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Review: ANA First Class, Houston – Tokyo

by Gary Leff

first class cabin
May 27 2018

I’m just back from Tokyo and Shanghai. My wife and I flew to Asia on a Virgin Atlantic 120,000 mile roundtrip ANA first class award. It’s one of the better value redemptions in all of travel — United would charge 220,000 miles roundtrip for the same thing, Aeroplan 210,000 miles, and Avianca LifeMiles 204,000. ANA itself charges 150,000 miles roundtrip.

And it turns out the deal is even better than that because most of the points for these two tickets came from American Express Membership Rewards transfers — when there was a transfer bonus. I called up Virgin Atlantic, put the award on a 24 hour hold, and then transferred the points. Not bad for a roundtrip ticket that was pricing at $22,907 apiece.

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Nurse Boarding Houston Flight Had $41,000 Confiscated – Money Meant For a Medical Clinic

by Gary Leff

civil forfeiture
May 04 2018

The government confiscated $41,000 on the jetway from a 59 year old nurse departing Houston back in October. She was never charged with a crime.

The woman, a US citizen living in the Houston suburb of Katy, had taken her savings with her to start a medical clinic in Nigeria. She was bringing medical equipemnt and supplies on the flight along with the cash. Customs and Border Protection stopped her during boarding.

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Review: Emirates First Class A380, Houston – Dubai

by Gary Leff

Jun 19 2016

I’ve been remiss in writing the details of my trip to the Mideast and Asia redeeming miles for first class on the Airbus A380s of all 3 of the big Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar.

It’s was a great quick trip to eat in Bangkok and see the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, and I’m determined to return to sharing it with you.

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