mileage Plus is worth $2.4 to $2.7 billion and that a public offering could lie in the future.
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 »
