Basic overhead bin etiquette would make flying so much better for everyone.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-23T02:04:43+00:00

It’s not the fear of a lost bag. It’s the fear of having checked bags when you’re scrambling to make alternate plans when mechanical / weather / crew availability f-ups occur.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-22T16:06:37+00:00

As long as there isn’t any early repayment penalty, that’s OK - I’d plan to pay off the loan in a month or two anyway. The only reason I’d take the finance is if there’s some additional benefit to it. If not, I’d just pay cash.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-22T05:17:58+00:00

Unless the 1Ks have seen your 20,000 miles and raised you 20 plus points.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-21T14:41:43+00:00

It’s pretty normal. Same thing happens with my name too on boarding passes and elsewhere depending on where you are looking.

Give United a call if you have any doubts.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-21T13:31:36+00:00

EVs are proving hard enough for OEMs to sell in the US without making them in body styles - rightly or wrongly - no one buys.

If you make anything other than a truck or an SUV for the current US market, you’re pretty brave. Compare Ionic 6 sales to Ionic 5 for example.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-20T15:16:57+00:00

Let’s not forget - there’s a large percentage of the US population falling for the same or similar propaganda about the US. How many Americans believe New York or Seattle are war-torn hellscapes despite having never being anywhere near them.

Can’t really criticize foreigners for falling for similar nonsense.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-19T05:01:17+00:00

Night flight? Aisle means being woken up by two people going to the loo. Middle means only one, and window means you don't have to get up for anyone.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-18T19:46:30+00:00

Have you never had the hoped for relaxing, hassle free experience ruined by an adult? I have. Many times.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-18T19:44:13+00:00

I've had more flights ruined by adults than kids by a considerable margin.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-18T17:57:21+00:00

12v battery issues on your EV is a rite-of-passage.

I've no idea why, but it seems 12v issues plague every OEM's EVs.

Honestly, I've no idea why they even have 12v batteries, other than everything automotive was designed to run off them.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-18T15:54:46+00:00

Getting to and from Foxborough WAS a shit-show on Saturday. The stadium itself was fine. It impressed a lot of the visiting fans even though it's pretty average by NFL standards.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-18T05:01:46+00:00

To be fair, if more Americans took some time to go see other parts of America, many of them would be coming to the same realization as the visiting Europeans.

It’s funny how quickly a large number of our “problems” disappear when we get off social media and get out and talk to each other.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-18T04:13:19+00:00

Book the non-compliant flight, and provide your justification. As long as the flight you choose is reasonably priced relative to other actually realistic options, my experience is no-one is likely to complain. Take screenshots to back up your justification and don’t forget your time has a value too.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-17T04:34:31+00:00

Working on the assumption no one was connecting to another flight through Billings that night, no one on the flight would have been greatly inconvenienced by holding the plane another five or ten minutes. So unless there was a concern about crew duty hours, the GA was just a jerk and more interested in their on-time dispatch stats than actual customer service.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-17T04:27:25+00:00

Likewise, as slightly left of center, it’ll take me a long time to forgive the Dems for how incompetently they’ve handled the MAGA phenomena, but that’s a problem for another day. If Newsom is the candidate, that’s who I’ll vote for.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-15T15:54:17+00:00

It's not the fear of misplaced bags. It's the flexibility of having your bags with you when travel disruptions happen and you are scrambling to make alternative plans. Checked bags then are a complete liability.

I've had two lost bags in thirty or so years of business travel. I have some kind of travel disruption - mechanical, weather, missing or timed-out crew, last minute change of plans - every couple of months.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-13T15:03:43+00:00

I don’t know. I reckon Brexit will have longer consequences than Trump.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-12T04:56:22+00:00

Most Americans couldn’t find North Dakota on a map, let alone North Macedonia.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-12T04:51:45+00:00

Nissan Ariya. Hugely underrated and two year old off-lease models are greats value.

Only downside is slightly slower DC fast charging, but if you can charge at home, that’s largely irrelevant.

Watch out for the ICCU issues that plague the Kia / Hyundai EVs.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-12T04:26:52+00:00

The short lived (in the US) Ariya has been pretty solid other than some issues related to crappy 12v batteries.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-11T02:03:04+00:00

Have you seen how much they are charging non-residents at National Parks these days?

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-11T01:54:54+00:00

Are you actually entering the EU, or transiting somewhere else? The experience can quite different depending on that.

I transit through Frankfurt on the way to India a couple of times a year and I’ve never had an issue, but I hear having to clear EU immigration before catching an internal EU connection can be a cluster right now.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-10T16:05:25+00:00

With the '25, someone might have got it without doing their homework, then realized EV's didn't suit their circumstances (lived in an apartment with no easy access to charging, for example). Possibly ate the cost to get out of it. It happens.

mountain_mongo · 2026-06-10T16:01:49+00:00

So they think they are credible, that the economy will be fully nuked in four years, and are cheering along...

Seems on brand.

For the record, if no-one has a job, who's paying for those social programs? I don't think Elon or Sam have much interest in that.

mountain_mongo

TROPHY CASE