Couldn’t Help But Notice (032307)
Betcha didn’t hear the one about the European country that rejected a nationalized single-payer health insurance system at the ballot box by a 71-29 margin (HT Amy Ridenour’s able helper David Hogberg). Switzerland’s slap-down occurred almost two weeks ago. The fact that almost no one knows about this shows that the Formerly Mainstream “If it doesn’t fit the template, we ignore it” Media in the US snoozed through it.
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Earlier in the week, Drudge called this story about DC’s functional illiteracy rate (”about one-third“) a “shock.” Given how bad many of the schools are, perhaps the shock should be that it’s that LOW.
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Overbooking a flight is one thing. Overbooking a flight by 22 seats is another.
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Greedy company bosses enrich themselves — at the New York Times (HT Pundit Review via Don Luskin).
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Deal or no Deal? Congressman Paul Gillmor “of Tiffin” (my a**) has called for US Attorney General Gonzales’s resignation. Pain Dealer suggests that Gillmor might have the right to open his yap — when he moves back into the congressional district he “represents.”
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Implicitly campaigning against shopping, as two presidential candidates have done (HT Instapundit), doesn’t seem like a winning strategy.
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In the wake of the Enterprise, Alabama tornado earlier this month, President Bush got very high marks from the locals for his empathy, compassion, and genuine concern. The Formerly Mainstream Media, which fell all over itself relaying similar stories from the previous administration during the 1990s, virtually ignored it (the linked AP story was found in the China Post, because it ran in precious few places in the US). A local Alabama outlet noted the disconnect. Anchoress grasped the significance, and did a tremendous post on the situation last week. I think history will conclude that George Bush was the most heavily media-filtered president in at least the past 35 years.
Tell Glenn to buy a full-fare ticket and he won’t get bumped. In economic terms, we refer to this as perfect price discrimination. It’s a necessity for such volatile industries such as commercial aviation to skim profits.
Comment by Kevin — March 23, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
#1 Kevin, I don’t think whether or not you have a full-fare ticket drives the bumping priority. I think what drives it is whether you get an assigned seat, because the air lines only assign about 75% of them ahead of time. I could easily be mistaken, but I thought that those likely to be bumped are those who didn’t get seat assignments until the day of the flight. Regardless, I don’t think the airlines look at who did and didn’t pay full fare (and by that I assume you mean people who didn’t get any kind of discount for booking 7, 14, or 21 days in advance) to decide who gets involuntarily bumped.
Comment by TBlumer — March 23, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
Tom, seat assignments don’t matter. If someone pays more for your seat, you will lose it. Airlines choose who gets bumped by prioritizing the fare class of the ticket. Next time you travel, look for the fare class on the boarding pass.
Here’s a link that explains oversold flights.
http://www.fodors.com/wire/archives/001369.cfm
Comment by Kevin — March 24, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Kevin, thanks for the info. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a flight with involuntary bumping yet. Lots of bumping, but none involuntary that I know of.
Comment by TBlumer — March 24, 2007 @ 2:45 pm