essjay2009

The pleasure was all mine. So, er, thank you for pleasuring me, I guess.

Might get a genuine applause as opposed to the "Oh God we actually made it" applause after landing.

This is possible. Basically, any system like a ticket booking system will be able to track you through means other than cookies. It's been possible to do this for some time. In some systems, they are able to track you across devices as well (although this is less reliable, obviously).

I'm sure the uniform had something to do with it...

From personal experience I've found it cheaper to book through an OTA and I've received better benefits. For example, staying in Vegas a couple of months ago I booked through the AMEX FHR agency and got a cheaper rate, an upgrade, F&D vouchers and late checkout. I know the FHR scheme isn't a normal travel agent (as you have to have certain status with AMEX), but it's worth pointing out that it's not universally true that booking direct is better.