| Frequent Flier Miles Good For Outer Space |
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By Frank Reeves
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The sky no longer may be the limit for US Airways' globetrotting passengers. The airline says customers may soon use their frequent-flier miles to fly in space -- but they'll have to fly a lot of miles here before earning the chance to fly out there. A heck of a lot of miles. Customers enrolled in the airline's Dividend Miles program will have to log 10 million miles to get a shot on Space Adventures Ltd.'s sub-orbital flights. That's the equivalent of 400 trips around the world. Even the most overworked business traveler would be hard-pressed to reach that goal. But awaiting those lucky -- if not miserable -- souls capable of reaching that goal is a 90-minute flight by the private space exploration company that features a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the blue-green Earth from an altitude of 100 miles. "US Airways and Space Adventures have created an incredible opportunity that only can be imagined by most people today," said B. Ben Baldanza, US Airways' senior vice president for marketing. "We are delighted to join with Space Adventures in this exciting new out-of-this-world endeavor." In addition to an actual space flight, the frequent-flier miles can be used to participate in Space Adventures' zero-gravity program at a former Soviet cosmonaut training center in Russia or to fly in MiG-25 jets to the edge of space at more than twice the speed of sound. Tereza Predescu, a spokeswoman for the Arlington, Virginia based Space Adventures Ltd., said about 100 people had made reservations for the sub-orbital flights, which are scheduled to get under way in 2004 or 2005. For those who can't earn enough frequent-flier miles, hard cash can get you a reservation on the sub-orbital flights: The cost is $98,000. (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com)
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