Part 1: Seven Hours in ORD
Part 2: Cathay Pacific – First Class (CLE > ORD > HKG)
Part 3: Cathay Pacific – Business Class (HKG > BKK)
Part 4: Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel and Bangkok Airways Economy (BKK > USM)
We landed at 11:30pm and had a 9am flight the next morning, so instead of grabbing a free hotel in the city with points, we decided to *cough* purchase *cough* a hotel room at the Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel. As luck would have it, there were riots in the city center, so we were lucky to have chosen to stay at the airport. It is about a three minute shuttle ride, and we wanted to be relatively well rested when we arrived in Koh Samui the following morning. The rate wasn’t great, $150, but it allowed us to achieve our objective.
Of course, what would a hotel purchase be without a bit of “travel hack” involved? Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel is part of the Le Club Accorhotels, which, conveniently, was giving away top tier-level status with new account sign-ups. Since I already had an account, NSPfiance was promptly asked to sign-up, which she did, and thus, we were now staying at a hotel with top-level tier status. Not that it means much with Accor Hotels; however, it did allow us for free breakfast:
It’s been awhile since I had seen dragon fruit!
The hotel lobby itself was gorgeous:
Lobby
We had a drink in the lobby around 1am after we dropped our bags off in the room – we had to celebrate being in Thailand with a Singha.
The next morning we were up early to get to Koh Samui. This was the only flight that we paid retail for on this trip. Why? The 45-minute Bangkok Airlines flight was a routine 45-minute Airbus 319 flight that cost just over $100. Although, I must mention that this flight, no different than Detroit > Chicago or Dulles > NYC, offered breakfast in economy:
Breakfast in Economy on a 45-minute flight? I love Asian airlines.
Of course the breakfast followed the airline giving out a fresh wet towel to use to wash your hands. The service level between American and Asian airlines is just astounding.
It was a quick night in the hotel followed by a quick hop. But we finally made it to our first destination:
Koh Samui!
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