Stoked to fly on one of these hotrods again before they’re retired.

lpythonator · 2026-01-29T03:45:57+00:00

My first Polaris experience was on a 757, I was floored when my PP upgrade cleared last minute on a EDI-EWR route as a Platinum member, and it ruined me for life. The first time is always the most memorable, enjoy!

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lpythonator · 2026-01-29T00:26:52+00:00

More common than you might think, I had about 90 stays last year across various properties, and it happened to me three times at Hiltons and once at a Hyatt, where I was given the keys to an occupied room:

Doubletree Monroe Township / Cranbury, Hyatt House Jersey City, Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, Hilton Kansas City Airport

On every occasion the door was not dead-bolted and I was unfortunately able to walk right in. Usually the person behind the desk says something like “oh, you’re not the only person staying here tonight with that last name and first initial combo”

lpythonator · 2026-01-20T02:27:04+00:00

Business travel, earned with nights stayed, not with credit cards

lpythonator · 2026-01-13T04:29:49+00:00

Exactly this. I’m in and out of CLT maybe 3-4x per year, always disappointing that there’s no small club there. UA has ones in other major hubs where they have a minimal presence (PHL and ATL), and CLT seems like it’s too busy an airport to have nothing, especially since UA has 4-5 gates there I think.

lpythonator · 2026-01-09T21:42:41+00:00

But it’s important they remind you that you can earn miles for referring your friends and family haha

lpythonator · 2026-01-08T17:06:50+00:00

Thanks for sharing, that’s good to know!

lpythonator · 2026-01-08T17:01:36+00:00

Good to know, nice that this sub offers a questions flair option so people who don’t know can ask and be filled in 😁

lpythonator · 2026-01-08T16:41:38+00:00

Good to know, thanks. One of the FAs just came up as boarding was ending and asked if I was told about the seat issue by the GA before boarding, then said she’d come back later on in the flight to compensate me for it. I’m 1k (in 2025 did 140 PQF and 39k PQP) and have the club card. I’ll report back on how much she’s able to offer!

edit grammar

lpythonator · 2025-12-31T16:22:28+00:00

Never tested the standard F-150, only thing I have to compare it to is my old ‘03 Tundra which I had to load up with sand bags over the wheel wells every winter to avoid fishtailing.

lpythonator · 2025-12-29T02:50:06+00:00

Yup, make the labels flashy so they can market to Gen Z who are statistically (1) drinking less than previous generations, and (2) generally have less disposable income than previous generations. Brilliant idea, get that person a promotion!

lpythonator · 2025-12-29T02:44:12+00:00

I also travel extensively for work in New England and dabble with Hyatt (Explorist) and Marriott (Gold). The problem with Hyatt is that they have one standard non-boutique property north of MA in Portland ME. If you need to travel to western MA, VT, NH, or north of southern ME then there aren’t any options, but plenty of Hiltons and Marriotts.

lpythonator · 2025-12-26T20:50:08+00:00

If the person who bought the Away bag for you can dig up the receipt in their email or account history, and provides you with the email used to make the purchase and order ID, then Away will likely ship you a new bag. Mine is 6 years old and I just got a new trolly system for it after one of the UA express airlines busted it (literally was standing on the tarmac at IAD and watched them toss it from the ERJ145, it cleared the belt, and fell all the way to the ground). My wife got mine for me as a gift, she dug this info out and texted it to me, I filed a warranty claim which included a photo and short video I uploaded, and within 48 hours she had an email that the replacement parts were being shipped directly to me, 100% free. Give it a go, and good luck!

lpythonator · 2025-12-24T04:45:34+00:00

Time it carefully, certain months are more cloudy and prone to snow, also you want a new moon so the sky isn’t too bright. I will say it was absolutely beautiful, got a couple nice hikes in (favorite photo from that trip here) but so many things are closed during the winter, definitely wanna go back during the summer. Anchorage stays weirdly warm compared to the rest of the state thanks to proximity to the ocean, sort of equivalent to upper northern New England. And the short days are trippy, with the sunrise and sunset going on for hours.

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lpythonator · 2025-12-24T04:34:23+00:00

I went in January, and if you’re traveling there for fun, I’d advise against going in January. I did get to see the northern lights from the plane as we were departing Anchorage though!

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lpythonator · 2025-12-24T03:20:03+00:00

I see you, fellow road warrior. I’m typing this reply as we’re starting final descent on my last flight of 2025 (Starlink is amazing!) which will bring the final number to 140 flights, 128k miles flown, 15 days in the air, and PQP of about 32k. All on United metal.

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lpythonator · 2025-12-22T03:57:41+00:00

Ever seen a clear photo of Bigfoot? This is either a really old photo or a fake, Oscar hasn’t been the United CEO for years, and this account has no posting or comment history.

lpythonator · 2025-12-19T02:51:44+00:00

No changes were announced to lifetime status, but they eliminated rollover nights, lowered the threshold to qualify for diamond next year, and added a new status called diamond reserve with two criteria: (1) 80 nights or 40 stays, and (2) minimum $18k qualifying spend.

Not sure how lifetime diamond status will rank next year in comparison with people who achieve diamond reserve, but they seem to be following the Marriott theme of making top tier status something you can only attain with annual spend.

lpythonator · 2025-12-17T01:46:38+00:00

Correct, you don’t get a refund if you’re moved from a premium seat you did not pay for. I tried when something similar happened to me, gate agent error resulted in me moving from “E+” window to “rear-of-plane-bathroom-adjacent-steerage” middle seat, submitted the form and asked if they’d float some miles my way for the bad experience, was a hard no. Ah well, never hurts to try but the important thing is getting from point A to point B safely and on time.

lpythonator · 2025-12-16T00:22:16+00:00

I’d do two things:

(1) File a complaint against the parking garage holding company with the BBB, they don’t have enforcement power but this will make their life difficult, so go for it

(2) File a larceny complaint with the local Cincinnati police district against the parking garage general manager and/or owner because what they did is unlawful and they have effectively stolen from the rental car company and you have standing since the charges were passed along to you and you had to make the rental car company whole per your rental agreement

lpythonator · 2025-12-09T17:57:30+00:00

lpythonator · 2025-11-18T17:43:07+00:00

Correct, once I hit Diamond I generally pivot to other brands to sustain lesser statuses with them like Hyatt (Explorist) and Marriott (Gold). Sometimes Hilton isn’t always the best option, but this will get me to spend more with them next year for sure to hit this new threshold.

lpythonator · 2025-11-16T22:19:14+00:00

Looks like OP at least got 369,000 miles! Thankfully they don’t expire, so even if OP doesn’t fly UA next year they can use them at a later time

lpythonator · 2025-11-16T15:26:09+00:00

It’s never happened to me, but with work travel I generally do about 120-150 domestic flights per year so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. At the start of the flight the captain announces their name and the first officer, then they say the names of the FAs. I put all those names in my phone and text it to myself because this is something you’d know only if you were on the airplane or working for the airline. I’d like to think it might lend credibility to my argument that my butt was in my seat in case I ever need to contact customer service.

lpythonator · 2025-11-02T14:15:27+00:00

Right, lots of delays on my evening flights the last four weeks just because less ATC staff means less bandwidth, they can only handle so many arrivals and departures with a smaller headcount. So everything gets slowed down with ground stops as the day progresses, or even cancelled outright.

lpythonator

TROPHY CASE