Issue #39  --  April 8, 1999

** CONTENTS **

New Feature: TravelWise ~ Miles for PC Purchases ~ Phone Card for FlightFund ~ Starwood Program's Progress ~ ClickMiles for Contributions to the World Wildlife Fund ~ Air Canada's Summer Seat Sale ~ Canadian Airlines' Summer Seat Sale ~ Contract Negotiations at Alaska Airlines ~ Who Needs Travel Agents? ~ PlanetAll Experience ~ Opinions: Southwest's Website ~ Site2See: Washington Post's "Airline Websites" ~ Aviation Humor

<< N E W >>

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New Feature - TravelWise
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In the coming months, look for a new series of travel-health-related articles from Brent Burkey. Brent is a medical student and website publisher, who still finds time to contribute to The Crier. I'll let Brent introduce himself, and his upcoming series of articles...

Hello from 12D!! I'm on a 757 bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico. Most of the passengers on this flight are heading to various destinations in the Caribbean. What health risks should they be aware of, and are they at risk? That's what TravelWise is about--common travel health concerns, and providing you, the Frequent Flier, with the information you need to make your travels fun, safe, and healthy.

TravelWise will appear as a new monthly addition to the FrequentFlier Crier, focusing on the health needs most pertinent to you, the Frequent Flier. Future topics include: Medical Assistance Away from Home, Combating Jet Lag, Travelers Diarrhea, Important Medical Documents to take on Vacation, and in an upcoming newsletter, "Are you safe from Hepatitis A?" I would welcome any suggestions you may have for future newsletters. Simply email them to burkey@cwix.com.

Until next month, remember, TravelWise!

Brent W. Burkey, Medical Student
MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For more travel health resources available on the world wide web, visit the International Health and Travel Medicine website.

Welcome aboard, Brent!

<< M I L E S >>

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New Frequent Buyers Club for PC Customers
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Global DirectMail Corp announced agreements with American, Delta and United that allow the company to offer frequent flyer miles for the online purchase of PCs and related computer products.

The program will be offered through Global's e-commerce website, dartek.com. Registered users receive points that can be redeemed for one frequent flier mile for every $1 worth of items purchased.

Chicago-based dartek.com is the e-catalog version of the Dartek Computer Supply direct mail catalog, which services mid- and large-sized corporate customers.

Recently, dartek.com was named one of the top sites for the online purchase of "build your own" PC parts by New Media News, the internationally syndicated high-technology show and web site (www.newmedianews.com). New Media News reaches more than 29 million households in the U.S., airs nationally on the Knowledge TV cable channel, and is syndicated internationally.

Global DirectMail Corp (www.globaldirectmail.com) has developed an integrated system of branded e-commerce web sites, direct mail catalogs, and relationship marketing to sell private label and name brand PC hardware, related supplies and industrial products to businesses in North America and Europe.

>> More <<
Dartek online

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FlightFund Gets Global Phone Card
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Carrier Services, Inc. (CSI), a provider of value-added rechargeable phone cards to the business travel market, has joined with Sprint to offer America West Airlines frequent flyers the FlightFund Global Phone Card.

This new service offers members a rechargeable phone card with 200 domestic minutes of calling time and 500 FlightFund miles for $50. That's ten miles per dollar, an aggressively generous payout.

Members will receive a card in their statements this month and can begin using them immediately, according to CSI. The FlightFund Global Phone Card will use Sprint's all-fiber-optic network.

>> More <<
America West

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Starwood Preferred Guest in Growth Mode
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Starwood Hotels is reporting that its newly developed loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest, is doing very well indeed. In just two months, over 500,000 new members have enrolled. An average of 9,000 new members join each day.

And members are redeeming for free stays. Since the February 1999 launch of Starwood Preferred Guest, more than 10,000 members have redeemed their Starpoints for a total of 17,000 free nights. The most popular hotels honoring award stays are:

1) The St. Regis, New York, NY 2) Caesars Palace, Las Vegas 3) Sheraton Roma, Rome, Italy 4) Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, Orlando, Florida 5) The Park Lane, London, England 6) Prince De Galles, Paris, France 7) The Westin Maui, Maui, Hawaii 8) Sheraton at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CA 9) Sheraton World Resort, Orlando, Florida 10) The Westin Copley Plaza, Boston, MA

Starwood Preferred Guest boasts no blackout dates, no capacity controls and offers members access to an extensive luxury portfolio, including 53 upscale properties and resorts featured in the 1999 Conde Nast Traveler Gold List. The program makes an admirably simple but compelling promise: if a Starwood hotel has a room available, program members can access to that room for an award stay, the same as a paying guest would.

Members can redeem Starpoints for free nights at Starwood's six hotel brands: Westin Hotels & Resorts, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, St Regis./Luxury Collection, Four Points Hotels, Caesars World and W Hotels. In total, more than 600 participating hotels and resorts in more than 70 countries participate.

>> More <<
Starwood website

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Earn Miles by Supporting the Wild
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During the "Miles for the Wild" program, donors to the World Wildlife Fund will receive two ClickMiles for each dollar they contribute during the month of April. Each ClickMile is redeemable for frequent flyer miles from eight leading airlines or for brand-name merchandise.

Through a national online public service campaign, Yahoo! will support the "Miles for the Wild" promotion through Yahoo!'s network of Web properties. In addition, Yahoo! will run a front-page promotion on www.yahoo.com in mid-April in support of the "Miles for the Wild" program.

In addition, WWF will inform its member base of the promotion through its newsletter and design a co-branded Web page describing the offer. ClickRewards will advertise "Miles for the Wild" to its member base of more than 800,000 through e-mail and www.clickrewards.com. Through partnerships with national charities, ClickRewards is developing programs that will allow members to donate their awards to a catalogue of non-profit organizations.

>> More <<
The World Wildlife Fund

<< S T E A L S & D E A L S >>

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Air Canada's Summer Seat Sale
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Air Canada has announced a Spring/Summer Seat Sale with fare reductions up to 40 percent to more than 160 destinations worldwide. The sale begins April 7 and continues until Monday, April 19, 1999.

All travel to Canadian and U.S. destinations must be completed by September 23, 1999. The last departure date for international travel is also September 23, unless otherwise specified. Booking conditions vary according to destination.

Sample roundtrip fares (all in U.S. dollars):

 Los Angeles to:       San Francisco to:
 Toronto     $277      Toronto     $277
 Montreal    $286      Halifax     $395
 Calgary     $235      Vancouver   $199

 Houston to:           New York to:
 Toronto     $259      Toronto     $139
 Montreal    $279      Ottawa      $139
 Calgary     $286      Vancouver   $346

 Chicago to:           Washington to:
 Toronto     $187      Toronto     $157
 Montreal    $211      Montreal    $177
 Halifax     $279      Vancouver   $385

 Charlotte to:         Pittsburgh to:
 Toronto     $191      Toronto     $119
 Haliflax    $266      Calgary     $346

 Boston to:            St. Louis to:
 Toronto     $157      Montreal    $245
 Halifax     $187      Halifax     $309

 Atlanta to:           Phoenix to:
 Toronto     $203      Toronto     $279
 Vancouver   $380      Halifax     $404

 Denver to:            Nashville to:
 Toronto     $294      Toronto     $204
 Halifax     $375      Calgary     $346

 Cleveland to:         Milwaukee to:
 Toronto     $124      Toronto     $138
 Calgary     $293      Montreal    $211

 New Orleans to:
 Toronto     $266
 Montreal    $277

Tickets are available for sale through travel agents or Air Canada reservations. Reductions are based on lowest published fares.

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Canadian Airlines' Seat Sale
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Not to be outdone, Canadian Airlines countered with its own Great Escape Seat Sale, offering destinations around the globe for up to 30% off.

Canadian Airlines' Great Escape Seat Sale also started Wednesday, April 7, for travel starting as early as April 14th and for travel as late as June 18th.

The ticketing deadline for most destinations is April 19th, 1999 (international travel dates vary and booking conditions vary according to destination).

An added feature of the Great Escape Seat Sale is that three consecutive days car rental from Thrifty earns one free car rental day (some conditions apply). And every stay at participating Westin Hotels and Resorts or Sheraton Hotels and Resorts earns 1000 Canadian Plus points.

>> More <<
Canadian Air

<< I N D U S T R Y N E W S >>

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Labor Talks Underway at Alaska Air
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Negotiators representing Alaska Airlines flight attendants, members of the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, and management are meeting this week to exchange opening contract proposals as a unique expedited process of Interest Based Bargaining gets put to the test.

As part of the contract settlement in 1994, which ended the first and only CHAOS strike AFA flight attendants have ever been forced to implement, the parties agreed to utilize an expedited process of negotiations. That process stipulates that as negotiations begin, the clock starts ticking on a period that ends July 30, 1999. If no agreement is reached by July 30, 1999, the parties will apply jointly for federal mediation with the National Mediation Board.

Flight attendants and management are also utilizing a less adversarial approach to contract bargaining called Interest Based Bargaining. IBB calls for the parties to work together to find mutually beneficial solutions to differences. Traditional bargaining is more adversarial, with each party working to "win" compromises from the other.

"We're optimistic that we can get a fair contract for the flight attendants and the airline in a reasonable amount of time utilizing this unique approach," said Tom Lent, president of the AFA Master Executive Council representing Alaska flight attendants.

Under the Railway Labor Act, the law that governs airline labor negotiations, contracts do not expire, they become amendable. The current Alaska flight attendant contract became effective on March 14, 1994 and became amendable on March 14, 1999.

Let's hope that IBB turns out to be a successful negotiating technique. It also begs a question: Negotiations take place between management and labor, as though those were the only interested parties. Question: What's missing? Answer: Representation by another vitally interested party, the traveling public.

>> More <<
AFA's Web site

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Who Needs Travel Agents?
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With airline websites and online travel agencies just a click away, who needs real-life travel agents?

In fact, travel agents can add real value to a travel transaction, as a recent survey by attests.

According to research conducted for Travel Weekly--a trade publication for the travel industry community--nine out of ten loyal travel agency clients value their agents most for the help they give in solving travel problems and for evaluating travel alternatives. Agents also get high marks for their ability to locate the lowest price, but only seven out of 10 clients think price-shopping is the most valuable attribute of their agency.

Other sources for information and bookings, such as the Internet and travel companies' 800 numbers, get very low marks in comparison. For example, only a handful of clients use 800 numbers (5% and 2%, respectively) or the Internet (2% and 7%, respectively) when they need problems solved or want to research travel alternatives. When it comes to price shopping, the Internet gets greater use, but with only 21 percent of leisure travelers versus 71 percent relying on agents for the best price.

This latest Travel Weekly study is the third in a series analyzing consumer attitudes toward travel agents. Specifically, researchers talked to "loyal" agency clients, defined as leisure travelers who tend to use one agent for at least some of their leisure trips.

Overall, customers expressed substantial satisfaction with their agents. The majority of clients have been using the same agent for more than 5 years, primarily for buying air tickets (61%) and for booking domestic (32%) or international packages (23%). In the past two years, one in five have used travel agents to make hotel reservations, one in six to book rental cars and one in eight to buy cruises.

In open-ended questioning, consumers said they are loyal to their travel agents because of:

     -- Their agent's ability to get the best price (34%)
     -- Their agent's convenient location (31%)
     -- Their agent's personal relationship with the client (28%)
     -- Their agent's general good service (24%)

Consumers also believe that their travel agents know them well. On a scale of one to ten, where ten is complete understanding of clients' travel needs and one is complete ignorance, the majority (57%) scored their agencies at eight or better and one in four gave them a perfect 10.

The consumers surveyed say they take about four trips a year and use agents for more than one-third of those involving an overnight stay. Trips booked without the aid of an agent tend to be automobile trips or trips that are simple to arrange or do not require advance bookings.

<< R E A D E R R A N T S & R A V E S >>

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Reader Tips: PlanetAll
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Thanks to S.H. for taking the time to share his experience with PlanetAll, and for his advice, which we endorse wholeheartedly.

Hi Tim:

I don't know whether you'll publish this information or not, but it is a good lesson learned for those of us who pursue outside mileage earning opportunities.

As everyone knows, opportunities abound to earn miles on the Internet for opinions, referrals, shopping, etc. I pursue these offers on an almost religious basis, and have earned a good number of miles. But a stern warning: REDEEM, REDEEM, REDEEM! When you reach the minimum number of points or credits needed for a miles award, grab that award!

The reason I say this is a site with which many readers may be familiar called "PlanetAll.com". They have a program called "PlanetPoints" whereby you can receive 100 points for each friend you refer. The points were then redeemable for miles vouchers on several airlines, in minimum incriments of 1,000. I participated because it's a nice contact management service, and was very little work to earn miles.

On April 1, PlanetAll changed the redemption of PlanetPoints to "Amazon.com" $10 gift certificates. While I don't disput the value of these vouchers, I was extremely disappointed that my PlanetPoints were no longer going to offer me miles. I had referred, well, let's just say, A LOT of people, and was planning on redeeming points for miles in a very short time. PlanetAll did not give members any real advance warning of the change.

My message to fellow mile-seekers: When you earn miles on the Web, DON'T WAIT! REDEEM! At the MINIMUM levels, REDEEM! There have been other sites that offered miles that folded, and programs that have changed. Just cash in and get the miles. Sure---earn more---earn as many as you can. But don't make the mistake that I made with PlanetAll.

Hope this information is helpful.

S.H.
Baltimore, MD

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Southwest's Website (continued from last week)
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>> From S.H. >>

Re. the Southwest Airlines website:

I think the site is adequate, but what upsets me is the inability to reserve multi-city flights. For example, I often fly from Oakland to Orange County on the weekend. However, the return flight I want is usually either sold out or only available at the highest fare. So If I need to return from another LA-area airport, I have to make my reservation by telephone. The reservation page should give the option to return from other airports.

<< M I S C E L L A N Y >>

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Site2See
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"Something Annoying in the Air: Airline Websites"

That's the title of a recent Washington Post online article, which evaluates the websites of the major airlines. It's consumer-focused, rating the sites with respect to download times, ease of navigation, and ease and accuracy in finding the best available fares.

Their take on Southwest's site: high marks for functionality (substantiating the view expressed by the majority of Crier readers), but low marks for the "hokey" home page graphics (with which I would concur with great enthusiasm).

>> More <<
Airline websites article

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Aviation Humor
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Whether the Internet is an endless source of wisdom, or even information, is debatable. What is incontrovertible is that the Internet runs deep with humor of all types. The following was forwarded by J.B.

>> Aviation 101
 
Takeoff's are optional. Landings are mandatory.

If God meant man to fly, He'd have given him more money.

If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger, if you pull the stick back they get smaller. (Unless you keep pulling the stick back -then they get bigger again)

Flying is not dangerous; crashing is dangerous.

It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here.

The propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof? Make it stop; then watch the pilot break out into a sweat.

Speed is life, altitude is life insurance. No one has ever collided with the sky.

It's best to keep the pointed end going forward as much as possible.

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man.... Landing is the first!

Every one already knows the definition of a 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. But very few know the definition of a 'great landing.' It's one after which you can use the airplane another time.

The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival.

Always remember you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands.

Never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.

You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi.

Those who hoot with the owls by night, should not fly with the eagles by day.

A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down - all of them trying to become random in motion. Helicopters can't really fly - they're just so ugly that the earth immediately repels them.

Young man, was that a landing or were we shot down?

Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

Trust your captain .... but keep your seat belt securely fastened.

Any pilot who relies on a terminal forecast can be sold the Brooklyn Bridge. If he relies on winds-aloft reports he can be sold Niagara Falls.

Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.

Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.

There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing: Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

The only thing worse than a captain who never flew as copilot is a copilot who once was a captain.

Be nice to your first officer, he may be your captain at your next airline.

Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwind.

A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears on the outside. It's worse.

Son, I was flying airplanes for a living when you were still in liquid form.

It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You start with a large fortune.

A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.

A fool and his money are soon flying more airplane than he can handle.

Remember, you're always a student in an airplane.

Keep looking around; there's always something you've missed.

Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your takeoffs.

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.

There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold, pilots!

Things which do you no good in aviation: Altitude above you. Runway behind you. Fuel in the truck. Half a second ago. Approach plates in the car. The airspeed you don't have.

Flying is the perfect vocation for a man who wants to feel like a boy, but not for one who still is.

Asking what a pilot thinks about the FAA is like asking a fireplug what it thinks about dogs.

Being an airline pilot would be great if you didn't have to go on all those trips.

Gravity never loses! The best you can hope for is a draw!

Until next week...