Cancelled Flight turns out to be a good thing

I was looking for the cheapest flight I could find between LAS-SIN. Started my search on 'kayak' and got redirected to 'airfare.com'. Best price was Alaska Air to Portland, wait 2.5 hours and then NW Air to SIN, stopping in Narita. That got me to SIN at a 1:30am. Not a great time, but a good price, $760 r/t.

Plan A was to call my friend David and then get a cab to his apt. I did not want to wake everyone up at 2:00am, but he said it would be OK. April 8 I got a friend to take me to McCarran airport, got in line for the Alaska Air flight to Portland. All of us in line noticed that the line seemed very long for being there 2 hours before flight time and each person was taking quite a bit of time at the check in counter. Several of us questioned passengers as they finally left the Alaska Air counter. Bad news, the flight to Portland was cancelled. The plane was a MD-80 and they had pulled it out of service for inspection. American Airlines had pulled most of their MD-80s the same day and had created problems throughout the system. I decided to cheat and went to the head of the line and told a ticket agent I had a connection from Portland to Singapore. He sent me to the first class check in counter and was helped next. He got on the computer and found a solution. US Air to LAX, wait 8 hours, then Singapore Air non stop to SIN, getting in a 6:00am. This was a real lucky break for me. Much better airline, better arrival time in SIN and as it turned out, a much better experience. Uneventful flight to LAX, walked to International Terminal and had almost 8 hours to kill. Read my book, ate, stretched, waited until check in. Checked one bag and now could walk around easily and get some exercise. After 8 hours at LAX, I found myself on an Airbus 340-500. All the seats were exec economy! I had a bigger seat, more leg room, better meals and a personal entertainment system. This was the best flight I have every had! Singapore Air exec class seat at a NW Air price. The lady next to me wanted to chat a bit so I told her how I came to be on that flight. I paid $760 LAS-SIN-LAS, she paid $1,800 r/t from LAX. After 4 movies and 2 meals plus snacks, were arrived on time in SIN. I called my friend David and he agreed to come get me as it was now 6:30 am and he was up anyway. This was a win, win, win deal for me. My month long trip to SEA was off to a great start.