First off, my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Vino for his excellent contributions during my absence the past week. It was nice to leave the laptop at home, knowing the blog was in capable hands. Be sure to check out his wine blog for advice on maximizing your wine buying dollar and for regular wine commentary.

The last week was a good one, though I think I need to take a few days off of chocolate and cheese. (I won’t do a trip report unless the masses demand it, but we spent a little over a week in the Netherlands, touring cities and the blooming bulb fields.)

I’m not quite back on Central Daylight Time yet, despite my best efforts. (Though it’s too late now, I checked the British Airways jet lag advisor site to see if I’m on track to overcome jet lag quickly. Not quite. It would have been nearly impossible to follow their “avoid light from 9:00 to 11:30am” suggestion, seeing as I have a job to go to…) Someday I really need to try melatonin or some other drug. It’s all the rage, after all.

Besides sleep, I’m also catching up on what’s happened in the past week, but clearly it was an eventful time for travel related news. Buckle up.

- Northwest reversed the $15 “choice” seating fee for its elites. Good for them!

- United raised the price in miles for *selected* routes and classes, plus added short-term ticketing fees. (boo!) I’ll post more on this soon, for sure, once I adequately digest the changes.

- The Wall Street Journal (via Tim Leffel) reported that 27% of Americans now have a passport, up from 22% last year. Quite a jump! (Leffel’s theory: since Canada and the Caribbean used to NOT require a passport for US citizens, but will soon require one, we’re seeing a surge of new applications for North American travel needs. It’s a theory. Got any other ideas?)

- Following Star Alliance’s addition of Swiss and South African Airways, the SkyTeam alliance added Russia’s Aeroflot to its roster. How does the European Union welcome them? With an anti-trust investigation of the alliance. (slap!) Well, it’s probably unrelated to Aeroflot’s entry, but still.

- Delta isn’t striking. Pilots agreed to a 14% pay cut.

- America West used to serve Pepsi. US Airways served Coke. Then they merged. The winner: Coke. (Serious question: Does Virgin Atlantic serve Virgin Cola?)

- The Maxjet news you know you crave: The discount all-business carrier reported in a press release that they’re actually filling planes — 50 to 70%. More impressive: their customer satisfaction percentages are in the 90s for those surveyed (how large was their survey sample size??…)

- Finally, pieces of defunct Independence Air went up for auction. The flight simulator went for $3750. Chairs went for $5 each. Both will look great in someone’s home, I’m sure. Maybe even this home.