American Airlines CEO Don Carty used to record a message that employees would call in to hear by dialing 1-800-AA-CARTY. Now that Gerald Arpey is CEO, that practice may be a thing of the past. In part because employees get a daily email, and in part because 1-800-AA-ARPEY reaches a phone sex line.
Ice Cream is Good
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day. And on Wednesday, Baskin Robbins will be giving away free scoops.
More on Thai
Thai Airways refusal to honor its 55 pound first class fare gets some coverage. “It is not uncommon to hunt out a bargain on the web, and cheap airfares are just one example. To find out my reservation will not be fulfilled, despite receiving an email confirmation, left me feeling thoroughly disappointed,” said Evershed. “Yes, it seemed that I was getting a good deal but the very nature of online offers is to find the bargains,” she added. Certainly many short-haul budget airlines have offered ‘all you pay is the tax’ style fares, and many industry watches have suggested it is only a matter of time before a long-haul flight is offered on similar grounds. But this was not that time. However, Evershed received an email, seen by silicon.com, from Thai Airways, confirming her reservation.…
A Free Southwest Airlines Ticket
Earn 8 Rapid Rewards credits with any Earthlink service and 8 Rapid Rewards credits for switching to MCI long distance by April 30 (call 800 421-6773 and tell them you want to switch for 8 Southwest credits and that you’re signing up for the MCI Nationwide service at $2.95 a month and 5 cents per minute for state-to-state calling.). 16 credits is a free ticket. Update: Gary Steiger tells me that the MCI phone number doesn’t work from all area codes, but that dialing (800) 340-2030 will work for everyone.
Ch-ch-ch-ch changes…
The bmi British Midland program has been entirely revamped, moving from a points system to a miles system. All program members can earn 2000 bonus miles by registering and filling out a survey. Oh, and they have a video game on their website, too.
Up to 29,000 Bonus Status Miles on United
Sign up for the ‘United Great Offer’ First, they will send you personalized luggage tags. Second, you’ll print out a fax cover sheet. Send it to United with copies of statements from (3) other frequent flyer programs from March 2003 or later. United will give you 3,000 status miles (miles towards elite status, not miles in your account for awards) for each statement, for a total of 9,000 status miles. Third, for every paid segment purchased and flown between May 15 and August 15 beyond the number of segments flown during the first three months of this year you will get 2,000 bonus status miles (up to a maximum of 20,000 bonus status miles). 29,000 status miles — on top of the miles you normally earn by flying. Should make qualifying a snap!
Let’s Earn (2) Domestic First Class Tickets Quickly and Cheaply
I was recently asked how someone could get (2) first class tickets from Washington, DC to San Francisco without paying first class prices. So I sat down to think for a few minutes. First, I compared airfare costs. Tickets purchased now for travel in October and November from DC to San Francisco run ~ $276 in coach (although some specific itineraries can be had for as little as $203). First class runs from $1450 (for one-stop service from Baltimore to San Jose) to $3000 (for non-stop Dulles to San Francisco) per person. How to Get into First Class Upgrades can be confirmed on most airlines and on most fares using frequent flyer miles. You can search for flights that have space available in free upgrades to First Class when you’re booking, and choose those flights.…
Junk Food Ban
Health officials in New Zealand want to outlaw selling burgers to children.
The Problem with Anti-Spam Legislation and a New Way to Stop Spam
Sonia Arrison thinks charging spammers to send you email might just be the answer.
United Really Doesn’t Care
I fly United. They have been very good to me. But it became very clear last night that United Mileage Plus really doesn’t get it. At the post-Freddie Awards reception, I stood next to a very frequent traveler from Texas (> 220,000 miles flown last year and a top-level elite with both United and American) talking to Robert Sahadevan of Mileage Plus. She told him that the changes to United’s top-level elite program were chasing her away. No longer are United’s “Systemwide Upgrades” (certificates given to 100,000 mile flyers that can confirm international upgrades at the time of booking) good on any fare. That means that if she chooses to give United her high revenue business fares, she is not able to upgrade her lower priced personal trips — and so she’d rather give all…
