oh look, aren't the china adoptees simply adorable?
words were spilled on Saturday, February 24, 2007
(4) comments
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Not for the first time, I wish that I'm studying in New York, or Boston. (Toronto's not bad, either.)
words were spilled on Thursday, February 08, 2007
(2) comments
Monday, February 05, 2007
words were spilled on Monday, February 05, 2007
(0) comments
Saturday, February 03, 2007
As a modestly frequent flyer who has been on multiple, mind-numbing flights with less-than-satisfactory American airlines that misplace luggage, delay flights, serve lousy food and provide even lousier onboard entertainment, I have long since sunk my expectations into negative territory.
But I had imagined there still was some good in those airlines, however sub-standard they seemed. That horrible fiasco at Narita a year ago? Northwest compensated me with 50,000 frequent flyer miles, which mollified my outrage quite a bit, filling my head with visions of flying for free to Tokyo, San Francisco, and perhaps even Europe!
So far I've accumulated over 80,000 miles, which theoretically, according to their Award Chart for travel from the US, ought to qualify me for travel to other continental American cities, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, Europe (!!), Northern Asia, Southern Asia... in fact, anywhere in the world besides the Middle East, Africa and the South Pacific, which I have no intention of visiting anyway.
So far, it hasn't happened. All my attempts to redeem my miles have been frustrated by the uncanny unavailability of award travel seats on the dates I wish to travel, making my accumulated mileage effectively useless. Thank you so much, Northwest.
Before I read this article, I'd always dismissed this recurring pattern as a minor frustration, fondly entertaining the hope that one day I would have the chance to actually use my miles and then feel good about myself for saving all that money on another self-indulgent vacation. Now, I see that so-called "loyalty perks" are but a cynical business strategy that work by denying passengers, as much as possible, the use of their frequent flyer miles.
To summarise:
"The bottom line was that each carrier rapidly learned how to magically render available seats unavailable when there was a possibility of filling them with revenue passengers... Survival depends on resisting the loss of ticket revenue to frequent flier seats that could be sold, thus survival depends on making mileage redemption as difficult as possible."
It makes such perfect sense, I'm amazed why I never saw it before. Thank goodness I spared myself the horror of flying Northwest last summer in favour of SIA, which is way, way better.
This only confirms my belief that the airline industry is screwed up.
words were spilled on Saturday, February 03, 2007
(2) comments
Friday, February 02, 2007
Also, I managed to finish the milk and most of the yoghurt without dying of food poisoning. The remaining yoghurt has taken on a suspiciously watery consistency. Time to throw it out, I think.
words were spilled on Friday, February 02, 2007
