Re: Today's Salon.com Cover Story...
Erik Reuter wrote: > By the way, why did these guys use frequent flyer numbers? Is there some > benefit other than accumulating the miles (for example, does it make it > easier to order a ticket no questions asked)? > > I'm not a frequent flyer, so maybe someone who is can enlighten me? About all I know about it is that Delta requires you to have a Delta frequent flyer number to order plane tickets on the net (or at least they did the last time I bought Delta tickets, which was in 1999) but it's fairly easy to get one, and that once you fly 8 legs with Southwest (8 1-way tickets or 4 round-trip tickets or any combination that gets you 8 legs) you start getting perks, and the only one of *those* I can really tell you about are the drink tickets (every alcoholic drink I've ever had in an airplane was paid for with a drink ticket my sister had gotten as a Southwest frequent flyer bonus). But I don't think Southwest would be the airline of choice for any terrorist anyway. :) I'm wondering now if there's some sort of indication on the ticket that someone's a frequent flyer, and if so, would that mitigate any possible suspicion about a passenger? Make it easier on them somehow? If there's a set of behaviors you expect from frequent flyers as opposed to the ordinary run-of-the-mill once-a-year passenger, and they acted that until the moment of action, would that do anything psychologically to the people they were dealing with? Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Today's Salon.com Cover Story...
From: "Nick Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: Today's Salon.com Cover Story... Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 11:06:44 -0800 > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of Erik Reuter > Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 9:48 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Today's Salon.com Cover Story... > > > Jon, > > Please email me a copy. > > By the way, why did these guys use frequent flyer numbers? Is there some > benefit other than accumulating the miles (for example, does it make it > easier to order a ticket no questions asked)? > > I'm not a frequent flyer, so maybe someone who is can enlighten me? The major perk is that as you reach certain levels of annual mileage, it becomes much easier to buy cheap upgrades to business or first class. And when you're flying 100,000 miles a year, those upgrades are really important, believe me. But I can't quite see why the terrorists cared. I'd imagine that they were simply on a budget. You can buy a round-trip ticket for 25K miles, so it doesn't take many cross-country trips to accumulate one. Can't be. The article said the frequent flyer account had only been signed up for 3 days before. Unless they did an around the world in 3 days or purchased $25,000 on an American airlines credit card. :) Of course, it is inconceivable that the account used on Sept. 11th would ever be touched again, so perhaps their goal was to reduce suspicion Or maybe they were seeking upgrades in order to be closer to the cockpits. It's definitely much easier and more acceptable to the flight attendants for people in the forward cabins to be up and moving around. In coach, if they're serving food, you can't move around. Possibly, but since they had already purchased first class tix (at least Atta did), then I don't see how that could have made a difference. Jon _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Today's Salon.com Cover Story...
> -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of Erik Reuter > Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 9:48 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Today's Salon.com Cover Story... > > > Jon, > > Please email me a copy. > > By the way, why did these guys use frequent flyer numbers? Is there some > benefit other than accumulating the miles (for example, does it make it > easier to order a ticket no questions asked)? > > I'm not a frequent flyer, so maybe someone who is can enlighten me? The major perk is that as you reach certain levels of annual mileage, it becomes much easier to buy cheap upgrades to business or first class. And when you're flying 100,000 miles a year, those upgrades are really important, believe me. But I can't quite see why the terrorists cared. I'd imagine that they were simply on a budget. You can buy a round-trip ticket for 25K miles, so it doesn't take many cross-country trips to accumulate one. Of course, it is inconceivable that the account used on Sept. 11th would ever be touched again, so perhaps their goal was to reduce suspicion. Or maybe they were seeking upgrades in order to be closer to the cockpits. It's definitely much easier and more acceptable to the flight attendants for people in the forward cabins to be up and moving around. In coach, if they're serving food, you can't move around. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Today's Salon.com Cover Story...
From: Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Today's Salon.com Cover Story... Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 12:47:40 -0500 Jon, Please email me a copy. By the way, why did these guys use frequent flyer numbers? Is there some benefit other than accumulating the miles (for example, does it make it easier to order a ticket no questions asked)? I'm not a frequent flyer, so maybe someone who is can enlighten me? In my experience, it can make it slightly easier to order a ticket, but during at least July and December of 2001 it made check-in at Delta (but AFAIK not American?) *much* easier. In NY, Dallas and LA, Delta had little check-in machines where you swiped your SkyMiles card and automatically received your boarding passes. So, no face to face human contact was required for check-in except at the security gate. I usually check my bags at the curb and then swipe for passes to accompany my e-tix. It saves a ton of line-waiting time. Strangely enough, even though Delta has had them since last year, I only just recently saw news coverage about or ads for this system. The only main advantage to using a frequent flyer number in ordering tickets is it slightly shortcuts the online process. Nothing else. Also, AAdvantage and Skymiles members can sometimes board with First or Business class passengers. But the terrorists flew First Class. On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 11:54:40AM -0500, Jon Gabriel wrote: > A few used identical frequent-flyer numbers. > As far as I know, this is supposed to be impossible. You can only assign miles for tickets in your own name? Jon _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Today's Salon.com Cover Story...
Jon, Please email me a copy. By the way, why did these guys use frequent flyer numbers? Is there some benefit other than accumulating the miles (for example, does it make it easier to order a ticket no questions asked)? I'm not a frequent flyer, so maybe someone who is can enlighten me? On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 11:54:40AM -0500, Jon Gabriel wrote: > Fla., and sat down at a computer with Internet access. He logged on to > American Airlines' Web site, punched in a frequent-flyer account number > he'd signed up for three days before, > A few used identical frequent-flyer numbers. > -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
