Weir's Week: AON anonymity and last-corner mishaps

How we wouldn’t get anything from Santa, or the Tooth Fairy, nor would we get to play with our friends, go on holiday or taste our favourite sweeties ever again.

And worst of all (although there was always a bit of me fancied finding out, just to see what it would really be like) being handed over or taken away from your loved ones by some shady spectre who preyed on boisterous weans who wouldn’t take a telling.

So just imagine how naughty, undisciplined and downright bad some kids must have been lately, to have been made a spectacle of in from of millions on TV.

Ahead of the Champions League final at Wembley we had the introduction of the teams, when kids – boys and girls, adorned in the colours of Manchester United (an away kit of necessity, not greed) and Barcelona – got involved in the now ritual parade of peace and friendship in football. Weans kitted out like Messi, Villa and Pedro, taking the hands of Rooney, Giggs, Ferdinand and co.

What a highlight for these youngsters, and a nice touch, if all rather cluttered.

But for every few of the lucky ones, there were those kids who had obviously just missed going to “the bad fire”. No walk-on parts with them, taking the hand of a football legend. No, for them it was much worse.

What have they done? Taken a marker pen to grandma’s only surviving wedding photo? Or buried the only set of keys for dad’s car in the toy box, or in the garden, or in the dog? Or told the playgroup or nursery of their mother’s hair removal techniques?

One can only speculate. But there is no doubt these brats have been bad, if not downright evil.

Just image having to be led on to the Wembley pitch, not by an instantly recognised footballer, but by a referee, or a referee’s assistant, or – worst of all – by a fourth, fifth or sixth official. It’s the UEFA equivalent of missing out on meeting Santa, but getting to meet one of his helpers. Wow!

And if you can’t imagine the trauma or ridicule some of those kids will have faced over the last week, try walking in to work on Monday morning and asking “Does anyone want to see this photo of me in the pub with a Grade One referee?”

Poor kids…

As for the game itself, what a masterclass from Barcelona. The best team ever? Who knows. Trying to compare Barça with, say, the famous Real Madrid team of the late 50s and 60s is a waste of time.

Cheap Flights to Madrid and Barcelona- from $356 Total Roundtrip |

San Diego: $551

Most flights are operated by US Airways, which actually has a pretty solid transatlantic Airbuss 330 product (with personal TVs at each seat in coach).

These are Spanair W fares, so make sure they credit to your airline before purchaing. From the looks of it, W fare earns 100% Elite and Redeemable miles on Continental , United and US Airways .

To find the cheap fares I used Orbitz.com and checked out the “Matrix” for cheap Spanair flights. You can also use travelocity.com -> flight search -> Enter in your city and then either Madrid or Barcelona-> Select flexible dates from now until October and then see if a cheap Spanair fare pops up. The calendar view only shows fall dates, but as Orbitz.com showed- this fare is more widely available. Feel free to comment below if you’ve been able to book a cheap ticket from your city.

Spain is a wonderful place to visit, so this could be a really fun mini-mileage run opportunity. The cheap fares seem to be available from non-Star Alliance hubs, so don’t be surprised if its not available from your city. However, poke around and see if you can get it to load from a neighboring airport.

Feel free to check out this Flyertalk thread for more information. Hat tip to msp2msy for posting this great fare!

@UCC sorry but you are wrong. When you book a Spanair ticket, its all about the Spanair fare class. Per the charts I linked in the post, Spanair W fare earns 100% when you credit to those three airlines. Thats how airline tickets work. Even though you are physically flying on a US Airways plane, your frequent flyer miles depend on the actual ticket purchased

“Spanair W fare earns 100% when you credit to those three airlines”

Just to clarify, do you mean that if I book this trip with Spanair and put in my frequent flyer number during the purchase, I will earn 100% of the mileage credit on my United or Continental frequent flyer account?

From San Diego there is lots of availability at $520 with taxes to Barcelona (I only checked August dates)

Thank you! I love your site!

I booked BWI -> PHL -> MAD in early November for $360. Appeared to still be some availability for late in October but not much.

Does anyone know how to reserve seats on these Spanair flights? From what I could tell from Spanair’s website, they only allow you to select seats 36 hours in before departure but US Air appears to be reserving seats for these flights. Since it’s a codeshare flight, can I reserve a seat through US Air, even though fare purchased through Spanair?

The Rough Guide to Barcelona

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Rough guide to Andalucía

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