Alaska Airlines has restored the mileage tracking function to its frequent flier site on alaskaair.com.

The airline brought the system back up Wednesday afternoon after tweaking new software that was bogging down its system.

Alaska last month took down its frequent flier mileage tracking Web site for a brief period to install a new system, but like many computer upgrades, not everything went as planned.

The new system bogged down in letting Alaska frequent fliers know the recent history of miles added to their account.

Now, the airline says, the system is back up and working as intended.

Alaska's site always showed total miles earned and allowed frequent fliers to book tickets, but didn't show whether recent flights had yet been credited.

SeaTac's Alaska Airlines and its regional sister airline, Horizon Air improved their on-time performance significantly last month according to new figures from Portland's Flightstats.com

The two airlines, whose on-time record had lagged last year, were ranked second (Horizon) and ninth (Alaska) among the 41 domestic airlines Flightstats tracks.

Among the eight so-called legacy major carriers, Alaska ranked second only to Southwest Airlines.

Horizon flights were on time 89.43 percent in April. Alaska's were on-time arriving 81.03 percent last month.

Military veterans, transitioning military personnel and family members of either can visit the current landscape of civilian jobs and careers next Thursday, May 15, at the Greater Seattle Area Career Fair being held – not in Greater Seattle – but at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center in downtown Tacoma.

The event runs from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. and will feature national, regional and local recruiters and employers from such areas as sales, customer service, management, manufacturing, law enforcement, security, operations, logistics, transportation, engineering, project management, marketing, food service and maintenance.

Those attending are urged to bring a few dozen resumes.

Admission is free.

For more information, visit www.recruitmilitary.com.

Majestic America Line, a coastal and river cruising company based in Seattle, has been put on the sale block by its parent company, Ambassadors INternational.

Majestic America operates paddle-wheel-style boats on the Mississippi, Columbia and Snake rivers and in coastal Alaska waters.

Majestic America has been hit by a series of setbacks in the last year including low water on the Mississippi which disrupted cruises, an engine fire on the Queen of the West and a political reversal in Congress that will keep the company from continuing to operate the historic Delta Queen of modern safety equipment.

A massive Cascade mudslide that blocked the major rail route between the Pacific Northwest and California has finally been cleared.

The Union Pacific route through the Cascades shut down Jan. 19 after a huge slide wiped out tracks and carried some 400,000 cubic feet of trees, rocks and earth down a mountainside.

Amtrak discontinued its premiere West Coast train, the Coast Starlight, after the slide. It now has resumed service.

About 15 freight trains a day also used the route. They were rerouted on UP rails east from Portland along the Columbia and then southward toward Klamath Falls where they hooked up with the line north from California until the cross-mountain route was restored.

Rob McKenna, state attorney general, said today that Facebook – like MySpace last January – has agreed to steps that will lead to a safer environment within the social networking Web site by protecting younger users from sexual predators and bullies.

The agreement, which adds more than 40 safeguards to the site, was signed by representatives from Facebook as well as attorneys general from 49 states. Texas officials chose not to sign.

According to the Associated Press, the agreement features changes that include banning convicted sex offenders from the site and limiting older users’ ability to search online for subscribers under 18. Facebook will also join an existing task force seeking ways to better verify users’ ages and identities.

Among other changes, Facebook has agreed to:
• Ensure companies offering services on its site comply with its safety and privacy guidelines.
• Keep tobacco and alcohol ads from users too young to purchase those products.
• Remove groups whose comments or images suggest they may involve incest, pedophilia, bullying or other inappropriate content.
• Send warning messages when a child is in danger of giving personal information to an adult.
• Review users’ profiles when they ask to change their age, ensuring the update is legitimate and not intended to let adults masquerade as children.

“This agreement establishes that Facebook shares our concerns about creating a safe online environment for children and teens to network,” McKenna said.

The down economy may prove to be a boon to Costco.

The wholesale chain said today that April sales at stores open at least a year rose 8 percent as shoppers contending with higher fuel costs sought less expensive clothing and food.

Sales for the four-week period through May 4 increased to $5.54 billion, company said.

U.S. same-store sales gained 7 percent in the U.S. and 14 percent at international locations. Seventeen analysts estimated an average gain of 6.2 percent, according to Retail Metrics LLC in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

Consumers are gravitating to Costco and discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as they face record U.S. gasoline prices and higher food expenses, Bloomberg News reports.

Costco’s customers, who pay an annual membership fee, also visit for bargains on luxury items such as a 1-ounce bottle of Shalimar perfume for $225.
“They are benefiting from people who are trying to save money,” said Patricia Edwards, a Seattle-based portfolio manager at Wentworth, Hauser & Violich, with $14.8 billion in assets including Costco shares.

Jim Merritt, principal at Merritt Arch, writes to say there’s a meeting on tap for later today to help develop a vision for the Dome District.

“This assembly is intended to be a community outreach to gather the neighborhood and interested citizens to initiate a grassroots collaborative process to define the future vision of the Tacoma Dome area,” he said.

The open house/social is slated to start at 4:30 this afternoon and run for two hours. It’s at Dragonfly, at 24th and A Street (in the old General Tire shop).

Merritt promises the gathering is no more than a meet-and-greet for interested parties. It’s about “looking at the future with a fresh perspective, weaving in all the great projects that are rooted in the Tacoma Dome area, just beginning construction, in the planning phase, or not even contemplated yet.”

See you there.