Earn 5000 miles for referring an acquaintence to United if they fly by July 31st. Since they will also earn 5000 bonus miles with the first flight, the acquaintence will become a friend. But they may not like you too much since you’ll both only get the bonuses if their ticket is booked as a “Q” fare or above — which means that the four lowest generally available fare classes (T, S, V, W) don’t count.
Whither the shuttle?
With falling traffic and schedule cutbacks by USAirways and Delta, the New York/Boston/DC shuttle operations are a different experience than they used to be. American has introduced regional jet service on these routes, while Delta and USAirways are cancelling flights and downsizing planes. Both Delta and USAirways are also scaling back their shuttle guarantees, and USAirways is swapping in aircraft with less legroom. Less convenient and less comfortable than in the psat, it might be time to rethink the shuttle. Only rethinking doesn’t happen often or easily in this industry.
Why Frequent Flyer Programs Make Sense — and Gutting Benefits Does Not
Airlines are jumping on the ‘reward revenue not miles flown’ bandwagon and they are cutting back the benefits of their frequent flyer programs. I’m not sure this decision makes alot of business sense. That’s a very broad statement, and since I’m often critical of other travel writers from making unsupportable overbroad generalizations, let me outline the scope of this shift. USAirways was first out of the box with the idea that loyalty is about absolute revenue generated rather than frequent purchases. They tried to alter their frequent flyer program accordingly, but backed off as a result of negative PR. Delta has gutted it’s frequent flyer program in an effort to restructure it to reward only high fare passengers. United has its own entry into this game, creating a new frequent flyer program level run out…
An infinite number of monkeys, or Sesame Street brought to you by the letter ‘s’
Back in October, Eugene Volokh posted about logical flaws in the old cliche about an infinite number of monkeys eventually producing the works of Shakespeare. Since the cliche relies on randomness of the monkeys typing, and since chimps don’t type randomly (even if we aren’t able to discern the patterns), they would never accomplish a play — let alone a sonnet. This argument is now backed up by science, apparently. According to a report from BBC News Lecturers and students from the University of Plymouth wanted to test the claim that an infinite number of monkeys given typewriters would create the works of The Bard. A single computer was placed in a monkey enclosure at Paignton Zoo to monitor the literary output of six primates. But after a month, the Sulawesi crested macaques had only…
Long distance travel – intergalactic commute – but the benefits are worth it
An Oregon mental health facility is looking to hire a translator who speaks Klingon. Apparently enough patients insist on speaking only Klingon that they need a special interpreter. (Link via the Volokh Conspiracy.) Update: CNN and the AP appear to have gotten the story wrong. Klingon was thrown into the long list of potential languages, and a Klingon interpreter would only be paid if their services were needed — but no patient has actually attempted to communicate in Klingon…
Instant Starwood Gold
Get automatic Gold status in the Starwood Preferred Guest program by calling Starwood (888-625-4988) and mentioning code “VF.” You’ll need to provide your Lufthansa frequent flyer number (you can sign up for one here). The promotion is valid through September 15 2003. Giving Starwood your Lufthansa number sets you up to deposit your Starwood points earned directly in your Lufthansa Miles & More account plus 3000 Lufthansa points after every second stay (up to a maximum of 9000 points).
Hilarity
One of the most wasteful agencies in the federal government makes some cuts and Hilary Clinton complains. I knew I didn’t like her.
Where I stand and why
I’m often asked about my political beliefs in non-political settings (even at the Freddie Awards!), probably because I work in a very political environment. People often assume that I’m a Republican because I’m a strong advocate of market solutions to social problems. And I’m not. And that confuses people. When I tell them that I’m a libertarian (but not a member of the Libertarian Party for heaven sakes), they assume I’m just a pie-in-the-sky utopian ignoring political realities. I certainly don’t think that I am! I thought I’d pass along Jacob Levy’s articulation of why he’s a libertarian and not a Republican, because I found it to ring quite true: I’m not a Republican because I’m unwilling to draw the line where the Republican Party draws it– trying to exclude David Duke and Pat Buchanan…
Hotels.bomb
The ‘discount’ hotel website, Hotels.com (also known as Hotel Discounts.com) almost never offers the lowest rate. A Consumer Reports study finds that Travelocity scored the best among online sites a plurality (29%) of the time, and that Orbitz and Expedia tended to do better as well. (Link via Joe Brancatelli.)
Senatorial privilege
A man pretended to work for the Senate and convinced travel agents to give him free airline tickets, which he resold. The man has been arrested. I’d love to know what he promised them or threatened them with in exchange for the tickets…
