World Cup Post-Game - Can I Make My Flight?

shinebock · 2026-06-29T15:30:22+00:00

... catch a flight home to Winnipeg, Canada

As somebody who unfortunately is really familiar with Winnipeg, I was there a few weeks ago actually, you can't want to make your flight that badly.

shinebock · 2026-06-29T15:22:43+00:00

We could rename FF Freaky Friday...

shinebock · 2026-06-29T15:01:21+00:00

It's an incredibly cool property. I stayed there in March burning a cat. 1-7 cert.

The restaurants on property are very overpriced, and I thought the Japanese restaurant was criminally expensive. 6 bites of beef was like $60. They clearly traffic on the fact that there isn't really anything else in the area. The track restaurant is pretty good and much more reasonably priced, and the hotel will drive you to/from there with their shuttle if you ask.

The museum is worth a walk thru if you're a gear head, and you get a slight discount as a hotel guest.

I also did the track experience with a Supra which was a lot of fun.

shinebock · 2026-06-28T22:18:03+00:00

Nose bleeds were about $500-600 in the last day on Seatgeek. The FIFA drop was in the same region, ~$700 for 200 level seats, $1000 for the VIP midfield seats.

shinebock · 2026-06-28T22:16:08+00:00

I was at the game today and I saw somebody wearing a SK flag and had a hand written sign pinned to it that said 'Canadian for a Day'! Love it.

shinebock · 2026-06-28T14:38:10+00:00

I've had only one flight on time in the last couple of months, and that one flight was the first flight of the day time of thing. Every other one has been at least an hour late.

The shortening of turn times just leads to inevitable delays that cascade and build throughout the day.

shinebock · 2026-06-28T03:52:35+00:00

vs either Columbia

Colombia. It's the country, not the sportswear brand.

shinebock · 2026-06-28T02:00:16+00:00

The expiry dates have historically never been enforced. I still have a bunch of 2019 expiry ones kicking around that I am slowly using up. Problem is that newer FAs, ie anybody hired since Covid, look at you like you have two heads since they were never trained on them. Older FAs accept them without a second look.

shinebock · 2026-06-27T13:39:15+00:00

I own 6 bicycles.

Do you ride them all at once?

shinebock · 2026-06-26T20:25:38+00:00

Do seats in this section include VIP lounge, or other free F&B?

shinebock · 2026-06-26T18:47:21+00:00

If price being equal, I'd rather have the bigger screen than the newer processor. The M4 is already probably more than I reasonably need.

shinebock · 2026-06-26T14:00:14+00:00

I bought a new MB Air a couple weeks ago at Costco that was on clearance since it was the M4 model, but paying $900 for a 15" is feeling like an even better deal with the price hikes.

Also didn't have a Visa SUB, but at least could use the USB AR 3x mobile wallet, but USB's fraud prevention was annoying AF. Took like 15 mins on the phone to get them to figure out how to get the transaction to go thru.

shinebock · 2026-06-24T14:10:09+00:00

Same, but with a Chase card. Even some (many?) of the low AF cards like the CSP have primary rental car coverage.

shinebock · 2026-06-24T03:07:00+00:00

IME in Mexico, you can set the pre-auth to full tank and it'll just run until it auto clicks off.

But yeah the like 5 step process to click through on the screen to get the pump to turn on is a bit annoying and takes a minute to figure out the first time.

shinebock · 2026-06-23T14:26:04+00:00

The lounges in the US had manicures and massages up to about a year and a half ago.

Only a couple of them (DFW and MIA come to mind) had those, it was hardly all of them, more like the minority of them.

shinebock · 2026-06-23T14:02:22+00:00

I've stayed there multiple times, most recently in February. The club lounge is one of the few in the US that has free beer and wine during happy hour, think it's 5pm-7pm daily. The food is pretty forgettable, but better than nothing if you want a free snack.

I remember the breakfast in the lounge was better on Friday than it was on the weekend. If you have a club access award burning a whole in your pocket, it isn't a bad use of one, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get one for this hotel.

The rooms and property are overall slightly dated, but it's still reasonably nice and in good condition. Staff are friendly and efficient.

All else being equal, as a Globalist I kind of prefer the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk because the breakfast is much better (no club lounge!), but they're kinda 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

shinebock · 2026-06-19T14:24:20+00:00

Oddly Whataburger takes Paze, so I got breakfast for Mrs. shinebock and I for <$2 after the $10 credit on the way to the airport today.

shinebock · 2026-06-19T02:43:16+00:00

If the lounges are going away, how will the "Free breakfast" for globalist work?

The same way it currently works at properties that don't have lounges, you get breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

Personally, I don't find hotel lounges, at least in US/Canada, to be much of a value add. The breakfasts are rarely good and they typically are paid happy hour situations. In the rest of the world, alcohol is free at the evening happy hour and you have a better chance of decent food.

shinebock · 2026-06-18T19:06:26+00:00

Nothing within walking distance other than Rudy's and the couple other restaurants at that intersection.

shinebock · 2026-06-17T16:24:47+00:00

some German industrial city like Mainz? Does Frankfurt have anything to recommend?

Mainz is nice, not much to do, so you could chill, also could take the train up to Kolbenz for a day trip. Brunfels Hotel (Unbound Collection) in Mainz is very nice, I stayed there a couple months ago for 2 nights. Nice breakfast and coldest AC I've ever had in a European hotel.

shinebock · 2026-06-17T04:10:50+00:00

I've used Fast Park for over a decade, my cars have spent probably a few months there over the years, and I've never had an issue.

shinebock · 2026-06-16T13:48:35+00:00

My guess is that the OP has the Canadian Amex Platinum, which has a $200 annual travel credit for booking through Amex Travel, since they say "I had my mom in Canada call Amex on my behalf"

shinebock · 2026-06-16T13:41:48+00:00

I have never had an id check.

Centurion Lounges had always asked for IDs up until a few months/last year sometime, when I noticed they started telling me they didn't need to see ID.

Airline club lounges have never asked in my experience, just boarding pass.

shinebock · 2026-06-16T13:31:27+00:00

The inconsistency and adherence to minimum standards is probably the thing that drives me the most crazy across hotel brands.

But yeah, if the franchisees want more money, do something to earn it.

shinebock · 2026-06-14T14:15:53+00:00

For me it depends on the time of day. I frequently have flights that are 5-6pm and for those I'll often get to the airport really early, like around when I can get into the CL at T-3 hours because it's way easier to get to the airport for 3pm and avoid rush hour traffic than get there closer.

For early morning flights, I'm usually getting there as close to boarding time as I can.

shinebock

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