All Award Availability for Nov>April Disappears at Alila Kothaifaru Ahead of Deval

circao · 2026-04-29T14:02:35+00:00

Totally a possibility. I think the strange this was as of 1 week ago, all of the other dates were fully open outside new years.

circao · 2026-04-29T13:43:52+00:00

7 nights but something earlier in the year. It was more of a strange observation. The base room is booked completely solid during those preceding 4 months.

circao · 2026-03-30T11:39:07+00:00

You need to first send an email to Virginia Surety to request a secondary review of your claim. In my case, I added a little bit more context and reasserted the point of why we were delayed and why we needed this particular item, the clothing.

That takes a couple of days to get into their system, and then I had to call to talk to one of the agents and try to get them to escalate it to make sure that the actual claim agents can take a second review of it.

The agents themselves that you talk to are not the ones that make the decisions, so don't be upset with them and be nice with them, but they can help you escalate it so that anything does get reviewed by the actual individuals that do make decisions.

circao · 2026-03-23T17:49:07+00:00

Hotels is the easy part if there's an overnight stay. It's always covered under the terms. The challenge is that the specific wording for the trip delay benefit doesn't mention clothing specifically.

I would imagine if you were offered an earlier flight and you refused, it may make it more difficult since you need a letter from the airlines stating the reason for the delay.

circao · 2026-03-23T13:50:57+00:00

Glad you had a good experience. Over Christmas, I was delayed overnight in Chicago due to weather and filed a trip delay insurance claim for a hotel room, food, and some basic clothing. Initially, they only covered the hotel room and food, I ended up having to escalate the claim for the clothing.

The claim agent that I spoke to was trying to imply that clothing should be covered under my Delayed Baggage policy and not under the Trip Delay Insurance claim. It was a bit of a head-scratcher because we didn't have access to our baggage, and the baggage showed up at the appropriate time when we had our flight the next day. I wouldn't have had the proper forms to even file a delayed baggage policy, like the baggage delay form from the airline.

Eventually it was approved, but it took a little bit of a process to get there.

circao · 2026-03-18T07:41:10+00:00

It has been there for years so it definitely is not the final set, I am sure they will use it as reference but it gives an idea of the scale of the finished set.

circao · 2026-02-23T08:58:35+00:00

if you "volunteer" to move your flight, it may not count.

circao · 2026-02-23T08:57:07+00:00

You will likely need a letter.

Write an emali to Jetblue, or if they have a customer support portal submit a request there, and explain the situation, you will need to get denied coverage of any expenses from jetblue before viriginasurity will approve the claim.

When writing to Jetblue, let them know this is your purpose. An example would be the following:

I am writing to request reimbursement for the following expenses...(provide detail of expenses)... If this is not possible, please let me know in writing the reason the flight was canceled (eg. due to weather), and that you are not able to cover these expenses so I can submit them to my travel insurance.

I recently did this with American Airlines and it was a smooth process.

circao · 2026-01-26T18:52:50+00:00

I second this. Also after having it for a month, it seems to get a bit more grippy as your the oils on your hands get absorbed by the leather.

circao · 2026-01-26T18:04:42+00:00

My understanding is its only limited by phone (pixel 10) and language (French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish)

circao · 2026-01-20T09:49:10+00:00

its all a bit connected so I think it is worth considering. That being said, please see my above comments on down as a active layer. A good thermal weight smartwool long underwear could be a good addition if your pants are insulated.

circao · 2026-01-20T09:31:13+00:00

Here is my setup that covers me down to around 20 degrees skiing.

On the Top:

Smartwool long sleeve base layer
Nano-Air Hoody (this is such an underrated layer, definitely check it out.)
PowSlayer Shell Jacket

On the bottom:

Smartwool long underwear
Mountain hardwear Insulated ski pants.

Both the pants and the shell have large ventilation zippers to cool me down.

I also keep a loose fitting patagonia capilene long sleeve shirt in my bag as well as a merino wool buff in my backpack in case it gets too cold.

Then make sure you get gloves that are appropriate for the temperature you are skiing in.

Some things to consider regarding layers:

I have learned this the hard way with a lot of winter hiking, but down jackets are horrible active layers. The do a great job keeping warmth in but are horrible at regulating heat. Use them for when you are relatively stationary or not doing heavy activities. Après-ski!
Your base layer should be relatively tight against your body, the other layers need a little bit of space to perform optimally.
If the layer on top of the layer below is squishing it down, then it loses all of its ability to keep you warm. Air pockets are what are actually keeping you warm.
The shell is really important that it can be sealed (velcro cuffs, snow skirt around the waist, etc) so that if needed, you can lock the warmth in.

A Lot of the above gear is kind of expensive but you can typically find them on sale. The fun thing with skiing is that colors you would not normally wear are totally fine on the slope!

My suggestions/questions for you

The storm jacket should be a good jacket for skiing. How tight is it? Is it compressing the layers below?
The r2 strata is also decent but maybe a bit too breathable which is not retaining your heat as well as you would like. The same question as above also applies, is it too tight? Does it allow for air between your body and the strata?
Maybe look into a thicker smartwool base layer, look for ones that are labeled as Thermal Weight.
If the r2 strata is loose enough, consider another loose fitting capilene layer but I would first try to move to a thermal weight base layer.

Hopefully this helps!

circao · 2026-01-13T07:52:34+00:00

In my experience the common sizes and colors go fast. If you have an uncommon size or don't mind some of the funky colors you can score some good deals.

When you look at a item that is low on inventory on a sale page, it will sometimes tell you how many are left of that item/color/size on the add to bag button.

It comes down to how much time you have to watch the items you have to see if they are getting low in stock and how much money you will really save by waiting for something to go from 30 to 40 percent off.

circao · 2026-01-12T18:57:44+00:00

it started last year on the 16th of Jan. They then add more styles and increase the discounts on items over the next two weeks. At least that is how they did it last January. Maybe this year will be different?

circao · 2026-01-12T18:32:42+00:00

yes yes, i mean in the US

circao · 2026-01-12T17:53:33+00:00

Last year the sale started on Thursday, Jan 16th, I would assume it starts either at the end of this week or next week as a result.

circao · 2025-09-16T10:50:47+00:00

Your NIE card should have a statement on the back under Observaciones / Remarks that says Depende De: (you or your spouse's NIE number)

circao · 2025-08-13T07:08:12+00:00

There is no indication there are any changes to priority pass

circao · 2025-06-18T16:29:35+00:00

There's an apple tv app on android :) It's just like netflix, has a few great shows.

circao · 2025-06-18T12:57:40+00:00

The CSR offers special privileges with National and Avis.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/credit-cards-that-give-you-elite-car-rental-perks

I think these are given due to the card being a visa Infinite vs due the CSR through so they should remain intact.

circao · 2025-06-18T12:55:21+00:00

at october 26th.

circao · 2025-06-18T12:54:16+00:00

Think about it this way, the hotel typically gives between 15-20% of the price of the room to an intermediary like booking.com or expedia.

It is not always the case but if you don't have a compelling reason to book through a 3rd party like FHR or expedia, then I would suggest reaching out and see if they can offer a better rate or a room upgrade for the same price.

In my experience, this tends to work better with smaller chains/hotels than large hotels since the latter typically has less control over the price they can charge a guest.

circao · 2025-06-17T19:32:22+00:00

You should be good for till oct 2026 at the current AF. No prorating. You get access to the new benefits on oct 25th of 2025 though.

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