A Golf Blog

Low Cost Insurance Conundrum

A couple of days ago, my friend Russ and I were talking about insurance. The gist of the conversation was centered around initiatives that companies undertake as a means to saving money on claims.

Sabre is offering a discount on the annual premium if you fill out a wellness survey – something to create and maintain awareness of your current state of health. Like how much you weigh, your height, do you smoke, etc? When completed, the survey creates a recommendation page – things to watch for, suggestions for diet, etc. So someone’s figured out that the discount is a fraction of what the company could save if employees were more pro-active about wellness. What amazes me is that the company even has to do this – I guess that some are content to play Russian roulette with hypertension, high cholesterol and such.

Then, the next day, there’s a piece on a program launched by American Airlines that tracks whether its employees’ primary physicians are meeting guidelines for treating at risk patients. Wow, have you ever wondered how much less medical care would be if physicians didn’t do all sorts of ‘procedures’ as CYA measures against litigation?

Then, back on Tuesday, I get this jewel via email and now I’m beginning to wonder what’s going on. Coincidence? Perhaps, but creepy none the less.

Corporate Blogging Survey

I received an email today from Roger Signer. He is a business administration student at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and he's working on his thesis - Weblogs as a Marketing Instrument.

He asked if I'd not mind taking a short survey and since I've had help along the way with Sabre and corporate blogging, I spent the 5 minutes it took to fill it out.

If you have 5 to spare, I'm sure he'd appreciate your feedback also.

Link to survey.

Asian Travel Market

In 1964, Japan lifted foreign travel restrictions and a boom in outbound tourism began and lasted until the economic slump of the late 1990’s.

In 1997, China lifted its ban on leisure foreign travel and in 2003, China passed Japan as the biggest supplier of outbound travelers.

The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will be the “growth engine of world outbound tourism”. Last year, 29M Chinese traveled abroad and the WTO predicts it will be 50M in 2010 and 100M by 2020.

And that’s just for tourism. So, if you thought doing business with China was optional, think again.

Courtesy of WorldHum and Tom Miller.

Headline Train Wreck

Every now and then I get validation that my memory is not shot – although that may be contrary to the opinion of some.

Awhile back, Scoble had a tip for attracting more readers – write better headlines. Simple enough, huh?

Then this (Discount “Romance” Package in Palm Springs) from Fodor’s appeared in my reader and I thought now isn’t that an oxymoron? After another moment or so, I saw it as a train wreck about to happen.

“Hello darling, guess what? I booked us into a swell discount romance package. Pack a bag, we leave in 2 hours.”

It’s just not safe talking about discounts when romance is involved.

Pick a Seat-Mate for Your Next Flight

When was the last time someone plunked down next to you that appeared to be interesting enough to make you want to strike up a conversation? For me, it’s been quite awhile.

And until recently, almost never for Peter Shankman – founder of AirTroductions.com, a site that can help you hook up with someone that has similar interests as you.

It works like this – register and complete profile information. Then, buy a ticket and go to AirTroductions.com and browse for a seat mate. There’s no charge to look but if you do hook up with a seatmate, it’ll cost you $5.

The sites relatively new – only 850 registered users. My guess is that it will be awhile before anyone regularly finds a match.

Orbitz and Worldspan Enter the Ring

At stake are separate lawsuits for $50million plus damages for each. Orbitz started it saying that Worldspan conned them into a “one-sided, long-term agreement”. Then three days later, Worldspan comes forward as the victim of “deception and abuse.

More from Dennis Schaal at TravelWeekly.

US Government RSS Feeds

I was searching the US Patent Office site and stumbled upon a link to a catalogue of US Government RSS feeds. There is even feed for the goings on in our national forests.

How to Save $3 Billion

Delta Airlines has begun defining their plan to cut $3 billion in costs by the end of 2007. First, about 9000 jobs will be eliminated – that translates to 17% of Delta’s workforce. In addition to wage and benefit cuts, Delta’s cutting 100 aircraft out of its fleet. That is about 20% of the available seats in the United States.

Now, just suppose that Northwest opts for something similar, say standardizing its fleet for operational efficiencies – fewer aircraft types to save money. For illustrative purposes, let’s assume that action put 15% of their existing fleet in mothballs.

Imagine the chaos in the transportation industry caused by reducing capacities in America by 35%. Airlines will ditch service to small and mid-sized markets in favor of higher yield mid-sized and long haul markets. Now what happens if one or both decided they can’t emerge from chapter 11?

The prospects for re-regulation are very real indeed.

Connected

Every so often, something happens that strikes a sentimental chord and for me, that happened yesterday. Tim Bray, Sun’s Director of Web Technologies and ubergeek, succumbed to peer pressure and agreed to coach soccer for eight, six-year old boys. Says he doesn’t know what he’s getting into.

Perhaps not now, but I’ll bet it doesn’t take long for the exuberance of youth to help him understand exactly what he’s gotten into.

MAXjet

Their aircraft of choice is the Boeing 767 with 102 seats with 60 inch pitch (space between seats) could spell a recipe for success. Service starts on Nov 1 between New York (JFK) and London (Stansted).

I hope they make it.