If I had ever thought about it, I guess I would have assumed there was a way to earn miles for overnight shipping. I just never really thought about it. Of course, I get a volume discount from Federal Express. And Amex “OPEN” cards offer a cash kickback on FedEx as well. But miles?Turns out that you can Priority Club Rewards points for Airborne Express shipments. 5000 points with the first shipment, and 4 points per dollar spent.
Respect for the law
A Brooklyn, New York police officer is being investigated after writing (under a pseudonym) on the internet that he beat suspects, falsified parking tickets, and regularly ignored calls to his precinct for help.“So I have come up with a better way of writing tickets. I just write down the plates of the cars that cut me off the the (sic) parkways and I send them a bogus parking ticket in the mail. The person will then have to deal with the Parking Violations Bureau and not me. Problem quickly resolved. So, in other words, be careful who you cut off on the road. They might be an off duty cop and they could write your plates down and write you a $150 parking ticket. Have a nice day.” … “Sitting behind a desk and looking…
A new business school case study in real life
A group of business schools will take over failing French carrier Air Littoral. I suppose it’s a great way to test B-school theories, and will be interesting to watch!
Libya here we come!
President Bush has announced that Libya has agreed to reject weapons of mass destruction. This will presumably pave the way for lifting the travel ban on US citizens heading to Libya. And for mileage junkies, it will mean easier access to rock-bottom airfares ex-Tripoli and Bengali!
Justice Department investigating United and Mesa
The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into United and Mesa for colluding to squash low cost competition at Washington Dulles airport.United Express carrier Atlantic Coast is in the process of rebirthing itself as a low cost carrier, while Mesa has bid for the airline and would presumably continue the United Express relationship.It’s fairly safe to say that Atlantic Coast is well-connected politically in the DC area and has had the support of Virginia Senator George Allen and is getting its money’s worth out of prestigious law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher.What most of the country outside of my home turf of DC fails to realize is just how important political connections can be in matters such as these. An outstanding tactic on their part, although to my mind completely silly. Far from being…
Because automobiles are travel, too, and they run on gas
My friend Samir sends along a link to Gas Buddy, a collaborative website for finding the best gasoline prices in the area. Since gasoline prices change frequently and may vary by as much as 20 percent within only a few blocks it is important to be able locate the service station with the lowest priced fuel. GasBuddy Organization web sites allow consumers to both share information about low priced fuel with others as well as target the lowest priced stations to save at the pumps!
USAirways Moves to Unlimited Space Available Upgrades
USAirways just announced that they are moving to ‘unlimited space available upgrades’ (and thus eliminating upgrade certificates) in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean beginning in March 2004. They join Continental, Northwest, Alaska, Delta, and America West in adopting this model — leaving United and American requiring upgrade certificates.This means greater simplicity for members. It also means less revenue from purchased upgrade certificates. And it also means more competition for upgrades. In a model where every upgrade requires a certificate, and a frequent flyer isn’t given enough certificates to upgrade every flight, they don’t attempt to upgrade every flight. So lower level elites are able to upgrade more often as a result of less competition. But with unlimited (certificate-free) upgrades, every elite “attempts” to upgrade every flight, and thus upgrading is more difficult.More…
American antes up bonuses for January through March
American is matching (registration required) United’s first quarter flight bonus of up to triple miles during most of the quarter.
As Christmas approaches
You can track Santa on the NORAD website.
Czech freedom!
US airlines may not stand up to the US government when it comes to demands for private passenger information, but Czech Airlines is standing strong. Czech law does not permit turning over passenger information as required by US law for flights entering the United States.Never thought I’d feel like the Czechs has a leg up on us Yankees…
