You find yourself in an exotic or obscure country – Thailand or Malta, for example – and despite the variety of local fare on which to dine, you decide to partake in a feast at American fast food restaurants such as Pizza Hut or Burger King.

Is this wrong? Are you denying yourself of a gastornomic experience by indulging in a fast food fix?

Some FlyerTalk members not only argue that that is indeed not wrong, but that one may be getting involved in a unique dining experience by either experiencing service not normally seen in fast food restaurants in the United States, but by also ordering food not typically on the menu in locations in other countries.

Read more about the debate regarding that you should Admit it if you’ve eaten American fast food overseas if you have indeed done so.

There are times where one finds oneself at an airport with time to spare and one seeks quiet and solitude from the crowds at the airport. Relaxing in an airport lounge is usually the best way to pass the time until one waits for one’s flight to depart. Many airport lounges offer a pass that is good for one day for a fee.

Which airport lounge day pass is the best one? Well, that would depend on the criteria of what comprises of the optimal lounge experience. For example, FlyerTalk member thebat says here that “CO and DL have free booze. That would put them at the top of my list.” However, because I do not drink alcoholic beverages, I would tend to disagree. Decent snacks, comfortable seating and free Internet service would be my priorities for an optimal lounge experience for me.

Of course, the cost of the day pass could also be a factor towards Who has the best Airport lounge “Day Pass”.

The Earning Compensation to Attend FlyerTalk Gatherings: An Idea thread is a thread which I launched that will hopefully assist more FlyerTalk members in attending gatherings of FlyerTalk members around the world.

The basic concept for this idea is simple: if there was some way one could work, either before or after attending a gathering of FlyerTalk members, then one could theoretically attend more of them more often. Perhaps a FlyerTalk member in the host location could scout a customer from his or her network of people that has a need for a product or service that a FlyerTalk member can fulfill.

If this is an idea in which you would like to actively participate, or if you have suggestions on how to improve this idea, by all means please post in the Earning Compensation to Attend FlyerTalk Gatherings: An Idea thread.

Please do not be alarmed by the emergence of the emergency FlyerTalk threads listed below.

At least find out which FlyerTalk members did have to use emergency equipment at one time or another on an aircraft. As a bonus, find out interesting factoids and trivia, such as did you know that there is no way to open the emergency exit door at high altitudes?

In the actual event of an emergency, please be sure to read the following threads which are not located on the safety card in the seatback in front of you:

• Has anyone had to open an emergency exit door?
• Are You Able to Open the Emergency Door?
• Have you ever gotten to go on the emergency slide?
• Emergency Exit Slide – Anyone been down one?
• Emergency landing & safety
• Testing the Emergency Exits

Thank you.

So your travel plans will take you to that city in the province of Alberta known as Calgary, and you want to find out more about it.

Here are some FlyerTalk threads to help get you started on gathering information information about this Canadian city:

• Hotels in Calgary
• Where to stay in Calgary?
• Restaurants/To Do in Calgary
• Bars in Calgary
• PIZZA in Calgary………
• Anything to see in Calgary on a Monday morning?
• Suggestions for good places to eat in Calgary
• The Rockies in Canada – Lodges – Calgary (lots of ?’s)
• Vancouver to Calgary in two weeks – any suggestions?
• Stuck in Calgary for 12 hours
• Calgary traffic
• Where to get a good haircut downtown Calgary?

The Christmas season is almost upon is already.  FTers are plotting year end mileage runs to qualify for next year, premium awards have long been booked and the hunt is on for late released seats and rooms, and Santa is gearing up for the 6th season of Secret Santa.

…or, at least, that is the impression of what FlyerTalk member sbagdon is under regarding a weblog that states:

“Late to the airport? No problem, as long as you’re one of the few elite American Airlines customers. Starting September 30th, American will let its best customers leap through select airports like a pre-trial O.J. Simpson in a Hertz commercial. Passengers participating in PriorityAAccess will be whisked through designated security lanes, given top priority at boarding time and be the first passengers told their luggage landed 700 miles away.”

Post what you think in the “one of the few elite American Airlines customers”? thread.

By the way, I am quite certain that sbagdon is not really under the impression that American Airlines has few elite customers.

What are the VDB rules for a bump off a flight to the space station?  Was the $21 million ticket refundable?

At least one FTer has – check out the discussion to find out why and what happened.

As reported here in The Gate on August 29, 2008, Alitalia, the national airline of Italy, had filed for bankruptcy.

FlyerTalk member Cris L reports that Alitalia is saved….

…but what are the details as to how Alitalia has been saved, and what are the chances of it surviving? Is Alitalia living on borrowed time?