News and notes from around the interweb:
- Do people really not consider ‘first three letters of their last name + first initial’ when naming their children?
Let them board!
byu/Embarrassed_King_388 inametricanairlines - Thailand’s new online immigration form starts in a month.
Attention Travelers to Thailand!
The Thailand Immigration Bureau is introducing the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) to make entering Thailand faster, easier, and more secure.
Starting from: May 1, 2025
All non-Thai nationals entering Thailand—whether by air,… pic.twitter.com/mqlrNqmSUK
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) March 31, 2025
- TSA Fanfic
Now that’s how you recruit a genius pic.twitter.com/OH6Co88Qwz
— Every Movie Plug (@everymovieplug) April 1, 2025
- Icelandair awards can now be booked using JetBlue points
- Measles in the A68 Delta Sky Club in Detroit (HT: Ken A)
Have seen a few fun names on upgrade lists over the years . My all-time favorite: “FAR, T.”
On the measles outbreak, thank you for the heads-up. Have no plans through DTW (or Texas, which is the epicenter at the moment).
The MMR vaccines (which protect against measles) are proven to be safe and highly effective–they’ve been around for decades and decades.
Most importantly, unvaccinated children are most at risk–this illness can kill them. Please protect your kids and speak with your doctors.
(And, to those who “believe” otherwise, please feel free to *proudly* identify yourselves here. Don’t worry, the leopards won’t eat YOUR face.)
I’m assuming most new parents aren’t thinking about upgrade lists. Most probably have no clue to what an airline upgrade list even is.
Nor to they consider the name of their first pet, which has similar issues for online security questions (lookin’ at you, United).
@George N Romey — Hey now…not all ‘new parents’ are ‘poor’ or ‘uncultured’, sir. Some have been traveling personally or for work for years and years. The abbreviations are not that important, so take it in-jest! Don’t be a “DIC, K.”
How about…
Fucci, Karen > FUC, K
Shickland, Theodore > SHI, T
@derek — Those are… SIC, K.
@derek @1990 HAH, A!
@1990 I didn’t say all parents are poor. But I will bet you most middle class people have no idea of what an upgrade list is and how it’s determined. For the first years of my life working in branch banking, which sucks, I didn’t make enough money to travel (long before Spirit and Frontier) and had no idea of what an upgrade list was. I wasn’t some downtrodden cretin living in a trailer park and working at Family Dollar.
@George N Romey — Fair points, sir. Passenger air travel is indeed a privilege, and complimentary upgrades are even more so (no guarantees, that’s for sure). In all seriousness, I’ll sit in-back, drive, take a train, or pay full-fare for up-front if I really want it and if the price is right. We’ve each learned a lot over the years. Which reminds me, other fun ‘names’ to look out for… “POO, R.” and “RIC, H.”
I’ve seen “GRU, B” and “FUN,K” before but I’m sure I’ll get a chuckle next time if I see “LEF, G” or ones that line up with regular patrons here like “ROM, G”, “DUN, T”, or “HUN, M”. Don’t anticipate seeing a “199,0” though (or I guess more appropriately , “990,1”)
You’ve got to put some thought into naming your child for sure. Kids can be cruel and delight in torturing other kids when they’re young for having a name that sticks out, as I can attest. That’s like a points blogger naming their kid Miles – the kid would get crucified.
I remember a COV, D on a United standby list traveling in Spring of 2020. I was right behind that person so I wanted to tell the gate agent “You can’t give the seat to someone called covid!”
@L737 — Good ones! If I see “737, L” …though, I’d assume it’s either a special Boeing 737-variant, or an aircraft registration number.
@Christian — We should teach kids (and adults, and politicians, journalists, and diplomats, apparently) that there are really two distinct ways to deal with bullies: Fight or flight.
And if you’re going to fight, you’d better fight to win. The President prefers to hit back 10x harder–which is obscene at times (perhaps, he’s one of the worst examples of what to-do, and one of the best examples of what not-to-do).
It’s usually better if you can build a coalition to go after the bully.
Also, I’m reminded that ‘hurt people hurt people,’ so perhaps there is a way to ‘help’ resolve the underlying issues and insecurities that cause the bullies to bully, but that’s easier said than done.
Anyway, Miles doesn’t sound too cruel to me. Actually has a nice ring to it. Besides, the other kids would have to really know their stuff to crack jokes on him.
I had measles as a child so I do not need to get vaccinated. It is not that bad but you are sick and contagious for a week or more. I could suggest that not getting vaccinated could thin the herd but from my experience that will not happen. Possibly some complicated cases from a full blown spread of the disease but I also doubt that that will happen.