After being canceled last year due to Covid (see Cancelled! Festivus 2020), Festivus is back. First, take a trip down memory lane of past celebrations (see 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, & 2019).

Here are my complaints from 2021:

• Chase’s Fraud Dept Not Open 24 Hours!
• AA Refund!…7-20 Business Days
• Another Day, Another Fight With American Airlines
• Miami Booked! American Airlines Reinstates My Voucher
• Time to Sue American Airlines (Again)

Despite barely complaining, my positive outlook didn’t stop the ugly trolls from spewing their garbage. Here are the best shit talkers from 2021.

• If I Get Covid, I Get Covid: TPOL’s Out of the Basement Travel Philosophy
  • Babblespeak: Live all you want, but show personal accountability and accept the consequences if you test positive – stay where you got infected until you test negative. Don’t let someone else become a victim of you being tired of the pandemic and turning selfish. From my admittedly limited reading of your blog though, I don’t think this is possible for you to do.
  • David: Well – you’ve provided a lot of reasons why we still need those restrictions. You clearly fall into the camp of people who don’t want to take precautions to prevent the spread to others so if you were to get Covid and not have major symptoms you’d be out there spreading it to others. You’re the exact sort of person that these restrictions are in place to protect us from.
• Welcome to Bogota: Almost Robbed in Broad Daylight
  • huey judy: The whole phone thing is ridiculous. Phones don’t need to be an extension of our hands. Put the thing someplace safe. Everyone laughs at ‘fanny packs’. Wear a fanny pack in front, keep your hand on it when you’re out. I’ve travelled the world for 40 years without every losing anything. Put the phone in the fanny pack, zip the zipper. Which is worse? Losing your phone or complete strangers laughing at you? It’s a no-brainer.
• COVID Test to Come Home Is S-T-U-
  • Jamal: whos that stupid ass looking motherfucker getting swabbed?
• Visa Blunder Part 2: Anxiety in the Air
  • Teri: To be fair, this is the equivalent of click bait stories that drag you through 30 pages of ads to get to the point; and the point is NEVER worth the time. I’m grateful to Alex for saving me the trouble. I and won’t make the mistake of wasting my time on your blog again.
  • Alex Ashton: Could you possibly have made a brief story MORE annoying by spreading it out into AT LEAST 5 separate pages? Maybe more, I gave up after Part 4 aimed me at Part 5. Site should be “Entitled, Whining Moron Aloft,” or something like that.
• COVID Test for Return Travel Is Stupid
  • ParaShift: Yeah your an author I wouldn’t take advice from…now I know to skip any article written by you in advance, thanks
  • Monica: This is the stupidest post I ve read for awhile.
• Hilton Moorea: Fun in the Sun
  • Chloe Ko: christ these two are fugly.
  • Alan Wong: That is seriously one ugly couple
• Samsung Z Flip Was a Flop
  • John M: It is a shame that you lump the entire Z Flip experience to only your experienc. Every phone has lemons, even iPhone. You had a bad one, but for me it has been the best phone I have ever owned. I was a total Apple iPhone groupie, but this phone has totally moved me into the Android camp. Love this phone and can’t wait for the Z Flip 2. Got mine the first week of release and have had no problems with it. Highly recommended.
• Blog Roast OMAAT: Starting Posts with Ouch, Wow, Uh Oh, Wild, Major, Whoa
  • Linmarie Hirst: firing shots that nobody cares about… what a tool.
• AA Refund!…7-20 Business Days
  • Stephanie Woods: FYI, I am an attorney as well, and I’ve done consumer protection work. And I’m sure I’ve done far more litigation than you since I passed the bar in 2004. You are making assumptions as I did read the link where AA said you were entitled to nothing despite you canceling your ticket within 24 hours. And why would I read your bio? And being an attorney gives you no justification to act rude anyway. I’ve read a number of posts on your blog, but I won’t any more. You come off as a whiny, entitled, know it all bragging about his trips and how much partying he can do instead of an informed travel blogger since you decided to start calling names. If this is how you act, I wouldn’t want to be one of your clients as I can’t imagine you act very professionally in your job if you are insulting an AA employee about a company policy rather than trying to do something constructive to speed up your refund.
  • Aaron: Attorney? Then act like one. YOU ACT LIKE A 5 YO KID. Go buy something at BestBuy, then return for refund and see how long you gotta wait before your credit would post.Here is my question for you (and “I’m an Attorney”) – 5 YEAR OLD LITTLE CHILD::::
    WHY DO TRASH CANS HAVE 2 HANDLES?
  • Stephanie Woods: In COVID times, 7-20 business days is reasonable indeed! Many, many of us have waited much, much longer for refunds, and yes, with companies who made mistakes. So yes, being snarky with the company rep is uncalled for, and maybe you should remember something-you get more bees with honey than with vinegar. I had to wait 9 months for a refund for a hotel refund of $800, so I don’t know why you are getting so pissed about a possible wait of 3 and a half weeks. And you were being very rude to the AA employee-which will get you nowhere. A polite letter to a supervisor would have been more constructive. But you just want to rant just like a spoiled American. That’s not very professional, especially for a travel blogger! There were ways of getting your point across in a constructive way, but you chose juvenile jabs!
• The Worst Cities in the World
  • James Dookey: Worst blogger, overrated, won’t return!
  • SomeoneSomwhere: I made the mistake of reading a few of your blog posts because I was bored, and while I know you’ll snark back at me, I don’t care because I’ll never click on one of your posts again or see your response. I wish I could block you from showing up on boardingarea. You are just so bitter, like you need to show someone on the doll where the bad person touched you bitter. I’m not sure why you even bother to blog as everything seems to be so beneath you, but I guess you think you’re doing the world a favor? A better favor would be to just stop blogging altogether.
• Hyatt Regency Miami: You’re Not Staying Here Anyway
  • MD: Dude, I’m sorry , I thought I read an article on The points guy site…I did not realize I was reading an article from a rip off loser site..my bad..goodbye
  • Mario R: I think you are exactly what’s wrong with online media..goodbye
  • Mario R: I took it personally because it was an unjustified smear job. And authors like you that can ruin a wonderful city reputation in a stroke of a keyboard. Just because you can. People in hospitality industry depend on tourists and business travel. You have the power to change people’s decisions on where to go or hold a convention. Your personal views should be fair. Just because you had an awful experience at a particular crappy hotel should not be your reflection on a area as a whole. That’s why I said to be specific on why you dislike a city and maybe point out some positives and play fair in the same article..don’t point to some blog nobody reads for the positives. People’s livelihoods are in jepody when you just say ” Most people who visit this terrible city.” and write nothing else.
  • MARIO R DOPICO: If you are going to take a childish attitude then simply you should not be in the business of writing articles for TPG or any other travel site for that matter. You are just awful! And on top of that , critizing your readers is just shameful. And you are right. I will take this city ALL DAY…You can keep Frozen Toronto..maybe you should go there and write about how wonderful it is when it’s -20 in January and lie about that!
  • MARIO R DOPICO: I also have been quite a few places, and Toronto is not even on top 50..one of the coldest places on earth…that city is only good 5 months out of the year..Miami is vibrant full of energy year round. So forgive me if I disagree with you because you happened to stay at one of the worst hotels in Miami and you took it out on this city. Did you even bother to interview a locals and see why so many people are moving there? Developers are only building a condo building everywhere you look. and they are all full. If you are trashing Hyatt then trash Hyatt. Don’t generalize and call the city boring in one swoop..Because people read just the article and don’t read your whole Blog!! Jesus , be specific when you unleash criticism.
  • MARIO R DOPICO: I think as an author, you should make sure what you are writing about before trashing a city in one sentence. Did you try the areas fantastic restaurants scene? Did you visit Brickell City Center which is a cross the bridge from the Hyatt? Did you visit Bayside Market place which is within walking distance of the Hyatt? Did you visit the artistic Wynwood area which is not to far? Did you visit the wharf on the river which is also within walking distance?..and many more areas you could have gone to. I think your writing is extremely one minded and very damaging to a cities reputation given the power they gave you to write about them..in fact I’m going further..I’m gonna write an e-mail to the points guy about this article. Very insulting.
• Air TPOL Retiring From Travel
  • LinMarie Hirst: can you retire from blogging too douchebag?
• Etihad First Class Lounge: What’s a Lounge Without a Cigar?
  • LinMarie Hirst: Stop buying your clothes from Ross and posting your douchey face
  • Jeff: Nice post but you look and act like a douche bag and btw LH has a cigar bar and is a better lounge
• Time to Sue American Airlines (Again)
  • A:@thepointsoflife you clearly have anger issues. I was pointing out the facts and stating my opinion. You may have argument on the extension issue, but is it really worth the fight over, I’m assuming a few hundred dollars? On the refund issue, you have zero grounds.Funny you mention that I am a bad advocate. I’m an attorney and quite an effective advocate, at least according to my record. The difference is knowing what battles to pick and how to conduct yourself. You have room for improvement in those two areas
  • Geo: So the airline, despite that fact that did not have to, gave you a voucher good for one year on a ticket that was clearly non-refundable in the first place. And now, because you have not used the voucher in that year you want another extension or refund? Too bad, your loss IMO. Further, “yelling” and telling the representatives they work for a company of “crooks and thieves” has never proven to be effective…. it only makes you sound like a jerk.
• Keep vs. Cancel: US Bank Radisson (Update)
  • Babblespeak: That was a lot of words to say you got something for free, including a pass on your screw up, and yet not enough to give anything of particular value to the reader. Readers here should know to ask for retention offers, like I suppose they should have known about that $2 thingy.
• End the Busiest Flight Path in the World
  • Jerrod: Ridiculous article and I’m sorry I added to your clicks. Note to self: Never click on a tpol article.
• Behind the Scenes: TPOL’s Interview with Richard Quest
  • Linmarie: This is what you get when two douchebags get together. Cringe
  • Riley: Even your grammatical errors are douchey!
  • Riley: Never could’ve expected your voice sounding douchier than what I have imagined.
• Stay at Home? Meanwhile in Shanghai
  • David: What’s your obsession with Q supporters and why do you keep mentioning them? I mean yea, they’re cuckoo and all that but I don’t understand why you keep squeezing in references to them. I was expecting an insightful post on life in Shanghai in 2021. What a scatterbrained post.

I was in Medellin and I tried to take out money with my Chase debit card. It did not work. I called the 800 number (see TPOL’s Tip: Use Skype for 800 #s Abroad) and was told that the fraud department was closed. Eventually, a text came through asking if I approved the transaction and all was well.

TPOL’s Tip: Get your Schwab together (see ATM Issues Abroad & Charles Schwab Debit Card: Use As Instructed)!

This week I made a few purchases on my United Business card, hoping to extricate myself from min spend hell (see Oops!… I Did It Again). The last purchase was a booking for a new year’s eve celebration. Each time I tried, I received a message that the card was declined. I called Chase at 1AM and received the following automated message: “Our fraud office is closed right now. We apologize for the inconvenience. Goodbye!” And then the phone disconnected.

Rage is the appropriate word to describe what I was feeling. How is the fraud department not 24/7? What if this were an emergency? Why wasn’t there a notification on my phone? When would they open again?

I called at 8AM and received the same message that the office was closed. I called at 9AM and they were finally open. Their excuse was that people were working from home during Covid so they can’t staff the fraud department around the clock. I replied, “When do you think most fraud alerts are occurring, in the middle of the workday?” They concluded with the words, “Don’t worry, we have lifted the block on your account. Your card is now available for immediate use.”

What garbage.