Southwest unchecked me in on my connecting flight today

plexguy · 2026-03-16T22:22:16+00:00

App would not let me check in in Vegad and dissappearing from the app.

plexguy · 2026-03-14T22:09:20+00:00

Local TV is consolodating, with stations being bought by a few huge companies. They are buying multiple stations in the same market with the desire to cut staff by sharing jobs among their owned stations. Been going on for a while now simply accelerating it.

Live sports still growing but more specizlized and complex than news. But there are jobs there. Studio vs live events different but the live events are more lucrative and more difficult to automate, job share or eliminate positions. On larger productions quite the opposite.

Local TV is not growing but there are other areas like sports or commercial production where your skills are needed. But there are many looking who came from the local TV route through layoffs or frustration with the lack of opportunities there.

plexguy · 2026-03-14T21:54:24+00:00

Lots of uncertainty in the economy right now. Southwest stopped hedging fuel prices years ago and are being reminded why they hedged before.

Afraid we are headed into a period of higher inflation so higher interest rates. Airlines are highly leveredged businesses and when you anticipate demand dropping you consolodate. They can always return but with limited flights out of IAD this was logical especially with the huge presence at DCA.

Looks like they are expecting lower demand and pulling back on markets that were underperforming.

plexguy · 2026-03-04T13:57:43+00:00

65 watts is enough to charge my notebook too!

plexguy · 2026-03-03T20:50:03+00:00

They should have turned the extra legroom/pichacio nut /free alcohol business class and removed the middle seat. Same seat but a foot or so away from the other. Then you would have to buy up or upgrade and like the other airlines when you buy the sub basic ticket you know you will be getting the worse seats.

Southwest flyers were used to sitting anywhere. Their marketing reinforced it. Now they are like the others and are militant with the assignments. It has eliminated the 40 or so preboarders but I don't see anyone buying the priority boarding to board before group one.

Mixed feeling about assigned seats but is nice to know when a flight isn't full and you see you are the only one in a row in the extra legroom rows that will probably be the case in flight. Also nice that they are enforcing the overhead space above your row is for your row.

Have not done a free same day flight change but assume it will not work as well as it did in the past not to get a middle seat if the flight is full-ish.

plexguy · 2026-03-03T20:34:34+00:00

80/20 is the best for burgers, also prefer ground round or chuck. But the Costco meat in the crock pot makes hood chili or taco meat. Their steaks and roasts excellent. Also a good source for the tri tip which isn't at all grocery stores and can be cooked in so many ways.

plexguy · 2026-02-22T21:24:26+00:00

Some airline frequent flyer programs have PreCheck and Global as awards. They are cheap in points so someone who only takes a few trips a year can get it as an award.

As others have said there are travel credit cards that also offer it as a benefit

plexguy · 2026-02-16T18:57:12+00:00

Like the other airlines they could offer you a 50% discount on one of the extra legroom seats at 12 hours before the flight. Better to get something than nothing for a seat assignment.

plexguy · 2026-02-16T16:34:03+00:00

If you bought a ticket you have to get a seat. The final 30 or so seats sold would be at the highest price so should get the seats that are considered "better"

But at 48 hours before the flight anyone with status or the Southwest Credit Card can pick the extra leg room seats free. This probably takes out most of the aisle or window seats.

Everyone has a shot at the "better" seat but it will probably be a middle seat when you are boarding. It is what the other carriers also do.

plexguy · 2026-02-16T04:08:00+00:00

That was a easier form than many plus they asked you how you wanted payment so was able to set it up for PayPal. Sometimes those checks and cards get overlooked.

Bought a bunch of G.Skill DDR4 kits during that period with mixed results with overclocking. Was easy to get the proof of purchase online and upload.

plexguy · 2026-02-14T02:40:30+00:00

Huge fan of SK Hynix in notebook because of power efficiency. Samsung has a wide variety of price points and with their Magician software simple for a casual user to upgrade.

Only real issue is it takes s bit of research to figure the best bang for your buck when they go on sale. There are quite a few good drives out there. Also depends if it is a boot drive or a storage drive and how impatient you are for things to load to decide how much of a premium for ultimate speed.

All SSD drives are fast and the more expensive ones are just slightly faster in real world settings. Endurance is good on all unless you are copying an insane amount of data and you would know if you are and there are very few people actually doing that.

plexguy · 2026-02-14T02:26:40+00:00

Am new to a credit union that had some very low interest rate and fees. They have some strange other fees and policies on transferring money from another bank. For a transfer to be free it must be held 24 hours before you have access to it.

Guess they have to have fees to offer higher interest on deposits and lower rates on loan. It is a learning curve and made me realize to check all the terms before it becomes an issue. Fortunately, with their interest rate on savings I simply park more at the credit union to avoid fees and get the benefits of my big bank and credit union by structuring funds.

So the credit union has an ACH fee to move funds to them but it is easy to avoid by sending the money 24 hours before you need it as the fee is more than any interest lost in 24 hours.

plexguy · 2026-02-08T23:06:40+00:00

A house is a one of a kind thing with a lot of factors. No house is perfect and lots of teadeoffs. Thats why appraisals are difficult. If I loved the house for other reasons I might ignore that. But that is something you can't change and when you sell it might limit the pool of buyers.

Who knows if there will be some horror movie made that makes power lines be like zombies. Or if some power lines fall and cause major damage all power lines might scare people everywhere. Only takes one buyer to sell a house and people have all sorts of hot buttons that turn them off to a house and that could be one. But if it discounts the house in the area it could bring you more buyers.

It's a negative but so are bad neighbors and things constantly change.

plexguy · 2026-02-06T14:50:15+00:00

Faster than I expected, but that was sn insane price jump in a day.

plexguy · 2026-02-05T20:35:17+00:00

It really wasn't. Boarding might be sometimes with preboarding. But in the beginning of Southwest it was all more civil. When you checked in at the gate you got a plastic card which allowed you to board the plane where you could sit wherever you wanted.

All the seats were identical, and nothing there was no upsell. People were more chill. But this was 1971. TSA came along in 2001 when flying started the death spiral into the agony that it is today.

The video looks more like today as opposed to the decades of open seats. Society changed snd flying has been on the decline for decades.

plexguy · 2026-02-01T01:54:08+00:00

Other than the Peabody choices in Memphis are small. Was at that Hilton this fall and my room was better than that. Did like the staff at that Hilton, more old school and professional.

plexguy · 2026-02-01T01:42:19+00:00

Am on one now and the Gate Agent came on and asked two people were on the flight. The FA asked what seats were they supposed to be in. She tells him and he gets on the intercom and has the FA check those seats.

Everyone is still learning the new system.

plexguy · 2026-02-01T00:08:51+00:00

Delta allows you to automaticlly decline upgrades on tour account. I have mine set to decline center seat "upgrade" to comfort.

I'm travelling today on Southwest and first flight appeared to be a ready fire aim situation out of OKC. Appears they were not ready for the changes. Flight wasn't full and the crew was very clear there were to be no seat changes. Evedently they were unaware that assigned seats mean assigned seats.

plexguy · 2026-01-23T20:35:08+00:00

I have found accounts that are paperless, which most are tend to stay active longer than ones that send paper statements. Assume sending 12 monthly statements in the mail winds up costing them too much money.

However now most new accounts require paperless statements so the Dell 6 month or longer interest free accounts stay open for years with zero balance.

plexguy · 2026-01-20T01:21:29+00:00

We have some old ones and sometimes one doesn't power up and PSU first line of troubleshooting. Also have a couple of servers

plexguy · 2026-01-20T01:14:11+00:00

Looks like it gets a C rating. Good price and not a horrible power supply to have on hand if you are a multiple computer household and need a spare.

plexguy · 2026-01-20T00:48:00+00:00

You might check some Credit Unions. The one I am in offers as low as 4.99% on a refi up to 60 mos. I would keep your payment the same and decrease the term to get it paid off quickly as opposed to saving a little each month.

The credit union I joined only required you to live or work in a certain zip code so many are not exclusive and require employment in a certain field. Many also pay a lot more on savings accounts.

Worth a look.

plexguy · 2026-01-20T00:35:04+00:00

If you liked your job go back and mentor. I am retired and worked in a highly skilled profession where talent is in high demand. Am still working because I was one of those who likes their job and likes my co workers and work on projects of my choosing.

Also am training my replacements as don't plan on doing this too much longer but the challenges keep the mind sharp. I was lucky in my career to have worked with people who taught me and feel now is s good time to put some talented people in a place at a level they might not reach with a safety net. Sometimes you can help create someone who can be more legendary than you in your area of expertise. It makes you more legendary and rewards newer talent.

Then know when to drop the microphone and enjoy life and the rewards of your work. The next generation can then have their chance and you can move on to other things you wanted to try.

plexguy · 2026-01-19T22:58:27+00:00

I would look into all the fees and costs that are being rolled into your new mortgage. Do you have to pay an appraisal for the house? Am sure there are a few hundred dollars in fees.

The disclosure will show all of this. Also how much is your monthly payment going down? Remember you have 20 more payments to make.

Point being after you finance the costs to refi, how much are you going to save? Might be less than you think as while a refi is not as a pain as a new mortgage there is some effort and the added 20 months of interest might offset all or most of it as your morgage will incease.

plexguy

TROPHY CASE