Alaska Airlines and the Portland Timbers professional Major League Soccer team have entered into a partnership in 2011. To help celebrate, you are invited to design the livery for a Boeing 737-200 aircraft in the Paint a plane contest…

…and — if your design is chosen — it will appear on the actual designated aircraft, and you will also receive the following:

• Two round-trip tickets in the First Class cabin to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies
• An autographed jersey, and
• Tickets to the inaugural Portland Timbers game

Completed entry forms and artwork must be postmarked or e-mailed by February 15, 2011 to be eligible for consideration, and only one entry per person is permitted.

After tomorrow all DL CAI (Egypt) traffic suspended due to civil unrest. Its last flight departs from Cairo on January 29, 2011. However, reports indicate that flights on other airlines in and out of Cairo will be suspended indefinitely as well.

Meanwhile, FlyerTalk members who have planned to be in Egypt in the near future are understandably concerned due to the uncertainty and potentially dangerous political unrest currently developing:

• Protests in Cairo and planned trip!
• Decided to cancel vacation to Egypt, what are my options?
• Is Egypt a mess right now?
• Egypt shuts down access to Internet and all mobile phone services

Hotel properties in Egypt, such as the Sheraton Cairo, are also experiencing abnormal operations due to the civil unrest.

It can be a pain in the ash to attempt to travel to a region where there is active volcanic activity, but that is exactly what is going on in Bali, Indonesia:

• Airlines Cancel Bali Flights As Volcano Erupts
• Volcano in Indonesia and DPS flights

Ensure that if your plans call for travel to or from Bali that you check with your airline and hotel property for the latest information.

Earn extra AA miles with each stay, Feb. 6 – April 11, 2011 with Best Western Rewards, but you must register for the spring promotion prior to your first stay. Earn 500 American AAdvantage bonus miles on your first stay, 750 American AAdvantage bonus miles on your second stay, and 1,000 American AAdvantage bonus miles for each stay thereafter.

There is no limit on the number of bonus miles that can be earned during the promotion period.

New members get an extra 250 American AAdvantage miles just for joining Best Western Rewards.

A party is just not a party without Retsina, which is a Greek alcoholic beverage that sounds either like a city in Virginia or like an active ingredient in a breath mint, is reportedly made from poor varietals of grapes, and can taste like a mix between turpentine, toilet cleaner and shampoo. It supposedly goes well with fatty meats such as lamb, but it apparently is not recommended as a dessert topping.

One particular ingredient in Retsina may not “resin”-ate with some FlyerTalk members…

If you are an InterContinental Priority Club member in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada except for Québec, you just might be busy for the next twelve weeks, as you have a chance of winning the daily prize of 5,000 Priority Club points and the weekly prize of 15,000 Priority Club points in the “Win it in a minute” trivia game.

You may enter only once per day, and you will be timed, as the faster you are able to answer the trivia questions, the more points you can earn to place you on the top 50 list for the daily prize and the top 100 list for the weekly prize.

Other rules and restrictions apply.

Good luck!

FlyerTalk members discuss the gruesome breaking news emanating from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow today, where an alleged Suicide Bomber at Moscow Airport-1/24/11 reportedly killed at least 35 people and injuring at least 150 additional people as of the time this was posted.

FlyerTalk members also expect the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, to respond with overreaction to what happened at the airport in Moscow.

This unfortunate incident is also being discussed in the British Airways Executive Club and bmi diamond club forums on FlyerTalk.

Is it because of moral values, new technology, or is it the possibility of hotel guests accessing pornography via complimentary high-speed access to the Internet instead of paying through the in-room entertainment system that prompted the decision of Marriott to Remove Adult Content from New Hotel Rooms?

To further elaborate on the easier access to entertainment via computers and hand-held devices, is the future of in-room entertainment itself in jeopardy?

For further discussion on a topic related to this in general, Should X-Rated Movies Be Banned From Hotel Rooms?

FlyerTalk member pmocek has been found by a jury not guilty of all four charges levied against him in what is being considered a landmark case pertaining to the rights of passengers when traveling.

The Gate first reported on this story back on November 16, 2009, and many FlyerTalk members are rejoicing at the decision of the court regarding how pmocek was arrested at the airport security checkpoint in Albuquerque, New Mexico for refusing to show his identification upon demand of Transportation Security Administration, or TSA.

Start reading here for the portion of the story after the verdict was reached which, among other things, includes a first-hand account of the court proceedings by FlyerTalk member bdschobel who was personally in the courtroom, as well as a link to a video of the actual incident which precipitated this court case.

To start from the beginning to get the complete story, please read the Flyer “Processed” (Arrested?) in NM After Declining to Show ID thread.

Imagine a turkey sandwich that caused a Delta Air Lines customer service representative who “strongly feels that Medallion elite members should not be at a loss under any circumstances” to promptly refund FlyerTalk member reddawngrl — who complained about how her breakfast sandwich on a croissant and received an “Amusing email response regarding my inedible sandwich” — the seven dollars she paid for what she calls “nothing but mayonnaise and one slice of 1 mm thin turkey meat that was more fat and gristle than actual meat,” claiming that the sandwich was “inedible.”

Other FlyerTalk members wonder why she did not complain immediately upon being served a turkey of a turkey sandwich and receiving a refund while still in flight.

Even more amusing are similar forms of correspondence received by other FlyerTalk members that are nothing more than form letters with a line or two of customization added to them…