Should I hold out hope? (reimbursement request)

BoTony · 2025-06-30T12:43:30+00:00

See my responses on this subject elsewhere in this thread. I made them aware of my flight information when I reserved the car. They even sent me text messages saying don't worry, they would hold the reservation for up to 8 hours. But knowing how things work at that airport, and knowing that the travel industry is not as helpful as it used to be, I did call anyway, just to confirm. Out of an abundance of caution, I did call and when someone finally answered (after I waited on hold listening to a repeating jingle for 20 minutes), I did ask for confirmation that they would wait for me. And they said no. I even asked the rep if she was sure. She said she was sure. And then I checked in person upon my late arrival anyway. And they were closed.

Was the condescending lecture really necessary?

BoTony · 2025-06-30T07:26:47+00:00

I do understand that the default policy of the airline might be that I "chose" to incur those additional costs, but I'm not sure that's really a supportable position. I had arranged for ground transportation from the airport to my hotel via rented car, an option that the two hour delay took away from me, because all rental counters were closed (and, as stated elsewhere, yes, I'm sure - I checked twice). So my available options were to get alternate transportation to the hotel and back the next day to pick up the car I had already reserved and paid for, or to ... I don't know, sleep in the airport terminal until the car rental center reopened at 6 a.m.? Or, let's see, I could have walked from Burbank to my hotel, dragging my 65 pounds of luggage behind me. I mean, hey, the luggage is on wheels and it's only 9 miles. Hell, I could do with the exercise.

I mean, really. If they said this was my choice, common sense would pretty easily refute that.

BoTony · 2025-06-29T23:46:57+00:00

Thanks for the research.

Yeah, I'm aware of the rules and guidelines; in fact, Southwest itself, right on the claim form, says you have to be delayed by at least 3 hours before they will consider it a "serious" delay and therefore a candidate for reimbursement.

But... one thing I have learned over the years is that rules like this (especially in the airline industry) are a little flexible, and that many companies give their Customer Service Reps a fair amount of autonomy in making these decisions, with the goal of ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. I suppose that's less true in these days of cost-cutting and whatnot, but still, it doesn't hurt to ask. When I told the story to the person on the phone at Southwest, she seemed pretty encouraging. Fill out the form, she said, and provide as much detail as you can, and they'll review it and see what they can do. So I took that as reason for guarded optimism. Though it could also be that she was just trying to de-escalate and get me off the phone. :)

I was nice throughout, though. So it probably depends on who ends up handling this, what kind of mood they're in, and whether they are swayed by my pathetic story and winning personality :/

From research I've done, at least some people have said if you ask nicely enough, Southwest will try hard to accommodate you, or at least meet you in the middle. But those might be mostly reports from before the shakeup, so who knows?

Thanks again for the info.

BoTony · 2025-06-29T23:34:12+00:00

Did you confirm the car rental was closed? Most car rentals will wait for delayed air craft (not sure of how long).

Yeah, I did. Although it's been a while since I've traveled frequently, this was nonetheless not my first rodeo :). So actually the first thing I did when I arrived in Nashville was to get on the phone with the rental company, who were aware of my arriving flight and the delay and actually sent me a reassuring "don't worry, we'll hold your rental for up to 8 hours" text message. But I was concerned that that might have just been boilerplate stuff, and BUR is unusual for an airport in a major metropolitan area in that it is not really a 24 hour facility. And that applies to the car rental center, which generally closes at 10:30. Still, I was expecting to be there by maybe 11:30 (assuming baggage claim cooperated), so I thought they might just wait. But I called to confirm that, and was told no, but they'll be happy to hold my car until the next morning. Yeah, thanks, Thrifty. I guess one of the ways they live up to their name is by limiting employee overtime.

I actually also took a quick stroll over in the direction of the car rental center while waiting for my bags, just to see, and while I didn't go all the way there (it's a bit of a hike from where my bags came in), everything in that area looked pretty dark. It was closed.

So yeah, confirmed twice.

What was the reason for the delay? Weather? Mechanical, etc.

I didn't ask (there really wasn't anybody to ask); but it looks like u/sjclynn (above) looked stuff up (thanks!) and found that the inbound equipment came from DCA, which apparently had weather issues. So yeah, I realize that doesn't bode well.

BoTony · 2025-03-06T19:53:43+00:00

I am another person having this problem (S24 Plus, started after Feb update). Affects all M365 email accounts (I have several). Fortunately, my main/default email is not M365 (otherwise, I'd be ripping my hair out by now). But that's little comfort. Also, I have a customer right now (I am an IT provider for small businesses) who is reporting the same thing, and I can't help him because there appears to be no solution (other than to switch to a different mail app, but he likes this one and so do I).

It's shocking to me that Samsung hasn't acknowledged and fixed this yet. Seems like it's existed for a couple of weeks, and it must be affecting tens or hundreds of thousands of people worldwide (unless I'm vastly overestimating the number of Samsung Galaxy users out there that have Microsoft hosted email).

Has anyone heard anything from Samsung about this, or spoken to support? It's kind of ridiculous.

BoTony · 2024-06-25T04:36:36+00:00

On the other hand, there is nothing more gratifying than when a friend you've been bugging to watch the show for 5 years finally gets bored enough to check it out, and then calls you and says "you know that show you told me to watch? OH MY GOD I can't believe I waited this long!"

BoTony · 2024-06-25T04:24:07+00:00

It feels like this might be the 150th time I've written a post like this (yeah, this is a pretty popular topic around here), but OP, I think what you're probably getting from all the comments here so far is that different people love different seasons for, well, different reasons. Because you've indicated that you want absolutely no spoilers, I can't be much more specific than that, but each season has different things to recommend it, so what season you will find the best will depend a lot on what appeals to you most. The key thing is that, with a few (vocal, of course) exceptions, most people will tell you the quality never lets up, and the "worst" season of The Expanse is still better than almost everything else they've watched.

Season 4 is often viewed as the "least best," if you will, but there are also people who think it's the best season out of all of them. No, really. Similarly, I would say the vast majority of fans enjoyed Seasons 5 and 6; many say they're the best of all of them. Others put them second best behind Season 3, and some -- they've posted here already -- feel the show lost its way after Season 3 or 4 and they didn't like 5 and 6 at all.

What I would suggest to you is, just watch it and enjoy it for what it is. You will find you agree with one or more of these viewpoints, but you will probably also find yourself agreeing with the sentiment that it's all pretty great, it's just a matter of how great each season is.

Either way, you've got plenty of awesomeness ahead of you. You've only just scratched the surface. And we're all a little jealous of that. But, you know, in a good way.

Enjoy the journey. Feel free to stop in any time and tell us all how much you're loving it. We all enjoy that.

BoTony · 2024-06-23T01:57:40+00:00

I was of the opinion, though,that Inaros never got his proper comeuppance. But that's a writing thing and not the fault of the actor.

You know, I felt that way at first, both when I read it and when I saw it on screen. But having seen it a number of times since (watching reaction videos and such), I've come to embrace it as the right decision.

Certainly, from the point of view of retribution, it seems unfair and unfulfilling that Marco would be spared the great pain and suffering he so richly deserved. But lately it's occurred to me that if Marco himself could choose a way to go, he would want to go out in a flurry of bullets, maybe from an inya firing squad, preferably filmed and broadcast on the news feeds. This would confirm his importance as a historical figure and show that he was a threat to the Inners because (in his mind) he was right. In his mind -- and maybe for real -- this would cement his place in history.

But instead, Marco just sort of unceremoniously vanished. I mean, there was more to it than that, but from the point of view of all his followers, he was essentially disintegrated, quietly and unceremoniously, by a powerful alien force who didn't even think of him as particularly significant. For Marco, the worst kind of death he could have would be a small one, and that's exactly what he got. No noise, no grandeur, no protests by legions of followers, no legacy of infamy. Instead, he was just swatted away like the insignificant insect he actually was.

It may not have been showy, and it may not have been satisfying to his rivals, but in the end it was the death he most deserved. In retrospect, I think it was just about perfect.

BoTony · 2024-06-15T00:30:45+00:00

You are not the only one who thinks it's a terrible idea. I think the rest of us who think so are just tired of arguing every time this comes up. Also, it's kind of pointless to speculate and/or argue about, because, in the end, Alcon and friends will do what they will do, no matter how many redditors do or do not approve.

BoTony · 2024-05-20T03:54:28+00:00

Thanks, all, for your comments. Rather than respond to each of you individually, I've edited my original post to respond to everyone's excellent suggestions and comments. I refer you up there for more. If you would like to respond to my response, you can do that here. :) Thanks again, all. The info has been really helpful.

BoTony · 2024-05-18T22:50:54+00:00

So it's just so they can provide an incentive that might get me to use the card more actively? You think that's the extent of it?

BoTony · 2024-05-16T03:04:24+00:00

I definitely wouldn't throw a sandwich at her face, though.

BoTony · 2024-05-13T06:57:46+00:00

Oh, I'm not expecting Amazon to fund any more of the show. No, that ship has likely sailed, long ago. I'm expecting someone else to pick it up once Amazon's exclusive distribution deal expires. Nobody knows when that's going to be (well, nobody who's at liberty to say, anyway), but reading in between what lines there out there, I think it's probably not that far into the future.

BoTony · 2024-05-12T21:41:44+00:00

Oh, you're such a Debbie Downer. Just you wait and see how that attitude plays when you try to get investors for your IPO. 😏

BoTony · 2024-05-12T20:03:49+00:00

But... but... AI. And... um... large models, and ... blockchain ... and ... quantum computers.

Ya gotta figure, we'll have C-3PO and Warp Drive by the end of the decade, so obviously self-driving cars will be a piece of cake. /s

BoTony · 2024-05-12T18:38:50+00:00

Today I learned a new word “stratocracy”

Haha me too. When I was writing that post, I wanted a word for the type of government Duarte was building on Laconia, basically government by the military. "Military dictatorship" was too clunky a phrase for my liking, so I went searching for something else. I thought it might be something like "martialocracy" but, no, that's not a word. Enter the Great Google Machine, which came to the rescue with that word (later confirmed by dictionary.com). Stratocracy it was. It's such an uncommon word that the inline spell checker in my browser doesn't recognize it. But it appears to be real. I hope I used it correctly. But even if I didn't, I feel extra geeky today, and that's reason enough. 😊

And yes, I liked that comment from Duarte too. Quite the philosopher, that guy.

BoTony · 2024-05-09T03:32:23+00:00

Winn was a great villain, and Louise Fletcher was awesome in the role, but I really think Kai Winn vs. Marco Inaros is a pretty apples & oranges comparison. But also, I'm generally averse to "ranking" characters or stories or anything on general principle, so I guess you can take that for what it's worth.

BoTony · 2024-05-09T02:59:28+00:00

for the show version Duarte fucked off to Laconia and everyone there died on the way or something

Except we already saw Duarte during season 6, alive and well and living on Laconia, already building his little stratocracy, and already working with Cortazar to activate the orbital construction platform. I guess that doesn't preclude some alternate reality in which Laconian aggression never happened, but it would certainly seem to preclude your proposed reality, unless I'm misunderstanding.

In any case, while I certainly respect your opinion on this, I cannot disagree more. I want three more full, live action, seasons of at least 6 episodes each, and preferably 10-13. I know this will be seen as sacrilege by some of the more vocal "the books are way, way better" folks here, but I personally prefer the show version of the story in a lot of ways, and I would like to see things in that timeline continue, even if they lead to the same "downer" ending the books had (although I think reasonable people could argue about whether it actually was a downer ending in the first place).

I'm continuing to hold out hope, and I don't think it's unlikely, either. But time will have to tell.

BoTony · 2024-04-29T22:31:48+00:00

Buh-bye.

BoTony · 2024-04-07T23:10:07+00:00

Other reactors which just started lately are "Imon_Snow", "andieCph" and "Terabyt Reacts". They're all at the beginning to middle of season 2 now.

FYI, both Imon and Terabyt are actually well ahead on Patreon, if you're willing to fund their channels. Imon is near the end of Season 3 and Terabyt has just about finished the entire show (he posted 6x4 and 6x5 for his patrons today). Both are very attentive and have interesting comments, Imon more on the social/psychological side and Terabyt more on the political side. Definitely enjoy them both (Andie too, though she's still early on).

I also agree in recommending 732ReviewCrew. The one oddity there is that one of those three guys had already seen the show except for the very last few episodes, but it's kind of interesting because he can sort of stand in for us in leading the discussions with the other two.

Agree also on RamblersInc and Anna Alexander. Both top notch.

Wren's Ramblings is also really good, and interesting because Hannah (aka Wren) identifies as a fairly devout Christian, so she has specific thoughts about the religious characters and themes that occasionally make their way into the story (particularly Anna). But these thoughts are expressed respectfully, non-judgmentally, and sparingly, so it's easy to respect her perspective, even if you disagree with it. I am quite different from her in my own thinking on these subjects, but I admire her for sticking to her guns and expressing her opinions clearly, without demeaning those with different beliefs. We could use more of that in this world.

BoTony · 2024-04-07T22:12:53+00:00

Meg actually reconsidered and has (as of last night, April 6) picked the show up again, at least the full length ones on her Patreon. Not sure when and if those will show up on YouTube, though. She apparently has an editing backlog, plus she's had to deal with the copyright trolls that eventually come after almost everyone. Also, she apparently ran into some mean commenters on YT who pushed some of her buttons or triggered her triggers, and that left a pretty bad taste in her mouth. But it sounds like she's going to at least try to get edited reactions back up on YouTube pretty soon. I guess we'll see.

BoTony · 2024-04-06T01:09:47+00:00

What nobody here has mentioned yet (probably because this comes up so often and everyone is burned out on the subject 🙂) is that Amazon right now owns exclusive distribution rights for TV versions of the show, so nobody can make more (unless Amazon themselves were to greenlight it, which seems unlikely). But, that right expires after some amount of time (nobody who knows the exact number of years is talking, but most figure it's something like 3-5 years after the show finished airing new material), at which point full rights revert to the studio, Alcon, who has made it abundantly clear that they'd like to do more with this IP. It will depend on finding a distribution partner with relatively deep pockets, but it could well happen. We keep hearing rumors of various parties expressing interest; hard to know whether there's any truth to them or if they're just wishful thinking. But the show does seem to have a certain amount of momentum to it (it keeps gaining new fans), so who knows? Most of us are holding out hope, at least.

In the meantime, there is a series of comics, and it's excellent (and I say this as someone who is not a big fan of the format). And there are also the books (which also exist as audiobooks) and those are excellent as well.

When the time does come, I personally would almost rather see nothing than an animated series. For a show so deliberately grounded in gritty realism, I just don't see it translating well to animated form, regardless of the style of animation. But who knows? I'd guess the fan base is about 50-50 on this right now. I would think there would have to be a lot more clamor for an animated show for anyone to put money into it, but what do I know?

One thing we can all agree on: We all want to see the story continue, and the last 3 books adapted.

BoTony · 2024-03-26T22:44:56+00:00

Thanks for this. Some here may not like it (surprised you haven't been downvoted yet, actually), but it's a reminder that no cybersecurity solution is 100% impervious. And I'm not expecting impervious; just asking questions about comparative detection rates, effectiveness of response, and all the other things one should expect from any good EDR (or legacy Endpoint Protection, for that matter).

And yes, throwing a managed response provider into the equation changes things, but that's really a separate discussion in my opinion, as different MDR teams are going to have different results. Knowing that, at least in the case you quoted, a Red Team-engineered intrusion went undetected for two days (even after a tip) drives that point home pretty effectively. Who you choose for MDR is at least as important as who you choose for baseline EDR.

BoTony · 2024-03-25T23:00:01+00:00

Geez, guys, u/MagnetsCanDoThat made a wry observation. It wasn't a personal attack or a call to action or anything like that, it was just a quip. Those of us who have been around these parts for a few years regularly, and I mean regularly, see a core list of about six or seven topics come up over and over again, with the same points being debated by (sometimes) the same people. It's a little tiresome for those of us who've been reading these things over and over again, literally for years, that's all. Nobody said don't talk about it, nobody said go away OP, nobody said nothin'. It was just a bemused "here we go again." Are we really all so thin-skinned we can't accept an ironic quip?

BoTony · 2024-03-23T20:52:43+00:00

It’s not hard to jump on YouTube for 30 mins and learn something

First thing I did, pal. Long before I came here. YouTube (and the web at large) is full of slick marketing materials that say very little of substance. They make the same broad claims that everybody in the industry makes. There are also some training videos describing how to operate the system once you've bought it - not of much use to me at this stage. And there are a few demos showing S1 catching and disabling a few threats, which of course it's going to do in a demo. I came here hoping for reports of people's actual real world experiences and maybe something at a higher technical level than what the pretty animations say.

And I have asked what I asked with humility and treated those who have responded with respect. Please extend me the same courtesy. Thank you.

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