“National Assn of Postmasters of the US will have to pay the Hyatt Regency Washington more than $257,000 plus related costs under an Aug. 6 summary judgment in DC Superior Court,” according to a recent issue of Association Trends.

The judge found that the organization “did not meet a three-day notification requirement in the contract when the association pulled out of dates in 2003 and 2004 for its leadership conference at the Hyatt hotel. The assn claims it was forced to give up those dates because of changes of dates for an important US Postal Service event conflicted with the 2003 and 2004 NAPUS conference dates. By show of hands at the NAPUS 2002 Leadership Conference, as many as 70% of the participants said they would not be able to attend the NAPUS conference in 2003 and 2004 because of the USPS change.”

The judge didn’t buy it, though. It’s a sad thing when a 25-year relationship ends up in a courtroom, as this one did.

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For some reason, I just flashed on an airline spoof site I wrote about last fall that still gives me the giggles to think about. So, this being Friday and me wanting to goof off a bit and all, I went back to see if it’s still there.

Yup, Alaska Air’s spoof site, SkyHigh Airlines is still flying, with some new hilarious pokes at airline travels. For example, ever wonder why fares can vary thousands of dollars from seat to seat? “Is it dumb luck? Is it predatory pricing? Is it some kind of pin-the-fare-on-the-passenger game? Hardly,” says the site. “We can assure you our pricing structure represents the latest in bioengineering. A cutting-edge melding of silicon and white meat that assures scientifically random fares that are free from human influence and troublesome logic.” That’s right, it’s the Poulet-ulator 1000, aka a live chicken cam so you can watch as KFC’s finest randomly pecks out a fare.

Got an hour or so to waste? This is definitely the spot to hit. Happy Friday!

I know Republicans have had Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., on their “watch” list for eons, but now it seems that air transportation officials have added him to their terrorist watch list, too.”

“Between March 1 and April 6, airline agents tried to block Mr. Kennedy from boarding airplanes on five occasions because his name resembled an alias used by a suspected terrorist who had been barred from flying on airlines in the United States, his aides and government officials said.”

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