Pigeons Aren’t a Carry-On
As many people know, the TravelFli team is spending the week in sunny Sunnyvale meeting with investors, partners, and mentors. There also happens to be a lot of travel news this week, so I’ve elected to provide a quick update on each story in the interest of time.
Better Bag Tags
I watched an interesting CNN report this morning from the hotel room. Today, United Airlines started testing new bag tags with their Mileage Plus frequent flyer program members. They are hoping the tags will reduce wait times and lines during check-in at airports.
Beta testers can check in online or at an airport kiosk and then drop their bags off at a specific destination. The tags, which are equipped with a radio frequency identification chip (RFID), will be scanned to verify the passenger’s identity. United hopes the tags will represent the next generation in how bags are checked in the airport. To participate, sign up at www.united.com.
Delta & NWA Merge Loyalty Programs
As of today, frequent flyer members can link accounts and transfer miles between Delta and NWA. Although the programs won’t completely merge until 2010, customers who link their accounts (on either delta.com or nwa.com) by March 15th will earn 500 bonus miles.
Is That A Pigeon, Or Are You Happy To See Me?
Completely unrelated to frequent flying, yet totally hilarious and worth writing about, an Australian returning from a trip to the Middle East was seized by customs officials for hiding a pigeon in an envelope on each lower leg using a pair of tights. The man violated Australia’s strict quarantine policies; which forbid the inportation of certain agricultural and produce products. He could be sentenced to 10 years in prison for this harebrained scheme. This reminds me of the time I was fined $200 at the New Zealand customs office for carrying an APPLE in my duffel bag from Australia. I can’t imagine what would have happened had I strapped a pair of birds to my legs…
That’s travel this week. Happy flying!
