Skiplagging
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
Airlines Hate ‘Skiplagging.’ Meet the Man Who Helps Travelers Pull It Off.
Aktarer Zaman is the founder of a controversial website that unearths airfare hacks, most notably skipping the last leg of a flight for a cheaper price.
Finding a great flight deal often involves diligently tracking and setting price alerts, comparing miles or points programs, signing up for new credit cards, flying out of an inconvenient airport at an inconvenient time, and more.
Some travelers will go further by booking connections and sometimes even purposely skipping them. This workaround, called skiplagging or hidden-city flying, means purchasing an itinerary with a layover that is the intended destination and skipping the last leg of a flight. Some travelers will employ this tactic when it’s cheaper than buying a direct flight.
Aktarer Zaman founded a website called Skiplagged in 2013 to help travelers unearth these deals. Skiplagging, however, is prohibited by airlines, and carriers will occasionally punish travelers who do it, clawing back frequent flier mileage and even suing passengers. United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have sued Mr. Zaman’s company over the years, and a lawsuit filed by American is ongoing.
But in a conversation with The Times, Mr. Zaman, 32, said more than 12 million people have used his website in the last 12 months. He said that skiplagging offers significant value to cost-conscious travelers and he’s invigorated to empower them. (New York Times)
Exclusive: Locking Eyes With Mass Murderers in El Salvador
Sunlight pours into the cavernous building. A towering ceiling and polished floor give the look of a railway station or airplane hangar. But the air is still and intensely claustrophobic. Down the long sides of the hall are large built-in cages, each containing dozens of men staring out. This is Cecot — El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center — and the men are known as the “worst of the worst.”
Mass murderers, drug dealers and gangsters, they are accused of once holding El Salvador hostage, gripping the nation with fear as they ruled cities and streets. Today, they are stripped of freedom, influence, and individuality. And they may never get them back.
Each wears a simple white T-shirt and shorts. Some have white socks and sandals. Their heads have been shaved and some have tattoos covering their faces. Many stand confidently, even defiantly, arms crossed within a few feet of the floor-to-ceiling bars, trying to get a better look at us. Others sit cross-legged and motionless on four-tiered metal bunks that line the cells. And still others are at the back, looking down or away from us, wearing face masks, as if they want to avoid being seen on camera or to catch our eyes, almost ashamed.
We are the only outsiders here, granted exclusive access and a private tour as the first major US news organization allowed inside Cecot late last month. Opened less than two years ago, it is already an iconic feature of the “new El Salvador” of President Nayib Bukele. (CNN)
Inside the $20 Million Business of Gutting Failed Bay Area Tech Companies
Features reporter Ariana Bindman visited Better Source, one of the biggest office furniture graveyards on the West Coast.
It’s a cold fall morning in Hayward, and I’m staring into a technicolor abyss of Herman Miller replicas neatly crammed inside a 50,000-square-foot warehouse.
Next to them, vintage Barcelona loungers, live-edge coffee tables and mid-century desk lamps idly sit, waiting to be claimed by savvy interior designers and young startup managers on a budget. My co-worker, who’s on site to take photos, beelines for a floral print monstrosity of an armchair, which may have very well once belonged to a high-powered executive at Meta’s New York offices. Though it might seem like some sort of rare corporate relic, at Better Source — which is in the multimillion-dollar business of liquidating failed Bay Area tech companies — there’s plenty to go around, and for much cheaper than you think.
When I show up to one of the retailer’s massive warehouses along a lonely industrial corridor in the East Bay, employees tell me that they’re the biggest used office furniture dealer west of the Mississippi — and it’s hard not to believe them.
(SF Gate)
How France Uncovered the Mystery of the Forbidden Photos of Nazi-Occupied Paris
The search for the unknown photographer began in the summer of 2022, with the discovery of an old photo album at a flea market in the town of Barjac, in the south of France.
"As I flipped through the pages I realized, my God, it's all scenes of [Nazi] occupied Paris. And I knew I'd found a treasure," she says. "And then I read the little note in the front. 'If you find this album,' it said, 'take care of it and have the courage to look at it.' I thought, someone sent a message in a bottle and I just found it."
Inside the album were 377 black-and-white photos taken between 1940 and 1942. They included street scenes with civilians and ubiquitous German soldiers, going about the business of Occupation near some of the most recognizable landmarks: Montmartre, the Place de la Concorde or the Champs-Elysées.
But there was no indication of who had taken the pictures, and with good reason. During the German Occupation of France, the Nazis strictly prohibited outdoor photography; taking pictures without an official permit was punishable by imprisonment or death. (NPR)
The Bosses Who Don’t Care About Your Ivy League Degree
Elite university pedigrees can work against job seekers in some corners of the corporate world.
It’s hard to get a job at Charlie Gipple’s financial advisory firm if you went to the wrong college—like Harvard, Yale or Princeton.
The chief executive of CG Financial Group in Johnston, Iowa, says academic credentials don’t impress him like they used to. He worked with many graduates of top-tier colleges in previous jobs at MetLife and ING Groep, where he was a vice president, and says they too often approach clients’ challenges like textbook case studies, rather than real-world problems.
“If I were hiring somebody to be my right-hand person today, there’s not a chance in hell it would be an Ivy League person,” says Gipple, who graduated from the University of Northern Iowa and manages a network of about 500 advisers.
Traditionally a springboard to the top of the résumé pile, a degree from a prestigious university can now prompt questions about its value or even work against job seekers.
In extreme cases, it’s disqualifying. Example: A group of 13 federal judges signed a letter in May saying they will not hire law clerks who enrolled at Columbia Law School this fall because of how the school has handled campus protests. (WSJ)
Ex-Fiancée Must Return $70K Ring After Failed Engagement, Court Says
Massachusetts’s highest court reversed a longstanding ruling, saying an engagement ring must be returned if the wedding falls through.
After a year of dating that included trips to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Italy, Bruce Johnson bought Caroline Settino a $70,000 diamond engagement ring from Tiffany & Co.
Johnson proposed during a dinner in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 2017. When Settino agreed, other diners at the restaurant applauded.
The next year, Johnson sued Settino, claiming he was the rightful owner of the engagement ring.
Johnson broke up with Settino before they were married, and his lawsuit forced Massachusetts’s highest court to reconsider a 65-year-old ruling that said someone can retrieve the engagement ring they gave their partner only if they weren’t at “fault” for the breakup.
On Friday, Johnson learned he would reclaim the ring after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that, from now on, an engagement ring must be returned to the buyer if the wedding falls through, regardless of who’s at fault. (Washington Post)
A Surprising Source of Dementia Relief: Cannabis
While marijuana can help calm agitation, there are risks.
More older adults are using marijuana for sleep, anxiety and pain. A small but growing number are taking it to manage their dementia symptoms.
Doctors who prescribe cannabis to dementia patients say it can alleviate anxiety, agitation and pain, and improve sleep, appetite and mood. While there isn’t much definitive research on the use of cannabis for dementia, several small studies have backed its usefulness in soothing agitation.
Roughly 20% of the people who come for a cannabis consultation now are dementia patients, says Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather, a general practitioner in Sebastopol, Calif., who has made cannabis his specialty for more than 25 years. Some dementia patients—and their caregivers—are seeking alternatives after traditional medications haven’t provided relief or caused unsettling side effects, doctors say.
“It’s a fairly common practice among people living with dementia,” says Brenda Roberts, executive director of the nonprofit National Council of Dementia Minds, a dementia-patient advocacy group. Marijuana comes up frequently in discussion groups, she adds. (WSJ)
When I had to fly coast-to-coast or other long routes I would price out two round trips on different airlines with a stay over a weekend. At the time, the duration of your travel had an impact on prices. I could often obtain a better price for a trip using this technique.
Just finished reading about the French couple who took the photos of Paris for two years of the Nazi occupation and before they were discovered and ratted out by co-workers because taking photos without authorization was verboten. Absolutely fascinating story of sleuthing to find out the photographer and what happened upon discovery. I’m passing this story on if you don’t mind. Made my day. For all who have been to Paris what one sees in this album is not a pleasant sight.