All the corporate scandals of the past few years have had people in an uproar over corporate responsibility, or the lack thereof. Then I read in Sunday’s Boston Globe that when headhunting firm Christian & Timbers reviewed 7,000 executive resumes, they found that 71 percent lied about how long they worked at previous jobs; 64 percent said they accomplished more than they actually did, and more than half claimed degrees they didn’t actually have.

The scariest part, to me, is that the article concluded, “Yet many companies, even after they discover misleading information such as distorted graduation dates or forgery of responsibilities, still have an interest in hiring the candidate.” Riddle me this, Batman: if we know going in that they are liars and cheats, why are we so surprised when they lie and cheat on the job?

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There are some great ideas on ConventionPlanit’s site, compiled by and for planners. The best part, to me anyway, is that you get to vote on your favorites.

For what’s up there now, I guess I’d go with the majority vote, which is to hold a pre-con meeting with your on-site team, and get them in the mood by incorporating locale-related décor and food and beverages.

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This article from msnbc.com reminds me of the old days when I’d fly between Denver and the East Coast via People’s Express (remember that low-budget airline?) and actually looked forward to getting bumped for the free tickets. Nowadays, seems like I always have to get somewhere fast, so I seldom have the option to take a bump, but it’s nice to know others are holding up the tradition.

If you’re one of them, check this out: According to someone on the MIMlist listserv who used to work for an airline, Sundays tend to be your best bet for oversold flights, especially on major airlines flying from hub to hub. Monday mornings and Friday evenings also tend to sell out. Because it depends on the frequency of flights an airline has going to a particular city, the most likely to oversell are airlines with the fewest number of flights per day to that city. Also, because some planes have to reduce their loads on hot days, some may have to have empty seats even if the flight isn’t oversold when the mercury soars.

Author, speaker, and fellow MIMlister Jim Carroll also pointed out this site.

How it works–Do a search for a flight, and here’s how you interpret the results:
F9 J9 C9 — first / business is pretty open
F0 J0 C0 — first /business sold out
The number will fluctuate between the above
depending on the bookings in that class; you might see J7 for example. F is first, J is business, C is discounted business.

Then the next set of details for each flight features the the booking levels, by fare class, in economy. For example, if you look at Toronto-LaGuardia, July 1, flight 4899, you’ll see:

Y7 B7 H7 K7 M3 L2 V0 W0 Q0 G0 O0 S0 N0
(There is no F, J, C since this is an all-economy flight)

Interpreting the above:
Y is full fare economy
B, H , K, L etc are discounted economy seats. Thereis very little L class availability (meaning the really cheap seats are gone), and even full-fare economy (Y) is selling, since it isn’t 9 (9 is the max you’ll ever see, even if there are hundreds of seats in that category)

If you see a lot of 0s, chances are the flight is overselling.

He adds that you can also use the same tool to study your chance for an upgrade, if you are trying to use upgrade coupons, by looking for flights that have lots of C class availability, since that is the class usually assigned for seat upgrades.

Whether you’re looking to get bumped, or, like me, are looking for an empty flight where you can stretch out a bit, this could come in handy.

I just ran across an article I wrote for Association Meetings a while back on social, military, educational, religious, and fraternal (SMERF) meetings, and thought this part of it is still pretty funny–and relevant:

You know you’re a SMERF planner when:
* Your social organization’s attendees request rocking chairs so they can soothe the grandkids while debating land economics issues.

* You have to worry about food and beverage attrition not because your people don’t show up, but because they are veterans of the Korean War and they just don’t eat and drink like they used to.

* Your educational group doesn’t need a suite for its board meeting–it needs 4,000 square feet of meeting space.

* Your gospel group brings along a ten-dollar bill and the Ten Commandments, fully intending not to break either one.

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