Last Poster #7

[Xue Sheng]

This is, sadly, far too common. We sent one of our kids and his new wife to Cancun for their honeymoon last year. Their flights were changed SIX TIMES. Utter chaos.

That is horrible. and airlines wonder why they are having money issues

We cancelled all flights, now its a fight to get a refund. Mrs Xue also found out that they cancelled one of our return flights and never let us know. We would have been stranded. We are changing origin airport and airline for this trip. I just keep adding more and more airlines to the list of carriers I will not use unless there is no other choice

Oh and during the entire conversation they are telling her she should have purchased flight insurance if she wanted her money back. But here is the thing, it would not have applied, it only applies to medical reasons.

 

[Dirty Dog]

That is horrible. and airlines wonder why they are having money issues

We cancelled all flights, now its a fight to get a refund. Mrs Xue also found out that they cancelled one of our return flights and never let us know. We would have been stranded. We are changing origin airport and airline for this trip. I just keep adding more and more airlines to the list of carriers I will not use unless there is no other choice

They told us about 4 of the changes. Two were surprises. Including them moving their departure flight 24 to the next day. Without telling us. They found out when they got to the airport and were informed that their flight was overbooked and they were being bumped another 6 hours. They would have shown up at the airport to come home and found out then that their date was changed.
I called the resort. They were booked; no way to extend their trip by a day.
I called the airline. After 3 hours, I was told they could get them on a return flight on the originally scheduled day. But it would cost $700 more. We're still in "discussions" with the airline about this.

Oh and during the entire conversation they are telling her she should have purchased flight insurance if she wanted her money back. But here is the thing, it would not have applied, it only applies to medical reasons.

There are different types of trip insurance. Since our travel is primarily international for dive trips, I have trip insurance through DAN (Diver Alert Network).

They're a great company, in part because they're not commercial. They sell dive insurance, and the money raised is used to (largely) fund the hyperbaric and dive research program at Duke University. In many of the best dive destinations, you don't get treated until payment is confirmed. That causes delays which can be problematic, and you would be shocked how many US companies will not pay for treatment elsewhere. But any place that deals with a lot of divers knows that DAN will pay. If I get bent, drop my camera, and Sue cuts my gear loose to get me back in the boat, DAN will pay for the hyperbaric treatment, the camera, the dive gear, the resort Sue stays in while I'm being treated, the air ambulance flight back to the US, and provides immediate consultations with dive experts if the local guys have any questions about anything. If I slip by the pool and break my leg, they pay for that too. And their trip coverage is no questions asked.

It costs me less than $100 a year.

 

[Xue Sheng]

They told us about 4 of the changes. Two were surprises. Including them moving their departure flight 24 to the next day. Without telling us. They found out when they got to the airport and were informed that their flight was overbooked and they were being bumped another 6 hours. They would have shown up at the airport to come home and found out then that their date was changed.
I called the resort. They were booked; no way to extend their trip by a day.
I called the airline. After 3 hours, I was told they could get them on a return flight on the originally scheduled day. But it would cost $700 more. We're still in "discussions" with the airline about this.

I am not a real big fan of flying anyway, but all this is making me much less of a fan. Change a flight time, ok, I get it, but change the day or cancel the flight with some notice is bad enough, but without notice, that is unacceptable and yet the airlines expect that to be ok, that's just ridiculous

 

[Dirty Dog]

I am not a real big fan of flying anyway, but all this is making me much less of a fan. Change a flight time, ok, I get it, but change the day or cancel the flight with some notice is bad enough, but without notice, that is unacceptable and yet the airlines expect that to be ok, that's just ridiculous

I used to think I liked to travel. But eventually I figured out that I actually HATE traveling. I just like the places we go. The actual traveling part is a nightmare. Between them, the useless TSA and the airlines have made travel one of the worst possible experiences.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I used to think I liked to travel. But eventually I figured out that I actually HATE traveling. I just like the places we go. The actual traveling part is a nightmare. Between them, the useless TSA and the airlines have made travel one of the worst possible experiences.

I enjoyed Orlando last week....but getting there and getting home was not fun at all. And now in Summer, this trip is not anything I was interested in to begin with and now all this Airline drama..... so at this point, for the up coming trip, I am not even looking forward to the destination. But the airline silliness is just unbelievable. Airlines these days, at least the few on my list of hated airlines, seem to have no compunction at all when it comes to seriously messing up people plans and/or leaving them stranded without warning

 

[granfire]

I used to have good experiences with Delta. Still do once my butt is in the seat.
Last year I had to see family. Because family stuff.

So I was there at the terminal leaving: $75 bag fee.
Mind you, this was a transatlantic flight. Definitely new (and way to get people back into airplanes....)
Cool, the flight was cheap enough.
Now, 6 weeks later, I figured I needed to change my flight, and return home early. because family stuff.
I tried for 3 days to change the flight.
It.would.not.process.
there was no number to call.
And of course, the $75 bag fee to return.
I think it was actually 76 Euros.
The flight was still great. Cabin crews are really nice.
and the bumpy approach to ATL was not their fault (gawd I was scared!!)

But yeah, they rebooked my flights as well, but only by a day, and I had no hotel/connections to make. So I didn't notice.

And it was supposed to be a joke when Tommy Boy had the ticket agent ask if a flight back from a location they didn't want to go to was Ok....

I think trips like that I'd book as a package through a travel agency.
And fly Lufthansa...

 

[Xue Sheng]

I used to have good experiences with Delta. Still do once my butt is in the seat.
Last year I had to see family. Because family stuff.

So I was there at the terminal leaving: $75 bag fee.
Mind you, this was a transatlantic flight. Definitely new (and way to get people back into airplanes....)
Cool, the flight was cheap enough.
Now, 6 weeks later, I figured I needed to change my flight, and return home early. because family stuff.
I tried for 3 days to change the flight.
It.would.not.process.
there was no number to call.
And of course, the $75 bag fee to return.
I think it was actually 76 Euros.
The flight was still great. Cabin crews are really nice.
and the bumpy approach to ATL was not their fault (gawd I was scared!!)

But yeah, they rebooked my flights as well, but only by a day, and I had no hotel/connections to make. So I didn't notice.

And it was supposed to be a joke when Tommy Boy had the ticket agent ask if a flight back from a location they didn't want to go to was Ok....

I think trips like that I'd book as a package through a travel agency.
And fly Lufthansa...

I really like SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) when we went to Norway, bigger seats, better food, very nice steward and stewardess and no drama after ticket purchases. It looks like we are going to try Air Canada in summer.

 

[granfire]

I really like SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) when we went to Norway, bigger seats, better food, very nice steward and stewardess and no drama after ticket purchases. It looks like we are going to try Air Canada in summer.

I might get my mom to move to Norway

 

[_Simon_]

Cold snap around here too. But that usually means 20s at night and in the 30s during the day. Have a little snow on the ground but not enough to stop everything.

Roasted about 8 lbs of coffee. Some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and some Colombian Supremo. Really looking forward to trying that Ethiopian bean. I drank the last of my last stash a few months ago and it was delicious. Hard to describe how great it was but I am looking forward to having some more.

Ssssssso! How did the Yirg pull up Steve??

Just did a roast day today, also a Colombian Supremo Popayan and a new Peru HB (both washed), haven't roasted many Peruvians before! (Sounds like the name of some new comedy show...)

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Mrs Xue paid Delta for round trip tickets to Alaska for a summer vacation..... after she made the reservations and confirmed the reservations they instantaneously changed the boarding time...... now a month later, after all other plans are made with connections to a cruise....the changed the date of the flight to a day earlier.... that we can't do, work conflicts and no hotel reservation to spend the night there...Then as she is talking to them about this she discovers that they changed are return flight to a day earlier.....we won't even be there.... and now they don't want to refund any money.....

Had this happen to me a few years ago on my honeymoon. Don't remember the full details, but we had a flight set to leave at ~6AM, and got an email around 2AM (only, no call/text) that the flight was being cancelled and as a 'courtesy' they were moving us to a 4AM flight. We lived 2 hours from the airport, so we'd have to leave the second they sent the email to even have a shot of making it on time. Spent about 3 hours on the phone with the airline before they were finally willing to route us to chicago to transfer us over to california before going to hawaii. We had dinner/show plans for the first day of our vacation, which luckily we were able to get refunded. As a result, we never got to go to a luau in hawaii though.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Had this happen to me a few years ago on my honeymoon. Don't remember the full details, but we had a flight set to leave at ~6AM, and got an email around 2AM (only, no call/text) that the flight was being cancelled and as a 'courtesy' they were moving us to a 4AM flight. We lived 2 hours from the airport, so we'd have to leave the second they sent the email to even have a shot of making it on time. Spent about 3 hours on the phone with the airline before they were finally willing to route us to chicago to transfer us over to california before going to hawaii. We had dinner/show plans for the first day of our vacation, which luckily we were able to get refunded. As a result, we never got to go to a luau in hawaii though.

I honestly don't know what they are thinking, or what their definition of courtesy is. My wife spent about the same amount of time on the phone, being transferred all over just to cancel the flights and get refunds

 

[Steve]

Ssssssso! How did the Yirg pull up Steve??

Just did a roast day today, also a Colombian Supremo Popayan and a new Peru HB (both washed), haven't roasted many Peruvians before! (Sounds like the name of some new comedy show...)

You know, the yirg is really good. But I'm chasing the dragon a little on that other one. This is the Misty Valley Yirgacheffe, natural. The one that blew my mind was a dry process from Mengesha Farm.

I have 5 lbs of anaerobic beans that I've been too chicken to roast. Ever take a stab at roasting any of the anearobic beans? Let me know how the Peruvian goes. It's hard to go wrong with the colombian supremo, though I haven't had any from Popayan. I think most of the Colombian I get is from bucaramanga.

I roasted some more last weekend, starting with a much higher pre-heat, so we'll see how it turns out.

This was perfection:

 

[Xue Sheng]

I'm getting strange in my old age...have not done or wanted to do any seminars in years.... now I'm considering a series of short JKD/Wing Chun Seminars in April and an all day Taijiquan seminar in September

 

[Jared Traveler]

By the beginning of may I will travel at least 38,790 air miles. Only one of those flights is a domestic flight. None of them in the US though.

While air travel comes with it's challenges, the good news is I can go to the bathroom anytime I want. That's way better than when I used to ride in the back cab of my dad's truck. He never made bathroom stops.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

By the beginning of may I will travel at least 38,790 air miles. Only one of those flights is a domestic flight. None of them in the US though.

While air travel comes with it's challenges, the good news is I can go to the bathroom anytime I want. That's way better than when I used to ride in the back cab of my dad's truck. He never made bathroom stops.

I do not envy you

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Oh and during the entire conversation they are telling her she should have purchased flight insurance if she wanted her money back. But here is the thing, it would not have applied, it only applies to medical reasons.

This one was my own fault, but I traveled from NC to New York in January via plane. I realized first week of December that I had a day off I didn't realize, and could get there a day earlier. Went to try and change the flight, to another one that left the day before. Flights were essentially the same price (I think the new one was slightly cheaper), both had plenty of open spaces, from the same airline, and it was a month out. Would have cost me I think $100 to do it..with a $150 ticket. Same thing if I tried to refund the ticket, so I could buy another one.

The thing that's my fault for not reading, but I still find ridiculous: I bought the flight insurance. I assumed that with the insurance, I'd be able to do an equivalent exchange, which would save them money (they could re-sell the more expensive ticket). But nope, doesn't work like that. Never buying flight insurance again.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I'm getting strange in my old age...

Are you? Or are you just noticing?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Are you? Or are you just noticing?

Well...no..... I was just hoping no one else noticed before

 

[Xue Sheng]

Spent the afternoon chasing Canadian Geese, possibly looking for nesting sites, out of my yard, They just kept coming back....until I hit one of them in the tail feathers with a snowball.... they have not come back yet...hoping I won this battle..

Canadian Geese look great at a distance, but up close they are big, dirty, nasty birds

 

[_Simon_]

You know, the yirg is really good. But I'm chasing the dragon a little on that other one. This is the Misty Valley Yirgacheffe, natural. The one that blew my mind was a dry process from Mengesha Farm.

I have 5 lbs of anaerobic beans that I've been too chicken to roast. Ever take a stab at roasting any of the anearobic beans? Let me know how the Peruvian goes. It's hard to go wrong with the colombian supremo, though I haven't had any from Popayan. I think most of the Colombian I get is from bucaramanga.

I roasted some more last weekend, starting with a much higher pre-heat, so we'll see how it turns out.

This was perfection:
View attachment 29649

Ah awesome! Yeah some Yirgs just are... an experience haha. Magical!

No I can't say I've roasted an anaerobic! They're certainly popping up lot more nowadays, especially with alot of use in the barista championships. I wouldn't know how to approach, but always a good rule of thumb is to do your standard profile, see how it reacts in the roast and tweak from there on subsequent roasts. Any new bean this is what I do, trial and error at times, but I've been pleasantly surprised by some of my first roasts with a new bean! Although you're roasting with much larger volumes than me so understand the trepidation and not wanting to waste it!

Will do! Getting low on my greens supply actually, will have to order again soon.