I have never been to Dubai but I have heard great things about it, which is what attracted me to the Anyone else feel that Dubai is completely overrated? thread.

Would you consider going on vacation or holiday there? Perhaps you would rather go shopping there. Maybe you are considering moving to and living in Dubai. Apparently, some FlyerTalk members would rather say “goodbye” and do by Dubai due by the culture and environment there.

Do not desert this topic by sticking your head in the sand. Instead, please find out what fellow FlyerTalk members opine, comment on, recommend and suggest regarding a trip to Dubai by reading that thread. There is quite a gulf regarding the differences in opinions with some FlyerTalk members. Please post your opinions and experiences in that thread, if you have any, as the information you may have just might be helpful to others considering traveling to Dubai.

You might have indeed helped pay for a new sports arena and did not even realize it.

For example, consider this little tidbit by FlyerTalk member underpressure: “Miami is building another new stadium for the Marlins. They will demolish the Orange Bowl and build a new stadium in it’s place. Funding??? not to worry Miami residents of Miami and ball club owners… A Hotel Tax will take care of it for you….”

How do you feel about that? Is it fair that by simply staying at a hotel, you are helping to fund the sports arena for that city – one at which you may never attend a sporting event?

Be a good sport and read all about this taxing situation in the Is anyone else getting tired of funding the sports palaces with hotel taxes? thread, as well as reaction, suggestions and commentary from fellow FlyerTalk members.

This story is not to be confused with what was posted by fellow The Gate “blogger” Kiwi Flyer.

A GB Airways flight was forced to divert to Turkey on its way to Cyprus from the United Kingdom when its 43-year-old co-pilot dies in mid-flight.

Find out additional details of this story, as well as the reaction of FlyerTalk members, in the UK passenger jet pilot dies mid-flight thread.

Amazing that some travellers on at least a couple of airlines have reported travel delays due to February 29 computer bugs.  Check out these threads on the United and BMI forums.  Northwest hasn’t escaped either but seems to only affect the flight status information.

If I was CIO of any of these airlines I’d expect some stiff questioning.  It isn’t like February 29 sneaked up on us.

Imagine driving up to a hotel, giving the keys to your rental car to the valet, and staying overnight at that hotel.

You wake up the next morning and discover that the valet gave your car to someone else.

Is 20,000 points added to your account in the frequent guest loyalty program of a hotel enough compensation for – amongst other things – the inconvenience of not having the car you rented, the loss of your personal items, and wasting several hours of your time at both the car rental counter and in an airport after already missing your flight?

Find out more details regarding this rather bizarre story in the Valet gave car to another guest thread, as well as events that transpired thereafter.

I personally avoid having any vehicle I use parked by a valet whenever possible, whether it is a rental vehicle or my own car. This story demonstrates yet another reason for me to continue this practice.

I suppose passenger deaths in the air are an everyday occurrence.  They happen often enough that Singapore Airlines even fitted out special corpse capsules on their A345 ultralonghaul aircraft.

If you’ve been following the news lately, you may have heard a passenger died on an AA flight with claims of insufficient treatment.  As usual, FTers have their own take on events – both informed and not so informed.  There’s an interesting debate on whether AA should have diverted to Miami or not.

Check out the discussion here.

When someone else bought a multi-airline ticket for Guy Betsy, that was the start of troubles checking in.  For some airlines require the credit card used to purchase the ticket to be presented at check in.  Not always an easy thing to do, especially when half way around the world from your starting point.  Read more in the linked thread.

LHrelate, a Lufthansa insider (funny I never would have guessed from the handle), has been providing valuable assistance to the Miles and More forum.  The latest instance is a heads up of increased availability in discounted booking classes.  LHrelate also has her own assistance thread and has been a great asset in fostering relations and goodwill between FTers and Lufthansa/Miles & More.

I wish every airline or hotel forum had their own XXrelate.

Wait.  Flyer Talk has a review section?  It sure does.  Check it out over at this link, or select from the “extras” menu at the top of the screen.

Like me, I guess most FTers don’t know it exists.  It certainly is not well used.  Which brings me to graraps thread on reviews.  Why aren’t there more reviews?  FTers are certainly well travelled and generally not bashful about voicing their opinions and providing helpful information.  Should there be more reviews.  What can be done about it?

Tired of TLAs, FT lingo and other acronyms and abbreviations making some posts hard to read?  Too lazy to use the FT glossary?  crackingfoxy has the answer – a page you can copy text into and get a simple translation of all the terms.  More info in the discussion thread.