So United says they’re going to give away a small bonus to everyone following them when they hit 10,000 followers on Twitter. My guess is it’s a 10% discount electronic certificate, or 100 or 250 miles. But who knows? You can sign up to follow them.. or not. Apparently all that is required to get the bonus is to register for it, which should work even if you don’t follow them on (or even are a member of) Twitter. But since they’ve still as of this writing got over 5000 followers to go, you might as well follow them so that I can get my bonus faster…
Podcast Discussing the Minutest Details of First Class Award Travel
I’m a guest on the new Upgrd.com Podcast, give it a listen.
Lufthansa First Class: Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok
9:10 pm Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (SGN) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Lufthansa Flight 773 First Class Seats 83H, 83K Duration: 1h 30m Boeing 747-400 461 miles traveled Since we had a late flight, I asked about 6pm checkout but was told that would incur a half-night’s charge. But they extended 5pm checkout complimentarily, and offered that we could enjoy the evening h’or douerves in the lounge rather than leaving for the airport straight away, but we we decided we’ve rather be off. We caught a cab to the airport and despite significant traffic (it took better than an hour) the cost was ~ US$8. We entered the terminal just as Lufthansa was about to open its counters, all of the staff were huddled in a meeting while passengers began to queue. It was rather…
In and Around Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City Tour: Based on a recommendation from Flyertalk I emailed Tony with Ann Tours to arrange a driver and guide for the day. A full day guide, driver, and vehicle including entrance fees where applicable was US$90, prepaid by credit card. We were picked up as planned at 10am in the lobby of the Sheraton, and packed most of the well-known city sights into the day. Specifically the Presidential palace, War Remnant museum, Notre Dame cathedral, Central post office, Emperor of Jade pagoda, the museum of alternative medicine,, a couple of markets, and had our lunch at a Pho restaurant down on Pasteur street. Very happy with the guide, and would use Ann Tours again (they have an office in Hanoi as well). Palace Post office: Market: Lunch time! In addition to…
Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers
Hotel: Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers 88 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Phone: (84)(8) 827 2828 Fax: (84)(8) 827 2929 The hotel Mercedes pulled into the driveway, a porter hopped into action, and we walked into the hotel lobby. Didn’t get much of a feel for the lobby, though, because a hotel staff member intercepted us and asked me, “Are you mr. gleff?” She guided us directly to the right of the entrance to the bank of Towers elevators. She had our room keys in her hand and brought us to our suite to check in. All formalities were taken care of there, bags were promptly delivered, and she showed us the room and explained Towers benefits. Now, a quick word about how we wound up in a Towers suite…
American Express Membership Rewards Raises Points Transfer Fee
This Flyertalk thread points to an American Express Membership Rewards change that I had somehow missed — beginning September 1, the fee to transfer points from Membership Rewards to US airline frequent flyer programs will be going up. Amex currently charges $0.0005 per point to transfer to US carriers, and caps the fee at $75. This will go up to $0.0006 or $99 beginning September 1. For a 100,000 mile transfer the fee is $50, going up to $60, a 20% increase. They describe the fee as an ‘offset’ for the federal excise tax they pay when buying miles from US airlines. However, the fee isn’t a direct reimbursement of their actual costs, and it certainly isn’t mandated. It’s a charge they pass along to their customers. And similar programs, such as Starwood which allows…
Spanish Trains: More Expensive in English?
Upgrade: Travel Better discovers that the Spanish trains will sell you cheaper advance purchase tickets if you’re searching in Spanish, but not in English. That’s a great trip for the next time I’m in Spain, in the past I’ve seen online pricing and just went ahead and purchased at the station. I hadn’t realized better significantly advanced purchase fares were available. And with six years of Spanish under my belt, I ought to be able to muddle through an online shopping cart.
United’s New First Class, Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City
Wednesday, April 15 8:40 pm Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG) to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (SGN) United Flight 869 First Class Seats:04F, 04E Duration: 2h 30m Boeing 747-400 935 miles traveled After checking out of the hotel we grabbed a cab down in front of the W. The hotel staff member assisting us on our way was a little bit concerned that we were heading off to the airport ‘only’ 2.5 hours before our flight, but I wasn’t in the slightest. There was a bit of traffic heading in the opposite direction but the roads were all clear for our drive. We pulled up to the airport and headed inside, strangely there wasn’t anybody in either the business or first class checkin lines ahead of us. I say strangely because even though I knew…
Adding a Free Domestic Roundtrip to an American International Award
In the discussion of American’s new one-way awards with stopovers permitted in international gateway cities, a Flyertalk member pointed out that members living in gateway cities can book themselves a free domestic roundtrip when booking an international roundtrip. If you live in New York and are booking a roundtrip to Tokyo, why not also book yourself a trip to Miami as well? From the Flyertalk post: Here’s what I was thinking of doing: Newark – Jackson Hole ($219 in Y / Purchased Ticket) [Stop] Jackson Hole – Newark (F Award Ticket #1) [Stop] New York – Hong Kong (F Award Ticket #1) [Stop] Hong Kong – New York (F Award Ticket #2) [Stop] New York (LaGuardia) – Eagle, CO (F Award Ticket #2) [Stop] Eagle, CO – New York ($219 in Y / Purchased Ticket)
W Kong Kong 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon Station, Kowloon Phone: (852) 3717 2222 Fax: (852) 3717 2888 Cash & Points Rate We arrived at the W Hong Kong around midnight and no one from the hotel was there to greet our cab at the entrance. There were two staffers standing inside the door but we turned up and nobody moved. We brought our bags inside ourselves and then the bags were taken from us (not delivered to our room very quickly either, I might add). The lobby of the hotel is a bit confusing, we came up the driveway and had to take the elevator upstairs, the checkin desk was down the hall and around the corner to the left. I was tired, and it would have been nice had one of the staff…
