Washington-Dulles-Tokyo, ANA First Class Tokyo-Hong Kong, ANA Business Class W Hong Kong, Fantastic Suite Hong Kong-Ho Chi Minh City, United First Class Sheraton Saigon, Towers Suite Touring Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok, Lufthansa First Class Royal Orchid Sheraton, Junior Suite Bangkok-Chiang Rai, Thai Airways Business Class Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Room and Resort Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Food Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Gym, Pool, and Spa Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Photos Around the Resort Touring the Golden Triangle Le Meridien Chiang Rai Northern Thai Cooking Class Chiang Rai-Bangkok, Thai Airways Business Class Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel Bangkok Thai Airways First Class Departure Experience, Lounge and Spa Bangkok-Hong Kong, Thai Airways First Class Hong Kong-Seoul, Asiana Business Class W Seoul, Junior Suite Asiana First Class Lounge, Seoul…
General
Category Archives for General.
The End of My Asia Trip, Los Angeles to DC on United
2:06 pm Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to Chicago (ORD) United Flight 843 First Class Seats:3A, 3B Duration: 4h 6m Airbus A320 1745 miles traveled We were originally scheduled for the 4pm non-stop back to Dulles, United decided to no longer operate it on Saturdays. So we were changed to a connecting flight back through Denver, the last non-redeye non-stop of the day just missed the minimum connection time for international-domestic at LAX. No big deal, the Denver connection shortened the layover in LA and we were scheduled to get back within minutes of our original schedule. Another schedule change and we wound up on the 2pm Chicago flight, again arriving within minutes of the prior schedule. The Airbus was full, plenty of folks on standby looking to get on the flight. We boarded and the…
Hyatt Bonus Points Through September 15
Hyatt is offering 2500 bonus Gold Passport points per stay through September 15, 2009. Payment with a Mastercard is required, and registration is as well.
United Delays Mileage Upgrade Co-Pay
Via One Mile at a Time, United is delaying its implementation of mileage upgrade co-pays until January 12, 2010. That’s a six month reprieve, which is great, but really doesn’t speak well of United’s IT implementation folks (which is hardly new).
New Upgrd Podcast
I appear in another edition of the weekly Upgrd Podcast. This time it’s listener questions: Is the standby option (via a different routing) some sort of 1K only perk? Which hotel program is best for someone residing in Canada that might not be eligible for US based credit card pomotions? What to do with United SWUs? Where to post miles after crossing 100,000 elite qualifying miles?
United Starnet Blocking Reaches New Levels of Absurdity
I realize it’s getting towards the end of a quarter. United is probably afraid of overspending its award redemption budget. So they’re massively blocking awards being offered by their Star Alliance partner airlines. When searching for awards later in June and early July: Lufthansa to Frankfurt, via Dulles, Chicago, Newark, and JFK? They’re publishing award inventory all over the place, every other Star Alliance airline besides United can book them. But United? Blocked. All Nippon Airways intra-Asia flights, from Tokyo to Bangkok and to Taipei? Blocked. Thai Airways intra-Asia flights, from Bangkok to Hong Kong and to Tokyo? Blocked. On several days both ANA and Thai are offering business class award seats on each and every one of their flights between Bangkok and Narita. United won’t book a single one of them. They see only…
A Great Morning to Book Transatlantic Flights
It’s all over Flyertalk (in the Mileage Run Deals forum) — Delta appears to be pricing out transatlantic itineraries without fuel surcharges. New York to Zurich comes out at less than $250 roundtrip, DC to Paris at under $400 — and this in some cases during hte summer travel season. Fares are available, it seems, through the end of the schedule. Just a heads up, this won’t last.
5000 Delta miles for 2-day Avis Rental
Avis is offering 5000 Delta miles on car rentals of two days or more through July 31. You need to use coupon code MUAA088 and select earning Delta miles and provide your Delta frequent flyer number. The bonus can be earned up to five times.
30% Bonus on Amex Transfers to Delta
Delta is offering a 30% bonus on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards through July 31. Registration (prior to making the transfer) is required. While transfers from American Express to Delta are, in my experience, instantaneous the bonus won’t post instantly. These offers used to take several weeks before the bonus would show up, but the terms and conditions of this offer say the bonus will post in a week.
Priority Club Introduces Cash & Points Awards
Just noticed this today, Priority Club appears to be offering “Cash and Points” redemption options. When searching for an award, there’s a choice of buttons — Points Only, Points + $30, and Points +$60. Each $30 cash increment reduces the required points by 5000. Put another way, when redeeming for an award you can buy points in blocks of 5000 for 6/10ths of a cent. That’s roughly what I value points at to begin with, but it’s a nice option to leverage your points. There does appear to be the start of a Flyertalk thread on the subject, but so far it’s not done much more than notice the option is out there.
