According to USA Today, Discount airlines now make up a quarter of passengers seats in the U.S. They are expanding routes to the West Coast, Canada and Mexico, and the hubs of weakened major carriers. Apparently growth of low fare carriers was new American CEO Gerald Arpey’s greatest fear, as outlined in his master’s thesis (link via Ben Mutzabaugh).
$220+tax to New Zealand
Air Tahiti Nui apparently has fares from $220 from Los Angeles to Aukland (via Tahiti). Valid for Thursday through Sunday travel and requires a 7 day min stay. Go to Zuji.com and enter “dates are flexible” in the booking screen. Thanks to Scott’s Airline and Hotel Deals mailing list.
Important Invention
The MIT “You’re in Control” Urine Control System and game.
Will Devaluation of Points and Financial Uncertainty Spell the Death of Frequent Flyer Programs?
Well, no, I hardly think so. But this piece from a couple weeks back does a nice job of outlining the recent changes to frequent flyer programs and examining whether programs are losing value.
I’d Vote for Him.. Twice.. and I’m Not Even Registered
A candidate for office in Mexico City is promoting lap dance contests and even hiring strippers to perform after his speeches. On a recent act in Valle de Chalco, Isaias Soriano offered
More Free
MORE free magazines: Kiplinger’s or Details.
Tag-a-long
United announced a promo this week — fly three times, earn the fourth trip free — and now American and Northwest are matching it. (You must register for each offer to be eligible.)
Does the TSA believe that if screeners break the law, they’ll need to hire more screeners to screen the screeners or something?
A Portland screener is accused of stealing $1300 from a passenger. There may even be a videotape. The incident was reported, and the money was found in a nearby trash can. The TSA dismisses it… “We believe that we have 55,000 of America’s finest working on the front lines of terrorism at the airports. Obviously we hire from the human race. We are a small microcosm of society, and people steal things from society. Are we going to be able to eliminate this 100 percent? Your guess is as good as mine,” Nico Melendez of the TSA said. And meanwhile… While the TSA is protecting our money.. from ourselves… the higher ups are using every bureaucratic maneuver possible to delay the arming of pilots. There’s no secret that the TSA objects to the congressional mandate.…
Shiney Happy People, Shiney Happy Toilets
David Rowell‘s weekly newsletter alerts me to the story that Singapore has launched a Happy Toilet initiative Singapore’s public toilets will be judged this month on cleanliness, design, construction and daily maintenance criteria, including the supply of toilet paper. Association president Jack Sim told The Straits Times there are three grades for loos – three, four and five stars. Singapore is the first in the world to adopt this system, the report said. Washrooms that are clean and well-designed, with facilities for handicapped users and clothing hooks, will be allowed to put up the “Happy Toilet” logo, he said. The National Environment Agency last month cleaned up 29,000 public toilets in Singapore as part of the effort to contain the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It’s already illegal in Singapore to fail…
It’s about time
What’s unfortunate is that something like this should be ordinary — a non-event — rather than news: Hundreds of LAX screeners fired for poor performance The workers were let go for poor performance and failure to show up for work, the newspaper reported. The Daily Breeze, citing an airport worker who attended a recent briefing held by a Transportation Security Administration supervisor, also said 100 more workers will soon be fired.
