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…
ASIA
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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…
Touring the Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle Thailand Tour: I pinged a few tour providers in the Chiang Rai area and they were all quoting prices close to what the Le Meridien was asking for the tours arranged through the hotel. I decided to go with the hotel booking for convenience (of course they are contracting with a local tour operator, but do handle everything and ensure the guide and driver are there for us on time, provide their waters and cold cloths, etc).. I did feel a little bit trite in requesting their “tour #7” Doi Mae Salong / Golden Triangle full day tour. But after emailing the hotel and having them send me a list of the tours they offer (a one-page .pdf sheet of each, which is also duplicated in a book in the room) I decided…
Le Meridien Chiang Rai – Part Two of Four
There weren’t enough towels in the room, just a couple of bath towels at a time, and the toiletries weren’t refreshed except for the shampoo on the fourth day. I had run out, and was about to ring up for some, when housekeeping appeared apologetically for having forgotten to replace the shampoo. (They didn’t bring other items, but none were needed, apparently they replace only those which are virtually used up.) For a brand new hotel, and a stylish one at that, I was disappointed that the bathroom had a standard shower head and not something more interesting. We ran into a couple of snags shortly after our arrival. First, a bug infestation in and around the sugar packets that accompany the in-room coffee. We rang the desk and the sugars were replaced while we…
United Mileage Plus is Still Worth It.. Sort of
One Mile at a Time wonders whether Mileage Plus is ‘worth it’ anymore, with their much more expensive award charts (post-December 31) and extensive Starnet blocking of partner awards (just go try to book anything on Lufthansa most days). And he’s right to a certain extent, United has massively devalued their mileage. And most Star Alliance carriers offer more valuable currency. United’s award chart used to be favorable, but now is average at best. Air Canada’s is better, US Airways’ is better. And United frequently prevents you from booking awards with their partners, whereas the rest of Star Alliance carriers offer currencies without such restrictions. But that doesn’t mean there’s no more value there. It makes sense to credit flight miles to United to requalify for 1K (or until one requalifies). Because United 1K and…
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…
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…
Washington-Dulles to Narita in ANA First Class
Monday, April 13 Washington, DC (IAD) to Tokyo, Japan (NRT) All Nippon Airways Flight 1 First Class Seats 1D, 1G Departure: 12:20pm, Scheduled Duration: 14h 5m Boeing 777 6,752 miles We arrived at Dulles around 10:45 a.m. and walked up to the check-in counter. First and business were more or less being taken care of together, and we waited for the first available agent. Boarding passes issued, bags tagged to Hong Kong. Lounge passes issued for Dulles, which strikes me odd as at this time of day it’s a dedicated lounge for ANA, no lounge pass printed for Tokyo which also seemed odd because passes are much more common in Asia. Headed down the underground walkway and up to Terminal B, the ANA lounge is opposite gate B46. During the late morning it’s an ANA…
