Comments on: Average Net Worth, Sam Bankman-Fried Testimony, Tech Optimist Manifesto, 50 Best Bars

By: GeorgeTBB

GeorgeTBB — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 12:35:53 +0000

I may post a new blog post tomorrow Wednesday, we shall see.

Been checking United and AA to search for Business Class availability for our Singapore/Thailand trip. Awful few choices so far. Best is on AA one flight comes up flying F on Japan Airlines but only to ORD getting there at midnight…could do a Hyatt night nearby and fly to DTW the next day but man, that is so inconvenient. Is it more inconvenient flying coach BKK-FRA-DTW and saving 66k miles? To be determined how I feel I guess…

Rest of choices on UA are just absurd. We are talking 252k, 302k, 362k and even over 400k for a Business class seat, WTF, have they become Delta already. There is one seat sometimes for 110k but the legs CDG-YYZ is on Air Canada and the flight to DTW leaves after 9 pm and most times it is canceled so…I don’t think so.
I miss the good old days

By: GeorgeTBB

GeorgeTBB — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 12:06:43 +0000

In reply to David.

Thanks a lot, getting down to take off time and not seeing much available in Business class…I am now resigned to flying out in Economy…Hoping for something to come up on the return flights.

By: David

David — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 21:34:25 +0000

Hey Buzz, great post, still working through it. The good days finally arrived in Tucson this week, however we are in Austin for the week…48 degrees atm…brrr.
On a brighter note, we were upgraded to the LBJ suite at the Driskill(we’ve stayed here before and love it), and apparently this is the 1st place that Lady Bird denied LBJ’s marriage proposal.
Love, love, love Hyatt.
The Tonga story, what a mess and ouch. Poor, poor Marc, what a sap. SBF…lock him up as. well as the former you know who.
Closer and closer to sub 4.5 minute miles, hard to believe.
Have a great time on your trip and good luck finding better seats!
Yes, Alaska used to be a great program. Unfortunately things change. I can’t say they are as bad as United, Delta etc but I do miss the old redemptions.

By: GeorgeTBB

GeorgeTBB — Sat, 28 Oct 2023 17:14:18 +0000

@ Nick PFD: Did u catch that article with the Tonga dude? Good point on the avg vs. median. Jamie probably makes in a week writing than this blog makes all year, sigh. Good luck on the 5k, keep at it.

@ DML: Santiago, just did not do it for me. Delta One suite to/from it? How many hundreds of thousands of Skymiles? 🙂

@ Carl: Thanks a lot man. Got flu shot yesterday and for some reason I had hot flashes rest of the day, first time, weird.

@ Vicky: Thanks a lot on the Alaska Airlines elite stuff. I am thinking ahead to try to match his MVP Gold to other airlines. I remembered now something about them chocolates but I have not heard anything abt them for a while. Leaning booking award nights when they cost 3.500 points around here, will see. I worry about Globalist status being enhanced. And Alaska Airlines going revenue based too.
Been searching for business class to change my econ awards to Singapore next week. Finally had a saver fare like option come up with a 2 hour connection in CDG and then another 1.5 hrs connection in Canada LOL. Then I checked with AA and I got excited to see 110K option on Japan Airlines connecting Haneda and DFW…and, I thought, oh great, time to check out the Capital One lounge finally. And then I realized flight to DTW was 24 hours later overnight. I may go back to that though #developing

By: Nick @ PFD

Nick @ PFD — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 21:38:13 +0000

In reply to GeorgeTBB.

Interesting chart for the 60/40 investing proponents:
https://twitter.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1717784819784892817

By: Vicky

Vicky — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 18:46:36 +0000

One thing I forget to add about the Alaska program. It has been one of our go to for redemptions as it has usually come through. Maybe it just suits our travel patterns. Have redeemed a ton of flights on BA, which I know people bitch about, but give me BA anyday over the misery of US airline catering and their infantile hot cookie. I’ve also found them useful for domestic redemptions in premium classes on Qantas. They will have seats while Qantas offer nothing to their own FF. It was a sad day when our balances hit close to zero this year.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 18:41:35 +0000

Jesus, all the non stop spend hundreds of thousands of $s to maintain Delta whatever is doing my head in. If they are willing to MS that kind of money why not just buy the ticket for the seat they want and not spend all this money in fees. I don’t get it.

Husband flies Alaska out of Honolulu all the time. She’s just short of making MVP Gold this year, a Cathay flight in Asia will push him over in December. As to benefits of Alaska status, not sure if there are any as we just buy the first seat. However, many years ago they used to hand out Gold chocolate bars on the flight to those that were Gold and above. He noted he has not seen any lately so think he is going to be so disappointed if they have done away with that little treat.

Hyatt Globalist, my vote is do the spend as you might need the extra points to do MR next year to push you over the line. I think Globalist is worth retaining, especially if one is travelling outside the miserable experience of staying in US hotels.

By: GeorgeTBB

GeorgeTBB — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 18:15:05 +0000

Will respond sometime on Saturday.

I did try to make my posts shorter, it is not working. Something has to give…

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Fri, 27 Oct 2023 14:00:22 +0000

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By: Carl Pietrantonio

Carl Pietrantonio — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 13:37:27 +0000

Great column today! Much to read and I have to say, IMHO, Greg deserved a lot of that pushback on his building Delta status article. I also agree with you that it is still a generally good site with a fair amount of class.

Got the new Covid Wednesday and yesterday was miserable. UGH. The RSV vaccine a couple weeks ago kicked my ass harder, too. But if that is what it takes to stay healthy, more or less, then OK.

Glad to see that according to the chart I am pretty close to average for my age. I’m doing better than I thought!

Have fun in Singapore and Thailand!!!