March 2, 2008 — At a time when major airlines are charging $7,000 for first-class flights from New York to London, a pair of smaller carriers are betting they can fly high with prices one-fourth of what the majors charge.

SilverJet and Eos offer flights from New York-area airports to terminals outside London, and feature such posh amenities as menus designed by fine restaurants, suites with seats that can be fully horizontal and free showers once you arrive in the UK. The cost: around $1,800 round-trip.

But offering the biggest bang for the buck brings with it a lot of turbulence.

Both airlines offer just two flights a day to London, while the majors have as many as 10 daily flights.

SilverJet CEO Lawrence Hunt says that rising jet fuel costs have led to higher fares, but he said he expects SilverJet’s load factor should reach 70 percent in March. The airline needs an average of 65 percent of seats filled in order to break even.

But a larger issue for both SilverJet and EOS could be the track record of niche airlines - which is enough to make anyone airsick. Over the years, a number of start-up airlines have come and gone with plans for catering to high-end travelers, only to find themselves grounded by the realities of a very competitive marketplace.

The most recent casualty is MAXjet, which pitched itself as an airline offering business-class flights between the US and UK for a fraction of what the big guys charged. MAXjet shut down in December - due in part to fuel costs.

March 2, 2008 — Dear John: Back in November I used the Chase ATM located in the building where I work. I keyed in the amount of $110, but instead of getting that amount, the ATM spewed out the amount of $220 in twenty dollar bills.

But it only debited my account for $110. I walked to a nearby branch to report the incident in person and I re-deposited the extra $110 back into my account so when the error was found the money would be there and I could pay it back.

How much longer before I should just say that I’ve been blessed? Or will it be a matter of time before this is found and corrected? C.C.

Dear C.C.: You have been blessed - with a conscience and good sense.

This question does come up from time to time.

So I called Chase to ask them about accounting errors like this. And, as you probably realized, I changed the initials on this letter and obscured some details so you can keep your little secret if you’d like.

Here’s what probably happened.

Chase says all ATM machines count the number of bills dispensed but can’t keep track of the denominations. Very few of the machines handle $10 bills. Most just do $20s.

Since you wanted an amount divisible by 10, you got the smaller bills.

But the person who filled the machine probably put $20 bills in the slot by mistake. So you - and probably some other customers that day - made out like bandits.

Which gets me to the other point of this. The bank will probably never be able to figure out where the money went.

But if it does you would be in trouble.

You may feel better that you reported the ATM incident in person but did you receive any type of acknowledgment from the person at the bank?

Dom Amorosa, former federal prosecutor who is now in private practice, thinks you should protect yourself - and your reputation - by sending a letter or an e-mail to Chase.

!

Dear John: We have as much oil in the Rockies as some Mideast OPEC suppliers. We just don’t dig for it. Shouldn’t we stop buying oil from OPEC and stop supporting terrorists? E.D.

Dear E.D. Yep, we should drill for oil anywhere it exists in the US. We should do so very carefully to preserve our country’s beauty. But America isn’t going to look very beautiful if we don’t arrest our current economic distress - which is very much the result of our dependence on foreign oil and wars we fight to keep the goo flowing.

By the way, there have been reports that the oil deposits on government land in the Rockies exceed by many times the known reserves in Saudi Arabia.

Send your questions to Dear John, The N.Y. Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, N.Y., N.Y., 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com.**

March 2, 2008 — As both individual and institutional investors get scorched by the choppiness of the stock and bond markets, many are turning to that which glitters - gold.

And who can blame them?

With the threat of so-called “stagflation” - a condition when the economy slows down at the same time that inflation rises - emerging for the first time in 30 years, traditionally safe places to put one’s money are becoming fewer and fewer.

Even real estate - once considered the safest investment - is now free-falling with no end in sight, as what was once considered a vibrant “market” of buyers and sellers has all but dried up.

Gold, meanwhile, has seen its appeal soar, much as its price has done in recent weeks.

In fact, gold is now at a 25-year high, closing at $975 an ounce from a low of $252 an ounce in 1999. On Jan. 1, 2007, gold was $639 and rose to $833 by year’s end - an increase of 30 percent.

The 16 percent gain in the price of gold this year means the precious metal has beat the major US equity market indexes, all of which are negative for the year.

The spike in gold prices can be blamed on growing inflationary fears.

Oil prices closed at $101.61 yesterday, off 98 cents from its Feb. 28 high of $102.59 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) - the government’s statistic on inflation each month - released the same day, showed an unexpected increase of 0.4 percent for January.

That, combined with a falling dollar, makes US dollars worth less, increasing the demand for gold.

Indeed, gold seems to be the one sure investment that is universally recognized and valued.

Gold has been used for jewelry, decoration and as currency for thousands of years, and since everyone recognizes the value of gold as a common means of payment, it is a coveted and powerful commodity when there’s economic uncer tainty, geopolitical instability and questions about the value of more contempo rary investments.

Gold has been espe cially appealing to Mid dle Eastern investors looking to diversify out of the falling dollar. They are reportedly going to gold- mining companies directly in order to purchase their gold before it is sold through other channels.

For it’s part, Wall Street seems to be bullish on gold after a long hiatus.

In a recent report, Goldman Sachs analyst Oscar Cabrera wrote, “We now expect the first decade in 2000 to exit with a $1,000/oz gold price.”