ASIA

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The Top 10 Ways To Earn Miles

There have been plenty of great mileage-earning opportunities of the past, things like buying coins form the US mint, buying savings bonds, and buying debit cards online with a credit card. Some of my favorites classics were: I earned 20,000 Delta miles for a Bosley hair restoration consultation. I had more hair then than I do now. I used to like grocery shopping. At Safeway of all places. Thanks to the now defunct GroceryMiles program. 64 Coke cups at Wendys earned a free roundtrip ticket on Airtran Which, naturally, led to dumpster diving. US Mint Miles for making child support payments There used to be big miles for long distance. I once signed up to earn 25,000 miles for switching to Sprint. As soon as I’d qualify for miles, I’d switch long distance carriers again.…

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Grand Hyatt Hong Kong’s Amazing Views and Club Lounge: Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report

Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…

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Singapore Has a Useful Chart on How They’re Dealing With the Exit of US Airways and TAM From Star Alliance

Alliance benefits, like Star Gold recognition, go away once an airline leave the Star Alliance. Reciprocal frequent flyer agreements may exist entirely apart from the alliance. Singapore’s agreement with US Airways has an end date that’s after US Airways’ departure from Star. Singapore appears to be continuing its frequent flyer relationship with TAM. Both US Airways and TAM leave Star Alliance and join oneworld on March 31. Here’s what will happen to their relationships with Singapore. In the case of US Airways, it’s not all that useful to US Airways Dividend Miles members during the April through July period. US Airways has a great award chart for intra-Asia travel, if there’s availability you can book Singapore – Male (Maldives) roundtrip in business class for 30,000 miles. But US Airways doesn’t have access to Singapore Airlines…

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More Answers On How US Airways Award Tickets Will Work Starting March 31

US Airways departs Star Alliance on March 30th, and enters the oneworld alliance on March 31. A communication from Dividend Miles made it sound like award travel using US Airways miles would be booked not based on its own existing award chart but would be starting to charge prices that match those charged by the American AAdvantage program. That’s of interest because many awards are more expensive, and others less expensive, under the American program. Especially of note is the US Airways business class award to ‘North Asia’ for just 90,000 miles roundtrip compared to 110,000 under the American program. I don’t know anyone who thinks that an award ticket to Hong Kong is going to cost 90,000 miles in the future but the hope is that the US Airways award chart pricing will stay…

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The Most Special, Aspirational Hotels That Are a Great Value on Points

Ted commented on a recent trip report post, Gary I share your passion for aspirational travel in Asia. I followed your lead and went to the Conrad Koh Samui, Maldives and Hong Kong. Have you found anything else that compares? I am looking to book my next trip. This reminds me a little bit of a classic line from a classic 1980s movie, and a more philosophical take on the same problem — the problem of actually doing everything you set out to do. In the movie Die Hard, the villain Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman) declares, And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer. Benefits of a classical education. This turns out to be a misquote, perhaps of Plutarch, and Alexander the…

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Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report: Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong

Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…

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US Airways Is NOT Adopting the American AAdvantage Award Chart When It Enters oneworld

US Airways departs Star Alliance on March 30th, and enters the oneworld alliance on March 31. They sent out an update message yesterday and linked to a page on their website that contained some confusing information. Lucky pointed out this page about how the merger and transition to oneworld will change the US Airways Dividend Miles program. And he noted in particular this section: How to redeem Check the American Airlines award chart to see how many miles you need to reach your desired destination. Book award travel on American with your Dividend Miles on usairways.com or call 800-428-4322. Miles cannot be combined between the Dividend Miles and AAdvantage programs to redeem flight awards. American Airlines award travel chart (pdf) The line, “Check the American Airlines award chart” seemed to suggest that US Airways award…

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Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report: Visiting Angkor Wat and Other Temples in Siem Reap

Angkor Wat Tours: Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong…

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Will You Pay Delta More to Earn More Miles, Pay the UK Lower Taxes, and Fly Airline Partners for a Better Experience? (Bits ‘n Pieces for March 20, 2014)

News and notes from around the interweb: Scott McCartney posits in the Wall Street Journal that Delta’s shift towards a revenue-based frequent flyer program will create further bad incentives between business travelers versus their companies, with travelers putting off booking travel — to net higher fares and thus more miles. United’s Mercedes tarmac transfers will be extended to Los Angeles and San Francisco (Chicago, Houston and Newark already have the feature). Here are the flights you want to take if you’re O’Hare-based. I tell Crain’s Chicago Business that alliance partners of American (like Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines) and United (like ANA, Asiana, and Turkish) offer flights that passengers might not think of, and that Lufthansa’s Dusseldorf flight often has seats including award space. Please enter Fly & Dine’s Starbucks giveaway. Iron Maiden lead singer…

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Vietnam, Cambodia, Macau and Hong Kong Trip Report: Park Hyatt Siem Reap

Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…

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