Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for January 2005.

eBay Member-Get-Member Offer

by Gary Leff on January 30, 2005

Jan 30 2005

eBay has a new member-get-member promotion. Existing members can refer new members. If a new member buys something for $10 or more or lists something for sale within 30 days, both the referring member and the new member receive 500 eBay Anything Points. Those points, of course, can be used for eBay purchases (500 points = $5 credit) or converted to airline or hotel points at Points.com. I can of course refer anyone who wishes to join eBay, just drop me an email. But most people have joined at one point or another I imagine?

What to do with a Mac Mini?

by Gary Leff on January 29, 2005

Jan 29 2005

I still don’t know what I’m going to do with a free Mac Mini but this Wired piece suggests it can turned into a livingroom video recorder, a media center for cars, or a toaster. Though that last one may be a little too MacGyver for me.

Pork for Alaska’s Airports

by Gary Leff on January 29, 2005

Jan 29 2005

John Stossel’s ABC News piece last night contained some interesting nuggets, including this about proposed changes to the Ketchikan International Airport in Alaska: Years ago Congress gave money to the little tourist town of Ketchikan, with only 14,000 residents, for an airport on a nearby island. Ketchikan International has six to eight flights a day, and people get there by taking a short ferry ride — which they love. The scenic ride takes 500 air travelers a day to or from the airport in just seven minutes Alaska resident Mike Sallee likes the ferry ride. He said, “I think our existing ferry system is just dandy and it doesn’t cost $200 million.” The $200 million refers to the fact that Young recently persuaded legislators that Ketchikan needs a bridge to the airport. And Young doesn’t…

Bush Administration to Raise Taxes on Travelers

by Gary Leff on January 28, 2005

Jan 28 2005

The Bush Administration is proposing to more than double the airline security tax under its budget for the Homeland Security Department. Bush’s plan calls for boosting the security fee from $2.50 to $5.50 for a one-way airline ticket and from a maximum of $5 to $8 for multiple legs. The hikes are expected to generate $1.5 billion. I know this makes sense to me, since the Department of Homeland Security gets so much value out of the budget they have now. Any money will surely be well spent. Heh.(Hat tip to Tripso Daily.)

Southwest introduces downloadable inflight entertainment, sort of

by Gary Leff on January 27, 2005

Jan 27 2005

Southwest Airlines has an offer for a free movie download from Movielink.com as part of their effort to introduce in-flight entertainment. They won’t install movie screens or inflight audio. Instead, they encourage you to download a movie and watch it.

Easy Offer to Fulfill Free Electronics Requirement

by Gary Leff on January 26, 2005

Jan 26 2005

The eFax 30 Day Free Trial offer is back on the Free Mac Mini site. I did the eFax trial for my photo iPod. It’s a 30 day free trial, which is good because it makes it plenty easy to cancel. Cancellation is done via online chat, so you can even save the chat in case something goes wrong (just copy and paste it into your wordprocessor). So if you’re looking for an easy offer to complete, this is a good one. The past few days had seen only sketchy offers like 7 day trials that required you to stay signed up for the full 7 days, or even a 1-day trial for $1. Too much hassle. Much prefer to have a month…

The Value of Mileage and Mileage Programs

by Gary Leff on January 25, 2005

Jan 25 2005

Randy Petersen believes that United’s Mileage Plus is worth $2.4 to $2.7 billion and that a public offering could lie in the future.

iPod Shuffle Review

by Gary Leff on January 23, 2005

Jan 23 2005

Engadget reviews the iPod Shuffle: This thing is tiny — and light. You’ll never feel it around your neck or in your pocket. It’s like a stick of gum, not a pack. Just be sure not to leave it in your jeans when you wash them. Gets me excited about the new Free iPod Shuffle offer from Gratis, not to mention the Free Mac Mini.

Follow the Bonus Miles Leader

by Gary Leff on January 23, 2005

Jan 23 2005

Continental and United are both offering 42,000 bonus miles for business class flights across the Atlantic, matching British Airways and American.

Double Miles on USAirways

by Gary Leff on January 22, 2005

Jan 22 2005

USAirways is offering double miles for purchases made through the end of the month on all flights through the end of 2005. Business class flights to Europe earn 40,000 bonus miles (like American and British Airways) and all flights to the Carribean and Latin America earn 10,000 bonus miles. Registration is required, and again the bonus applies only to tickets purchased by January 31.