What cheeses me off

Trucks that insist on being in the right hand lane on roads where they cannot get up to or maintain 100km/h, eg the uphill of the freeway tunnels.

A little bit of nuance to my annoyance on this one.

If it's two lanes and the truck is struggling to get over 80 overtaking a fully laden semi that wouldn't be even doing 40, then I'm fine, usually they move back in once they get a chance.

Best practice: there's a substantial stretch of the Melbourne-Geelong freeway (with plenty of cameras) where heavy vehicles (>4.5t) aren't allowed to use the right lane of the 3 lane carriageway. Although this godforsaken boring road has no hills or rises at all.
 
I usually carry one spare USB-A to USB-C cable. Comes in handy from time to time.
These dont fast charge, there really is no excuse for not having the universal standard connector which is USB-C given this isnt remotely new technology.

WCMO today is BUPA. Wishing Id never switch health funds. Paid to switch on 31st March to lock in pricing for policy to start on 15-Apr. Clearance certificate provided by old fund on 16-Apr, BUPA still havent processed it, means I cant yet claim on physio or dental and I have bookings for both next week. Been on hold for 30 minutes, must be getting a lot of other complaints.

Standardizing coverage into gold, silver etc was supposed to make switching immediate with no gap in coverage. Instead you pay and cant use fund because they are tardy to process clearance certificates on the day they are sent.
 
A little bit of nuance to my annoyance on this one.

If it's two lanes and the truck is struggling to get over 80 overtaking a fully laden semi that wouldn't be even doing 40, then I'm fine, usually they move back in once they get a chance.
Agree, I have no issue with truck pulling out to overtake as long as it CAN get past and they don't pull out when there is nothing behind me. Yes I know they have to keep their momentum going and be in sweet spot revs for power delivery, but I could be past in a matter of seconds.
 
For all the issues with large trucks there are still idiots when the trucks leave a lot of room as they are slowing down for intersections or lights and some bright spark thinks oh there's all that space I'll nip in front of the truck and then get upset when they get honked at.

The truckies know how much space they need to stop safely
 
For all the issues with large trucks there are still idiots when the trucks leave a lot of room as they are slowing down for intersections or lights and some bright spark thinks oh there's all that space I'll nip in front of the truck and then get upset when they get honked at.

The truckies know how much space they need to stop safely

Yes and the same for cars overtaking other cars and barely past and they move back into the lane in front when there's no one following them. We go up Port Wakefield Highway pretty much every weekend, there are two major issues. Cars pulling into the Highway from so many tiny roads that are getting more populated by the moment, in the path of road trains, and the damn Riverview lights in the middle of the Highway because the Government didn't make the developers build an overpass. The road is pretty much black with roadtrain breaking.
 
Elevate your business spending to first-class rewards! Sign up today with code AFF10 and process over $10,000 in business expenses within your first 30 days to unlock 10,000 Bonus PayRewards Points.
Join 30,000+ savvy business owners who:

✅ Pay suppliers who don’t accept Amex
✅ Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
✅ Earn & transfer PayRewards Points to 10+ airline & hotel partners

Start earning today!
- Pay suppliers who don’t take Amex
- Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
- Earn & Transfer PayRewards Points to 8+ top airline & hotel partners

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

These dont fast charge, there really is no excuse for not having the universal standard connector which is USB-C given this isnt remotely new technology.
Not suggesting that they do. It's simply a backup that's less likely to be lost than a tiny adapter and handy at a pinch. Besides, even if a USB-C port is on offer, there's no guarantee that it's delivering the necessary wattage/voltage to facilitate fast charging.
 
USB ports. I think we've finally got a point we're they're literally everywhere. Hotels, airport lounges, airplanes, even some trains and buses. Trouble is they're all USB A and I'm pretty much exclusively USB C now. So we're essentially at the same point we were at 10 years ago.

And the old As are often damaged in lounges, at least.

I mean it's a minor niggle, as I'm almost always travelling with a laptop, which doubles as a powerbank anyway if I really need it. I don't want any more cables or adaptors than necessary 🤣

I'm 'belt and braces' like @DejaBrew (or perhaps a bit more 🤣 )

A<->C; short C<->C; 2m C<->C (when the hotel doesn't have any bedside power points :mad:); C->A and A->C adapters; A<->lightning for my backup (old) iPhone; A->mini USB, a backup to charge my 35mm camera and also for my portable min-fan). 65W GAN adapter with 2xC and A ...
 
Sone time ago, I booked a business trip to SYD-AKL for tomorrow and coming back on Monday. The domestic schedule meant that the outbound would arrive after midnight and the return would be the 6am out of AKL.

Now the schedule has changed meaning I could have departed earlier and arrived back later plus the reason to go has been watered down a bit

Ho Hum, still got to go but not as jazzed up about it. For that reason, I don't want to pay to change the outbound flight to an earlier, and there are no flights later than 0600 coming back

Does QF do fly forward for the SYD-AKL if I ask nicely ?. Ticket is J Flex.
 
Something I just don't get (or didn't get) about driving in Australia (maybe any country) is the point of a speed limit, except to fine you if you get caught going over it.

It's well known that everyone speeds as long as they are pretty certain they won't get caught. They don't teach you that in driving school or on the test (God forbid - go 1 km/h over on the speedo during a driving test and you instantly fail), but apparently that is a thing.

If you get hit with a fine because you exceeded the speed limit, can you get out of it by saying that you were attempting to overtake someone (probably because they were in the right lane doing exactly or less than 5 km/h off the speed limit)?

You have people who do 10 km/h under the limit in the left, and others who insist that you must do at least 5-10 km/h over in the right. How do we not kill more people on our roads, I have no idea.

What if we just remove all speed limits altogether? Everyone drives as fast as they want and can safely do so, but if you cause a crash and you're going above suggested speeds, you're automatically cooked (e.g. jail).
 
WCMO about USB or power on board aircraft?

First of all, why are the latest aircraft only installing 10 W charging? 10 W is barely enough to keep something from draining; it won't increase the charge unless you're in super low power mode or the device is switched off, even then. 10 W now just seems like a waste of time.

Second, why are the USB slots themselves rather loose (both USB-A and USB-C types)? You plug into most computer ports and there's a definite grip there that keeps the connection mostly in place. Onboard most aircraft, you plug in and it's quite shaky; a light knock and out goes the cable. Even worse if, e.g. in Y, when the USB port is on the screen and a reclining passenger in front feeds gravity into the effort of unintentionally removing your cable from the loose port.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top