Word: statuses
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Watching Up in the Air, moviegoers are likely to be impressed by the obsession of Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney) to reach 10 million frequent flyer miles. It is easy to fantasize about the perks that status might bring: front-of-the-line access, voyages to remote beaches at the price of nothing, expensive wines, surprise treats.... But before you stuff some shirts into a carry-on and prepare to brave the skies as Bingham does in the film, be aware that the glories of becoming an American Airlines 10 million miler have been given a little movie-magic...
When Bingham hits his 10 million-mile goal during a flight from Chicago to Omaha, he receives a surprise champagne celebration onboard, and American Airlines' chief pilot appears for a congratulatory sit-down visit. Bingham, already the owner of an impressive graphite card (a status invented by the film), receives an instant upgrade: a personally engraved metal card that will allow him to directly access his own private operator, someone who will greet him by name. (See 50 essential travel tips...
That said, Dunkelberger's Executive Platinum status with American is pretty sweet: it offers upgrades, lounge access and a 100% flight mileage bonus (meaning he doubles his miles with each trip), to name a few benefits. But he must also hit certain mileage marks each calendar-year or else lose his privileges. (See how to get double air and double rail miles...
Each month, interviewers contact 60,000 households - most by phone, some in person - and ask about the employment status of household members age 16 and over. Those who don't have jobs but have looked in the past four weeks are classified as unemployed. After some statistical adjustments to extrapolate the data from those 60,000 households to the total U.S. population, the number of unemployed is divided by the size of the labor force (employed plus unemployed), and there's your rate. Measured that way, unemployment still isn't as bad as it was at the lowest point...
...massacred hundreds of residents of the towns of Rafah and Khan Younis during the Suez Canal crisis. His reporting on those deaths leads to a meditation on the situation in Gaza in the early 21st century. Sacco's journalism sheds new light on these tragedies that "barely rate footnote status" in the region's official history, but it's the art that resonates. The hopelessness etched across the faces of Sacco's war-weary Palestinians would be near impossible to duplicate solely through the written word...