Okay, here are the changes to the Delta Skymiles program. Delta won’t discuss them until 3pm today, when they become official. These don’t affect general members — this is all about the Elite program. The good: New Million-miler recognition program — 2 million miles gets you lifetime Gold status and 4 million miles gets you lifetime Platinum Medallion status The cheapest fares (L, U, and T booking classes) — which were previously not upgradeable at all — are now upgradeable by elite members on the day of departure The ability to upgrade a companion with points Travel on SkyTeam partners counts towards elite status Gold members and Platinum members can give status to a friend when they reach certain mileage thresholds 50% bonus miles instead of 25% bonus miles for flying paid business class Elites…
Jeff Taylor, in a
Jeff Taylor, in a post on Reason Magazine’s new blog, finds a piece of delicious irony: So 60 Minutes does a story on Mississippi juries sticking big civil awards on big out-of-state companies in perverse rounds of “jackpot justice.” So what do the jurors mentioned on the broadcast do? Sue the TV show for $6 billion. That’s $597 million in actual damages and $5.9 billion in punitive damages for their defamation. Yep, that sure proves Morley and friends were wrong.
On a positive note,
On a positive note, we’ll be tentatively allowed to park at the close-in airport parking lots again. The TSA banned parking within 300 feet of airports, which meant many lots were put out of service. This meant busing passengers from farther-away lots — increasing the time and hassle of travel. Now, as long as the threat-level stays “yellow,” we’ll be able to park.
There are significant questions
There are significant questions about the usefulness and functionality of the wands being used at airport security by the Transportation Security Administration. TSA official John Rooney said the wands were giving airport screeners “a false sense of security.”
The right is calling
The right is calling for Trent Lott’s ouster as Senate Majority leader over comments at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party that if the country had elected Thurmond President in 1948, “we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years(.)” First, many conservatives find Lott’s endorsement of Strom Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist views repugnant. Second, they also see Lott’s words coming back over and over in ad campaigns for years. As long as Lott is Senate Majority Leader, this quote means that the Republicans are at their root racists. And no matter what minorities think of Republican policies, as long as they think Republicans want to lynch them they’ll never vote for the GOP. Third, conservatives don’t like Lott much anyway, so they may see this as an opportunity to dump a wishy-washy leader and…
Eugene Volokh offers
Eugene Volokh offers his thoughts on the What Would Jesus Drive? ad campaign: Carpenters, I imagine, find larger cars — whether pickups or SUVs — pretty useful.
It looks like big changes
It looks like big changes are in store for Delta’s frequent flyer elite qualification scheme. Details will be forthcoming tomorrow. There will be an increased emphasis on revenue to the airline over just number of miles flown. Two things to note — First, at this point it isn’t clear whether there will be a separate, new track based on revenue or a replacement for mileage-based elite status. Second, this apparently applies only to earning elite status and has nothing to do with earning frequent flyer miles that can be redeemed for awards.
Trapped man survives
Trapped man survives for six days on Taco Bell sauce.
Dan Pink repeats
Dan Pink repeats an important factoid from The Economist: In Europe, more people now send and receive short-text messages on their phones than use the Internet. . . . This year, users of mobile phones around the world passed the 1 billion mark. The number of mobile phones is now greater than the number of fixed-line ones.
Aargh. You know, I spend
Aargh. You know, I spend a few days out of town.. and a couple days out of the country (admittedly on a $150 first class round trip ticket to Puerto Vallarta).. and I miss out on a British Airways fare glitch ($20 round trip). Sorry for letting my dear readers down by not making it available to y’all in time.
