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Good to know. There were massive distruptions that day due to major storms, so it would have really stress-tested their procedures. Still, I wasn't impressed.

This comes from my experience on a Sydney-Christchurch flight a few years ago, with a Canberra leg operated by Virgin, but all booked on the same ticket through AirNZ. It was a nightmare. The first leg from Canberra was delayed due to bad weather, then cancelled and we were put on a later flight...

I don't think they are, but AirNZ operate as a discount airline: pay extra if you want baggage or a meal. If a flight is cancelled or subject to a lengthy delay, you are pretty much on your own. Once on board, they still feel like a premium airline, though.

Do you apply the same logic to other basic infrastructure? Should taxpayers not being paying for my road, electricity and water connections? Should I have paid a commercial provider to run a pipe from the dam to my house, and someone else to lay a road from the major highway to my house? Some...

"Significance" has been my internet name since forever - or anyway, some time in the 1990s. It was just a word that came to mind when I was setting up an account somewhere back then, but using it gives me a continuity of identity across platforms. Since the internet is in some ways a less...

With an Amex?

I stayed at a hotel in San Diego last year that offered $5 vouchers to be used in their restaurant for each day that you didn't need your room cleaned. It was especially handy because I came down with a (pharyngitus and fever) virus while I was there and spent a couple of whole days in my room...

At big hotels, I'd expect they'd have their cleaning staff working full time, 9am-5pm. So it would seem reasonable to me if some rooms and cleaned at 9am, and others just before 5pm. I was quite startled to have a knock on the door just after 8am recently on a Sunday morning in a Las Vegas strip...

Which Westpac card do you have? Perhaps it is not exactly targeted, but only available on their premium Amex cards?

It was via email.

I've received the following offer from Westpac: "Receive 10,000 bonus Qantas Points when you pay your tax bill with your Earth Platinum Plus American Express® card." I usually get a refund rather than a bill, but it's nice to have up my sleeve.

My favourite parts of Italy are Venice (I expected it to be over-rated, but it isn't), Sicily, Sienna and Rome.

Re: Calling the Flight Attendant I've been offered the remains of an open bottle at the end of a business class QF flight. I was the only passenger who had had a glass of wine from the bottle, and the attendant said it would have to be thrown away otherwise. I appreciated it. This was some...

They can be handy for booking accommodation when you don't have time to look through the options yourself. They won't get the *best* deal or the *nicest* place, but they'll at least cast a human eye over the options and choose something reasonable. The other time that I have found them useful...

I am currently gold, but have had a fair bit of success even when silver QC. As long as you are moving from a heavily booked flight to an earlier flight with a lighter load.

I imagine it's due to demand. YMMV, but I don't know anyone who prefers Diet Coke to Coke Zero.

I used it to get into the QC on my last trip, rather than digging my phone out. Of course, it ended up taking longer than the phone would have because the lounge staff were keen to admire the watch :) The alerts and info about upcoming flights also work well, but I also have the TripIt app...

It's a bit hard to tell from the Diners Club web pages. Would a Diners Club card give me free access to the lounges, or is there an access fee? If I pay for a supplementary card for my husband, will that get him access, too?

I've noticed just recently that the seats I can select on Qantas flights have been a bit further back. In the past, whether I've been Silver or Gold, for some reason, I've usually been in the front 10 rows, often about row 5, and almost always with an empty seat next to me. But just recently...

Thanks everyone! Some really good tips here. I have sent out a couple of emails to star alliance airlines asking for a status match, and if those don't come through, I will ditch my Amex Ultimate Qantas card (which I have been meaning to do for a while) and invest in a Diners Club card instead...