ASIA

Search Results for "ASIA".

UK Woman Deported From Thailand Because She Used Her Passport as Toilet Paper

by Gary Leff on February 26, 2016

Feb 26 2016

This woman — who was neither from Germany nor from Florida — ripped pages out of her passport and used them as toilet paper. The Thai government didn’t accept her altered passport, and deported her.

The lesson though may not be not to use a passport as toilet paper. The lesson is that if you do you should follow up and have the passport replaced. Ultimately it’s probably not any rougher than much of the toilet paper I’ve found in Europe. And indeed I’ve traveled plenty of places in Asia where, if one didn’t plan ahead, they might well find themselves without better options.

Finally! American Opens Up Premium Cabin Awards Between the US and South America

by Gary Leff on February 24, 2016

Feb 24 2016

American’s revenue management has been notoriously stingy about releasing seats for premium cabin international travel over the past three years.

However American has been going to lengths to improve their premium cabin award availability. We’ve seen that with transatlantic space, with Asia flights, and even with Auckland, New Zealand.

And now we’re starting to see much better award availability with South America.

Ranking Hotel Elite Program Breakfast Benefits

by Gary Leff on February 23, 2016

Feb 23 2016

One hotel loyalty program executive relayed the common refrain she got from hotels in the chain when they first began rolling out a breakfast benefit for their top tier elites — “you mean we have to feed them, too?”

And yes – they do — because breakfast is a common benefit of hotel elite programs, at least at the time tier, and it’s something that the better programs need to offer in order to remain competitive.

The most coveted hotel elite perk is upgrades, especially to suites. But perhaps the second most coveted hotel elite status perk is breakfast.

Does Visa Shortchange You 1% on Foreign Currency Conversion?

by Gary Leff on February 23, 2016

Feb 23 2016

A few commenters have argued that Visa charges more for foreign currency conversion than MasterCard — that a Visa with ‘no foreign currency conversion fees’ isn’t really because Visa marks up their exchange rate by 1%.

I’m testing this out on a few trips. I mentioned in the comments that I’m experimenting with comparisons, and I’ve had a couple of folks ask about the status of this in the comments and also by email, so I thought I’d provide an update.

40% Bonus on Alaska Miles Lets You Buy Emirates First Class at a Deep Discount

by Gary Leff on February 17, 2016

Feb 17 2016

Alaska Airlines is offering up to a 40% bonus when you purchase or gift miles.

That’s actually a pretty good deal compared to other airlines with similar bonuses, because the starting price on their points is lower.

Using Korean’s Generous Award Hold Policy to Book Awards on Partners and Korean’s First Class

by Gary Leff on February 15, 2016

Feb 15 2016

Korean Air has the absolute best first class award availability. Most Korean flights will feature at least 2 first class award seats, but 3 and 4 is common on some routes. They offer great value Europe business class awards on partners and Hawaii awards on partners.

They also have one of the most generous policies that lets you put an award on hold without the points yet in your account. That gives you time to transfer points in from a credit card partner after you’ve already secured the award.

American AAdvantage Updates Their Award Chart Regions

by Gary Leff on February 12, 2016

Feb 12 2016

American AAdvantage appears to have cleaned up its region definitions.

The number of miles for an award in a zone-based award chart is based not just on whether there’s saver award space, but the regions you are flying between.

If you want to fly from New York to London, you look up the saver award price for “Contiguous 48 U.S. states” to “Europe.” It thus matters what region a country is assigned to, as it affects the price of an award.

Japan Airlines First Class Award Space to Australia for the Whole Family

by Gary Leff on February 8, 2016

Feb 08 2016

A couple of weeks ago I pointed out outstanding Japan Airlines first class award space between the US and Tokyo.

Now award availability is wide open from March through December in first class between Tokyo and Sydney. Here’s award availability for four passengers which is half the cabin (some dates may have more space than that).

Free Starwood Points and Instant Status Plus United Pre-Order Meals are Coming

by Gary Leff on February 7, 2016

Feb 07 2016

A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.

GAME ON: United Adds 3-Cabin Service to Premium New York-West Coast Routes

by Gary Leff on February 6, 2016

Feb 06 2016

Los Angeles is a hyper-competitive market. There’s no more high revenue market than New York – Los Angeles, with New York – San Francisco following it.

That’s why the routes are so competitive, not just with so many airlines offering service but also with a better product than what’s offered domestically on other routes.

United is introducing 3-cabin Boeing 777 service between Newark and both Los Angeles and San Francisco and between Washington Dulles and those two cities.