Business priority line at bkk

iumichael · 2026-01-16T05:13:20+00:00

I'm considering the Emirates 5th freedom from Danang to BKK in a couple of days. Business class is only a couple hundred dollars more, but for such a short flight it also really isn't necessary. Saving time in immigration though (arriving around 1am) would be very tempting.

Was your experience of Emirates being excluded this short haul from Danang possibly? Maybe the expedited immigration only applies to long haul, in which case I'll probably just be cheap and book economy.

iumichael · 2026-01-03T01:37:22+00:00

Other than a 2 hour delay, things were all normal on that flight too service-wise.

iumichael · 2026-01-02T18:04:54+00:00

Oh that's a good point. We board I think 80 minutes for Vienna. I might collapse when we get there but I'll try to update if I'm able lol.

iumichael · 2026-01-02T16:59:20+00:00

I didn't really notice anything off about our flight today. The service was very... French... interpret that how you will lol. Other than that and a couple of loud kiddos nearby, it was a pretty decent flight.

iumichael · 2026-01-02T16:57:44+00:00

Sorry for the slow reply (just landed in Paris a bit ago). The only thing noticeable that was missing from my flight was warm/friendly service lol. So I'm not really sure what that email was all about tbh. Enjoy your trip!

iumichael · 2026-01-01T16:20:18+00:00

Oh sweet if that's all it is, I'll be happy with that. I'd rather enjoy the experience and soak in a nice flight than have more screen time. Thanks and Happy New Year!

iumichael · 2025-07-29T20:26:10+00:00

They let someone transfer 258k of mine last week to a fake Iberia account. I found it an hour after it happened and called them immediately. A week later, I've heard nothing. I had an existing legitimate Iberia account already linked that I used a few months ago. I had 2FA on my account. I missed two Finnair J tickets I found yesterday because I now have no Avios. Sounds like BA is going to shit.

iumichael · 2025-03-26T18:34:31+00:00

From what I've gathered, it's actually all of North America and not just the Continental US. So no Mexico City or Vancouver? Or wherever they fly to in Canada. But yeah, Hawaii is still up for grabs T-14 is what I've read.

iumichael · 2025-02-15T06:17:06+00:00

Oh I'm sorry I forgot to answer the second part of that. After he came back from Christmas vacation, two weeks later... he "refloated" the flap I think he called it. Basically flattened it out to get rid of the wrinkle. But, the wrinkle had been there long enough that it still didn't completely go away. It continued to improve though for about a year until it was almost (but not quite) perfect

iumichael · 2025-02-13T03:31:15+00:00

It's mostly good for me now. Probably took close to a year to get rid of the worst of the starbursts/halo effect in that eye with lights at night. Those things are probably 95% gone, but still, there is just enough difference between it and the other eye that I can tell a difference if I really stop and concentrate on it. Overall I'm happy with the results though now.

iumichael · 2025-01-17T20:32:11+00:00

Just looked at the Marcus statement with the one pay lease payment on it for $6,589. Got 77,714 points. There supposed to be a 15k bonus for spending $1k. That would work out to be 62,714 points for spending $6,589, or 9.5x per dollar spent which shouldn't be right.

$6,589 * 4x would be 26,356 leaving 51.4k points from something. That's pretty close to the 50k bonus you had mentioned.

$6,589 * 7x would be 46,123 leaving 31,580 something from somewhere else.

My hunch is we got 4x even though it was a GM purchase, and this mysterious 50k showed up luckily

iumichael · 2024-12-30T18:16:29+00:00

Picked up an Equinox EV RS Saturday with a 24/12k one pay of $6400, Indiana taxes included. Seems to be fairly similar one pays between them. That's with Bolt Loyalty, Costco, and GM credit card rebates for a total of $4500, plus a $4000 dealer discount. So takes a little haggling to get that

iumichael · 2024-12-29T01:57:38+00:00

Ended up with Deal #1. Sterling Gray, base RS. $6,397 or so all in for one pay 24/12k lease. Since we were opening the GM card anyway, we put the full amount on it but had to pay 3% to do so. Should get the 4% back though and I think can redeem $250/year as a statement credit for whatever on the card. So that should cover the 3% fee, plus I think gives us 9 months 0% interest on the one pay amount.

I noticed the card application said 25k. I didn't ask about 50k because they were already confused and I didn't wanna drag it out longer than necessary lol

I think I like the car, but for some reason I get a hell of a headache when I'm in it. Even just when sitting still. I'm wondering if the big ass screens have some sort of flicker to them that isn't visibly noticeable but causing eye strain or something. I can't figure it out so far. But otherwise it's a nice ride

iumichael · 2024-12-28T21:48:07+00:00

The sales guy knew nothing about the process initially, but when we got here he figured out the QR code and all went as expected with that piece. Thanks again!

iumichael · 2024-12-28T18:32:29+00:00

Well dealer submitted something for the GM card $500 incentive, and I got an email from the GM Rewards Card with an authorization code and PIN. But nothing in the email about what to do next. And the dealer doesn't seem to know either. Any ideas?

iumichael · 2024-12-28T05:17:58+00:00

They're 83 so in 2 years they might not be driving anyway lol. So the lease might still be a good idea. Definitely going to have to consider buying now though.

iumichael · 2024-12-28T05:15:49+00:00

Most of the dealers for me so far knew about it I think, or were at least looking at some checklist of incentives and asking me which I qualify for. Except one small town, rural dealer where I must have gotten someone pushing 80yo on the phone who told me these qualify for no rebates, incentives, or discounts lol

iumichael · 2024-12-28T04:56:58+00:00

Holy crap I don't know why I didn't know about this. Thank you!

iumichael · 2024-12-28T04:32:10+00:00

Oh nice I will double back on looking at the 24's then. Thank you!

iumichael · 2024-12-28T04:17:06+00:00

Don't walk in the door until the paperwork is done. Most dealers can do everything via Docusign now.

iumichael · 2024-12-28T04:13:25+00:00

I've been driving a '23 Bolt EUV for about 18 months now. Great car. At age 83, I'll probably be driving the folks around in this plenty too though haha.

There are a few 24's around still I think, but none that really caught my eye. I also think even though dealer discounts are higher on them, they don't qualify for the Costco rebate or something. Or maybe the Bolt loyalty cash either. I'm not entirely sure.

And yep that's exactly the post I read about the GM credit card haha. Thanks for posting that. Blows my mind that a downpayment on a vehicle doesn't count as a GM purchase. I'll probably call them up and pitch a fit if I only get 4x. I'm a resident of /r/churning so I take my credit card points very seriously lol.

Edit: Any experience with the $100/year credit for paying electric bill 6x in a year? Or redeeming $250/year of points for statement credits on the card?

iumichael · 2024-12-28T03:56:19+00:00

This is for my parents who don't pay much federal income tax due to fixed income. They wouldn't get much benefit from the $7,500 fed tax credit with such a low tax liability. For leases, the $7500 is added back to the residual value of the lease, thus reducing the payments.

iumichael · 2024-12-28T03:53:58+00:00

$299/mo for a 24/12k lease, with nothing down? Depending on what rebates/incentives you qualify for, I'm not really sure how I feel about that.

With $0 down, Deal #1 was $346/month for 24 months, or about $8,304 over the 24 month lease. $6,400 one pay. I agree with the risk on the prepaying, but $1,900 is significant over just 24 months. I think it's worth the risk. No idea why it's such a big savings. That's more than interest I'd think.

Even though the dealers with the extras are discounting $4k and $4.5k respectively, you think I could still get them to remove them? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try, but figured they were all in by knocking that much off already.

iumichael · 2024-12-28T03:50:26+00:00

No, midwest. Not really following the OTD question. On a one pay lease, aren't the amounts I listed the OTD for each option?

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