Elizabeth Hurley Caught Trying to Join the Mile High Club

Last week, Elizabeth Hurley used her star status to demand an upgrade for her boyfriend and now this: As Hurley and Arun grappled in the first class section of a New York-London British Airways jet, passengers and crew feared they were about to join the exclusive mile-high club. Fellow flyers saw Hurley, 37, slide under the duvet with Nayar and wrap her arms around him. … Read the whole thing. Especially BA’s self-promoting quote at the end of the story!

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Folks just need to let this one go

It would have been great to fly first class from London to Bangkok for only the tax, and I was certainly disappointed when Thai pulled the plug on the fare and refused to honor it. But this is a little much. However, a group of disgruntled customers is refusing to let the matter rest and is considering legal action, hoping that the courts will force the airline to issue the tickets.

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Avis for half

In a comment on this post, I was asked how I “managed to get my rental car from Avis for half their lowest web rate and for 25% less than my reservation with Thrifty” when I was in Colorado Springs for the Freddie Awards. Simple story, really. When I checked pricing for a one-day rental in Colorado Springs, Avis and Hertz were showing ~ $40. Thrifty was ~ $28. Since Thrifty was cheaper, and they offer 1000 America West miles even on a one day rental, I went with Thrifty — even though they’re off airport. When I arrived at Colorado Springs I didn’t feel like waiting for a shuttle bus to take me to the rental lot. I wanted to get going right away. So I walked up to the Avis counter and naively…

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But they’re keeping the hammer and sickle

Aeroflot has hired a marketing firm to help it develop a new image. One of their efforts is friendlier flight attendants (perhaps they should take lessons from Flight Club Airlines). Of course they have a big hurdle to overcome: While the airline has had a good safety record in recent years, memories of a series of crashes and near-misses in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, are still fresh in many people’s minds. During that period, crews regularly took on extra passengers for cash, resulting in dangerously overloaded planes. In the most notorious accident in 1994, a pilot allowed his son to sit at the controls, causing a plane to crash in Siberia, killing 75 people.

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Who’s watching the watchers?

Two TSA security screeners got into a fight with each other on Saturday at Baltimore Washington International Airport. They then assaulted the police officers trying to break up the fight. But they’re there for our protection, and we shouldn’t feel intimidated if we have nothing to hide.

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When the price isn’t the price

Rental car prices are advertised far lower than consumers ultimately pay because of a wide variety of add-on taxes, surcharges, and fees and Ed Perkins is outraged. Adding taxes (of all sorts!) onto the price is pretty standard, but rental car companies seem to be making up their own add-ons for no other reason than to obfuscate the real price of their car and attract consumers by advertising prices lower than they’re really offering.

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