Uplifting LiftoffsAlaska Airlines passengers really do fly...

Uplifting Liftoffs

Alaska Airlines passengers really do fly on a wing and a prayer. Or at least with a prayer.

With each meal on the Seattle-based carrier comes a small card imprinted with Psalm 92, Verse 1: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High.”

Says airline spokesman Louis Cancelmi: “We think it is a nice touch to the meal. . . . It is an energetic uplifting type of commentary and appeals to a broad audience.”

Prayers have been put on meal trays at Alaska Airlines for 13 years, and, to Cancelmi’s knowledge, Continental Airlines years ago was the only carrier to have done something similar.

Alaska Airlines gets an occasional complaint about the prayer cards from people “who think we are trying to promote Judeo-Christian religious values.” But favorable comments outnumber complaints by 10 to one.

By the way, prayers are available in both economy and first class.

Hello, Goodby

Talk about subtlety. The advertising staff at Neiman Marcus is given to inside jokes.

Last week, a newspaper ad for Christmas gifts featured a silver-plated, lacy-winged butterfly in front of a place card bearing the name Kelli Questrom. Her husband, Allen Questrom, is the Dallas chain’s new president and chief executive and the former chairman of Bullock’s and Bullocks Wilshire.

“It was done as an inside joke for Kelli’s new friends in Dallas and old friends in Los Angeles,” said spokeswoman Pat Zajac. “It was meant to be a . . . welcoming gesture.” And Kelli Questrom’s place card indicated that her spot was at Table No. 1.

Big Boy Gets a Reprieve

The Big Boy has disappeared from San Diego, but the chubby boy in red checkered overalls may be safe in Los Angeles for the time being.

Marriott Corp. has now converted all of its 12 Bob’s Big Boy coffee shops in the city of San Diego into Allie’s Family Restaurants, spokesman Richard Sneed said. But, although no final decision will be announced until early next year, the most likely candidates for further conversions are Marriott’s 145 Howard Johnson restaurants and 80 or so Big Boys on the East Coast, he said.

Nothing is likely to change for the next year in the greater Los Angeles area, which is home to numerous Big Boy coffee shops, including one in Glendale that was the first ever.

Sneed insisted that the San Diego conversions--which received wide publicity last spring--have generated only “15, maybe 20” complaint letters. “They’re primarily nostalgia buffs. They’re writing in saying they grew up going to Big Boy.”

The Ins and Outs of ’89

It’s that time again: annual listings of what’s in and what’s not. Dick Kazan of Redondo Beach, chief executive of Capital Associates, a high-tech equipment leasing company, claims that 1989 will spell the end for suspenders, Cross pens (he says you can’t get a good grip on them), pretending to read Barron’s and anything described as “user friendly.”

If you have to ask what’s wrong with “user friendly,” Kazan says you probably wear suspenders, pretend to read Barrons and use a Cross pen.

What’s ahead? Kazan is betting that the Unix operating system will catch fire among personal computer manufacturers. He’s also partial to the color gray and loves mobile fax machines: “What a revolutionary idea,” he says, “so long as you only read your messages while waiting for the light to change.”