Last week another passenger and I held our coats in our laps. Boarind wrapped up, we pushed, they did the safety demo, and we took off. Still holding our coats. After we leveled off the flight attendant working F came back to take drink orders and ask if we'd like the cold plate. Both myself and this other passenger also asked her to hang our coats. We were both told "There's no closet." Huh. I know the 735 has a closet. It's tiny, but it's there. She then relented and said there was a closet but it wouldn't hold anything. She ended up stuffing our coats in the overhead because the seatbelt sign was on as we were flying through some fairly turbulent air.

I agree with xyzzy
IF you have already earned the vacation time and cannot take the time away from work due to employer demands, then that time has to be either paid for or comped. (Saying this as a business owner, not a lawyer). On the other hand, if he can take the time off and does not want to, then that is different. It can get dicey if the employer says you can get it off but implies that if the work missed is not done then bad things will happen. Then you have a problem.

Both myself and this other passenger also asked her to hang our coats. We were both told "There's no closet."

What they were telling you is that their stuff was filling the tiny closet any yours was going above your head.

Nice! For the first time ever my upgrade on a UA transcon flight has cleared. No Y for me on Sunday's ATL-IAD-LAX itinerary.

Does the old Business Elite lounge still exist at JFK? I know it's just a regular SkyClub now, but I seem to remember hearing it still served real food. If so, where is it located?

That was my assumption also.

Contrast that to Saturday night's return flight, also on a 735. FA took all coats before pushback, managed to fit 6 coats in the tiny closet, and managed to stuff the blanket bag down there also when a last minute passenger showed up as they were closing the door with a bag that would just fit in the bin above 1E/F if the blanket bag was relocated.

What instrument did you use, and how big is the plane? I have only ever cleared transcons on UA using miles when the plane is switched from an A319 to an A320 at the last minute (adding F4 that is not otherwise spoken for). On the other hand, on a 752 transcon I could probably clear with E500s.

I believe it is upstairs at the far end of T3.

I'm bored.

Just curious why you're going FHA? Although you don't pay PMI, you never get rid of their version of PMI. It's a hidden cost of going with FHA.

When I was doing the analysis of the loans we were offered I put together a spread sheet on how fast we would pay down if we paid into the principle and accounted for things like PMI / FHA fees, etc. It was surprising to see where your money goes to, cause most of it isn't towards your house.

Also calculated maintenance fees on a nice condo we were considering. That pushed us towards the casa.

We can only carry over 10 days. I had 11 in the bank.

Canuck and I were told we'd qualify for well over what we ended up spending and I'm glad we held firm on the price point we did. Sure, we had to make some sacrifices in the property we ended up buying -- small property, no garage, etc. but I never sweat the mortgage payment and I'm able to put moneys away into savings every month just in case, whilst still investing into the house.

Ahh, the joys of home ownership. Just got back from Home Depot and fixin' to spend the better part of the afternoon painting ceilings. The worst of all painting chores. :mad:

I believe that's where that chicken escaped to. @:-)

"Will the person leaving a chicken at security checkpoint T3, please return to claim your lost item."

Hah. I still crack up thinking about that announcement.

Next time I fly to SFO I'm going to claim CO lost my chicken. :-:

Today's my b-day. I'm off to dinner with family this evening, some drinks in NYC later on, then Air Canada to YUL (via YYZ) in the morning for New Year's with naughty Quebecois...

If I heard such an announcement, I'd claim the chicken then choke it.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

3 class 777, using E-500s. This is the first trip I've made as a 1K. All previous trips on this same routing (always do the 777 on the transcons out of IAD) have been as a 1P or 2P (mostly 2P).

Aye, we ran the numbers both ways. The main reason for going FHA over conventional was due to the 3.5% down payment requirement. While paying for the home is not an issue for us, gathering that kind of capital while simultaneously paying down our wedding (which we funded) and the move to AUS from SAN (which we also funded but will get a nice chunk back at tax time) is decidedly difficult. With traditional PMI, we actually would wind up paying slightly more in the long run. Once we're locked in and I get final numbers, I am going to ask again for an FHA vs. conventional comparison, and we'll make the decision from there. At this point, though, I can't imagine not doing FHA. To change it is a mountain of paperwork and delay.

Luckily our HOA fees are only $10 a month so it isn't crazy like some I've seen.

We're allowed to carry over 5 days into Q1 of the following year. We have all of our vacation/sick time lumped into a single bucket, so I get 25 paid days off this year + 10 company holidays. I rarely ever get sick (~1 sick day/year average), so it means I get a lot of vacation. I took off all of this week and all of last week just to get down to 5 carryover days.

2010 is the year I celebrate my 10th service anniversary, so I get another week. Then, instead of a watch or another trinket, I get a one-time gift of an extra week in 2011.

I've got 2.5 weeks in HNL/LIH/OGG coming up at the end of January, so that'll be a good getaway.