Air Tahiti Nui is running a special from Los Angeles to Tahiti: $340 roundtrip but only on the following flights:Aug 26 – TN301 Depart Los Angeles: 3:45pm Arrive: Papeete, Tahiti: 9:05pm Sep 1 – TN2 Depart Papeete, Tahiti: 10:00pm Arrive Los Angeles: Sep 2 at 9:10am.
Chicken Little
Here in DC, in the middle of a heightened terror alert based on years-old information, it’s easy to get cynical about the country’s “homeland security” efforts. This cartoon hit home: (Hat tip to Bob Poole.)
NTSB Wants New Rule: Babies Must Have Own Seat
The National Transportation Safety Board wants children to have their own seats and be belted in on airplanes.The FAA has historically rejected this because higher priced airline travel (buying a baby their own seat) discourages relatively safe air travel in favor of less safe highway travel. In other words, on net a reduction in safety (more baby deaths). The NTSB disputes this analysis, arguing that families don’t get into accidents on the road at the same rate as teenagers and drunks. (Although my understanding of ‘alcohol-related fatalities’ in NTSB statistics is a blood alcohol content of 0.01… even a pilot could fly the plane at that level provided they also meet the length of time since last drink requirements, if I recall correctly.) And even if true, the 1000 or so highway death a year…
Complimentary Starwood Gold Status
Sign up for a new Starwood account using this link and enter your Northwest frequent flyer number and email address. Your account will start off with Gold status.One caveat: the promotion specifies that the new account be designated for ‘airline direct deposit’ so any Starwood points accrued from hotel stays would be immediately sent over to your Northwest Airlines frequent flyer account rather than your Starwood account — but if you don’t want this option, it should be simple enough to call Starwood and ask them to end airline direct deposit. The offer also specifies that it is for Northwest Airlines elite members but in practice it should not matter.Update: This offer appears to be targeted and may not work for everyone.
Can I Get Miles for the Whiskey that I’ll Pour in My Lemonade, Too?
Minute Maid Lemonade and Fruit Punch now earns American Airlines miles… but only in Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.
Borders Coupon
20% off, Friday, August 6th through Monday, August 9th.
W Hotels vs. George W. Bush: Who’s the Real W?
Starwood Hotels and Resorts has fired off legal letters to political merchandisers, demanding that they remove the “W” from Bush memorabilia that they’re selling such as W hats, W t-shirts, and other such apparel. They claim such memorabilia erods the brand value of its W hotels. Eugene Volokh has been on a roll outlining the legal issues surrounding trademark and copyright (such as here on the use of corporate logos in film and here on copyright and forwarding messages from email lists). I’ll be interested to see if he’ll comment on this issue. I imagine they’d have a case if merchandisers simply appropriated the same “W” graphic used by W hotels and argued that it ‘really’ applied to Bush. But as long as the W is different (how different?) Bush partisans must be able to…
5,000 Mile Discount for British Airways Online Award Booking
British Airways is reducing the mileage cost of awards from any North American gateway when booking online through October 31, 2004 for travel between October 1, 2004, and May 15, 2005.
$129 at the W Seattle
There’s a great $129 rate available for the W Seattle valid Thursday through Sunday through the end of November. Thursday stays at this rate require Friday stays as well, and Sunday stays at this rate require staying the previous night also. Reservations must be made by August 11th, but are fully cancellable.Since it’s a regular rate available at the Starwood website, full elite benefits and points-earning apply.
Which Airlines Are Easiest To For Frequent Flyer Award Redemption?
The August issue of Inside Flyer (subscription required) ran a cover story on award redemption, testing a variety of awards over several different timeframes to figure out which programs offered the best award redemption. USA Today offered a snapshot of the investigation’s results. The test involved booking travel on several popular routes one week, one month, three months and 11 months in advance. The result: Testers got free seats on the routes and days requested 73% of the time. For award seats in business class, which require more miles, the success rate was 54%. …Overall, Delta’s SkyMiles frequent-flier program was the top performer, rendering free seats on the desired route and day 85% of the time. American’s AAdvantage program placed second at 80%, followed by United’s Mileage Plus at 79%, US Airways’ Dividend Miles at…
