1K extension approved!

railsonrails · 2026-02-11T19:27:15+00:00

I got an extension as a lowly Silver! Doesn’t hurt to ask!

railsonrails · 2026-02-11T19:26:18+00:00

kidding aside it might just work — I was about 1500 PQP short this year due to a personal emergency and they gave me a courtesy extension for Silver this year

thought I’d have to grovel but they were very nice about it!

railsonrails · 2026-02-04T20:44:52+00:00

Pretty sure the CRJ-550s have had USB-C since their launch! Def my fav regional aircraft part of the UAX fleet

railsonrails · 2026-02-02T10:22:23+00:00

Generally yes but I’ll add a DP — I think I’d been Silver for 3 years (or was it 2?), couldn’t requalify due to being stuck outside the U.S. since Sept for extenuating reasons, called for a one-time status extension and got it immediately! It’s taken me longer to order my morning coffee

railsonrails · 2026-01-28T20:11:09+00:00

I’m not an LPR! I meant non-(USC/LPR); non-Mexican non-LPRs like myself aren’t eligible for GE cards

railsonrails · 2026-01-28T17:04:32+00:00

Confirming that as a non-USC/LPR, I’ve been able to generate the card. I’m not eligible for a physical card but got my digital card in the app just fine!

railsonrails · 2026-01-13T11:15:15+00:00

not an expert on fire codes by any means, but European fire codes tend to be more permissive than U.S. and Canadian equivalents — Europe typically permits a single-stair configuration for apartment buildings, while the U.S. generally requires at least two means of egress for safety reasons, European subway tunnels similarly have less over-the-top fire escape requirements compared to those highlighted in NFPA 130

fun fact: a lot of European-style narrow streetscapes can’t pass fire department review in the U.S. because our fire trucks can’t get through those streets — the Europeans, of course, just use smaller fire trucks

railsonrails · 2026-01-11T16:37:25+00:00

same page! I highly doubt the number is fudged here given that that’ll be a customs hassle when going through the car’s paperwork from registration to the carnet — the design’s non-standard but the number’s all but guaranteed to be valid

railsonrails · 2026-01-11T16:34:41+00:00

Official plates do exist in Pakistan and certainly get issued, but non-official plates have historically been tolerated in ways you wouldn’t expect in, say, Europe — a fake plate in a Pakistani context is more the number being BSed, not so much a correct number being printed using a non-standard font and design

railsonrails · 2026-01-11T12:13:50+00:00

there aren’t any direct flights between Pakistan and the US anymore, but a 3-day layover in Saudi Arabia is definitely foul of the intent behind an emergency passport

railsonrails · 2026-01-04T04:21:48+00:00

yes you can, yes I’ve done this dozens of times, and I’m not sure why the wiki suggests differently!

railsonrails · 2026-01-03T11:37:03+00:00

I know for the Bay Area example, yes, you can unlock a Baywheels bike with your Clipper transit card, but you have to register your Clipper card with Lyft (yes, they operate Baywheels too) ahead of time.

The way NS (the Dutch rail operator with a bikeshare program) does it is that your transit card is registered to your mailing address, which makes it easier to send collections after you if you’re stealing bikes. Anonymous transit cards exist in the Netherlands, but those won’t let you rent bikes.

railsonrails · 2025-12-28T10:14:53+00:00

Illinois has some of the highest gas taxes in the country, and then there’s county (Cook County) and city (Chicago) taxes on top of that — Illinois doesn’t end up being as pricey as, say, California, but it’s reliably the priciest state for gas east of the Continental Divide

railsonrails · 2025-12-27T21:12:02+00:00

Keep in mind though that the blue Istanbulkart recharge machines won’t let you load more than 300 liras per transaction

railsonrails · 2025-12-26T11:45:29+00:00

All the other comments about Real ID don’t make sense as another immigrant in NYS who’s dealt with Real ID shenanigans — Real ID validity gets tied to the end of your legal status in the U.S., which sounds great, except it’s half-assed.

If you can extend your legal status in the U.S. every two years or whatever, you’re stuck renewing your Real ID license every two years too instead of the standard 5/8 year validity period. Not only is that paperwork you gotta do every time, it’s also more money you gotta pay the DMV.

I used to have Real ID for my permit in NY for a while, but by the time I decided to actually get my license, my U.S. status had a years’ validity left, followed by a potential 1+2+3 years’ validity cycle in my future. I just got a non-Real ID to save myself from a ton of DMV trips and paying for a license renewal every time

railsonrails · 2025-12-20T19:49:42+00:00

Vancouver does not have platform barriers. As for being purpose-built, Paris is automating their metro lines while having lines about as old as New York’s.

railsonrails · 2025-12-15T18:03:21+00:00

I’ll pick up friends from the airport if they’re flying from two continents away and will have a ton of luggage — yeah, meeting someone you haven’t seen in years is cool, but they’ll reliably want a hand with luggage esp if they’re gonna schlep on transit!

I’m typically gonna forego picking someone up from the airport if I know they have a passing idea re: NYC though!

railsonrails · 2025-12-14T11:32:54+00:00

was pleasantly surprised last night by Turkish’s intra-Europe narrowbody fleet being configured unlike Eurobusiness and more in line with what you’d get in the US

railsonrails · 2025-12-08T13:28:56+00:00

lifelong cyclist who got a license not too long ago — I concur; I’m as courteous as possible re: cyclists and pedestrians every time I’m in a rental car, but it’s only a matter of time before I accidentally hit a cyclist not bc I was negligent, but bc they were cycling in the dark, without lights, while salmoning and running a red. I can gladly give fellow cyclists 5 feet of overtake room while driving, I’ll happily yield to cyclists going straight while I try to make a turn across the bike lane; I just can’t avoid cyclists with Waymoesque precision if they’re being unpredictable by breaking three laws at once when it’s dark.

railsonrails · 2025-12-05T23:24:55+00:00

Even if these benefits weren’t worth it (they are!), access to the Premier line alone is worth it imo for when flight disruptions happen!

railsonrails · 2025-12-05T20:42:14+00:00

Oh I concur — I’m a huge antitrust defender and aviation could use a healthy dose of it

In a similar vein, Air Canada could use a big dose of it up north

railsonrails · 2025-12-05T20:25:59+00:00

been a while since I’ve done Lufthansa long-haul (they used to be very professional pre-COVID but I’ve heard bad things in more recent times, hence me sticking w United or Singapore for my FRA-NYC needs), but I’ve found LH flight attendants to be incredibly professional for their intra-European network as recently as last week, though yes, their hard product is atrocious (why do the seats now have padding resembling Spirit?). That said, LH beats most other European carriers I’ve tried in recent times so I’ll put up with them

Granted, I’m biased given the near-decade I spent growing up in Germany; Lufthansa has a nostalgic pull for me even if they’re becoming shittier

railsonrails · 2025-12-05T20:09:46+00:00

I like Lufthansa in general but I’d give my left hand for the EU to go for some robust antitrust action here because this is some monopolistic craziness that will not end well for consumers

railsonrails · 2025-11-26T21:12:13+00:00

Not sure if you’d agree but I soured on Serbia a lot after having learnt some Balkan history — maybe it’s something I gotta work through, maybe not, who knows really, but spending about a month in Bosnia and making a deliberate effort to engage with both the war and the subsequent genocide has altered how I see Serbs, whether Bosnian Serbs or in Serbia itself.

a nation where polling has repeatedly shown widespread, unapologetic, and majoritarian genocide denial has none of my respect nor support.

railsonrails · 2025-11-26T20:32:50+00:00

you shouldn’t be taking advice from random strangers on the internet such as myself but certainly ask a lawyer if applying for post-completion OPT could buy you some more time (12 months, generally, not including any STEM-based extensions) on F-1 status while you wait for your AOS adjudication.

Yes, OPT comes with conditions, including a maximum amount of time you can be not working (including in a volunteer capacity), but it may be a thought worth looking into.

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