Minor things that bother you

[Max Rockatansky]

The vendors didn't really impress me.  They clearly were the hand picked corporate variety approved by the FIA.  Not that I was expecting something different but it made me miss the random junk vendors that showed up to NASCAR races in the 80s and 90s.  I really used to enjoy diecast car, car parts and sign shopping with my dad. 

[GaryV]

my bother in law

Freudian slip?
 

[vdeane]

The fact that WebEx now insists on opening a desktop window when I start my computer and open Outlook, even though I specifically have the setting for it to open at startup disabled.

[Rothman]

The fact that WebEx now insists on opening a desktop window when I start my computer and open Outlook, even though I specifically have the setting for it to open at startup disabled.

^THIS!

[JayhawkCO]

When loyalty programs make devaluations without any notification.

[formulanone]

When loyalty programs make devaluations without any notification.

Airlines' and hotels' success via mergers/acquisitions and credit card profiting have made travel loyalty a frustrating ordeal. And smaller-time programs from restaurants and other merchants frequently get cancelled at a moment's notice.

I've given up somewhat; I fly to get a few hours of precious time back when possible, stay at hotels that offer convenience or peace-and-quiet over more points, and my time is worth more than the diminishing returns on points/miles. Either you want to save time, or it's congealed energy form of money. The rest is icing on a cake, and everyone has their own idea how much of that sugar they might need. There is no credit card, no app, no gadget, no post, no secret offer to recoup lost nor wasted time.

I refuse to spend $500-600 on a card and then hope it gives me more benefits than I could actually try to use. Some people make a hobby out of it, and others know they'll just take that away the next year as well. Happier not dealing with being a muppet and happier ignoring those evangelists who blog how great it is to get something the same entity which gave to them in exchange for nice press.

[JayhawkCO]

When loyalty programs make devaluations without any notification.

Airlines' and hotels' success via mergers/acquisitions and credit card profiting have made travel loyalty a frustrating ordeal. And smaller-time programs from restaurants and other merchants frequently get cancelled at a moment's notice.

I've give up somewhat; I fly to get a few hours of precious time back when possible], stay at hotels that offer convenience or piece and quiet over more points, and my time is worth more that diminishing returns on points/miles. Either you want to save time, or it's congealed energy form of money. The rest is icing on a cake, and everyone has their own idea how much of that they need. There is no credit card, no app, no gadget, no post, no secret offer to recoup lost nor wasted time.

I refuse to spend $500-600 on a card and then hope it gives me more benefits than I could actually try to use. Some people make a hobby out of it, and others know they'll just take that away the next year as well. Happier not dealing with being a muppet and happier ignoring those evangelists who blog how great it is to get something the same entity which gave to them in exchange for nice press.

Well, to give you the specific devaluation that I'm referring to, I'm a long time United Mileage Plus member. Back in the day, I could earn enough mileage flying to get a couple of business class flights per year.

They had the most flexible routing policies and the best award chart. For a long time, you were allowed one stopover and one open jaw flight. Eventually, they got rid of the free stopover and allowed for the "Excursionist Perk", which was basically a free one-way flight within one award region that you could put in the middle of your flight. So, before you could do something like DEN-LHR, LHR-CDG, CDG-DEN, all in the same class of service. The Excursionist Perk allowed for DEN-LHR, HEL-IST, IST-DEN. again, all in the same class of service.

Now, they just devalued the perk where the free leg has to be in the same class of service or lower, so, unless your first and third sets of flights are in business, you can't use the perk at all. Even if you are in business, the free leg is now in coach. That's a pretty big change.

My upcoming Africa trip, I'm flying JFK-ABJ-ACC-JNB//VNX-JNB-LUN-ADD-HGA//HGA-ADD-IAD all in business (except the VNX (Vilanculos, Mozambique)-JNB flight since that plane only has economy). In the future, this itinerary will cost 50-60% more. That's crazy inflation.

[thenetwork]

It's getting harder to remember if the limited airline seats and higher prices are because of lack of planes (due to Boeing's recent problems) or a lack of pilots.

It seems that one week it's the not enough planes issue, then the next week it's the not enough pilots excuse.  Never both at the same time, though.

[Rothman]

I think companies are just realizing that loyalty of the consumer isn't worth as much as oligopolies take over.

[Scott5114]

I think companies are just realizing that loyalty of the consumer isn't worth as much as oligopolies take over.

Of course, they run the risk of people deciding that maybe their trip wasn't that necessary after all and just stay home, especially now that teleconferencing is proven tech.

The consumer's most longstanding, most rewarding loyalty is the one they have to doing nothing.

[formulanone]

When loyalty programs make devaluations without any notification.

Airlines' and hotels' success via mergers/acquisitions and credit card profiting have made travel loyalty a frustrating ordeal. And smaller-time programs from restaurants and other merchants frequently get cancelled at a moment's notice.

I've give up somewhat; I fly to get a few hours of precious time back when possible], stay at hotels that offer convenience or piece and quiet over more points, and my time is worth more that diminishing returns on points/miles. Either you want to save time, or it's congealed energy form of money. The rest is icing on a cake, and everyone has their own idea how much of that they need. There is no credit card, no app, no gadget, no post, no secret offer to recoup lost nor wasted time.

I refuse to spend $500-600 on a card and then hope it gives me more benefits than I could actually try to use. Some people make a hobby out of it, and others know they'll just take that away the next year as well. Happier not dealing with being a muppet and happier ignoring those evangelists who blog how great it is to get something the same entity which gave to them in exchange for nice press.

Well, to give you the specific devaluation that I'm referring to, I'm a long time United Mileage Plus member. Back in the day, I could earn enough mileage flying to get a couple of business class flights per year.

They had the most flexible routing policies and the best award chart. For a long time, you were allowed one stopover and one open jaw flight. Eventually, they got rid of the free stopover and allowed for the "Excursionist Perk", which was basically a free one-way flight within one award region that you could put in the middle of your flight. So, before you could do something like DEN-LHR, LHR-CDG, CDG-DEN, all in the same class of service. The Excursionist Perk allowed for DEN-LHR, HEL-IST, IST-DEN. again, all in the same class of service.

Now, they just devalued the perk where the free leg has to be in the same class of service or lower, so, unless your first and third sets of flights are in business, you can't use the perk at all. Even if you are in business, the free leg is now in coach. That's a pretty big change.

My upcoming Africa trip, I'm flying JFK-ABJ-ACC-JNB//VNX-JNB-LUN-ADD-HGA//HGA-ADD-IAD all in business (except the VNX (Vilanculos, Mozambique)-JNB flight since that plane only has economy). In the future, this itinerary will cost 50-60% more. That's crazy inflation.

That's a neat perk, actually. Delta had previously made it so that all my work flying was worth four of us traveling in premium/first took about two years of flying. Now it devalues to about two years for 2-3 seats but not all destinations are remotely the same mileage.

The miles effectively devalue since there's more of them thanks to credit card users rather than generated by actual fliers, in turn just raising the high jump bar to incredible levels for folks far wealthier than myself. And I guess as they try to make first-class-seat inventories lower with goals of selling more, it's pushing me out the other way.

All of this is really a first-world problem, but it's aggravating saving up and suddenly you have save 30-50% more because they feel you're fleecing them rather than being rewarded for paid loyalty.

I'm not hub-captive so there's advantages to being a "free agent" but I'm also not in a fare-competitive market, either. Of course, my company pays for 100% of my travel expenses and so perks aren't totally mine to lose.

[JayhawkCO]

And I've taken a total of two flights in my life for work, so I definitely get to pick and choose who gets my money. Unfortunately for United, not likely to pick them nor use their credit card anymore for to this.

[Rothman]

And I've taken a total of two flights in my life for work, so I definitely get to pick and choose who gets my money. Unfortunately for United, not likely to pick them nor use their credit card anymore for to this.

Ok...so who do you go to?  I'm not finding much of a stand-out advantage across carriers.

[JayhawkCO]

And I've taken a total of two flights in my life for work, so I definitely get to pick and choose who gets my money. Unfortunately for United, not likely to pick them nor use their credit card anymore for to this.

Ok...so who do you go to?  I'm not finding much of a stand-out advantage across carriers.

I'm a free agent mostly for flights, especially since I don't fly as often as I used to. Most of my domestic flights lately have been on Southwest.

For credit card spend, I'll switch to my Citi Premier card for points since there are a lot of good transfer partners with cheaper redemption than United now.

[Rothman]

And I've taken a total of two flights in my life for work, so I definitely get to pick and choose who gets my money. Unfortunately for United, not likely to pick them nor use their credit card anymore for to this.

Ok...so who do you go to?  I'm not finding much of a stand-out advantage across carriers.

I'm a free agent mostly for flights, especially since I don't fly as often as I used to. Most of my domestic flights lately have been on Southwest.

For credit card spend, I'll switch to my Citi Premier card for points since there are a lot of good transfer partners with cheaper redemption than United now.

I've sort of given up on company-specific credit cards all around myself and just mainly use a cash back card. 

[roadman65]

Plastic trash bags or doggie poop bags in Winter.

The cold weather seals the bag openings due to creation of static electricity for whatever reason. So it's frustrating to pull apart either a trash or dog bag to open it up for business.

[JayhawkCO]

And I've taken a total of two flights in my life for work, so I definitely get to pick and choose who gets my money. Unfortunately for United, not likely to pick them nor use their credit card anymore for to this.

Ok...so who do you go to?  I'm not finding much of a stand-out advantage across carriers.

I'm a free agent mostly for flights, especially since I don't fly as often as I used to. Most of my domestic flights lately have been on Southwest.

For credit card spend, I'll switch to my Citi Premier card for points since there are a lot of good transfer partners with cheaper redemption than United now.

I've sort of given up on company-specific credit cards all around myself and just mainly use a cash back card. 

Despite the constant devaluations, I've still found I can but more than $0.02 per point worth of value. That said, I also have a Citi Double Cash that we use as well.

[Max Rockatansky]

My wife is pretty big into using her rewards travel card for all purchases.  I just use it on big stuff like when I made a down payment on my new car and trips to Costco.  I can't be bothered to remember to pay off small shit like cans of Soda.

[JayhawkCO]

My wife is pretty big into using her rewards travel card for all purchases.  I just use it on big stuff like when I made a down payment on my new car and trips to Costco.  I can't be bothered to remember to pay off small shit like cans of Soda.

I put all purchases on credit cards and pay off. Especially with purchase protection, there's no reason not to even if you didn't get points/miles.

[Rothman]

My wife is pretty big into using her rewards travel card for all purchases.  I just use it on big stuff like when I made a down payment on my new car and trips to Costco.  I can't be bothered to remember to pay off small shit like cans of Soda.

I put all purchases on credit cards and pay off. Especially with purchase protection, there's no reason not to even if you didn't get points/miles.

Well, as long as one can pay off the card each month.

[JayhawkCO]

My wife is pretty big into using her rewards travel card for all purchases.  I just use it on big stuff like when I made a down payment on my new car and trips to Costco.  I can't be bothered to remember to pay off small shit like cans of Soda.

I put all purchases on credit cards and pay off. Especially with purchase protection, there's no reason not to even if you didn't get points/miles.

Well, as long as one can pay off the card each month.

If you spend $3k in a month on a credit card, then if you have more than $3k in your bank account, you can pay it off. If you don't have $3k in your bank account, you carry a balance forward.

If you spend $3k in a month on a debit card, and you don't have more than $3k in your bank account, you're overdrawing. Not sure why it's better to use a debit card for daily spending.

[Rothman]

My wife is pretty big into using her rewards travel card for all purchases.  I just use it on big stuff like when I made a down payment on my new car and trips to Costco.  I can't be bothered to remember to pay off small shit like cans of Soda.

I put all purchases on credit cards and pay off. Especially with purchase protection, there's no reason not to even if you didn't get points/miles.

Well, as long as one can pay off the card each month.

If you spend $3k in a month on a credit card, then if you have more than $3k in your bank account, you can pay it off. If you don't have $3k in your bank account, you carry a balance forward.

If you spend $3k in a month on a debit card, and you don't have more than $3k in your bank account, you're overdrawing. Not sure why it's better to use a debit card for daily spending.

I'd rather not pay either interest or overdraw fees.

[JayhawkCO]

My wife is pretty big into using her rewards travel card for all purchases.  I just use it on big stuff like when I made a down payment on my new car and trips to Costco.  I can't be bothered to remember to pay off small shit like cans of Soda.

I put all purchases on credit cards and pay off. Especially with purchase protection, there's no reason not to even if you didn't get points/miles.

Well, as long as one can pay off the card each month.

If you spend $3k in a month on a credit card, then if you have more than $3k in your bank account, you can pay it off. If you don't have $3k in your bank account, you carry a balance forward.

If you spend $3k in a month on a debit card, and you don't have more than $3k in your bank account, you're overdrawing. Not sure why it's better to use a debit card for daily spending.

I'd rather not pay either interest or overdraw fees.

That's my point. Assuming you don't spend any more money than you otherwise would depending on which piece of plastic you pull out of your wallet, there's no reason not to put it all on a credit card. Either you have the money or you don't.

[ZLoth]

If you can get the rewards out of it and can pay it off at the end of the month, then yeah, put it on the credit card. Plus, there is fraud protections that are not available on a debit card.

[JayhawkCO]

If you can get the rewards out of it and can pay it off at the end of the month, then yeah, put it on the credit card. Plus, there is fraud protections that are not available on a debit card.

And again, the point I'm making is that if you can't pay it off at the end of the month, you already spent more money than you could have had you paid with a debit card. If you have a handle on your finances, credit cards are the only things that make sense to pay with. My debit card is for the very rare occasions I need cash out of an ATM or that I need to deposit something in person at the bank. I don't think I've paid with it in probably 10 years.