We were approached in the lounge and introduced to our escort who would take us through security and to our flight. The Hong Kong flight was close-in, so no golf cart today. Instead, a short walk to the flight. We boarded and were immediately offered some pre-departure champagne. Thai was serving the ’99 Bollinger, I had been expecting some 2000 Dom Perignon but Bollinger is still a respectable bottle. I assumed this was just for the Hong Kong flight, but some colleagues subsequently flew Beijing-Bangkok-Shanghai in Thai first and had the Bollinger on both segments, so perhaps this is provisioned for intra-Asian first these days. The ‘new’ Thai First seat is nice, certainly an improvement over their old first class (beware the dreaded Thai aircraft swap!) but there’s no privacy to it at all. Perfectly…
Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Hong Kong, Part One: Ground Experience
8:00 am Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG) Thai Airways Flight 600 First Class Seats 2J, 2K Duration: 2h 45m Boeing 747 1,063 miles traveled We got up early for our 8am departure, wanting to take as much advantage of the Thai Airways Bangkok departure experience as possible. We caught the shuttle over to the airport just before 5am, and had the driver stop at the first dropoff area, the First/Business Class check-in. The driver took our bags out of the back of the van, I nodded over to one of the waiting porters who came over, I told him first class and he loaded up our bags and brought us over to the first class checkin lounge. We had a seat, handed our passports over to the Thai Airways agent, and…
Continental Won’t Block Star Alliance Award Availability
And other useful tidbits in the new Upgrd podcast. No starnet blocking, a likely expensive award chart (naturally, from the people who brought you the 285,000 mile first class award on Wantas – up from 135,000 a year ago), first class awards will be offered, they recognize the problems in partnering with United but not offering real international upgrades and yet unusable upgrade certificates aren’t helpful, and much much more.
Funny emails of the day
First, I think the economy may be picking up, at least travel vendors have hiked their spending on PR consulting firms, I received five pitches today. My favorite? “Would you like a travel source? Let me know if you need some amazing deals to write about.” Umm… if you have some amazing deals, maybe pitch those to me? But don’t promise me amazing deals and tell me about United’s latest “fare sale.” My second favorite? Bank of America wants travelers to know you can do banking from your phone to – get this – check their balance to see whether they can afford to spend one more day in paradise. Great, haven’t banks felt enough heat for encouraging irresponsible financial management lately? “Gee, honey, let me check our bank balance on my phone. Wow, I…
Delta Shuttle 2500 Mile Each Way Bonus
Through July 26, Delta is offering 2500 miles each way (no roundtrip required) on the Delta Shuttle between DC, New York, and Boston. Registration is required, and all standard paid fare classes qualify (even L, U, and T fares). That’s 5000 bonus miles roundtrip, and I’m seeing weekend fares under $150. Since it’s “per segment” a shuttle flight in conjunction with a longer itinerary should count, at least that’s my read, so (especially if you live in a shuttle market) you may want to add connections onto your larger Delta itineraries to include shuttle flights. Sadly, for those with Northwest elite status, you’ll need to credit to a Delta Skymiles account in order to earn this bonus.
Novotel Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok Airport Hotel)
Hotel: Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport 999 Suvarnabhumi Airport HotelMoo 1 Nongprue Bang PhliSamutprakarn – 10540 BANGKOK – THAILAND Tel : (+66)2/1311111 My recollection from past stays was that the airport Novotel had a representative outside of door 4. This time as we headed over there two Thai ladies were at a desk inside the door, checking guests against an arrivals sheet. She asked my name but I wasn’t on the list. I showed her my printed confirmation for my prepaid rate, and we invited me out the door to the waiting hotel shuttle bus. We pulled up to the front of the hotel, grabbed our bags, and went upside. One of the staff members was ready to assist me, and it turns out that I walked in just in time because a sleuth of guests queued…
American AAdvantage Mileage Earning to Cease on Air Tahiti Nui
A minor note for most, to be sure, but after November 1 it will no longer be possible to earn American miles flying Air Tahiti Nui. I don’t know the backstory here. For years Air Tahiti Nui was a redemption-only partner of American. Then they added Northwest as a redemption partner, there was talk of linking up with Delta for redemptions, and they began offering mileage accrual with American as well. Now the notice says that redemption will conitnue, but no more accrual. Of course, it will still be possible to accrue miles in Air Tahiti Nui’s program. But they don’t really have too many partners, most people flying Air Tahiti Nui will only do so once (roundtrip). For those who can build up a decent stash of their miles, though, upgrades are pretty easy…
Flight From Chiang Rai Back to Bangkok
3:30 pm Chiang Rai, Thailand (CEI) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Thai Airways Flight 135 Business Class Seat Assignment at Check-in Duration: 1h 15m Airbus A300-600R 414 miles traveled We left the hotel a little bit after 2pm for our 3:30pm flight and even that was more than plenty early. We were at the airport in about 10 minutes, checked in within two minutes of our arrival (after running our bags through security screening at the entrance) and there was no line whatever for security screening before the gate area. There’s a Thai Airways lounge at the airport, but it’s not much better than waiting outside in the terminal. A woman checks eligibility for entry into the lounge, but there’s a sign on her desk that says “Self Service.” Although there’s not much service you can…
Northern Thai Cuisine Cooking Class at Le Meridien Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai Cooking Class at the Le Meridien: On our last morning at the resort we scheduled a cooking class. I don’t like early morning departures, I’m tired and I’m not relaxed and that really cuts against the whole point of the resort stay. But afternoon departures can leave us feeling antsy, basically just waiting around and killing time until it’s time to fly. So we always try to schedule an activity for the last morning, and on Southeast Asia trips in particular that usually means a cooking class. I enjoy cooking Asian dishes, and usually do bring back what I learn in the class to prepare at home. In advance of the stay I e-mailed Le Meridien to find out whether they offered classes. I did look into what else one might do in…
50% Bonus on Hotel Points Transfers to US Airways
Via One Mile at a Time, US Airways is offering a 50% bonus on hotel and rental car activities through July 31. Hotel points transfers are included in the offer, too, and registration is required. This is pretty exciting for Starwood points transfers — for example, 60,000 Starwood points normally transfer to 75,000 US Airways miles (since they give you 5000 bonus miles for each 20,000 points transferred). With this promo the same 60,000 Starwood points yields 112,500 US Airways miles. Make the transfer 65,000 Starwood and you wind up with 120,000 US Airways miles — enough for a first class Star Alliance award from North America to North Asia. For example, you could fly ANA first class from Chicago to Tokyo, connect on to Shanghai, and then fly Asiana first class Shanghai to Seoul…
