When asked what is the Most Weird Thing You Ever Ate, FlyerTalk members responded with a number of gastronomic delicacies enjoyed all over the world. The infamous fruit known as durian certainly made the list, but it does not even compare to the following tasty treats:

• Balut
• Live octopus
• Elephant jerky
• Human bile
• Snake blood
• Cow testicles
• Barbecued raccoon
• Porcupine

These are just some of the many dishes that FlyerTalk members post to whet your appetite, but be forewarned — some of the descriptions are rather detailed…

How is it possible to get an Intl upgrade to First from a Coach T purchased seat?

Just read the story as told by FlyerTalk member performancefitness, with useful and handy tips and tricks on just how to achieve what is arguably the ultimate in upgrade success on an airline flight.

By the way, as a bonus, whether you get upgraded or not, you may earn miles — including elite qualifying miles for status — for all of the purchased economy-class seats, depending on the frequent flier loyalty program.

Beginning on March 26, 2010 and ending on June 30, 2010, the Hyatt Gold Passport frequent guest loyalty program is at it again with what appears to be a generous promotion.

Register to receive either free nights or 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after every time you complete two eligible stays at any participating Hyatt hotel or resort, Andaz™, Hyatt Place™, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ or Hyatt Vacation Club™ Resort worldwide. There is no limit to the number of eligible stays taken during the promotion period to earn either free nights or points.

Additional details, terms and conditions can be found here.

If vomiting while a passenger on a flight is simply not your bag, consider Using a barf bag for non-barfy purposes.

For example, if you never get airsick on a flight, try using the bag to create a puppet to entertain a bored seatmate. Perhaps a flight attendant will ask you for your bag and return it to you filled with your favorite goodies. Consider using it contrary to its original purpose, such as using it as a lunch bag to store uneaten food instead of temporarily storing already-digested food…

…or you could be unimaginative and simply use it for its officially intended alternate purpose: as an occupied seat card.

There is apparently a New 1.5% Credit Card Fee at Hotel Properties in Australia applied to the invoice when paying at the front desk with a credit card. This fee will reportedly be waived only where there is no option to pay cash, such as when buying an advance purchase room rate.

FlyerTalk member PDILLM notes, “This could rapidly become quite expensive. With the 1.5% hotel surcharge and VI/MC charging 1-3% for currency conversion, one could easily be charge 4-5% just for being a from foreigner and staying in a hotel.”

Naturally, FlyerTalk members express their dismay and approval regarding this surcharge policy.

A related FlyerTalk thread can be found here: Do Hiltons other than SYD change an add on fee for paying by credit card?

What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points?

Participating BoardingArea weblogs, including The Gate, are giving you a chance to win a trip to the Gold Coast of Australia, worth a total estimated value of $10,250.00, courtesy of American Express and BoardingArea.

To enter the BoardingArea/American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card Sweepstakes for a chance at winning the grand prize of eight days and seven nights — including hotel accommodations, transportation, meals, activities and round-trip airfare for two people to Queensland at the Gold Coast of Australia — all you need to do is simply post an answer to the above question in the Comments section of this weblog entry here at The Gate anytime between March 22 and March 28. What do you have to lose?

For additional details and information, as well as the official rules, please click here — and thank you for reading The Gate!

Here are the links to the other competition posts. As well as entering by posting a comment here, you can also make more entries at each of the following links (direct to the relevant post in most cases):

• Flight Diversions
• Fly Gracefully
• Flying with Fish
• The Gate - you’ve already entered here, right?
• Loyalty Traveler
• Marshall Jackson on Travel
• Miles Quest
• Musings of The Global Traveller
• One Mile at a Time
• Pearls of Travel Wisdom
• Plane Reality
• Points Miles and Martinis
• Points Wizard
• Road Warriorette
• Things in the Sky
• TM Travel World
• Unroadwarrior
• View from the Wing
• The Wandering Aramean
• Wing and a Prayer

Jaunted‘s coverage of the latest Thailand protests describes the Flyer Talk discussion as the most up to date as always.

A post on Gadling about Delta Skymiles’ poor value refers to Flyer Talk.

With the increase in border patrols along the border between the United States and Canada, living in a town on the border where there are apparently no barriers on small side streets that cross the border lead to a seemingly ludicrous incident where Homeland Security jails man for crossing the street to buy a pizza.

The man admittedly taunted authorities by purposely crossing the street more than once after being warned, but does that really warrant being handcuffed, jailed and fined $500 for something he reportedly has done all of his life — and in the quest to simply satisfy his hunger with a pizza?

This may not nearly be as bad as the farmer who owned a piece of land that straddled the American-Canadian border and was reportedly caught and fined for illegal importation of wheat because he moved it on his own land from one country to another. The harvest was allegedly confiscated as well.

These stories and others border on lunacy. Should a line be drawn somewhere to reduce or eliminate this nonsense?

Some BA passengers flying within UK or Europe in the next few days of the cabin crew strike may well find themselves flying on Ryanair.  A number of BA flights will be operated by Ryanair. Find out how this works out on the BA flying Ryanair discussion thread.

…and not everybody is happy about the change.

In the past, once a FlyerTalk member logs off of FlyerTalk or after the session has expired due to lack of activity, all threads were considered read even if the FlyerTalk member had not yet read some of those threads.

Now, FlyerTalk threads remain bold, meaning that they are not yet read by the FlyerTalk member, until the FlyerTalk member chooses to read that thread, no matter how many times that FlyerTalk member logs out and logs back in.

Personally, this new method of threads remaining unread until I actually read them has enhanced my FlyerTalk experience, allowing me to log on to FlyerTalk more often without being concerned that I will miss information in FlyerTalk threads that I have not yet read.

However, there are other FlyerTalk members who are unhappy with the changes, to say the least. Find out why, as well as more details on the controversial change in how threads are considered read or unread, in the My Flyertalk showing all threads since 3/1/10 thread.