Alaska Airlines lays out its plans for first class on an employee website. It sounds like they get it. They’re going to keep first class. While only 10% of first class seats are occupied by paid first class travelers, upgrades for their elite flyers drive alot of ticket purchases. They need to differentiate themselves from lower cost one-class carriers like Southwest. They’re looking to generate an extra $25-30 per first class seat. They might allow upgrades only on higher fares (bad idea), charge a small premium for upgrades (better idea), or reduce the price difference between coach and first to encourage more first class ticket sales (best idea). Read the whole thing.
Welcome Instapundit Readers
See why I’m “angling for Secretary of Transportation” in a Glenn Reynolds administration! Let me suggest that you take a look at the ‘Greatest Hits’ list on the column to the right. In particular, consider checking out: Discounted travel Rental car discounts Four star hotels on the cheap Free upgrade certificates Concentrate all your flying on one airline Instant Starwood Gold Spend miles or money? And, of course, bookmark this page and visit frequently! If you have any questions you’d like answered about travel or miles and points, drop me a line.
Double Shopping Miles
Northwest is offering double miles in the Worldperks Mall in August and September. Be sure to register.
Instapundit for President?
If the blogosphere is increasingly important, then a Glenn Reynolds administration can only make sense.. but the position of Secretary of Transportation is apparently vacant. Seems like I’d be a perfect fit! That would be even better than impeaching Norm Mineta!
Musings
This week’s newsletter from David Rowell is uniquely good, so I’m going to reproduce some interesting snippets: VS also enjoy having provocative slogans on the side of their planes. Not long ago, they had the slogan ‘Ours is Longer’ painted on their new A340 planes – presumably referring to the fact that the A340-600 is longer than a 747-400. And now they are painting the slogan “BA Can’t Keep It Up” on the side of its aircraft, – presumably referring to BA’s refusal to sell the Concordes to Virgin. VS will keep the slogan until the Concorde ceases flying in October. … Delta..has announced that it will eliminate its quarterly dividend, while forecasting a loss of $200 – $250 million in the upcoming third quarter. … Russia’s Aeroflot announced a net profit for 2002 of…
An academic as Darwin Award nominee?
Hopefully the faculty that I work with are smart enough not to do this.
Get software and money
Amazon.com has VirusScan 7.0 and Norton Internet Security free after rebate. Use code TENBUCKS4NIS for an additioanl $10 off when buying both. You get two free software titles and $10.
Free breakfast
Gat a free sample of Carnation Instant Breakfast. Supposedly the stuff tastes good. Guess I’ll find out.
Should Home State Senators Be Able to Block Judicial Nominations?
TAPPED, the American Prospect’s blog, complains about Orrin Hatch changing the rules for judicial nomination hearings. I don’t have a strong judgment one way or the other on the specifics of these Senate rules, but TAPPED’s complaint hardly seems a principled one.A Senator from a nominee’s home state had once been able to indefinitely block a nominee by placing a so-called “blue slip” on the nomination. Then the requirement changed, under Hatch as judiciary committee chairman, to both home state senators placing a “blue slip” on a nominee to block a hearing. Now Hatch is scheduling hearings on Bush judicial nominees over Democratic blue slips from Michigan. TAPPED complains that this is breaking with a Senate tradition But as Robert Kuttner explained in the American Prospect a couple years back, [I]t was Hatch, in 1995,…
Internet banking
Now that Netbank has gotten into the mileage game by offering United and Delta miles, I decided to take a look at an online checking account. I actually didn’t sign up with Netbank, though. Instead, I signed up with BankDirect. Both give miles for checking accounts and other financial products. The (2) drawbacks to NetBank are: They don’t give very many miles (I was only going to earn 4500) and mileage is a one-shot deal — there’s no continued earning. They don’t reimburse ATM fees. So while they don’t CHARGE you to use an ATM, in most cases the machine you use will. BankDirect solved both of those things. Now, BankDirect has two disadvantages: A $15/month fee on checking accounts with balances under $2500. A lower interest rate than NetBank. So I studied hard and…
