Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home

Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home Off the flight and to…

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How to Leverage the British Airways Visa 100,000 Point Signup Bonus for Huge Award Travel

Link: British Airways Visa with up to 100,000 point signup bonus Last week I wrote about Chase bringing back the 100,000 point signup bonus offer on the British Airways Visa. It requires more spending to get the full 100,000 points than last time — 50,000 points after first purchase, 25,000 additional points after $10,000 in spend within a year, and 25,000 more points after the next $10,000 in spend within a year (ie after $20,000 in spend on the card yields 100,000 points). There’s a $95 annual fee, not waived the first year. It’s the best current credit card signup bonus out there, but the hefty spending requirements have led some commenters and some other blogs to downplay it, calling it ‘just’ a 50,000 point signup bonus. I’m going to beg to differ, and hope…

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Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago

Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home We went downstairs and the…

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Free National Car Rental Executive Status

If you go to the home page of Signature flight there’s a popup box offering free Emerald Club Executive status which normally requires 12 rentals or 40 rental days in a year and offers better choice of cars at many locations from the “Executive Aisle,” a guaranteed one car class upgrade, and a free rental day for every six rental credits. A direct link to the offer is here, with details on how to open a new account at the Executive level or upgrade the status of an existing account. The page also flags status matching opportunities, so some chance of getting top tier Executive Elite status if you hold similar status with Avis or Hertz. While this is clearly marketed to customers of Signature Flight Support (private plane customers…) there are no terms and…

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Details on Next Month’s Release of the Fairmont Visa

Last week I blogged about Chase’s introduction of a Fairmont co-branded Visa, it seems that Chase posted the application a bit too early, pulled it quickly, and now I’m told they’ll actually be launching the card May 10th at fairmontcard.com. Details on the card as they’ve been shared with me by certain sources will be as follows: The card comes with 2 free nights including breakfast after $1000 in spend within 3 months. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year The card comes no foreign currency transaction fees They throw in an annual membership with the Lounge Club, including two free visits per year. Each year there will be an anniversary free night for cardholders who spend $12,000 or more on the card. Earning will be 5 points per dollar for Fairmont spend,…

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Updates on Recent Offers Still Delivering the Goods

Free Accor Platinum status, free Hilton Gold status, and free Hyatt Platinum status are all still available. Tickets for the Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit in New York on Friday April 27th are available, I’ll be there, an event not to be missed. Back in December I wrote about funding brokerage accounts for miles, Fidelity has been especially lucrative because you could earn bonuses for more than one offer (United OR American, AND Delta, and sometimes even a third offer when it comes along like a $500 Apple gift card). It’s even better because instead of having to deposit $100,000 to earn the biggest bonuses, you could take the same money, deposit and then withdraw and deposit again, rinse repeat, until the total amount of your deposits hit $100,000. I can confirm this still works,…

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Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Conrad Hong Kong

Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home I had done a lot…

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Seats Available for the Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit

Link: Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit One of the neat things about the Freddie Awards is that it brings together in one place the leadership of the major frequent flyer and frequent guest programs in one place. And that presents an opportunity for an interesting conversation, and both industry and frequent travelers are welcome. The event is Friday, April 27 at the Renaissance Newark, and tickets are available for $99. The price includes lunch, and proceeds go to charity. The event is perfectly timed not just for all of the industry leaders in town for the Freddies, but also folks coming to Frequent Traveler University, which begins with cocktails Friday evening after the Summit. The morning session is on “Miles As an Emerging Payment Currency” with American Express, Points.com, Loylogic, and Swift Exchange. That will…

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447 Hilton HHonors Hotel Categories Changing April 30

Hilton HHonors is recategorizing several hotels acros their reward redemption categories and has a full list of hotels that are changing (.pdf). Overall, 330 hotels are going up a category and 117 are going down, representing a small fraction of hotels in their portfolio and with changes disproportionately concentrated in the Hampton Inn brand. Changes don’t go into effect until April 30, so you have an opportunity to make future reservations at the current category pricing until then.

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Maximizing Miles in the Maldives: Cathay First, Eating in Singapore, and a Park Hyatt Water Villa – Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong

Introduction Positioning flights to San Francisco, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and Some Dim Sum for the Day Cathay’s New San Francisco Lounge Cathay Pacific First Class, San Francisco – Hong Kong The Wing and Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Singapore A Grand Suite at the Grand Hyatt Singapore Eating in Singapore Dinner at Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands Singapore Airlines Business Class: Singapore – Male Transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives Park Hyatt Maldives – Part I Park Hyatt Maldives – Part II Park Hyatt Maldives – Part III Maldivian, Kaadehdhoo – Male Singapore Airlines Business Class, Male – Singapore Cathay Pacific Business Class, Singapore – Hong Kong Conrad Hong Kong Cathay Pacific First Class, Hong Kong – Chicago American’s Chicago Flagship Lounge and the Final Journey Home Off the Singapore flight, a…

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