Buying an Airline Ticket On-line, Great Upgrade Price...Not!

So recently I was looking for an airline ticket to Europe--something without an In-Flight-Entertainment box blocking under seat room, two-across seating, not three (goodbye BA and IcelandAir). Seems that Delta/KLM and Lufthansa are the only ones who offer that. So I went further in the process and as part of it Delta put this ad into my screen...an upgrade? Oh, boy check this out! Maybe a good deal headed your way!

Round trips to Amsterdam from Seattle next Spring are running in the $1300 range for economy.  Here's the ad:

A screen shot of a pricey upgrade option

So with this ticket, for only an ADDITIONAL $1,980 I can change the ticket to one that's refundable! Whaaat? Or maybe I should just upgrade to Business Class, where I can get a real seat, where my shoulders don't hit the man in the next seat.  Gee it's only $2,324 over my ticket, that's pricey but....wait a minute...that $2,324 EACH WAY?

So my $1320 ticket becomes a $5700 ticket.  Theoretically, I could buy four adjacent economy tickets, then lie down the whole trip (both ways), treat myself to a $400 meal in Europe, and come out even.

I guess the algorithms aren't quite perfect yet, huh?

Century Link Has Secure Access

Couldn't pass this one up. I was having trouble logging in to the Century Link website to check out my phone bill. I clicked on the "forgot password" and this was the next screen.

screen shot from my attempted password recovery

Definitely secure!

Who Else is Concerned about all this Data Collection by the Federal Government?

Once all these stories popped up about the Utah data center, the handing over of access to files by Verizon, Microsoft, drones everywhere, et al, I started thinking about it.  Up 'til then, I took solace in the fact that large bureaucracies seemed to have trouble doing much of anything right, let alone spy on any and all Americans.  Then it started to sink in--a lot of what you dream about happening in the future is technologically possible, it's just usually too expensive to implement. But with technology getting cheaper every day, one day it will be feasible to do.  Like connect all your credit card transactions with your captured photos of your license plates and track you with your cell phone, to linking up your emails and your phone calls (did you know digital phone calls allow for easy searching for certain words where the old analog phones didn't?).

So then just recently I read a novel by Brad Thor called Black List.  It tied together a lot of these themes...it didn't have government go corrupt, but it was close. And in the epilogue the President jots down on a notepad three legislative issues he wants addressed ASAP:

"1. A state of national emergency could last for only one year. Any period beyond that would need approval by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

2. All warrantless surveillance of American citizens was to be terminated immediately. Going forward, it would be a capital offense to surveil American citizens [by government] without proper judicial review and written authorization.

3. In order to curb insider trading, all members of Congress, as well as all federal employees who work in the defense, technology, and intelligence sectors of government, were to be prohibited from investing the stock market. "

The third item was created to prevent a section of the government amassing money "off the grid" that could be then be used to assist in the implementation of a takeover.

Given some of the scary stuff FISA allows, I'd like to see #1 happen right away, and then not allow FISA warrants unless it's a state of national emergency.


Pretty good advice. Let's get started.

Why Are Amazon Book Sales Fees So High?

In a nutshell, because they can get away with it.

I sell my used books on Amazon (also tried half.com for awhile).  I started out when my spouse had a bunch of art books no longer needed, and I thought I'd get back a few bucks from her former investment.

Now one must admit it is easy to place a book for sale there, but did you know for most books Amazon takes in excess of 40% of the sales price?  That's right--check out this table:

Yes, until one gets to a sales price over $9 Amazon takes more than the old industry standard of 60% to the publisher, 40% to the retailer. Yet they never physically even touch a book.

For some time I put many of my books on half.com, but to date haven't yet sold one. A little advertising to combat Amazon is in order. Since their take is less, I price my books there to allow for me to pocket 50% of the savings, and the buyer likewise.

And these prices assume you won't make money off of shipping--with media mail running at $2.82 for a 2 lb book, add in a label and an envelope...well, no one's getting rich here (except Amazon, of course). (Update 7/1/15: Media Mail is now $3.22 for a 2 lb. package)

Here, calculate it yourself with this Excel spreadsheet.

OK, on to something productive.

Someone Got the IRS to Back Off

The IRS in 2011 created new regulations that required anyone who takes money for tax-preparation advice to be licensed by the federal government. Their basis--an 1884 statute (that preceded the IRS, by the way) that was intended to assist military pensioners who had monetary claims against the federal government. (I don't know either...)

The real effect of these regulations would be that half of all taxpayers would have their tax preparing costs increase, not including the thousands of small tax preparers who could not afford the new fees associated with the required IRS testing. And hard to believe, one of the IRS arguments was that it would be significantly harmed by the loss of the approximately $100 million in revenue it had already generated. Buffett + Gates probably paid more than that in taxes by themselves.

Enter the Institute for Justice, who represented three independent tax preparers in court and charged that the IRS lacks the legal authority to write such rules. Among their points, IJ pointed out that the IRS itself had in the past confessed that the 1884 statute did not allow them to regulate tax preparers. They further informed the court that Congress on eight previous occasions failed to pass a law that would have given the IRS that power.

Thankfully a D.C. judge agreed with the plaintiffs recently (Jan. 2013), putting a permanent injunction on the rules. A classic example of bullying by big government. Shameful.

Thank you, IJ.

Shout out for the Wall Street Journal, who wrote about it. (2/2013)

Trust Me I'm from the TSA

March 10, 2013

The screener at AUS said to "hold the boarding pass in your hand" as you clear the metal detector. (Mine was in my shirt pocket--bad person).

The TSA has this info below in a PDF on their website. (Is that a boarding pass at the upper left?)

From the TSA website

I must have misunderstood. They don't make mistakes, do they?

Oh, wait, maybe you haven't seen this apology on their home page.

As a result of this incident. Poor girl is only three years old.