I'm about to watch "Inside Death Row" on National Geographic ...

There is if you are offering the award on another Alliance carrier. That is what the *A chart is all about. Therefore, writing their own chart is pretty much what UA has done and US has not. US fights this by not offering many of its own seats but the partner flights are widely available. UA just does not show the partner flights that it does not care to offer. If that is what CO will do, then that is what I have been referring to as "filtering."

Then explain how BD has a completely different reward scheme than US or UA does. Even at straight miles the numbers are all different across the board. For North America to the Middle East the numbers are:
UA - 75K/115K/145K
US - 80K/120K/180K
BD - 80K/120K/160K

LH is at the same levels as US so I can see where there is some consistency in some cases but it does not seem as though there are strict requirements across the alliance in that regard. As for the "filtering" that UA does it has nothing to do with their reward levels and everything to do with the way that they display *Net inventory to their agents.

I guess there have been some changes in the three years since I left US but they were changes that I was never subjected to as I cashed out my *A miles strictly in accordance with the award chart. All that the new levels employed by some carriers does is reinforce my perception of Dividend Miles being more valuable than those from Mileage Plus and now, it seems, more valuable than those of BD. I also believe that most of the other * carriers adhere to that chart since I have found premium class awards on LH, SQ, OS, OZ, NZ, and in the past year on AC and UA all at the numbers set forth on that chart.

My thesis still remains that if CO treats OP miles the same way that US treats its DMs, the OP miles will be worth much more than they are right now.

Well they do call their buyers "suckers." They occasionally have something worthwhile but most things they sell are crap.

iRobot gutter cleaners are most certainly not crap :)

That would be ^. I'll keep posting gigs when I get the chance.

Heck yeah! Do you know if the shows are sold out in advance or if two-fer's are available at TKTS?

Sorry....no Manhattan gigs since most places only hire bands that play original music and/or don't pay enough to deal with the :rolleyes: of parking and unloading gear in the middle of the city. The place in Woodbridge that we played on Friday shares a parking lot with the NJ Transit Woodbridge station (even had some NY friends come down) so that's probably the easist for the Manhattan non-car crowd. Other places we play could be a train ride and cab to/from the bar. If enough people are coming to the same gig and it turns into a mini-do, you may even be able to catch a ride with someone.

It's a sad commentary that Dividend Miles still have the value they do for some things, because the airline runs a real risk of not existing and those valuable miles disappearing.

I think OP miles are going to rise in value no matter what; the question is how much they will rise.

Entourage is starting.

I don't disagree and just have burned another 60 or 70K for two Trans-Tasmans on NZ later on this year. I guess that I am now down to about my last 30K, probably almost enough for one domestic FC ticket if I need it.

However, I do believe that US will outlast UA which will soon be entering its death throes.

I'm with you there, and maybe a year ago I would have disagreed with this. Whether or not it's deserved, US is somehow managing to survive.

US has better management than UA, and that says a lot.

That is a cool tour. How many 787s did they have out on the line?

Last week they had the one in Boeing colors and the one in ANA colors.

With all of his warts, Parker is still head and shoulders above that clown show that runs UA.

Entourage was great as usual and Emmanuelle Chriqui is as cute as ever.

Cool line: "Only 6% body fat. And 94% full of sh**." :D