News and notes from around the interweb:
- Sad. Terminal B TGI Friday’s expected to become top grossing retailer at DFW Airport. By the way, here’s why there’s only one good airport restaurant and the rest are bad.
- Allergy Sufferer Spends €168 to Buy All 48 Packets of Peanuts On a Eurowings Flight to London Because the Crew ‘Refused’ to Stop Serving Them
- Sex positive resorts (HT: Paul H)
- Don’t ever fall for the dynamic currency conversion scam, where a foreign merchant offers to charge you in your home currency. They’re making money on the currency conversion and your card issuer will still treat this as a foreign transaction.
Love this. A bank telling travelers not to select their home currency (NOK in this case) when traveling abroad. Seen in the international “wing” at BGO.
Remember: DCC is a scam, bordering on fraud. Always pick local currency. pic.twitter.com/W9R4vBxuOd
— Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster) August 7, 2023
- Firehouse Subs devalues its rewards program
- Airbnb with “Newly renovated with tunnels? peep holes? hidden keys? locks on the outside and removed?”
@tierrasaurusrex Quirks and Charm @C @airbnb #scaryairbnb ♬ original sound – Tierra
When I was stuck at Cancun for several hours there was only one restaurant there.
It was…drumroll…
T.G.I. Friday’s.
And overpriced at that. And full of drunk people. Cancun is absolutely on my never again list.
Sometimes you have to eat crap food, though, or you end up dealing with stressful situations while hangry, and that’s worse.
People are going to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Am I riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight I say???
What’s sad is what people are served on the airplanes. Yes, it’s a low bar but, I’d take TGI Friday’s anyday over most of the “food” served on board. Doesn’t mean there aren’t better options though.
Not sure where Gary’s math is in saying there was “only one” good restaurant on that list – at the minimum, Papasito’s is excellent (especially for an airport), and Pappadeaux is also quite good. I have personally eaten at both of the above at IAH, DFW and (Papasito’s) HOU and they’re all very good. In the wild, Maggiano’s is usually pretty decent as well, though I have my doubts as to how well it holds up at airport.
As for the rest, Chick-Fil-A tends to be good for what it is. The rest suck badly. Still, that’s more than one (I repeat one) good restaurant on your list.
Every major airport in the USA seems to have one restaurant which gives a damn. However, it’s usually an expensive sit-down restaurant (i.e. you are expected to tip 20% on your overpriced food). Legal Seafoods in PHL comes to mind, or Papasito’s in DFW.
What makes Tortas Frontera different is that it’s fast-casual, so you can get a decent meal for under $20. It’s unique in that sense.
Try eating healthy at an airport. At best you can get a salad. But vegetarian options are extremely limited. I know the 80/20 rule, but maybe that is skewed due to lack of availability and options. I see healthy places to eat fast food style popping up all over…except in the airports. My wife and I were in SLC and looking for decent options. They were all overpriced and not healthy. Not to mention, at that airport there was a lack of fast-food options. Just grab and go, and those options were VERY limited, and not healthy. Not that fast food is healthy, but its better than the grab and go options they have there. DFW is a terrible place to eat at.
Long as I can get some Boston Cream Pie on that BOS layover I’ll be fine. Would also settle for Maggiano’s at the Vegas airport.
I don’t know who runs the concession – but on my last transit through DFW I brought a prepackaged sandwich, Lays and a Coke Zero for 18 bucks. That little outpost I’m sure generates over a million a year.
I usually find something to help pass the time while I’m waiting for them to board the plane. A sandwich, chips and a coffee. I sat down once to a meal after my flight had landed but usually I don’t feel I have the extra time for a sit down meal and making my flight on time.
The problem is that most airports award the operation of food concessions to a sole operator. There may be one hundred different eateries in the terminal but they are ALL owned and operated by the same entity, resulting in no meaningful competition. If the TGI Friday’s sucks, you can eat at Chilli’s, the operator don’t care, they own both and take your money either way. There is, therefore, no incentive to offer good food. This is the root of the problem.
Yesterday I flew from Bergen to Helsinki. Big sign from a bank right before duty free said charge in local currency, not in your currency. You get worse deal if you listen to merchant.
In fact, I was in duty free line and a cashier tell an American that they can select American currency for a better deal. Kept my mouth shut because I’m sure the couple would tell me that I don’t know anything. Just a tourist like them.
We retired to Malta five years ago. Banks will not open accounts for (non millionaire) Americans because our Uncle requires all foreign banks to send them annual reports on all American accounts. As a result, they just say no to open them. So, we use neighborhood ATM to get cash if needed.
Always make cc transaction in local currency, as your stateside bank offers a better exchange rate.
Re: The ladies talking about the AirB&B with many “tunnels” between rooms. My aunt and uncle once owned a similar home in Highland Park, Illinois. The original owner was petrified of being locked into a room in the house by burglars (or ??), so she had escape tunnels made for every room in the house. I haven’t seen that since I last visited their house, until now. The ladies in the video said something about preserving the “original charm” of the house, so I suspect both houses may have been constructed during the same time period.
Having said that, the ladies should be refunded a portion of the rent by the owner for failing to disclose the lack of the promised TV. If the neighbor says the use of his/her wifi is OK, fine. Otherwise, they should report the apparent requirement for wifi theft from the neighbor to the local police and ask the police to evaluate the perimeter security. If the perimeter of the facility is not physically secure, they should get a full refund.
FWIW, I don’t think complaining about it on TikTok is the same as actually doing something.
Pappadeaux at HOU has an outrageously good burger, at least in circa 2011
Man, you don’t want to know what I’ll eat when stuck in an airport…or elsewhere.
@TLU – Pappadeaux got booted from Houston Hobby
I’m not sure of the revamp at KCI is done yet but there is the top of the crown restaurant there and it is the absolute worst. They know they have you because you get stuck in a gate house area with that place as your only option. The reviews show how terrible it is. The service is awful, the food is terrible and the prices are ridiculous.