The Brancatelli File for 1986

November 1: SURPRISE! THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH WITH FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAMS
Let 1986 be marked as the year frequent flyers once again learned there are no free lunches. Airlines finally have offered a glimpse of what bonus programs are really about. And--surprise, surprise!--the truth of the matter is that they are hard-nosed marketing strategies designed to sell more seats, capture more market share and turn more profit.

March 1: FUTURE FLIGHT: UNBELIEVABLY MAGICAL, NECESSARILY BANAL
Moses Znaimer has seen the future of air travel, and he has bad news: There are middle seats in deep space. And they'll have to contend with an interplanetary bureaucracy sure to make 21st century business travelers nostalgic for the comparatively minor indignities of contemporary air travel. These depressing insights--and lots of good, clean futuristic fun--are incorporated Toronto's participatory entertainment complex called "Tour of the Universe."

February 1: PAULISTA STYLE: LIVING, WORKING AND SURVIVING IN SAO PAULO
A shoe shine at Congonhas airport costs only about forty cents. A good Brazilian beer at an elegant cocktail lounge costs about seventy-five cents. Even an elaborate banquet at one of the city's grand restaurants runs less than fifteen dollars a head, and a room at a five-star hotel here can be had for less than eighty dollars. But what's glorious for visiting executives isn't quite so fabulous for the local business community. Brazil's much-chronicled financial woes are finally catching up to Sao Paulo.

January 1: ACCOUNTING FOR THE LONDON CONNECTION
Yes, recruiters say, there are accounting jobs to be had in England--and U.S. firms do send American accountants to live and work in London. But new accountants need not apply for such plum assignments. It takes at least a decade of experience, says an American who's leaped across the pond for a major accounting firm.

Copyright © 1986-2017 by Joe Brancatelli. All rights reserved.