I've seen people in the boarding area with gate passes; I'm not sure how to get one, but I've seen them (this past weekend). That might be easier than booking and cancelling a flight, although the US Airways Club staff specifically told me to book a ticket and then cancel it in order to get through security without flying.

I'm sure plenty of people have driven to the airport instead of dealing with phone agents. I sure have. It seems odd that it's newsworthy, although I guess the story of "the airline made someone wait 4 hours so he just gave up and drove to the airport" just helps create the image of bad airline customer service that people want to see.