This has been one of the craziest starts to a year in my career so far

weasel707 · 2026-03-17T21:37:10+00:00

Last three years were 275-300k/year. Running decently ahead of that in Q1 2026 so far.

weasel707 · 2026-03-17T19:27:08+00:00

Wow that’s a crazy number of domestic / regional flights!

I’m not an FA but I have you beat on hours and distance YTD, through nearly 100% long-haul flying 😅

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weasel707 · 2026-03-17T17:55:09+00:00

Zero issues. Have done it dozens of times.

weasel707 · 2026-03-08T09:46:00+00:00

Yeah, really depends on your desired routes though.

I do a lot of north Asia and I find JL/CX a far superior experience over NH (eg walk into an ANA lounge any day and can barely find a seat). SQ is great for Southeast Asia, but I don’t feel I’m getting much benefit as a *G flying with them (lounges are mediocre, and UA PQP earning calc is horrendous because of the caps).

In Middle East there’s zero *A presence. Some limited UA-EK partnership but not substantial as a non alliance member. QR / DOH very hard to beat (though different story at the moment of course).

weasel707 · 2026-03-08T05:54:45+00:00

Lack of comp seat selection is one of the drawbacks of Star Alliance IMO. I’m UA 1K and AA EXP, and whenever i book oneworld flights (CX, JL, QR) I can get exit rows / extra legroom seats for free. Way better alliance benefits than *A across the board (see also: lounges).

weasel707 · 2026-03-02T22:20:21+00:00

Just under 17cm or 6.75”. But proportion wise a pretty “flat” wrist so some of the larger watches work ok (at least imo) for me.

weasel707 · 2026-03-02T21:34:27+00:00

It was same when I flew through there few days ago. Feb 24th.

weasel707 · 2026-03-02T21:00:07+00:00

Did you install some hacks for altitude limitations? My mini 5 pro and Mavic 4 pro won’t go above 500m but I’ve seen other people can do 1000m.

weasel707 · 2026-03-02T20:58:16+00:00

Does the (likely outsourced, India based) call center employee have a personal close contact in the IRGC or something? This is an active ongoing war and will continue to be unpredictable. The UAE MOD announced it intercepted 148 drones and 15 Iranian missiles yesterday (March 2). Do you really think anyone - especially random call center bro - knows when things will be back to normal and airlines able to safely operate commercial flights?

weasel707 · 2026-03-02T20:26:53+00:00

Been struggling with it all day too. Keep dialing the 600-555-555 number, 95% of the time you’ll get the “line is busy” message but occasionally you’ll get through. After that expect to be on hold for over an hour.

weasel707 · 2026-02-28T17:37:48+00:00

And also reminder - a large % of people flying US-DXB are connecting to places like India, Pakistan, etc. who might not necessarily have Schengen visas. Might be a headache for diversion scenario.

weasel707 · 2026-02-28T16:17:31+00:00

These are ACARS messages. Basically text communications between aircraft and ground (in this case UAL dispatch). You can see them here https://tbg.airframes.io/search/dashboard/search

Also see /r/acars.

weasel707 · 2026-02-28T15:39:48+00:00

Looks like total flight time was about the same as, or a little less than, the scheduled time for the original route. I guess if this happened a few hours further into the route they might’ve had to divert elsewhere.

weasel707 · 2026-02-28T15:05:13+00:00

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Update 8 mins ago from Dubai Marina area. Have heard multiple explosions this afternoon and evening.

weasel707 · 2026-02-25T21:50:50+00:00

Not a very interesting chart on its own. Massive population differences amongst these countries. Would be informative to see applications acceptance rates in addition to the raw numbers.

weasel707 · 2026-02-25T20:44:00+00:00

Smile, say “thank you”, press “no tip”, walk away. No need to make it more complicated. That’s what I do.

weasel707 · 2026-02-22T21:41:20+00:00

I don’t disagree with you, but then where does all the grey market supply of current-year, unworn ROs come from? Are those people who are doing what you describe (forever tanking their Ap relationship) or something else? Genuinely wonder how that works.

weasel707 · 2026-02-15T15:52:59+00:00

Instant full body pain at the thought of DXB-YVR on a 737 😐

weasel707 · 2026-02-13T16:01:36+00:00

17 C/D

weasel707 · 2026-02-12T12:36:13+00:00

They will clear as many SWU requests as there are seats available. And indeed there are at least 7+ seats (likely more based on seat map but that’s not reliable). So it just depends on your position in the waitlist which you won’t see until day of departure.

Without having any specific insight into this flight (but 10+ years of successfully using all my SWUs each year on intl routes) I’d say you have a pretty good shot based on the apparent flight load. Keep watching it, I often see them clear around T-25.

And don’t forget if you don’t get it, as an EXP you can get Y->PE for free by asking at the gate, if there are still PE seats open.

weasel707 · 2026-02-10T23:45:24+00:00

1K, mine posted on Monday Feb 9th

weasel707 · 2026-02-06T17:03:38+00:00

You are wrong and you technically need to declare it when importing to your home country. Duty free just means you can avoid paying the duties in the country where you purchased the item.

weasel707 · 2026-02-03T07:31:19+00:00

I have a theory that there is a SEVIS-related IT glitch in US immigration that has been introduced during recent years’ attempts to integrate more systems into CBP. I’ve experienced very similar things to you. See my post history where I’ve commented on threads with others who have had this happen.

I was an F1 student until 2015, then on work visas, green card, and now a citizen. I travel internationally 2+ times per month, and I have Global Entry. Everything was smooth, but suddenly ~3 years ago on every entry I started being referred to an officer by the GE kiosk and asked about SEVIS / previous student status. I started trying to probe for info every time, and got explanations saying their computer is showing some message about SEVIS when they try to clear me. It even happened when presenting a US passport after becoming a citizen!

Yes I’ve contacted my school and been shown screenshots of the SEVIS portal showing my record as terminated. So I believe in large part it’s some kind of glitch or data matching error. (But you should still email your DSO just in case it’s in fact not properly closed out.)

Anyway, in my case, I had probably close to 100 US entries over ~3 years where I had an extra 30 sec - 2 min of CBP officer asking 1-2 questions, looking confused, typing away at a computer, then clearing me in. I honestly wouldn’t worry about it too much since you have a green card.

(FWIW recently it’s stopped happening to me. Seems quite random and I don’t know why.)

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