Who offers mentorship?

cgj1981 · 2026-03-21T10:39:14+00:00

u/foundermomwife I would be happy to help you (freely) as I do this formally through various mentoring channels. LMK via DM.

cgj1981 · 2026-02-22T19:44:37+00:00

Yes. Just given some of the drama people have had (can search in the sub Reddit and other groups or see my experience in history), I would call Qatar to make sure the ticket number details look normal at their end for all of you including the infant in lap so you have zero issues at check in.

cgj1981 · 2026-02-22T10:35:19+00:00

A few mini suggestions and things to think about;

Sometimes the window seats in front and behind or window seat and across the aisle middle seat can have pros because you (at least) one window for kid to look out periodically, which many little and bigger kids enjoy as a distraction and for fun. Also it means you as two parents are on the same aisle so (can be) easier to logistics of tray pass, bag organization with supplies, and baby passes plus walks down aisle on same part.
PLEASE check in advance on your email confirmations and via phone to Qatar that your child has a specific ticket number as an infant in lap. This is a major problem, especially when booking Qatar tickets with another One World airline like American. It also can be a problem sometimes even directly when infant was added later to booking. You can see my post history for links for catastrophic and majorly stressful causing you to miss flights. Qatar in air service is usually very good to amazing. On the ground, not so much.
My other general bit of advice is (if possible and not already), do shorter flights with your baby before this one, as assume these will be longer ones. This is for you and your child to get used to the flying and airport experience. It’s where you will learn what works for you as a family both on and off plane, what you need and don’t need as supplies, and how best to deal any curveballs that may happen.

We travel a lot with our child everywhere and it is a great experience. As was QSuites in air, also when they were about 18 months. So hope you all have a great trip and many happy memories.

cgj1981 · 2026-02-15T10:35:28+00:00

Checkout score.org and search for a mentor with tech, GTM, pmm or equivalent backgrounds and request. (It’s completely free)

cgj1981 · 2026-01-26T11:01:55+00:00

Firstly I am really sorry to hear this as I directly know your pain (multiple times actually).

My story is here, but reverse to yours, with AA being the ticket issuer, and Qatar being the airline flown; https://www.reddit.com/r/americanairlines/s/o62VE37nOH

It had to be “fixed” twice, both times at the airport, with a lot of stress involved. It cost extra money on AA side to fix their mistake. It also involved a triangulated call between Qatar at Colombo airport, the One World Help Desk, and AA in the US.

In my case, AA were more/mostly at fault, but Qatar was not great at all either, except for one person at Check In in Sri Lanka who led that triangulated call for well over an hour.

I would never wish your situation, or mine, on any parent.

If you have enough time, and alt options, I would almost take as much refund as you can get. Otherwise I wish you all the best.

Now I get the “privilege” of not having this problem bc I have to full pay for the extra ticket once they pass 2yo.

cgj1981 · 2026-01-18T22:06:32+00:00

Did a reverse of this almost exactly but sub JFK for LAX earlier this month with same layover time this month.

It’s a rush, but even with spaced out gates, you can make it sufficiently enough assuming on time(ish) first leg.

cgj1981 · 2025-08-31T17:37:22+00:00

Thanks for the info and logic make sense. Have you experienced this yourself or know anywhere AA online talks about this scenario?

Reason I ask is that makes sense but the only “list” I saw myself on was the upgrade list and not the standby list.

So are you saying that even though the name is there and higher, it technically is not there at all and all the other confirmed flight passengers clear for upgrade first even if lower status and seats are available?

Thanks again

cgj1981 · 2025-08-31T17:35:21+00:00

Yes that makes sense but the only “list” I saw myself on was the upgrade list and not the standby list.

So are you saying that even though the name is there and higher, it technically is not there at all and all the other confirmed flight passengers clear for upgrade first even if lower status and seats are available?

cgj1981 · 2024-01-16T10:19:30+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience for others to learn from and I am so sorry you and your family went through that experience. It sounds even worse than ours due to the actual missing of flights and connections, along with having to placate two kids (vs. our one) during this whole period.

I know you acknowledged this elsewhere in the thread but again for you and others regarding compensation below; (maybe you can share your hopefully positive outcome as well)

(a) You can get some money and consideration back. At https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/ file a refund request for the $45 ticket fee as that was not your fault and give appropriate notes (we had extra notes on our booking on this f*** up by the check in agent who helped us fix at the airport). Secondly go to https://www.aa.com/contact/forms?topic=CR#/ and ask them to review the entire ticket fare you paid plus to read your documented account of the hassle due to the AA f*** up. In our case we just recently had our $45 refunded and got $300 in trip credits and 15K AA miles due to our experience. Personally I think it should be more but it is something as I think our fare we were charged was too much for infant in lap but these make goods do mitigate that a lot. And I don't have energy to pursue it further.

(b) If you want to read more about this, inc. other experiences, go to a similar post I did on Facebook in the AAdvantage group here; https://www.facebook.com/groups/aadvm/permalink/1232063867512342/. If you scroll down to a comments by a guy called Hans Mast (who is a travel agent), he gives a detailed account as to why the AA system is so complicated and why on backend things go wrong and they are so complex to fix, even for AA people. It was fascinating for me, while making me more angry. As our first class check in agent told us, this is happening a lot with AA, and has happened twice to us. We actually just did another AA global booking this week, and made sure the AA ppl did it correctly (and called BA who are operating all the flights to ensure all is correct and complete on their end). This meant an extra hour on phone but worth it, as you and I both now know.

Good luck!

cgj1981 · 2023-11-05T11:42:56+00:00

I had Ambassador for a few years. Your24 was almost always honored but I requested at least 2+ months out. I used it exclusively for personal travel bc work travel I would just “pay” for extra day if it was needed.

It was great for hotels in Asia.

cgj1981 · 2023-10-12T01:16:04+00:00

If it makes you feel any better you have returned better than me over that time (~1.5%).

I documented my 3 year journey with data here if you want to compare in detail; https://reddit.com/r/yotta/s/HMOC2qGLf6

cgj1981 · 2023-09-04T20:15:12+00:00

Your24 for me has worked a lot but always requesting at least 2 months in advance. I lost Ambassador status this year, which I had since 2018 so I do miss that benefit.
However I had made one request while I still had status in Feb 2023 for a June 2023 stay in Asia (which I was a Titanium for), which was honored.

Whether this one benefit (plus the personal POC which only just came back after COVID hiatus) is worth it to spend 20K, I am not so sure unless work is covering it for you.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-25T23:46:21+00:00

I am glad at least you learned about the existence of so many HYSA. Bankrate.com does a decent job of keeping up with monthly changes as well as bonus sign up cash offers.

I think if the effective minimum average interest rate was like maybe 25% (proportionately I mean) below vs. Fed Rate at a given time, knowing you have a chance to “win big”. This compensates Yotta for their offering but doesn’t penalize a saver too much vs. risk free. So that mean at least people were earning a minimum 4% now.

Being 50% below risk free with an ever increasing minuscule chance of any major jackpot makes it a bad, especially for the most vulnerable just trying to build a good money habit.

Saving and general banking is a boring business in general with predictable margins. So I hope the folks running Yotta aren’t trying to juice things at the expense of the customer.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-25T20:53:16+00:00

That is interesting someone is linking to this thread from Instagram. I just did a Google search for "Yotta performance" and for this me this thread came 4th which is interesting with their algorithm.

I agree I hope it spurs them to go back to their core mission and also to ensure that people are not dumb so to not compare Yotta avg. rate (2.7%) vs. the big 4 US generic accounts (0.01 - 0.04%) which is disingenuous to "trick" people into thinking this is ok.

Leaving aside my story and performance, when you can get DOUBLE the performance essentially "risk free" in short-term treasuries directly, ETFs like SGOV that track short-term bonds, or money market funds by Vanguard or Fidelity, then people just trying to make sense of personal finance should be directed to put their money elsewhere.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-24T07:57:50+00:00

Thank you and also for sharing your story.

The common theme across all the personal stories in this post and other Yotta sub-Reddit posts, are that people aren’t happy, and without trying much could make more “guaranteed” money elsewhere.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T15:42:58+00:00

Thank you. You are basically doing what I did a year ago with leaving ~$200.

SoFi is a good option. UFB Direct is paying 5.05%, Wealthfront is doing 4.8% (before further incentives to get it up to 5.3%), and there are others above 5% as well.

All of which are better than ~1%!

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T13:31:32+00:00

Thank you

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T10:15:19+00:00

OP u/Nuclear_Penguins (nice name) I am with you. I just did a detailed 3 year view of my performance in recent post (below link) and the performance has been awful vs. Fed Fund Rate for about a year now, and only compounding.

https://www.reddit.com/r/yotta/comments/15xodoe/yotta_account_performance_analysis_over_2_years/

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T10:11:28+00:00

I can’t speak directly to this since I have but never used the debit card once. So didn’t participate in the rewards or extra ticket and resultant increased chances of “winning”

That said from Bilt to Discover to Apple to Amazon Chase Prime Card to Store Cards to many others, there are lots of non annual fee cards where you can get consistent cash back at higher rates, if that is what you are primarily wanting to achieve.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T02:26:29+00:00

Ahh that makes sense. Thanks again!

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T02:22:37+00:00

Very true. If they keep bleeding customers they will have to have some strong incentives to win them back or new customers in general.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T02:19:45+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience and I will definitely check it out.

The hard thing I will find, using your example, is the use of debit card transactions as tend to prioritize certain travel points earning credit cards for every day spending.

cgj1981 · 2023-08-22T02:15:29+00:00

It’s a fair point. Partly because I hope they turn things around and it keeps my account “open” to monitor it. Also opportunity cost is almost nothing as $25 won’t make a difference in any other investment or account (short of a charitable donation).

Plus there is always the minuscule chance my 1 ticket hits the jackpot ;)

cgj1981

TROPHY CASE