Savings bonds for miles. Purchases

Savings bonds for miles. Purchases of savings bonds are treated as just that — purchases, and not cash advances. Buy savings bonds directly from the government with your mileage earning credit cards (especially with Double Miles from the Delta Amex or the United Visa). Then cash them back in when they mature. It ties your cash up for a few months — but it also earns a return and miles.

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More on the US Airways

More on the US Airways and United Marketing Agreement. As I mentioned yesterday, US Airways has entered into a marketing agreement with United Airlines. It will allow frequent flyers from both airlines to earn and redeem miles on each airline. In addition to the benefit of earning and redeeming miles on each airline, US Airways and United passengers will also be able to make connections between both airlines on a single reservation and use each airline’s airport lounges if they are already a member of either. This partnership secures the value of USAirways miles, which were certainly in doubt, and opens up reward possibilities to Hawaii and Asia. Dividend Miles and Mileage Plus members will be able to redeem their miles for awards on each airline, but they will not be able to combine miles…

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United and

United and USAirways announced a marketing agreement just moments ago. Haven’t found any wire stories yet… More as it develops… Just a few random thoughts: They tried this as a merger, but the government balked. That was pre-9/11 and before both carriers were in precarious positions. United got pre-approval from the pilots to do this when they negotiated concessions for stock USAirways is in big trouble, but they have (1) the DC-NY-Boston shuttle and (2) an extensive East Coast route network. #1 means profits and a base of frequent fliers in lucrative markets. #2 is simply a route network that United doesn’t have. USAirways gets a West Coast presence and (assuming the marketing agreement stretches this far) the Pacific. It also gets them frequent flyer awards to Hawaii… USAirways will still ultimately have to make…

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Grad Student Deconstructs

Grad Student Deconstructs Take-Out Menu. Thanks to my friend Esta for the link. As he noted, “Someone ought to tell the folks at Social Text that this is a joke before they publish it.”

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Overheard from a Ted Kennedy

Overheard from a Ted Kennedy staffer. I always thought there was a bit more to the Chappiquiddick story than is commonly understood. Staffers in Ted Kennedy’s office tell the story (after a few beers) that Kennedy wasn’t driving the car. Rather, he was drunk and passed out in the back seat of the car. Mary Jo Kopechne drove it off the bridge. A drunk Kennedy managed to get out and stumble away. He didn’t do anything to save her because in his drunken stupor he was oblivious to what had happened. Sad and despicable, perhaps, but not criminal in so far as he wasn’t driving.

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