john said, I have an upcoming trip to MLE on CX using AA award. I’m having a hard time getting excited as the HKG to CMB leg is in old school regional business class and arrives in CMB at 23:00. There is a 9 hour layover in CMB before the morning flight to MLE. What do you do in CMB with a 9 hour layover in CMB? I wish there was a better way to get to MLE. John is using his American Airlines miles to fly Cathay Pacific to Colombo, Sri Lanka. He actually wants to go to the Maldives, but that can be a bit of a challenge. There aren’t that many flights in and out of Male, the capital, on ‘alliance’ carriers — those you can use your miles for most of…
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US Airways Finally Tells the Truth — Lufthansa First Class is Not Offered by the Dividend Miles Program
I was emailing yesterday with Ben and after discussing something on a completely different topic, and mentioned I needed to write about the addition of a new footnote in the US Airways award chart. He replied, “was *just* writing it as you emailed. Hah!” Of course Ben is a professional blogger and got his thoughts up right away. I, on the other hand, had my first day in a new office. I have been overseeing the construction and permitting (egads, it involved getting a County re-zoning), which all completed last week — just in time for move-in. So things were a little bit chaotic. And I’m about 16 hours behind. US Airways Updates Their Award Chart to Say Lufthansa First Class is Not Offered The US Airways partner award chart (.pdf) has been updated to…
Top Eight Best Uses of Delta Skymiles
What do Delta Skymiles redeem for? I give Delta Skymiles a hard time, and deservedly so. I’m known as the guy who coined the term ‘Skypesos’ for their currency, on the whole their miles are worth less than miles in the United, American, and US Airways frequent flyer programs. They’re harder to use. They don’t permit one-way awards for half the cost of roundtrip (neither does US Airways). Their agents are clueless, their award booking website offers limited partners and is generally quite broken. International first class awards aren’t allowed. But because I give such a hard time to Skypesos, I also feel like I have a special responsibility to help figure out how to make the most of them. And I’m the first to say that the miles you should collect and use very…
Amazing International Fare Sales from New York
The Flight Deal flags Etihad Airways flights via Abu Dhabi from New York to Johannesburg ($596), Bangkok ($511), and India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka ($600). Etihad flights earn redeemable miles in the American AAdvantage program. (Update: Gone) And of course buying airline tickets there’s the opportunity for quintuple dipping. Except for trips that have to be booked directly on a low cost carriers own website, such as Norwegian Air Shuttle which begins Oslo – New York service on May 30, flying a Boeing 787. Prices start at just 257 euros roundtrip.
Trip Reports – Food
An index of View from the Wing food reports back through 2008: 2015 Spicy Lanka restaurant near New York JFK airport Food Tour of Colombo, Sri Lanka Best Places to Eat Near the Eiffel Tower and Picasso Museum Eating… and Drinking (As One Does..) in Sydney Review: Quay, Sydney’s Famed Restaurant Overlooking the Opera House Eating The Best Local Thai Dishes in the Bangrak Neighborhood of Bangkok 2014 Siam Wisdom: the new restaurant by Thailand’s Iron Chef Nahm Restuarant, Bangkok Black’s Barbecue (Austin location) Sra Bua molecular gastronomy in Bangkok Four notable meals in Buenos Aires The Importance of Innovation: Why I Love Elephant Jumps Maui Eats Terry Black’s Barbecue, Austin Kuala Lumpur with Food Tour Malaysia Elephant Jumps Thai, Northern Virginia Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Fernando’s, Macau Batchum Khmer Kitchen,…
Using Delta Miles Successfully: Awesome Business Class Availability on Saudi Arabian Airlines
I laid out my arguments about why Delta miles are one of the least valuable currencies out there at Frequent Traveler University back in April when I debated The Points Guy. It’s no secret that I think Delta miles are worth less than miles with United, American, US Airways, or Alaska Airlines. Sometimes I think they’re worth less than Air Baltic BalticMiles and Ukraine International Airlines Panorama Club miles. I’m the guy who coined the term “Skypesos” after all. But I’m also committed to helping folks use Delta miles for business class international awards. I have a guide on how to make Delta’s miles work for you. And a couple of weeks back I outlined fantastic business class award availability on China Southern’s Airbus A380 from Los Angeles to Guangzhou. Today’s lesson: new Skyteam member…
Turkish Airlines and Other Options for Getting to the Maldives
Online Travel Review flags that Turkish Airlines will begin flying to the Maldives on November 24th. This is one of the toughest places in the world to get to on points. The new Turkish service is an 8.5 hour flight on an Airbus A330. Istanbul – Male, 8:25pm – 7:10am+1, Turkish Airlines TK730 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday Male – Istanbul, 9:00am – 2:30pm, Turkish Airlines TK731 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday service With Qatar leaving as a United mileage partner in mid-September, and with securing Qatar bookings becoming increasingly difficult using United miles, it’s nice to see this addition especially for the Star Alliance. The only other significant Star Alliance service to Male is Singapore Airlines via Singapore (though in a pinch one could fly Thai Airways via Bangkok to Colombo, Sri Lanka –…
Top 10 Airline and Hotel ‘Mistake’ Fares of the Past Decade
Airline and hotel mistake deals were the lifeblood of my best travel experiences for a long time. I took plenty of trips I wouldn’t have otherwise taken, and they often pre-empted going places that were ‘on my list’ for places I hadn’t considered and I had really great experiences in the process. But it’s sure seemed over the past two years that the best mistakes have dried up. Sure, I’ve heard of some glitches that haven’t been all that useful to me, business class fares originating in India or Malaysia that haven’t made sense for me to do or even to blog about since if I’m not finding them useful then it’s unlikely that a substantial portion of my readers will find them all that useful. I do think that airlines at least have gotten…
Overwater Bungalows and the Best Value Aspirational Properties
Yesterday CNN.com ran a piece on overwater bungalows that led off with my stay at Bora Bora Nui, then a Starwood property and the newest on Bora Bora and now a Hilton property and one of the very best award redemption values out there. (A basic-level room redemption won’t get you the overwater bungalow but will get you a suite-size bungalow, and plenty of people get status upgrades or buy ups to overwater. Plus I’d expect Hilton’s new premium room redemption offerings to spread here and allow for overwater redemptions, though those are likely to be a less great value.) For many, Bora Bora represents the utmost in aspirational redemptions. The story’s author told me that Bora Bora Nui is now her screensaver. And indeed, it was absolutely stunning. As regular readers of this blog…
How I’m Thinking About Using My Capital One Points
I’ve never been a fan of the Capital One program, but their 110,000 point signup bonus sure caught my attention Sure, 110,000 Capital One points aren’t really worth as much as 110,000 miles in most frequent flyer programs. I thought that the best I could do was an $1100 credit towards paid travel. Which is pretty good as a credit card signup bonus, of course! So I applied, and my wife did as well. We got instant approvals, and then after a week and a half or so yesterday morning we got the emails with special codes to enter to upload competitor frequent flyer statements and qualify for the signup bonus. See, the Capital One offer isn’t a standard signup bonus. Most credit cards give you a specified number of miles as a bonus, usually after…
