Via the AP:

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say a man running late for a flight flashed a fake police badge to airline workers and claimed to be an air marshal so they would let him through the gate. Miami-Dade police said a 49-year-old man was booked on a flight to Los Angeles Wednesday night, but the gate had already closed and the plane was departing. After he showed the fake badge and claimed to be an air marshal, employees stopped the plane and let him board.

As if that’s not dumb enough, there actually were real FAM’s aboard. What are the chances of that? At that point you’d think he would be happy to get off the hook, but instead he decided to go to the Admirals Club and complain loudly about it, which is when he was arrested.

I have a few questions: Why the hell did the gate agent open the door for him when he had a fake badge that didn’t even say “air marshal” on it? Furthermore, why didn’t the air marshals do anything when they saw he had a fake badge and was claiming to be an air marshal? Did they simply say “woops, turn around and get off the plane?” Wouldn’t they at least call the cops to have him arrested?

Some people….

“We’re not fighting over a larger piece of the pie. We want a bigger pie.”

I interpret that quote to mean that “we” are working for the success of ”our” organization, because if the organization does well and grows, we grow with it. Who knows, maybe I’m misinterpreting that though, since that was a quote from CAL MEC Chairman Jay Pierce, but it doesn’t sound to me like that’s what he meant.

I was linked to TheLoanIsDue.com a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve gotten a couple hours of quality entertainment out of it since. The videos on the website seem remarkably similar to what I envision TSA training classes being like, but maybe I’m wrong.

Anyway, I found the above quote by Captain Pierce from the June 18, 2008, Smith Street Rally to be interesting, given some of the other things he says earlier in his speech, like:

“We don’t want to kill the golden goose; we just want to choke it until it gives us every last egg.”

“To those that say they want it all and they want it now, I say our turn is coming. Our goose just needs a little bit of fattening up before we wrap our fingers around its throat.”

Now, no matter how you spin it, that’s disgustingly greedy. Even worse, doesn’t that directly contradict the quote above from Captain Pierce? Or maybe I’m just misinterpreting what he was trying to say.

I also love this quote:

“I can’t imagine why management would change the frequent flyer program, further limiting access to BusinessFirst seats for our rest requirements. These are all easy, no cost issues.”

Yeah, I mean I really couldn’t imagine any reason that a frequent flyer program would actually want to release some award seats to their loyal passengers. How peculiar.

Anyway, if you want to be entertained, check out that site.

Through April 25, American Express Platinum cardholders can get two free nights at either the Wynn or the Encore in Las Vegas. Apparently the stays come with full Fine Hotels & Resorts benefits, which means you receive a $40 breakfast credit per person per day, one free lunch per stay, a room upgrade, and 4PM check-out. There are certain blackout dates. Mention the code E1320401 to your Platinum Travel Concierge. More details can be found at DansDeals.com.

(Tip of the hat to Raj for sending me a link)

I’m leaving for Asia on my OneWorld award ticket next Saturday, and I’m getting pretty excited. I’m looking forward to visiting Hong Kong again and also looking forward to visiting Manila for the first time. I’m particularly excited about finally getting to sample some OneWorld carriers. I’ve been loyal to the Star Alliance for so long and know the products of almost all of their airlines, so it will be nice to finally try Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

Anyway, since I asked for feedback for hotels over the past month or so, I wanted to provide a quick summary of what I have booked now:

• While I originally booked the Conrad Hong Kong on points for the outbound stopover (we’ll be there from 5AM till 4PM the next day), I ended up switching to the InterContinental Grand Stanford. The rate was a mere $140USD, and given that I have a confirmed suite upgrade with club access, it seems like a no brainer. Also, Priority Club is great with points, so I’ll likely earn 10,000+ points for that stay. I can find a much better use for my Hilton points in the future.
• We’ll be at the Crowne Plaza in Manila for the first three nights of our stay, which is about $100USD/night. I hear they treat Platinum members well, so I’m hoping we at least get access to the club lounge, if not a suite upgrade. Unfortunately I also hear their beds are hard as rocks.
• We’ll be at the InterContinental in Manila for the last two nights using a buy one get one free weekend night certificate. An upgrade has already been confirmed to a suite with club access. The cost for that stay is about $150USD for both nights.
• For the return stopover in Hong Kong, we’ll be staying at the new SkyCity Marriott near the airport. The price has dropped quite a bit since I originally booked, so it’s now about $110/night, and we’ll get an upgrade to the club level. I have a gift card for Marriott, so that stay is basically free.
• At the end of the trip we have a one night stopover in New York. I booked the brand new Long Island Holiday Inn for 15,000 points since they were offering their Manhattan View Suite (which usually goes for around $650USD/night) on points back in January

I’ll be writing a review of each property along with the flights after the trip. I’d say overall we got some decent deals here, especially taking into account the various confirmed upgrades received. Oh, and if my math is correct, the total cost of this trip including taxes for the flights as well as hotels comes to under $1,000. Not bad!

Reader Nick sends in the following question regarding an award itinerary he has booked to Europe:

How do you go about ‘improving’ an award you’ve booked when there’s a discrepancy between *A availability and what UA’s willing to offer. I plan to keep trying to improve my routing, since we don’t leave for a few weeks. But I’m not sure of the best approach to take. For example, I could go back and check ANA each day, but even if it continues to show SQ25 available, I’d have to call UA each time to see what they’re willing to offer. Any chance you have a strategy here?

Excellent question, Nick! First let’s talk a bit about Nick’s problem. He has a business class award ticket booked using United miles to Europe for travel in a few weeks. He’s trying to make changes to his itinerary but is running into trouble with Starnet blocking, whereby United blocks partner award availability.

Unfortunately getting around Starnet blocking is no longer as easy as sweet talking the agent and telling her/him how awesome they are. So, what are the best ways to make changes in cases like these?

The biggest thing working for you is that we’re eventually coming up on the second quarter. United tends to open up more award seats at the beginning of each quarter, since the “award quota” is typically reset around that time. The next quarter is about a month away, so maybe you’ll get lucky right around the beginning of April, if that’s still before your date of travel.

Beyond that, Starnet blocking can be unpredictable at times. Even without a reset during the beginning of a quarter, you’d be surprised by how many flights go from being blocked to unblocked and then back to being blocked again. As annoying as it may be, calling frequently and asking for availability on specific flights could pay off big time.

Next, keep looking for different routings that look appealing. While there might not be availability for your ideal flights now, there’s always a chance a great routing will show up tomorrow on your preferred carrier, and maybe it’s not blocked. Awards show up last minute all the time, and this time of year isn’t particularly busy for premium transatlantic loads.

Also, if you’re top tier with United you have the ability to change award tickets at no cost, which I think is one of the most valuable benefits out there. Whenever I change awards I do them one step at a time, if at all possible. I don’t like any single agent working too much on a single award, since it can lead to screw ups. This also works well when you can slightly improve your itinerary but still aren’t happy with it. Don’t hesitate to make a minor change that improves your trip, even if it doesn’t work for you. I can almost guarantee more space will open up for your desired flights.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to wait until shortly before the date of travel to make changes, even if it means sweating it out till a few days before travel. For some odd reason Starnet blocking is often lifted shortly before the day of travel, not to mention plenty of award availability opens up as the airlines realize they have open premium seats they won’t be selling.

So I guess my advice can be summed up by suggesting you be persistent and patient. You’ll get what you want; United just wants you to work (and sweat) for it.