Star Alliance Set to Expand

The Star Alliance is set to expand, adding South African Airways, TAP Air Portugal, and Finland’s Blue1. Blue1 might seem like a strange choice given its limited route network, but its parent company is SAS which is already a member of Star.

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Free Knife

Amazon has a free knife available. Shipping on one is nearly $8, but shipping on 30 comes to only about $15. Order 300 of them for about $85 in shipping and re-sell them on eBay…

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AA Mastercard Offers

The American Airlines Mastercard Business Card is available free the first year with 15,000 bonus miles for signup. The personal card is available free for six months with 12,500 bonus miles for signup.(Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

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Free stuff

Free Maker’s Mark golf balls, free coffee sample, and free condom sample, free oyster sauce, and free floaty pen. And then there’s free after rebate: TS1100 Spillproof 104-Key PS/2 Keyboard for $6 – $6 rebate, penny shipping and Air Duster (10 ounce can for $5 – $5 rebate, penny shipping.

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Sabre Reinvents its Architecture

A computer reservation system offers 79 million fares and 6 million schedules. It processes 1.2 million fare changes each day. Sabre alone processes 48 million transactions a day, including all shopping, pricing, and and availability queries. ComputerWorld offers a glimpse into the challenges that Sabre faces in handling all of this computing at a reasonable cost. In order to rein in escalating processing costs and offer customers more options, Sabre is completely overhauling the software used by airlines, travel agents and passengers to find and book flights. In stages, Sabre is replacing its old mainframe assembler code with modern languages running on cheap commodity computers and open systems, including Linux. … Three forces hugely increased the processing demands on Sabre systems over the years. After airfares were deregulated in 1979, travel agents began shopping based…

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Weekday Vegas Deal at the Bellagio

The Bellagio is offering Sunday-Thursday rates from May 31-September 9: Deluxe Room $139/nt (including lakeview upgrade at no charge) Bellagio Suite $299/nt Penthouse Suite $499/nt (Includes limo service, VIP check-in and fresh flowers in room)

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