(my sincere apologies to Longfellow)

And Larry said to his friend,
If the Plats march by land or air to the town tonite,
Hang a latern aloft in the belfry arch
of the North Houston tower as a signal light.
One if land, two if by $203 transcon,
And I on the opposite runway shall be,
Ready to fly and spread the alarm,
To every Continental city and town,
For the CO bean counters to be up and to arm.

And mostly he watched with eager search,
The belfry tower of the old Houston Church,
And lo, as he looks upon the belfry height,
First a glimmer, and then a gleam of light,
He sprang to 1A in his new ERJ,
He orders a scotch, and to the window he turns,
And he lingers and gazes til full in his sight,
A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A roar of an engine above the village street,
A shape in the midnight, a bulk in the dark,
Larry warns, the Plats are coming, the Plats are coming.

Like vicious vultures, chewing on a bone,
The Plats were approaching to draw more blood from a stone.
You know the rest from the posts you have read,
That its hard to draw blood from a $69 oil price dread,
But, lo they tried, as not to leave empty handed,
To get a token freebee, was the reason they banded.

Do you honestly think we all traveled to Houston for freebies?

***silence***blink***silence*** oh nevermind.

No I dont. I'm just having some fun with it.

Okay -- it's just that you're so vociferous that it's hard to tell sometimes.

Please, though, do let us know when you find those mythical $203 transcons. I've been paying a lot more than that of late...

PDX-FLL 206.20 all in 4/4-4/5 pretty darn close

Speaking of cheap-o transcons, I just flew LAX-LGA through CLE for $218.00 including all taxes. Next weekend, I'm off from LAX-DCA through EWR for the same $218.00 including taxes. They are out there if you search.

PHL to ONT, $198 and change 7 and 14 February.

Traveling Tue/Wed/SAT

ALB-LAX , flights are 195.00
ALB-SEA has been had for about $240
and sometimes I get
ALB-LAS ($198.00)
to pay for itself (if I get a good slot machine at Ceasers)

Did you account for the Chase 5% off?

While I suspect the average fare paid to the DO was higher (IAH isn't exactly known for cheap fares, you know), even if every attendee paid an average of $203 to CO for airfare, I would say the DO was revenue positive for CO.

Don't forget the elusive $5 Travel Club credit.

I spent about $600 to attend to DO. There were some empty seats on the flights and the Marriott had lots of empty rooms (Larry is on the Marriott Board of Directors.)

I could have stayed home and bought something nice for the $600. I went for interest - not for free food. I could have eaten in nice restaurants all week for what I spent.

Plat's and others that have been flying CO for over 20 years - appreciate CO service and want to see CO continue as a premium airline with the perks that premium airlines offer - like an F cabin, lounges, etc.

Art meets frequent flier-miles. Well done, chasbondy! ^

Can we stop giving negative attention?

-Vincent