News and notes from around the interweb:
- AT&T customer gets $19,500 roaming bill for two days of accidental data use (HT: Paul H) AT&T wouldn’t adjust the charge:
An AT&T customer traveling internationally racked up $19,500 in data charges over two days — roughly $110 per minute, or $6,500 per hour. According to a post on Reddit’s r/ATT forum, the customer had removed AT&T’s $12-per-day International Day Pass before the trip, planning to use local SIMs and wifi instead. But they left their AT&T eSIM active for the first day after landing. By the time they noticed, one line had hit $18,600, and the other was suspended after crossing $1,000.
AT&T charges $2,000 per gigabyte for international data without the Day Pass. The customer calculated they were billed $900 for every eight minutes of use.
- Maybe this is why United’s business class catering is so bad – CEO Scott Kirby doesn’t eat the food.
Kirby skips his own catering
byu/Puzzleheaded_Wear472 inunitedairlines - Wyndham status matches are back with easy terms
- United Airlines serving 2019 The Mascot Cabernet Sauvignon in business class Quite the prestige bottle for an airline that now has one of the best business class wine programs in the world. With this bottle, One Mile at a Time writes “move over Emirates.”
Honestly, though, this cab seems likely to come across drier and more astringent than it does on the ground. Low humidity in the pressurized cabin is going to suppress the aroma, which makes the tannins and acidity seem more prominent. That makes a big, tannic red a risky choice. I’d serve this cooler than room temperature to keep the alcohol from standing out so much. Still, pair this with United’s fatty beef and it could be quite nice.
- Hotels and ICE. What act are we on now?
BREAKING: An independently owned Marriott hotel in Bloomington, MN confirms to @FoxNews they have ID'd & fired an employee who doxxed ICE agents by leaking their names, emails, and surveillance images of them as they checked in at the front desk. The images appeared in an… pic.twitter.com/SgsFMEOtN3
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 8, 2026
- Clean. Your. Planes.
Wow. This @AmericanAir plane is pretty disgusting. Looks like a lot of spillage over a long period of time that hasn’t ever been cleaned. This is flight 1429, DFW > FLL. Tail number N903AA. pic.twitter.com/EfJKxah7oE
— Damon Vinci (@23XIsquirrel) January 10, 2026
- New Bilt card designs.
On the BILT sleuthing, shout-out to @sullim4, who’s the new G.O.A.T. on Reddit and at DoC. Designs actually look nice. The product changes are still trash, but, heh, nice-lookin’ cards…
I expect AT&T to advertise, “Save $19,500 on international data roaming fees when you buy the AT&T international $12 day pass. Choose AT&T for the best deals on America’s fastest and most reliable network.”
I used to have a AT&T cellphone account. It was the one that cost the most yearly so I dumped it several years ago. I don’t miss it one bit. The customer service was the most difficult to deal with. My fiber service is still with AT&T and that is ok.
Getting a local sim is usually pretty easy in the foreign airports I have been in. It should have been a top priority for the AT&T customer. Of course, with a T-Mobile account instead, they may have had a better result.
That’s the reason I switched out of AT&T. Was going to do extended International travel, and ATT wanted $xx/day per phone (x4 people) for their ‘international plan’ which would be charged for the entire extended trip and didn’t even include everything! This was years ago. Switched to T-mobile which has free data in 258(?) countries for slower speeds. T-mobile also pushes a daily international plan for higher speed service, but I don’t need that. Haven’t looked back since, and don’t need to deal with e-sims or hotspots.
AT&T has been on my Never Ever list since the 80s when they would routinely slam residential and commercial lines without apologies just to get a few more pennies per minute. If there is a scummier B2C out there, I’ve not seen it.
I always have an active international eSIM, that costs $60 ($66 net rewards you earned for the last) for 20 gb that lasts 365 days. So, that’s $3/gb. I leave it and my US carrier (Google Fi) active in the US, but turn Fi off internationally. Fi only charges $10/gb in and out of the US in my plan, but they won’t support me for data for more than about 2 months internationally without returning (even briefly) to the US. It’s great, Fi give me phone and text access with my US number and the eSIM handles data. How the @#$% can ATT charge what they do when my eSIM gives me access to nearly all countries at $3/gb?
Reminds me of something that happened to my parents in the late 1990s.
They had MCI as the long distance provider on their landline. At that time, many companies were offering international long distance discount plans. They were not enrolled in one.
One night they heard some distressing news and, in a panic, called relatives in another country. They were charged an outrageous amount, something like $3 a minute. When they called MCI, rep said with a straight face, “you didn’t have a international long distance discount plans, that’s the correct price for the call.”
@Disgruntled American — Garsh. If anything would make someone become ‘disgruntled’ it’s that.
“When they called MCI, rep said with a straight face, ‘you didn’t have a international long distance discount plans, that’s the correct price for the call.’” Which was exactly true. I also would expect that, if I contacted my insurance company about covering a flood loss, they would suggest my property insurance doesn’t cover floods. I had a choice on a recent flight purchase, pay $X or pay $1.2X for the same seat on the same flight. The former was worthless if canceled/not taken, while the latter oferred a full refund. If I opt for the former, I’d expect the airline to say “you opted for a non-refundable ticket, that’s the correct outcome” if I called to cancel.
The ATT rate is certainly crazy: “pay us $12/day or $2,000/gb.” So, if you plan to use more than 6 MEGAbytes, opt for the former. But, this guy used in two days more data I use in 2/3rds a year. Am I the outlier? At $900 for every 8 minutes, he’s using 3.375gb per hour, three months usage for me. For the record, I only use 3.375gb three months of charged data (I pay for all phoneco data, but have lots of free wifi at home, in hotels, and at places I frequent. And, I never stream on phoneco data.)
Still would love the CEO of ATT appear on CNBC (insert new name) for something else and get asked, “you must make a lot charging $2,000/gb for your more naive internal travelers, yes?”
@This comes to mind — Not always that black-and-white, but, yes, we consumers do need to do our part; otherwise, some wise-guys will inevitably try to game it. Yet, the rates in each story do seem excessive; proper disclosure, perhaps limits to prevent exorbitant fees, all would be good ways to prevent genuine mistakes. Think of it as a circuit breaker. Don’t wanna get to $20K in fees before realizing it. Verizon sends me a warning $12 for 24 hours. Seems fairz
Over a decade ago I thought I was on WiFi in CDG airport and apparently was not for around two hours on my AT&T cellphone. When I got the bill it was for $800. I called them up to tell them I thought that price was insane and they dropped it by half. Ever since I’ve used the day pass for $10-$12 a day.
@Christian — Lordy. $800 for two hours! Good on you for negotiating it down.
I was thinking about switching from T-Mobile to AT&T but now realize that with the T-Mobile Magenta+, I have unlimited data in over 200 countries. I forward my cell number to my home number and use WiFi calling IF I really need to call someone.
Funny how “AT&T charged me a massive roaming fee” often translates to “I ignored the multiple warnings, left roaming on, and now want someone else to blame.”
At some point, personal responsibility still matters.
The phone warned you. The carrier warned you. The settings were there.
Somehow this is still AT&T’s fault? Interesting.