Usa Thread

[Flashermac]

Sparkling rhetoric, fascinated audience ...

 

My link

 

 

[Steve]

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/03/11522769-spirit-raises-baggage-fees-again-pay-early-or-pay-a-lot?lite/

 

Would you pay $100 to put your carry-on bag in an airplane overhead bin? If you fly Spirit Airlines this fall and don’t pay before you get to the gate, you almost certainly will.

 

 

This week, the low-cost carrier announced that it will not only start charging a C-note for that particular privilege — the current fee is $45 vs. $30 if you pay online before you check in — but will also raise the price on roughly two dozen other baggage fees, effective Nov. 6. Depending on whether you pay those fees online, via phone or at the airport, most of the other increases are a more modest $2 to $10 per bag. Click here for a complete rundown of Spirit Air's baggage fees.

 

Spirit, of course, is the airline that has built its business model on charging for everything from making reservations and printing boarding passes to complying with the “unintended consequences†of government regulations. It’s a model that has earned the ire of many travelers even as it has allowed the carrier to offer low fares and maintain profitability.

 

“Our pricing continues to offer customers savings and time at the airport if they book their bags in advance on Spirit.com,†said spokesperson Misty Pinson. “By encouraging self-service, Spirit is able to lower our costs and pass those savings along to customers by way of low fares.â€

 

And that $100 charge for last-minute carry-on bags? “We don’t want any of our customers to wait until they get to the boarding gate to pay for their carry-on bags as this delays the boarding process for everyone,†said Pinson. “We expect that our new $100 fee ... will ensure that customers purchase their bags before arriving at the gate.â€

 

Other would-be customers, however, are likely to see the move as another reason to avoid the carrier altogether. Two years ago, the airline’s policies led to the creation of a Boycott Spirit Airlines Facebook page; today, the page has more than 20,000 “likes,†a number that has been growing rapidly in the two weeks since the carrier refused to provide a refund for a Vietnam veteran with terminal cancer.

 

Protests, however, are unlikely to sway the carrier, which has clearly found a business model that works, as evidenced by the first-quarter financial statement it released on Tuesday. During the first three months of the year, the airline’s operating revenues totaled $301.5 million, up almost 30 percent over the same period a year earlier. Profit for the quarter topped $23.4 million, up from $7.9 million the year before.

 

And à la carte fees played a significant role in those results. During the quarter, the airline earned $51.68 in non-ticket revenue per passenger per flight segment, up 21 percent over the year before, even as its ticket revenue dropped 6.9 percent, from $82.30 to $76.65 per passenger per flight segment.

 

In other words, the average Spirit passenger booking a round-trip flight paid just over $100 in add-on fees for bags, boarding passes and other ancillary services. Meanwhile, a mid-June round-trip ticket between Las Vegas and Oakland will set you back less than $82.

[Steve]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-cinco-mayo-wish-signing-dream-act-222407392.html

President Barack Obama hosted a Cinco de Mayo party at the White House -- "even though it's only tres de mayo, we just like to get the fiesta started early around here" -- and promised to push for a comprehensive overhaul of America's immigration policies if he's reelected.

"There's still plenty of unfinished business, including fixing our broken immigration system," he said. "It's long past the time that we unleash the promise of all our young people and make the DREAM Act a reality."

Mitt Romney has vowed to veto the legislation, which would allow some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to stay on American soil legally, provided they have a clean record and graduate from high school or serve in the military. Republican Senator Marco Rubio has also pushed a version of the measure that would provide temporary, non-immigrant visas.

"No is not an option, I want to sign the DREAM Act into law!" Obama said. "I've got the pens all ready, I'm willing to work with anybody who's serious to get this done, and to achieve bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform that solves this challenge once and for all."

The issue has heavy electoral resonance: Latinos are the fastest-growing voting population, and many experts predict they will play a big role in a handful of critical battleground states in November. Obama easily leads Romney among Latinos, according to recent polls.

 

The cynic in me knows he's doing this purely for the vote in an election year. However to be fair, a Republican candidate would have done something similar as well. Its politics.

[Flashermac]

Why would anyone in their right mind fly this airline? I'd probably be arrested for losing my temper and beating the crap out of their agent with my AWOL bag.

[Flashermac]

Maybe Obama should replace Biden with an illegal Mexican for the Veep.

 

He could probably come up with a Hawaiian birth certificate for one.

[Hugh_Hoy]

The cynic in me knows he's doing this purely for the vote in an election year.

 

Stevo...save your cynicism for other stuff. You don't need to be a cynic to realize Barry is just posturing and buying votes. Now, my "cynical" questions are these: How much did the party attendees have to pay to attend the White House Cinco de Tres affair? Mandatory max of $38,500? (Pesos accepted?) Did he change the name of the Lincoln Bedroom to the Che Guevara Bedroom for the night and rent it out?

 

I sure wish I'd been there to see Barry do the Mexican Hat Dance and Michelle do some Flemenco. How friggin' "cool" would that have been?

 

 

HH

[Hugh_Hoy]

double post

[Steve]

HH!!! How ya doin' buddy?!!

[Steve]

http://www.republicreport.org/2012/exclusive-why-cant-you-smoke-pot-because-lobbyists-are-getting-rich-off-of-the-war-on-drugs/

 

Some of the groups who want to keep the drug illegal are police unions that want more members to pay more dues. One of the primary sources for cash for more policing activities are Federal grants for penalizing illegal drug use, which help pay for overtime, additional police officers, and equipment for the force. That’s what Lovell does, he gets those grants. He also fights against democratic mechanisms to legalize drugs.

There is big money in marijuana prohibition. Lovell represented a police union in a bid to steer some $2.2 million dollars into a “Marijuana Suppression Program.†In 2009 and 2010, California police unions sought a $7,537,389 chunk of Federal money for police to conduct a “Campaign Against Marijuana Planting†program.

 

The anti-marijuana money went directly into the paychecks of many officers. For example, police departments in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Tehama Counties formed a “North California Eradication Team†to receive $550,000 in grants that helped pay for overtime, a new officer, and flight operations:

 

The total amount awarded was $550,000, to be split between Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties, which make up the Northern California Marijuana Eradication Team (NorCal-MET). Broken down in the agenda worksheet, the sheriff’s office is expecting to spend $20,000 on flight operations, $94,895 for the full-time deputy’s salary and benefits, $16,788 for the administration assistant salary and benefits and $29,983 to cover up to 666.29 hours of overtime.

 

The Federal anti-marijuana honeypot might have dried up if Prop 19 had passed. Legalizing marijuana would have generated billions in tax revenue for the state of California, while also reducing victimless crime prosecutions. But for lobbyists like Lovell, legalization was a direct assault on hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential fees for helping to solicit taxpayer money for his clients.

 

Police unions also contributed about $100,500 to a campaign account used to coordinate opposition to Prop 19. Of the $386,350 in fees paid by police unions to Lovell through 2009 and 2010, status update reports reviewed by Republic Report reveal that Lovell worked on a number of issues, from advocacy against Prop 19 to channeling grants and monitoring legislation.

 

Of course, police unions aren’t the only interest group with a stake in maintaining broken drug laws. The beer industry, alcohol corporations, and prison guard unions also contributed money to help Lovell stop Prop 19. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now helps push for legalization as a citizen advocate, told Republic Report that drug company lobbyists also fight to keep marijuana illegal because they view pot as a low-cost form of competition.

[Bangkoktraveler]

The War on Drugs has been a disgrace!

 

How many decades will it take to make a 'dent'?