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I lost my battery pack recently - what are you all carrying these days?
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Oct 3, 2017 04:26
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| # ? May 17, 2024 10:20 |
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Initio posted:Is there a good summary for first-time business travelers? I've really only ever traveled for vacation before every couple of years. Drink a shitload of water. Flying as well as the whole pre-post airport/hotel process will dry you out. Booze will ruin you as a road warrior, though pretty much everyone I know including me went through at least one "I'm on the road, I have an expense account, this day sucked, and the hotel bar is *right there*" phase so maybe just be aware it's coming and try to keep it short. You will sleep better. Get pre-check like yesterday. Sign up for every FF program whether you plan to fly them regularly or not. Same with hotels. Follow the "Up in the Air" movie rule here and sign up for every free loyalty program there is. No matter what airline you fly sign up for their program and make sure you enter your TSA/Global Entry number in your profile so you always (almost always, the TSA sucks) get pre-check, plus mobile boarding passes, alerts, etc. Don't overpack clothes and do overpack small chargers and cables for all your electronic poo poo. Learn to love Anker for the latter. Buy a set of good 4oz travel bottles off Amazon - read the reviews, don't get stupid cheap poo poo, get the ones made to last with caps that actually stay on - and refill them after each trip. Then stick them in a small bag in your suitcase and forget about it until next time you travel. Get a Kindle to kill time. A successful, happy business traveller is one who has learned to roll with the punches and kill time, believe me. Per my earlier post, invest in a pair of Bose QC20's, keep them charged, and keep your sanity. Noise pollution over time has worn down better travellers than either of us. Just avoid it. Ixian fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Oct 3, 2017 |
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Oct 3, 2017 06:30
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Motronic posted:I 100% agree with everything in this post. Confuses me as well - you'd think someone would have called Bose on their bullshit by now - which makes me think their patents in this space are both A) good and B) well-litigated. I can't say I mind that much, considering that I have gotten to the point where I will literally start wearing them after I walk through security right up until I am walking out off the jetway, and sometimes even beyond that. Only occasionally pulling out one ear if I need to hear something better. If they'd pass through security I'd probably put them on in my car when I park. Obviously it's a different story if I'm travelling with other people (sometimes, anyway) but when I'm lone-wolfing it to yet another stop in Singapore my number one goal is be able to effectively kill time and block background noise.
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Oct 3, 2017 06:39
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On American, do miles+cash upgrades book into different inventory than sticker upgrades? Or on a different timeline? Debating tossing a buck fifty at a Vegas trip for an upgrade or just waiting until departure. This whole Plat Plus thing is a kick in the dick for Plat upgrades this year.
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Oct 3, 2017 15:18
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Miles+cash upgrades on American book out of C inventory, which is the same as system wide upgrades. Sticker upgrades book out of X (I think) which there isn't any way to see availability. So miles+cash will clear anytime there is C inventory, which will be before X inventory ever even opens, so yeah you'd increase your chances of an upgrade, but 15000 miles and $75 each way seems steep to me for domestic first.
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Oct 3, 2017 15:32
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creationist believer posted:Miles+cash upgrades on American book out of C inventory, which is the same as system wide upgrades. Sticker upgrades book out of X (I think) which there isn't any way to see availability. So miles+cash will clear anytime there is C inventory, which will be before X inventory ever even opens, so yeah you'd increase your chances of an upgrade, but 15000 miles and $75 each way seems steep to me for domestic first. It is a bit steep, I'm still on the fence about it. I assume same works for business class upgrades internationally.
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Oct 3, 2017 16:46
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FunOne posted:It is a bit steep, I'm still on the fence about it. I assume same works for business class upgrades internationally. Yeah it works the same for international. And it's good for up to 3 segments if there's C inventory on each segment, so it can be decent if you're flying local airport -> hub -> long international destination.
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Oct 3, 2017 17:07
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Also I have a duplicate travel chargers/cords/adaptor bag (in addition to a dupe toiletry bag). It has a dupe laptop charger, my extra long iPhone cables, spare battery chargers, lightning to hdmi, etc etc. You have not known panic until you try to buy a MacBook charger after 10pm. For phones and portability I always have this one in my purse: Anker Astro E1 Candy-Bar Sized Ultra Compact Portable Charger But for my iPad I like this one: EasyAcc 10000mAh Power Bank Brilliant External Battery Pack Portable
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Oct 3, 2017 17:36
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taco show posted:You have not known panic until you try to buy a MacBook charger after 10pm. Nintendo Switch charger, $30 at Wal-Mart. Won't keep up with a 15" at full tilt but it'll suffice.
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Oct 3, 2017 18:15
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FunOne posted:This whole Plat Plus thing is a kick in the dick for Plat upgrades this year. Seriously. I've gotten exactly one upgrade all year (had like 7 or 8 last year) and it was on some bullshit SFO-LAX run. I was routinely getting PHL-SFO upgrades previously.
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Oct 3, 2017 18:32
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While on the topic of chargers, anyone have some especially good cable management products? I have a laptop charger, 2 lightning cables, 1 microusb and 1 watch charger that could probably be better wrangled.
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Oct 3, 2017 19:35
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Motronic posted:Seriously. I've gotten exactly one upgrade all year (had like 7 or 8 last year) and it was on some bullshit SFO-LAX run. I was routinely getting PHL-SFO upgrades previously. I just lucked the heck out with a Plat upgrade LAX-MIA on a 77W. Lie-flat business for 500-milers? Yes please thank you very much.
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Oct 3, 2017 22:00
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Mandalay posted:I just lucked the heck out with a Plat upgrade LAX-MIA on a 77W. Lie-flat business for 500-milers? Yes please thank you very much. I live in Miami if you need reccomendations for....anything
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Oct 4, 2017 01:45
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creationist believer posted:Miles+cash upgrades on American book out of C inventory, which is the same as system wide upgrades. Sticker upgrades book out of X (I think) which there isn't any way to see availability. So miles+cash will clear anytime there is C inventory, which will be before X inventory ever even opens, so yeah you'd increase your chances of an upgrade, but 15000 miles and $75 each way seems steep to me for domestic first.
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Oct 4, 2017 01:47
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ixo posted:While on the topic of chargers, anyone have some especially good cable management products? I have a laptop charger, 2 lightning cables, 1 microusb and 1 watch charger that could probably be better wrangled. For travel? I've found the few I've tried over the years to be gimmicks. No matter where in the world I go I have a little bag with all my cable debris and do the twist'n'shout in every hotel when charge time comes. I am sure someone is OCD enough to deal with one of those flat panel things that has little loops you can store your charging stuff in but I am not one of them. I have one sitting in my closet. Shove everything in a small bag that fits in your smaller carryon, dump it out in the hotel, and shove it back in when you leave. I am willing to lay money on that being just as fast as anything else.
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Oct 4, 2017 06:30
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KillHour posted:At least it's a short hop. Bring a good sleep mask, IEMs/ear plugs, lots of extra chargers and cables, battery pack, cheap spare cell phone you can swap your SIM into in an emergency. Is this a thing? I've never considered a need to do that, especially for domestic travel where there's probably stores for your provider within a couple of blocks of wherever you are staying. I'm with you on the battery pack though. They're something that should be in everyone's personal item. Arriving somewhere with a dead phone sucks.
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Oct 4, 2017 11:15
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It's worth it for the small chance you drop your phone at 9 PM and it breaks, and you're expecting a critical call at 8 AM the next morning.
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Oct 4, 2017 12:06
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ixo posted:While on the topic of chargers, anyone have some especially good cable management products? I have a laptop charger, 2 lightning cables, 1 microusb and 1 watch charger that could probably be better wrangled. I have little velcro zipties I use to keep everything from getting tangled, and then I shove them all in one of the Delta Tumi amenities kit bags I got a couple of years ago.
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Oct 4, 2017 12:55
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anyone have a preferred converter plug device/set? US to everywhere else ideally.
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Oct 4, 2017 14:00
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Mad Wack posted:anyone have a preferred converter plug device/set? US to everywhere else ideally. I got one for like ten bucks off amazon and it's worked every where from Bogata to Rome for me. Whatever the recommended amazon one is.
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Oct 4, 2017 14:03
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Last minute coast-to-coast flights suuuuuuuck. Even with status, I'm in main cabin middle seat for the next 6 hours 
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Oct 4, 2017 14:26
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Konstantin posted:It's worth it for the small chance you drop your phone at 9 PM and it breaks, and you're expecting a critical call at 8 AM the next morning. Jesus. You don't have enough leverage or understanding from your clients to email that person and tell them to just ring you on skype from your laptop or to push while you go to store first thing?
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Oct 4, 2017 16:11
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DJCobol posted:I have little velcro zipties I use to keep everything from getting tangled, and then I shove them all in one of the Delta Tumi amenities kit bags I got a couple of years ago. I have the same thing but with an Asiana bag. They are the right size for tossing in a bunch of cables / chargers. Goober Peas posted:Last minute coast-to-coast flights suuuuuuuck. Apparently you don't have enough status. edit: VVVVVV very true, it's been a while since I've had to do a "oh poo poo I gotta fly out in 5 hours" flight. kimcicle fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Oct 4, 2017 |
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Oct 4, 2017 22:32
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kimcicle posted:
Sometimes on a last minute flight it doesn't matter if it's oversold.
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Oct 4, 2017 22:34
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Yeah, plane was overbooked. Status just gets you on the plane with 8 hours lead.
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Oct 4, 2017 22:50
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Budget or Avis? I have neither and would like to pick one to align myself to. (Used Hertz for many years because it was preferred at my last company, but new company only does these two)
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Oct 4, 2017 23:41
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National. Or Uber.
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Oct 4, 2017 23:52
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dexter6 posted:Budget or Avis? They're the same company. The Avis brand sucks marginally less.
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Oct 4, 2017 23:56
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Tab8715 posted:National. dexter6 posted:but new company only does these two Midjack posted:They're the same company. The Avis brand sucks marginally less.
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Oct 5, 2017 00:04
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The last and final time I used Budget I got this: But for the most part they are interchangeable. I just had a no jetbridge deplane onto the tarmac at CHA. V cute.
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Oct 5, 2017 00:18
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dexter6 posted:Budget or Avis? Lyft. My current company only allows Budget/Avis and I've had so many horrendous experiences I've straight up boycotted them
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Oct 5, 2017 01:18
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So is status really a big deal? My boss hasn't shut up about it since I got here. I've also met some people on this account who are switching hotels on a nightly basis for more points or something.
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Oct 5, 2017 03:38
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Initio posted:So is status really a big deal? My boss hasn't shut up about it since I got here. Lmao. Go read flyertalk if you want to know how people feel about status. People get reeeeealy serious about status. I've thought about doing that before, but nah, too much work. I'd rather be in one place and not pack up every day.
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Oct 5, 2017 03:49
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What's the best flyertalk thread?
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Oct 5, 2017 03:52
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Tab8715 posted:What's the best flyertalk thread? Best for what?
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Oct 5, 2017 03:54
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Midjack posted:Best for what? Toilet paper Serious chat: status is nice, is a perk, I try to pick an airline/hotel chain/rental car co and stick with it. Today was an example where it was helpful, but at the end of the day if I couldn't get here in time at the last minute, welp, too bad, I'll get here when I do. Goober Peas fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Oct 5, 2017 |
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Oct 5, 2017 04:02
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Initio posted:So is status really a big deal? My boss hasn't shut up about it since I got here. You get pretty nice perks that make the lifestyle you're living more bearable but that's about it. The people who start doing poo poo like our thread title are crazy. For airlines, the biggest thing is to just get the baseline status which will open you up to free upgrades, priority seating/boarding, etc. Most of the perks after that involve getting more & more points for your travel which basically turn into free vacations. Which is really nice don't get me wrong but it's not worth flying around the globe in a torture rack just so you can sit in a bigger chair a few extra times next year. Hotels are basically the same. Baseline status will get you into the free upgrades which is what counts the most while the higher tiers are mostly just extra points. Although with hotels many chains have room guarantees on very short notice when you're at high status which is something most people will never need but everyone I know who's had to use it was extremely thankful they had that access. Switching hotels nightly is for people who would otherwise be min/maxing EVE online ships or reading excel spreadsheets while candy-flipping. If you're someone who feels compelled to grind out 100% of achievements in any game you play or to collect ALL THE POKEMON or whatever then you may fall into this trap too. Just find a hotel you think is nice that's near the client sight and stick with them until you switch to a new client. For airline just stick with whoever is running the most flights out of your city until conditions change. Also the biggest reason to not worry about min/maxing status every year is that almost every hotel/airline doe status matching now. So if you ever find yourself in a situation where you really need to switch you can just status-match over to the new chain. I think most of them put a five year limit on this which isn't that big of a deal because you really shouldn't need to status match that often.
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Oct 5, 2017 04:06
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The entire point of status is to engender loyalty, but it should be about more than actually attaining the status itself. While FlyerTalk is full of shitwagons that behave that way, you should be deriving some specific value out of it. I've hotel hopped once or twice, but doing that all the time simply isn't worth it to me.
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Oct 5, 2017 04:15
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Status is either a list of benefits on the airline/hotel/car rental website you can read and determine if it would make your travel more comfortable and/or convenient. Or it's a way of life, to rank yourself above others, a code of honor. If you're an 1K Executive Platinum Diamond flying business class on a regional jet and you're not dressed like a senator in the 40s, may God have mercy on your soul.
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Oct 5, 2017 04:33
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Status for the sake of status is incredibly inane, but it really does help to at least hit the minimum tiers.
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Oct 5, 2017 04:36
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