From: grammatim@verizon.net   
      
   I'm in Munich, Germany, where they thing it's 1:30 pm but it's actually   
   7:30 am, and two amazing things happened yesterday at Newark Airport:   
      
   (1) they sent me to the "expedited" TSA line: no shoes off, no computer   
   on, no jacket on the moving belt -- for no particular reason. It was   
   like the olden days. Just take the keys & coins (& cell phone, if I   
   had one) out of the pockets.   
      
   (2) My flight was on Lufthansa "provided by" United, and it was United   
   all the way. The web site wouldn't allow me to choose a seat, or even   
   a type of seat (for the return flight, on Lufthansa proper, I can pay   
   $35 for the privilege of choosing my seat). And when the machine printed   
   out my boarding pass, for "seat" it said "see agent." And they handed   
   me a new boarding pass with an aisle seat next to the front row of   
   Economy, which supposedly was a $149 premium (I'd now hate to find   
   out what an ordinary Economy seat is).   
      
   (3) OTOH, when I tried to get some euros from an airport ATM, it took   
   my ATM card, which is my only debit card, so now I have to find a   
   trustworthy ATM to use a credit card in -- but that will turn it into a cash   
   advance that starts charging interest immediately.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)