Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class I stayed at this hotel in 2012 and wrote a three part series on the property (here, here, and here). It’s the only resort I’ve been to that while I was leaving I was talking about wanting to return, and where I made plans to do so not long after…
Trip Reports
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Return to the Maldives: Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class We picked up our bags off the belt upon arrival in Male and then took them through customs. The customs process requires you to submit all of your luggage (including hand baggage) to an x-ray screening. The Maldives is a dry country outside of the resorts, which are exempt from…
Return to the Maldives: Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class With a planned 9:30am flight out of Abu Dhabi, and since we were staying in Dubai, I organized Etihad’s complimentary chauffeur service to pick us up at 6:15am. That would give us plenty of time — too much time — but I’ve heard stories of Etihad cars arriving late, I…
Who Has the Best Business Class Seat Across the Atlantic? The Answer May Surprise You
Best business class to Europe: Some will argue on a technicality that the best transatlantic business class belongs to Singapoe Airlines — they fly New York to Frankfurt with an Airbus A380 on a flight that continues to Singapore (not to mention their 777 flight from Houston to Moscow). But I’m not sure even that would be true. Believe it or not, and with some caveats that I’ll note below, American Airlines probably has the best business class between North America and Europe right now. Wait before jumping out of your seat and just hear me out on this. About six weeks ago American Airlines reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in flying on their new 777-300ER aircraft in business class when it began serving New York – London Heathrow. American…
Preview of My Next Trip Report: Best First Class Award EVER
This is a quick introduction to a new trip report I’m starting, even though I haven’t finished the last one. I’ll do a much more thorough job especially with the return portion of the flight and also my adventures in Russia. But I just had to share right away a little bit of the product that I’ve just experienced — an ANA award first class redemption on new Russian carrier Meridien Airlines. It’s probably the best product I’ve tried, and right now award availability is really good. Two years ago Transaero Airlines (which many know as a partner of the since-acquired by British Airways british midland) split off a smaller airline, led by a disgruntled faction of the board, creating Meridien Airlines which operates Boeing 777, Boeing 737-800, and Airbus A319 aircraft. Last year they…
Return to the Maldives: Tea at the Burj al Arab, Dubai
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class Our hotel media rep dropped us off at the Skyview bar, where we identified ourselves to the desk. We were the third reservation there, they found us on the little slips of paper at the desk. It was important to us to be on the early side (and we arrived…
Return to the Maldives: Touring the Burj al Arab in Dubai
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class The Burj al Arab is sometimes described as the world’s only “seven star” hotel. It’s architecturally unique. The rooms are huge (the smallest is about 1800 square feet). It’s expensive, it’s a tourist attraction. And not anyone can just go there to gawk. I made reservations to have tea there…
Return to the Maldives: Park Hyatt Dubai
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class The day prior to my arrival I received an email from the property offering me a complimentary car transfer to and from the airport. Suites at the hotel come with that, and I had booked my room the same way that Ben had and I applied an expiring Hyatt Gold…
Return to the Maldives: New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class After checking in for my Etihad flight — a bit of a process in and of itself because the check-in counters are roped off and there’s a staff member there to keep people away who don’t belong, though I didn’t have to show him an itinerary to get through.. and…
Grand Hyatt San Francisco: A Large Modern Hotel With a Small Hotel Feel
This past Monday I reviewed the Hyatt Regency San Francisco down on the Embarcadero. It’s a large atrium-style hotel that feels busy though I quite liked it (even though they failed to honor my confirmed suite upgrade). If I wanted to be in that part of the city I’d gladly stay there again. During the past week I made another trip to San Francisco and stayed at the Grand Hyatt. The Hyatt Regency is about 800 rooms, the Grand Hyatt about 660 so still a very large property but it feels much smaller. That’s mostly, I think, because the Grand is a much taller building with smaller individual floors and also a smaller lobby area. So you don’t feel the size of the property, since you aren’t walking around a ton, and you also aren’t…
