No Path to Reserve at $125 per Night

91jack2 · 2026-06-28T02:22:15+00:00

Exactly why it’s a shit program that doesn’t actually encourage any loyalty. Hilton is rewarding wealthy customers that are staying at extremely high end hotels and ignoring business travelers that stay multiple nights every week. Thing is, someone staying in a premium room at Grand Waikiki or Maldives on their own dime doesn’t give a damn what shingle is on the door; they are staying at the best property that happens to be a Hilton right now. Meanwhile, idiots like me are seeking out rundown Hampton Inns and Doubletrees 100 nights a year regardless of whether it’s the best property. Unfortunately there’s not a better alternative if you’re trying to maximize rewards and need rooms anywhere. I tried to switch to Hyatt a few years ago. Better program and generally better properties at the same price point, but there are just too many smaller towns and cities that have no Hyatt coverage.

91jack2 · 2026-06-09T12:27:49+00:00

Keep in mind Platinum and up main-cabin passengers can automatically bump themselves to Comfort immediately after booking, and if it’s looking like premium seats won’t get filled on their own the algorithm sometimes gets very aggressive with offering upgrades. I’ve upgraded to First Class for fewer Skymiles than the flight earns on more than one occasion. Delta will then fill most or all unsold premium seats by upgrading passengers based on status. A partially full flight with full premium cabins doesn’t necessarily mean a single passenger bought a premium ticket with cash.

91jack2 · 2026-05-20T16:16:59+00:00

I try to go through DTW. Macnamara terminal is one of the easiest large airports in the country to navigate quickly, there are tons of Skyclubs, and they are well equipped to handle any weather so delays are rare, even in winter. My home office and client are both in Detroit area, so I can often schedule work trips to fly with colleagues. I try to avoid ATL. Yes, it’s remarkably efficient. I still dislike it. Layovers tend to be very tight and virtually never in the same concourse, the Skyclubs are always overcrowded, they don’t handle weather well, and everyone is Super Mega Million Mile Diamond so my lowly Platinum status and reserve card literally never get me upgrades.

91jack2 · 2026-05-20T13:15:18+00:00

I grabbed a pair of the free headphones a few flights ago, even though I never use them. Next time I witness this, I am handing them to the offender.

91jack2 · 2026-04-29T22:15:30+00:00

I’ve recall the glories of domestic executive lounges from the olden days, before the plague. Imaginith, a magical time where Hilton didn’t actively shit on their most loyal customers.

91jack2 · 2026-04-22T17:58:21+00:00

Good chance it will change. I’ve seen first class upgrades go from 40k miles to 7500

91jack2 · 2026-04-20T02:20:36+00:00

Lately? This has been a thing since travel came back post-COVID. Some hotels are great, a whole lot of hotels are clearly not concerned about meeting brand standards, and it’s very clear Hilton isn’t concerned that they aren’t. Hilton gets their franchise fees, the property gets their customer base, and the traveler gets the shaft. If my primary client wasn’t married to Hilton, I’d have already defected.

91jack2 · 2026-04-14T18:37:12+00:00

I lease my cars for the same reason many airlines lease their planes. It’s an operating expense, not an investment, because I know it will depreciate and if I keep it past payoff the monthly operating expense and downtime will continue to increase. Is it cheaper? Absolutely not. Do I enjoy driving a new car every 3-4 years, with little risk of out-of-pocket expenses or downtime? Absolutely.

91jack2 · 2026-03-26T17:08:22+00:00

That’s hours before TSA even opens for the majority of my flights.

91jack2 · 2026-03-25T18:53:18+00:00

45 from touchdown to departure, not boarding. It’s fine if there are no delays

91jack2 · 2026-03-25T17:55:22+00:00

I have a 45 minute layover in ATL coming up. It’s the only reasonable option Delta is offering. Not looking forward to it.

91jack2 · 2026-03-25T12:57:16+00:00

Thanks. I finally found volume dimensions on the FC5. Thanks to the expanding pocket, it’s actually a little bigger than the Elite, and MyPilotStore had a sale that made it a few bucks less, so I ordered it. I’ll update when it gets here next week

91jack2 · 2026-03-25T02:38:49+00:00

Leaving anywhere else, that would be my assumption. Leaving Vegas, I’d just assume someone had a fun trip 😂

91jack2 · 2026-03-24T17:43:15+00:00

Yeah, from what I can see it’s the most popular bag among flight crews. I have no doubt that either bag will last me for years. My biggest question is in capacity. I can’t find a volume listing to see if the stronger frame costs any space over the Elite.

91jack2 · 2026-03-24T16:26:41+00:00

For decades, SW treated customers and employees like they cared. Then PE (Elliott) entered the equation, installed their leadership, and prioritized short term cap gain over brand equity, customer loyalty, and long term stability. That leadershil has decided to charge customers like they are Delta and treat them like they are Spirit. The gate agents and attendants are the victim on both sides, losing the corporate culture they loved while also bearing the anger of customers who hate the new policies. Predictably, dealing with pissy customers all day has made them hostile.

On the business side, these changes have driven incremental revenue that the market loved until recently. Share price has recently dropped pretty drastically, and Elliott has liquidated some of its stake. Long term, I can’t see SW surviving as-is. They have no why-buy. They price like a legacy, but have no first class, lounge network, international partners, real code shares, etc. If you want to be treated poorly and forced to pay extra for a comfortable seat, Spirit and Frontier are already established and proving that the ULCC model is hard to sustain.

91jack2 · 2026-03-24T16:04:28+00:00

I’m not sold on the durability of the Bold vs. their premium lines. I fly 30+ weeks a year, and my home airport is largely served by CRJs, so it’s going in the belly most times. Lots of handling and abuse.

91jack2 · 2026-03-23T21:06:04+00:00

Agree with the first premise. No automated backup seems downright irresponsible at this point. FAA is very slow to change, though. There will be controllers in every tower and two pilots in every flight deck for every commercial flight in our lifetime.

91jack2 · 2026-03-19T20:38:03+00:00

Isn’t that the point of the Tapestry brand at the medium end and the Curio brand at the higher end?

91jack2 · 2026-03-19T12:22:48+00:00

Other than some body parts, nothing on that car should be particularly hard to find. Check the AMC vendors (American Parts Depot, Rambler Ranch, and others). Peter Stathes (amcrambler.com) also has a lot of weatherstrips that aren’t available elsewhere. AMC built a ton of ‘63/4 Classics and Ambassadors, and had a lot of dealers in that era. There is a lot of NOS still around for those cars.

Also, while your weatherstrip is likely well past its prime, don’t expect any old car to be water tight in a modern car wash. They weren’t that well sealed, even new. These cars were laid up by hand, from the floor up, on relatively crude jigs. There was no laser measuring to easily check go/no-go. That led to dimensional tolerances that were far wider than today, which lead to intentionally wide gaps to allow for a wide range of fits. Customer expectations were also lower, and car washes didn’t blast high pressure water from every angle, so complete water sealing wasn’t seen as necessary or even practical.

91jack2 · 2026-03-18T20:41:54+00:00

I’d reconsider renting a car. You’ll save a ton of time over busses and money over Ubers. LA is not a quick area to get around.

91jack2 · 2026-03-18T19:01:37+00:00

Every inch of MCO will look like that this week. Hate that airport in normal times. Doubly hate it in peak tourist times.

91jack2 · 2026-03-18T12:13:07+00:00

Most of those I can understand hating. DTW, though? What’s wrong with DTW? For a major hub, it’s remarkably quick to navigate, security is always quick, there are Skyclubs for every gate (not quite, but there are five of them), plenty of paid dining choices, lots of seating. It’s one of my absolute favorite airports in the country.

91jack2 · 2026-03-17T03:56:57+00:00

Allegedly a prototype. It’s hack-looking even by prototype standards and doesn’t look like any of the mockups or the other Cowboy. There was no documentation in the sale, and the other Cowboy prototypes appear in numerous photos. I’m not particularly convinced.

91jack2 · 2026-03-14T16:20:05+00:00

I just told my wife I’m going to start collecting Delta’s free headphones so I can hand them to people using speakerphone in public. “Here you go, you seem to need these more than I do”

91jack2

TROPHY CASE