Upgraded: Political mayhem that leads to free travel
The recent political turmoil in Thailand has left travelers wary of visiting, so Air Asia is offering 100,000 free tickets to Thailand from other Asian destinations. Air Asia seems to offer free tickets rather frequently. The drop in Thai tourism isn’t just because of the financial crisis. It’s largely a function of the political struggle between the existing government and the monarchists. (Some decent background on the crisis, which led to airport shutdowns, is here.)

Upgraded: Bugatti rentals
I never knew this: The cars at many ultra-luxury car rental operations (the places that rent out Lamborghinis and Bugattis, not the stuff Hertz has on offer) are loaners from cash-strapped owners. Jalopnik has the primer on renting an uber-luxury car.

Downgraded: Canadian pet mobility
Upgraded: JetBlue pet mobility and frequent flyer miles
Canada’s top airlines — Air Canada and Westjet — aren’t transporting pets during the holiday season. They stopped accepting animals for travel on December 15. The ban runs through January 6 on Westjet, and January 7 on Air Canada. Why? They’re blaming fuller planes and fuller cargo holds. In contrast: JetBlue isn’t just transporting animals, they’re giving their owner bonus miles.

Downgraded: Being a flying bartender
Angling for a lawsuit, anyone? “A husband and wife are suing United Airlines for “negligently” overserving alcohol during a flight from Osaka, Japan, to San Francisco, saying the carrier’s drinks fueled the domestic violence involving the two shortly after their plane landed.” The couple contends they got served wine every twenty minutes. Whom do I have to threaten to sue to get that kind of service on UA?

Upgraded: Car sharing
The car-sharing phenomenon in major cities was launched by small operators. Now that the model has proven itself viable, the big firms are stepping in. Enterprise and Hertz are both entering the space, with Hertz launching in Paris, London, and New York this week. “Connect by Hertz” will be a membership program much like Zipcar, but with far fewer locations (Hertz starts in NYC with 10 sites, vs. Zipcar’s 300). But Parisian entrepreneurs are plotting to be one step ahead: electric short-term mini-rental cars, much like one finds public-use bicycles.

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If you’re planning on flying within Asia, be sure to check Air Asia’s free-flight offer. They’re giving away 500,000 tickets, and not tacking on any fuel surcharges, either, so the only fees are taxes. A good deal, if you can get it, and if it works for you.

This isn’t the first time they’ve done this sort of thing. They had a 1-million free tickets deal back in January 2007, then again in April that year.

The current deal requires some advance planning:

Booking Period: 12 Nov 2008 – 16 Nov 2008
Travel Period: 22 Jun 2009 – 24 Oct 2009

With an offer like this, and with a substantial lead-time like this, there’s some risk of airline failure making those tickets worthless. Most travel insurance would only reimburse you for the purchase cost — not the replacement cost — of the tickets if a problem were to arise. Beware of making hotel reservations that can’t be canceled and refunded, if you get tickets in this deal.

But if you’re flexible, and if Air Asia flies where you want to go, good luck!

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Discount carrier Air Asia has a new promo: They’re giving away 1 million tickets for flights within the region. It looks like it’s available on most every route right now, including major routes like Bangkok-Singapore.

Of course, taxes come on top of this, but it’s still really cheap. For the BKK-SIN route, I found “free” seats that came to 1450 baht total, or about US$40 roundtrip. Hard to beat.

Click here for the promo page. Book by January 19, fly between April 1 and October 27, 2007.

UPDATE: For the November 2008 free ticket offer, see here.

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