Whether it is in case the miles do not post, or as a reminder of a special flight, or as a way to keep track of your travels, many Flyer Talkers keep their boarding passes.  They have other uses too – as bookmarks, as proof of tax status, etc.

Find out what FTers do with their boarding passes and join the discussion.

What would you do if you spent 200,000 miles for two people to be in the first class cabin on a domestic flight within the United States, only to be involuntarily downgraded to coach class, as is what allegedly happened to FlyerTalk member b-squared21?

Before arrriving at a judgment and a conclusion, consider the following:

• They arrived at the gate 5 minutes before departure.
• Their flight to connect to the flight on which they were denied the opportunity to sit in the first class cabin arrived 40 minutes late, shortening their connection time in Houston.
• They used 200,000 Northwest Airlines WorldPerks miles to pay for the award ticket for their flight.

What compensation should b-squared21 be due, if any? Find out what FlyerTalk members think as they opine and debate in the Continental Kicks Us Out of First Class thread.

The title of the following FlyerTalk thread basically says it all: AMEX – We’ll pay you to close your account!

Originally thought to be a scam, the news that American Express is reportedly paying select American Express cardholders US$300.00 to pay their balances and close their account may actually be true. If you are an American Express cardholder, could you be one of them?

If you are, we give you credit for being one of them…

With just a few days of voting left (at www.freddieawards.com) hopefully there will be no more emails from frequent flyer programs and frequent stay programs imploring for my vote.  Attention now turns to the annual get-together at the Freddies and over the following weekend – Fort Lauderdale April 23rd.

FlyerTalk member troydwhite does not want to be a heel when he puts his foot down and cautions fellow FlyerTalk members to keep in step and Beware AVODs in First, Bulkheads because of fellow passengers who sole-ly use their big toe to navigate the controls on audio and video on-demand, or AVOD, equipment on-board aircraft while in flight.

Do you believe that a flight attendant should shoe the passenger from further similar activity?

If you are a member of the bmi Diamond Club, this promotion may be of interest to you.

With this Promo: Double destination AND status miles on bmi regional may be earned, but there may be a catch: this promotion is apparently only good when traveling on a full-fare ticket.

Regardless, this may still be an opportunity for those bmi British Midland Diamond Club members who are seeking a faster way to earn miles and status for next year.

AlexB sets out an argument for the big spenders getting airline elite status.  What an interesting and controversial topic.  I had no idea it was even possible to buy your way to airline elite status (other then AAdvantage’s lifetime status).  To learn how you can, and contribute to the debate as to whether or not it is a good idea, check out the discussion here.

If Homer Simpson were a passenger on the 1.25-hour Lufthansa flight where FlyerTalk member InquiringMind was told You can ONLY have 1 and a half pieces of bread for breakfast in C-class in LH, he might have exclaimed “Dough!”

Here is what InquiringMind posted:

“…while having breakfast (flying business class), I asked for an additional croissant (I had gotten 1 croissant and 1 piece of bread).

The answer I got was: “No, you cannot have it” The purser said that they had only loaded the two pieces that they gave, and that she could bring me one of those wrapped pieces.

I asked how was this possible for a respectable airline, and was given the following answer:

“Most people don’t eat any bread/croissant, and YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GET ONLY 1 AND A HALF – YOU GOT 2, WHICH IS MORE THAN YOU SHOULD GET!”

This is where our conversation ended, as I didn’t want to ruin my day from the early morning.

Was I asking for too much?”

Should InquiringMind have sliced into the Lufthansa flight attendant about being given more of a “Gluten” Morgen, or was InquiringMind simply being greedy with the half-baked idea of asking for another croissant and instead should have just rolled along without it? Wheat like to seed what you think the flight attendant oat to have done in this situation.

An announcement that Amtrak to trim one-way Acela fares by 25% is causing FlyerTalk members to re-think their airline ties regarding flying to certain destinations between March 3 and June 26, 2009, when this sale promotion is in effect, as the train fares could be potentially less expensive than airfares between similar origins and destinations. Factor in that one does not have to drive to an airport or go through airport security, and the deal could even be on the right track to being sweeter.

Stay at a participating Hyatt Hotel in northern California for two nights and you could earn 5,000 Gold Passport points because NorCal 5,000 is back, to 4/30/09, uncapped.

This promotion is good until 30 April 2009. If you are a Hyatt Hotels Gold Passport member and have travel to northern California scheduled before 30 April, this is a good opportunity to build up on your Gold Passport point balance because there is allegedly no capping and no blackout dates.