I wonder if it has to do with reusing the transmission lines from the coal plant.

Just going to address your first paragraph: I sincerely doubt that the devs are receiving money from a fascist government. I simply don’t think Lemmy is big enough yet to be on the radar of e.g., the Chinese government. Yes, maybe there are some Wumaos on here. My understanding is they get better training and autonomy these days, so it’s certainly possible. But most of the comments look more homegrown. I just doubt the Chinese government (or any similar government) would care to the point of trying to pay off devs, and it’s not their MO anyways.

The sad part is that this situation was entirely predictable a year ago.

The Lemmy devs (who also run lemmy.ml) made no secret of who they are and what they believe. Especially dessalines.

I do think they have made a very good piece of software. And I think we’re better off here than on Reddit. At least it is more difficult for one asshole to ruin everything. We have tools to block people and instances, so it doesn’t matter as much even if they’re in charge.

I worry that if lemmy.ml continues to be run the way that it is, then it will bleed over into the software side, and we would be forced to fork Lemmy. So far though, despite running lemmy.ml like assholes, the actual development seems fine – not too different from any other open source project (I only remember that one issue where dessalines completely failed to understand why a user would want to block an instance).

The irony is that, despite creating a tool with what seems like very socialist principles (it gives users & communities a lot of power, and doesn’t centralize that power with one person), those principles are often lost on the devs in favor of authoritarianism. Hence the term: “tankie”.

They don’t tho

From what I can tell it is IP address + browser fingerprinting. Possibly a little more emphasis on the browser fingerprinting.

Good question, actually it all happened a few days before I even got to the airport, so I was aware which flight I was supposed to take. I don’t think that really technically counts as “denied boarding” but it seems like they probably did it because my original flight was very oversold.

Here is a link to Frontier’s current contract of carriage, though note that it’s effective 2/19/24 and I don’t know what it looked like before that.

https://f9prodcdn.azureedge.net/media/9690/cs_coc.pdf

I wish we did, maybe someday.

The nice thing if you ever fly first class is that you’ll typically get boarding priority and sometimes even your own door on larger planes so that you don’t have to interact with the poors (j/k I’m a poor too, I’ve just booked first/business class before when I have enough points saved up so that it’s worth it).

Yes, in the US, 14 CFR part 250.7 means that they can’t throw you off after you’re checked in and your ticket has been scanned at the gate during the boarding process. It was changed by Congress after that doctor got thrown off a United flight in 2017. The airline can still throw you off if you’re disruptive, and my understanding is that a pilot in command can order you off for pretty much any reason, as they have full command of the aircraft, so if you’re ever in that situation then you better follow the pilot’s instructions. But if the pilot does throw you off due to a bumping situation then the airline is breaking the law.

Airlines can also make their own policies on which passengers have the highest priority to get bumped, which can involve check-in time, and I imagine can involve basically who is at the gate, ready to go. So there are some advantages to being there and queuing early.

Yes, this is also true if you board the plane and your luggage doesn’t fit (for example, regional flights on a CRJ or ERJ). As long as it’s within the airline’s policy for carry-ons, they’ll gate check it for free.

Yes, it is in the US. It’s in the federal aviation regulations: 14 CFR part 250. There is a link to the regulation at the bottom of this article from the DOT:

https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales

Just going to make it very clear though, there’s big differences between being denied boarding (bumped due to overselling), a flight being delayed, and a flight being canceled. Each is its own situation.

There is no legal requirement for compensation if a flight is delayed. If the flight is canceled entirely then you are owed a refund of what you paid. There’s no law requiring the airline to rebook you or pay for accommodations or alternate transportation in any situation. What the airline will do in situations outside of “bumping” mostly follows the contract of carriage and their customer service policies / discretion (in my experience customer service agents can have a lot of discretion especially if they’re not busy and you ask nicely).

Since you said your friends’ flights were canceled, not that they were bumped (denied boarding), basically only the contract of carriage applies (and any relevant tort law). Also, just in general, Frontier is a low cost carrier, and when you fly with them you have to understand that they do not provide the same level of service as other carriers. In exchange, you get a lower price. For example, their contract of carriage says nothing about ground accommodation due to unforseen circumstances, while other airlines have clauses about paying for hotels and other forms of transportation.

That being said, Frontier does agree to rebook you on a Frontier flight in the following circumstances:

(i) a passenger’s flight is canceled, (ii) a passenger is denied boarding because an aircraft with lesser capacity is substituted, (iii) a passenger misses a connecting Frontier flight due to a delay or cancellation of a Frontier flight (but not flights of other carriers), (iv) a passenger is delivered to a different destination because of the omission of a scheduled stop to which the passenger held a ticket, Frontier will provide transportation on its own flights at no additional charge to the passenger’s original destination or equivalent destination as provided herein. Frontier will have no obligation to provide transportation on another carrier. If Frontier cannot provide the foregoing transportation, Frontier shall, if requested, provide a refund for the unused portion of the passenger’s ticket in lieu of the transportation under the foregoing.

IANAL, but it sounds like your friends could probably still request a refund of the premium that they paid, since Frontier was contractually bound to transport them at no additional charge. If Frontier refuses, then it sounds like it could be a good fit for small claims court.

It’s always worth knowing your rights and the legal background when you’re dealing with companies, especially when they are as profit-driven and operate at as low a margin as the airline industry does. Note that even in Frontier’s contract, the burden is on you to request a refund. Airlines will basically do anything possible to not pay money if they can help it, even if it means sometimes “forgetting” about federal law when it comes to bumping.

On the other hand, you can also benefit by being able to recognize when an airline is not required to do something, but does it anyways out of goodwill. For example, when I got bumped onto the earlier flight, they called me up offering me something like 25k points for the inconvenience. I tried to negotiate higher, but they refused, so I accepted the 25k points understanding that I had no leverage because they weren’t actually obligated to offer me anything.

We don’t have cool trains like you do in many parts of Asia.

And the Asian countries that don’t have trains are probably small enough that you still don’t really need to fly to get from one side to the other.

Yes, the rule for involuntary bumping is:

1-2hr delay: 2x ticket price up to $775

2+hr delay: 4x ticket price up to $1550

It must be paid out at the airport, or within 24hr at the latest.

They are required to give you a written statement of your rights, though in my experience they usually “forget” and you have to go and assert your rights.

Airlines are well aware of these rules, and unfortunately there is no compensation if they involuntarily bump you onto an earlier flight, so I’ve had to take some flights before at the asscrack of dawn due to bumping.

:q!

Pixel 5a was great, but the units that are a couple years old are having major issues with the charging circuitry / motherboard. My phone bricked overnight while charging. It seems widespread enough right now that they’ve completely run out of refurbished stock of 5as and 6as to send out for replacements. I waited 6 weeks for an RMA with absolutely no updates – was about to just give up, buy a new phone, and take Google to small claims court. Finally got a replacement unit because the “social media team made an exception for me” after I tweeted them.

Maybe so, but it’s not against the rules, and Lemmy can use more interaction in general, so I support it.

Yeah I got permabanned too.

I still post there occasionally. I made 4 new Reddit accounts from behind 7 proxies, but they all got banned due to browser fingerprinting. But I wised up and now the 5th one’s still not banned even though I access it from my home IP. I really try my best not to give such a hostile company more content, but there’s still a few local subs and specific content that isn’t big enough yet on Lemmy.

Want to drop some info here, not related to your question since it’s still out of your price range, but just for others who might be browsing, since I see HM chairs come up a lot in this thread and the other one.

A lot of these fancy ergo chairs work similar to other furniture and use a network of dealers. This is important, because dealers often sell for way less than MSRP, especially when they’re buying for clients making big offers for office buildings buildouts. Some dealers can get you a great price by basically adding your chair to a big order for another client. I wanted a HM Embody and talked to 3 dealers in my area. One of them was able to get me the chair for about $1000, and this was also customized with the fabric that I wanted. Really shows the huge markup that MSRP is on this kind of item. Dealers are sometimes also willing to give you a loaner so you can try the chair at home before you buy.

Autonomous has really good marketing and sells a really cheap chair that they probably buy for $80 at an insane markup. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not too terrible. I’ve sat in one before, and it’s certainly better than those stupid “gamer” chairs, but please understand what you are buying.

If you are considering them, tbh I would just go directly to a seller on Alibaba like:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Design-Ergonomic-Human-Reclining-Chair_60803877142.html?spm=a2700.details.deiletai6.5.7af05cf62MXVpn

Personally if I were you, I would look at buying a used Steelcase Leap. I bought one in leather in 2015 for $430 including shipping off eBay. Bought another one from a local dealer that had a ton from an office closeout and paid like $300. I’m looking on eBay right now and seeing pretty similar prices for used and refurbs.