OK now i totally get where you are coming from. I recently did the same thing... i was confirmed in coach on my FOC from MEL-HKG-SFO but i got a ZED on QF MEL-LAX just to try out the A380 (aside from getting there quicker!). What did you think? Was it full? I only got on it on the way to LAX, and there were >200 free seats! I posted some pics in the gallery.

Don't trust the staff counter at HKG... they are incredibly rude even to their own staff and the amount of times I have been told "no chance" and gotten on a flight is quite high. Just a heads up for next time. Oh and note they like to let you through at around STD-15mins.... which means run run run!

When i worked in the US i wore my badge some of the time, so i see where you are coming from there. I stopped wearing it after a while as the big yellow INTERN label resulted in too many questions It is a different culture entirely, also interesting to note in the US it is generally free to nonrev on your own carrier, whereas here you *always* have to pay something which is frustrating.

I'd love a job where i got to do all those things!

Good luck getting here for NYE, SYD always puts on a great show