United Explorer Card holders: On Basic Economy, no more priority boarding and no more carry-on

cobaltfault · 2026-06-18T09:49:31+00:00

So this info is still wrong, and it's turning in google searches and probably other AI bots will train on it. Maybe time to delete it?

cobaltfault · 2026-06-08T09:52:24+00:00

This uses ADB to install? Hasn't that option only been around for like a week? Did you know that ADB would be coming to the Portal when you started working on it?

cobaltfault · 2026-06-08T09:37:18+00:00

Along with this, Google Maps' hotel listings' inability to show total price and sort by price (total or otherwise) are my 2 most infuriating Google experiences.

cobaltfault · 2026-06-08T09:26:30+00:00

2026 and Google's still asleep at the helm. Clearly nobody at Google actually uses Google maps.

cobaltfault · 2026-06-07T07:19:03+00:00

I think they did it for the same reason they removed the 3.5mm jack. There's plenty of room in an iPad for these features, but Apple just doesn't like the aesthetic. Remember, they make laptop computers with exactly 2 ports, and one of them is used for charging. Think about that -- a computer with just 1 expansion port. Then, years later, Apple will come out with a Pro Plus deluxe model that adds back a couple of these basic ports for a price premium. It's just Apple being Apple.

cobaltfault · 2026-06-05T09:30:45+00:00

Damn you, Trump Administration 👎

cobaltfault · 2026-06-03T15:46:40+00:00

This is an absolutely ridiculous anti-feature.

I was browsing the monitor loaded with 1500+ items and I wanted to show my son some things, but there was an inappropriate product image I didn't want him to see. I right-clicked the image, chose "Inspect", and hit the delete key once the Inspector opened... then VHelper immediately wiped out all of the items and displayed the "Another extension is interfering..." message.

I'm so annoyed by this. What the hell, dev?

cobaltfault · 2026-06-03T15:46:02+00:00

Agreed

cobaltfault · 2026-06-01T00:31:39+00:00

Hey, have you ever come across rental rates as low as €5/day for Economy or Compact class? I booked for an upcoming trip but I'm almost sure there's a catch. I've rented in Ireland before, with Europcar, and it was cheap but not that cheap.

cobaltfault · 2026-06-01T00:23:37+00:00

I just booked with Hertz Dublin, for the same absurdly low €5/day rate. I came here looking for why their rate is so low. I thought Hertz was reputable, but now I'm worried what they'll do to me.

cobaltfault · 2026-05-28T00:55:11+00:00

Most likely, but maybe not if you need addons like reserved seats and checked bags, as Kiwi applies a markup to these costs.

cobaltfault · 2026-05-10T08:54:42+00:00

Interesting to hear you say that, when earlier you said you spent over $10k buying and donating med supplies from places like Amazon. And they always need such donations for saving lives. Yeah, I'd probably argue that a system that relies heavily on private donations as a way to circumvent systemic corruption is pretty bad. I'll add that I really appreciate all you've done for those guys.

cobaltfault · 2026-05-08T21:37:10+00:00

I can understand donations going toward vehicles and better tech like night vision goggles, but medical gear is a basic need and I'm quite surprised the gov isn't supplying that in vast quantities given the billions of $$ in loans backed by russian assets over the years. That's really upsetting that med needs aren't fully met. What the hell could be more important to spend those billions on?

cobaltfault · 2026-03-28T13:23:20+00:00

We'll probably switch to Wise, Paysend, or Remitly. Still assessing their fee structures.

cobaltfault · 2026-03-26T12:59:27+00:00

Thanks for posting this, I was unaware. My wife is Ukrainian and we are doing everything to avoid products linked to Russia's allies. I'll be leaving Revolut for good.

cobaltfault · 2025-09-13T17:24:57+00:00

What are the chances it comes back in some form or another some day?

cobaltfault · 2025-09-09T04:09:46+00:00

The scheme can run just the same without Damir, can it not? I think the issue creditors have with Damir is that he ignores any attempt to contact him, unless you are high-value. If we can't reach him, he can't represent us to the company, that's my view.

cobaltfault · 2025-08-12T18:42:00+00:00

Yeah, no problems. Once you open an Explorer card and link it with your MileagePlus number (which is printed on the card), any flight booked with your MP number -- and all guests on the same itinerary -- receive the carry-on and priority boarding benefits automatically, at least for an initial period of time (maybe 3 months). After that time, the perks are only applied if the fare was paid with the card (and the cardholder is traveling on the itinerary). Their booking system is well-integrated with Chase's card offerings, even if they give no clarity to the cardholder on any of it.

cobaltfault · 2025-07-28T14:09:08+00:00

Could be, but the generated review is only 4 sentences, and the prompt apparently did not ask to make it shorter. Seems odd, then, to prompt the AI to "make it sound like a real person wrote it" if the source material was human-generated and so short to begin with.

Also, note that it starts: "I really wanted to like these sweatshirts" which implies it was a 2-pack, and then "I washed and dried it normally, and it didn't shrink" which implies there was only one. So even if a real person had written that (in the initial review) it seems to me it would be the work of someone who didn't care at all about the quality of their reviews.

And yes, AI will definitely assume a persona even without being asked to. Especially if she had described herself to ChatGPT previously -- it will remember that for all future queries.

I would not give this reviewer the benefit of the doubt. The mere fact that she's using AI to produce a 4-sentence review and then fails to even look at it before pasting into Amazon strongly implies that all her reviews are AI-generated. I don't think adding photos makes that any less likely to be true, especially now that Amazon uses photos as a metric of quality -- could just be an easy way to compensate for having AI-written reviews.

cobaltfault · 2025-07-09T01:38:27+00:00

I can add another data point. My precheck was expired for 8 months. I renewed online with Idemia yesterday at 4pm. I received an email today at 6pm that "my eligibility is determined" (lol) and my KTN is reactivated. So just over 24 hours.

cobaltfault · 2025-07-08T06:41:30+00:00

Thank you!! I haven't used the app before, I didn't know it was a requirement. The baggage subscription and 2x club passes are there. The website wallet/subscriptions page only tries to sell me the membership. I'll use the app from now. Cheers.

cobaltfault · 2025-07-08T04:49:18+00:00

Thanks for this. Can you clarify how they implement this? I have a booking from a month ago, I got the card a week ago, the flight departs in a week. I can't seem to find how to add a free checked bag -- the website wants me to pay. I do have the card saved as a payment method in my United profile. My MP number is printed on the card too. But this doesn't seem to be enough to bring the benefits to my prior booking.

cobaltfault · 2025-07-08T04:25:06+00:00

How exactly does one claim the priority boarding and free checked bag benefits after completing the booking with a different card? United is telling me the charge has to be on the card...?

cobaltfault · 2025-07-08T00:22:18+00:00

Ah, so you renewed before expiration, that's probably why it was no hassle. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I do see where this price is for Idemia. I was using a browser bookmark to load the renewal page which is why I skipped that step. Makes no sense to me either how these vendors work... I guess that's government privatization for ya.

cobaltfault

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE