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Alaska Airlines2 points
Phone: 1.800.252.7522 toll free call Web Site: www.alaska-air.com
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Amtrak Awards
Please give the corresponding 'Y' code to the Amtrak reservations agent, when booking your rail ... For reservations using rail only awards, contact Amtrak. ...

America West The official America West Airlines website offering online ticketing, Internet specials, weekend Surf'n Go discount fares, schedules, frequent flyer offers, and general information about America West Airlines. Phone: 1.800.235.9292 toll free call Web Site: www.americawest.com

American Airlines Phone: 1.800.433.7300 toll free call Web

Continental Airlines Phone: 1.800.525.0280 toll free call

Delta Airlines Phone: 1.800.221.1212. toll free call

Era Aviation5 points
You will not find many modern cities where the wilderness sits waiting at the back door, begging to be explored. Anchorage is one of those rare locations. Alaska's largest city is bordered by the shimmering waters of the Cook Inlet on the west, and the ruggedly beautiful Chugach Mountains on the east. Phone: 1.800.478.1947 toll free call

Frontier Flying5 points
Service Phone: 1.800.474.0014 toll free call

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines WorldWeb comprehensive travelplanning site. Purchase tickets online Phone: 1.800.645.9696 toll free call  Web Site: www.nwa.com

Peninsula Airways PenAir3 points
is the largest commuter airline in Alaska, providing service to 73 communities throughout Southwest Alaska. The company started in 1950 in Bristol Bay and today is still family owned and operated. Phone: 1.907.243.2485 Web Site: www.penair.com

TWA Phone: 1.800.221.2000 toll free call Web Site: www.twa.com

United Airlines Phone: 1.800.241.6522 toll free call Web Site: www.ual.com

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.5 points
is committed to delivering superior service by making air travel an easy and positive experience for every customer. Our passengers' comfort is of utmost importance to us, second only to our concern for their safety. Since 1929, our company has built an unmatched reputation for safety and hospitality.
Phone: 1.800.367.5320 toll free call Web Site: www.hawaiianair.com

 Unappetizing Airline Fare?
A decade ago, U.S. airlines spent $6.11 per passenger for food. Last year that figure was down to $4.17, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. And for the first six months of this year, they spent $3.97 per passenger.
The shrinking numbers don't tell the whole story, of course, especially when you're the one flying across multiple states fortified by a small bag of pretzels and a diet soda.
To the rescue:

A sometimes hilarious Web site,  www.airlinemeals.net, tells surfers at the click of a mouse what kind of haute cuisine, or not, to expect on a range of airlines. Besides color photos of the meals, there are candid, sometimes critical remarks and reviews, and a forum for sharing gripes.

If the meal meant for you looks unappetizing, you can put together your own emergency kit of food. And, experts say, the choices in portable food that won't spoil are becoming more plentiful. The airline meal Web site is the brainchild of Marco 't Hart, a 32-year-old graphic and Web designer from Rotterdam, Netherlands, who launched it as a lark. For more than two years he flew from his home to Istanbul, Turkey, to visit his girlfriend every two months or so. "While in Turkey, I was always photographing everything to show the people at home," he says. "Sometimes I also took pictures of my meals.

One time my mom asked, "And what do you eat on the plane?" "That was my reason to take a picture of my meal, which is now Turkish Airlines image 0010 on the site." Next he searched the Web to see whether anyone else had photographed an airline meal for posterity and found about 20 photos from eight or nine carriers, which he posted. Things really got rolling earlier this year, when he posted his request for photos of airline meals in four or five online newsgroups.

Since then the photos have poured in, and the Web site now boasts more than 1,000 photos from airlines large and small. Although meals are subject to change, the photos can give you a general idea of what you'll be served. Suppose you are flying Aer Lingus, economy class, from Dublin to Los Angeles.

Click on Aer Lingus image 013 and take a peek at lunch: chicken in mushroom gravy, potatoes, French beans. The comment: "Tasted a bit better than it looks. Not much chicken." There's some whining, not surprisingly. A hungry passenger's remark about the "dinner snack" on an ATA flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C.: "I paid $264 for a ticket, and all they can afford is 15 peanuts and a cookie?" The site also has a forum for trading info about the food. One Qantas flier asks, "Where has all the good food service gone? Qantas now presents all meals in economy class in a box, and the food is always boring.

" The top complaints, Hart says, are tasteless food, "undefinable" meat, skimpy portions or food that is too hot or too cold. Some passengers -- mostly first-class or business -- compliment. Some mention presentation; others say the food was the best they ever had on a plane.

If you don't like what you see when you take a look at the Web site or ask your reservations agent, it's easier than ever to pack enough food for the trip. When travelers ask Terri Rock, a Los Angeles-area family practice physician who has a special interest in travel medicine, what to take, she often suggests the new tuna-in-a-pouch products. The pouches don't need to be drained and don't require refrigeration before opening.

(The products are pungent, though, so you might attract a little unwanted attention from fellow passengers.) The product PB Slices is another good option. It's peanut butter packaged like individual slices of cheese; each wrapped slice has an ounce of peanut butter and 170 calories.

For more information, see  www.pbslices.com. And take along some Tums, Rock suggests. They're a handy way to be sure you get your calcium. If you eat strange food, they can quell a queasy stomach too. She also suggests granola bars, beef sticks, Cheez Whiz and, if you ask for bottled water, packets of dehydrated chicken soup and oatmeal.

Rock recommends that travelers in developing countries follow the same precautions with food on the airplane that they do while dining at their destination: They should not drink water unless they are sure it is safe, and they should avoid salad greens that may have been washed in contaminated water.

 After all, she reasons, the airline and restaurants on the ground use the same food and drink suppliers. "Meal replacement bars" have become common, says Evelyn Tribole, a dietitian and author of Eating on the Run (Human Kinetics, 1991). The name is a bit of a misnomer, she says: "Many barely have 280 calories," not enough to make a satisfying meal.

But if you choose to take along some of the bars, she advises looking for a brand "with at least 10 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber." This is easier said than done, as she knows. Promoted as a meal bar, the apple-cinnamon variety of a product called Satisfaction, made by Balance Bar, has 280 calories, 12 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. Slim-Fast also makes meal replacement bars; its milk chocolate peanut bar has 220 calories and 8 grams of protein but just 2 grams of fiber. Consider packing some trail mix or a package of dried fruit, Tribole suggests. "It's indestructible. If you sit on it, it's no big deal."

 September 22, 2004--- Nap time returns, for a price: Has a late night out or a bad night's sleep left you yawning at the office? You're certainly not alone. There's a cure, and people are willing to pay for it. In New York City, the city that never sleeps, there's a business that caters to the sleep deprived. "I came up with idea when I was working here in New York as a banker," says Arshad Chowdery, who founded MetroNaps. "I thought about a lot of my colleagues falling asleep during the day, and people would even sneak off to the bathrooms and take a nap. And that's when I realized MetroNaps is perfect for New York." MetroNaps, located in the Empire State Building in Manhattan, provides the sleepy with something better than a bathroom stall to discretely catch some ZZZs. Its customers are people tired of holding back yawns at important meetings or feeling like a drag during a night on the town. It's clear that napping is no longer the domain of the pre-school set. Sleep only a pod can deliver

"I would come every day, and I wish I had a pod in my apartment because nothing helps me as much as the pod," says Elizabeth Cole, a MetroNap regular. But at $14 a nap, can this really be better than your own bed? The pods block out sound with white noise and encase you without enclosing you to protect against distractions. The pod inclines forward so you can get in it and then reclines to the perfect position for a power nap. Twenty minutes later, the pod wakes you up. A pod looks like it's something out of science fiction, but it was actually born of science.

Two years of research at Carnegie Mellon found that a midday power nap can increase productivity and memory. Spreading pods "We expect to expand to bringing the nap pod's to wherever there are sleepy people," Chowdery. In October, travelers passing through the Vancouver airport will be able to siesta in a pod. MetroNaps also is hoping to pawn its pods to highway rest stops and even corporate offices. And it's looking for franchisees to set up pod shops across the country. But MetroNaps is finding that it's not quite as easy as, if you build pods, they will nap.

"The challenge is letting people know that taking a nap mid day is acceptable," Chowdery says. "There is no correlation between napping and laziness. In fact, it's quite the opposite." There even are frequent napper programs at MetroNaps that'll bring the cost down. And MetroNaps best customers are daily napper, a group that includes MetroNap's employees. It must be those long lines at the airport!!

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