2013: Flights In Review
January 1, 2014

While today is the first day of 2014, I want to reflect back on last year. 2013 was my first full year in the mile & points game, and my travel stats are actually pretty incredible compared to years past.

My 2013 travel map (courtesy of gcmap.com)

STATS

  • 43,858 Miles Flown
  • 47 Segments Flown
  • 19 Different Airports Visited
  • 39 Segments Flown in Economy (2 of which were upgraded to First)
  • 3 Segments Flown in First Class
  • 5 Segments Flown in Business Class
  • 10 Different Airlines Used
  • 7 Countries Visited
  • 8 States Visited
  • 6 Round-Trips between Cleveland and Baltimore Taken
  • $1,118.70 total cost
  • Take out one round-trip to Cancun, and total cost = $509.70
  • Take out Cancun and each Segment = $11.33
  • Include the Southwest Companion Pass used on 12 Segments…
  • …and each Segment was $9.33 for NSPfiance and I

CURRENT BANK

  • 187,000 Ultimate Rewards Points
  • 110,000 Membership Rewards Points
  • 27,524 United Miles
  • 9,360 Aegean Miles
  • 36,208 American Miles
  • 90,013 British Airways Miles
  • 15,942 Delta Miles
  • 44,769 U.S. Airways Miles

With the bulk of my miles/points in Chase’s Ultimate Rewards & AMEX’s Membership Rewards, that gives me great flexibility if we see any devaluations in 2014. It does look like I need to burn some of those British Airways Avios…guess it is start time to start planning!

Cheers to a great 2013 and a soon-to-be great 2014 in the miles & points world!

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Credit Cards  / Luxury Airline Travel  / Miles & Points  / Travel

Paradise: Conrad Koh Samui
December 21, 2013

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)
Part 5: Conrad Koh Samui

As I wrote about in April, Hilton levied a massive devaluation of their HHonors Points on March 27th. This, effectively, lowered the value of points by as much as 50%. As NSPfiance had 145K HHonors points in her account, we made a go at making a reservation with a little-known perk of the AMEX Hilton Credit Card: An AXON Award. This allowed us 4-nights at the Conrad Koh Samui for 145K points. The Conrad Koh Samui is known for having each “room” being an independent villa…

View of the Villas

…with direct views from the bedroom overlooking the Gulf of Thailand. Each villa has it’s own infinity-pool and the views are down-right stunning:

View from the Bed

How did NSPfiance earn 145K Hilton HHonors points? First, she did a double-dip of the Citi Hilton credit cards (one of the last double-dips ever allowed, sadly!). She also applied for the AMEX Hilton Credit Card, as it has a really low spend requirement ($750), has no annual fee (a great starter card to increase your credit score over time) and has access to the AXON awards. That was it. One application in October of 2012 and two simultaneous applications in January 2013. Total of 15 minutes of work = 4 nights in Conrad Koh Samui…for free. Given the rates are around the $1,000/night mark, we are talking close to $4,000 in value for $0 and 15 minutes of work:

A Typical Rate for Conrad Koh Samui

This past month, I applied for the Citi Hilton Reserve card, which gave me instant Gold Status with Hilton. While there is no plethora of perks, it does provide free breakfast and free internet. The breakfast, was, well worth the sign-up:

Fresh Fruit Smoothies

Cereals

Pastries

Meats and Cheeses

Noodle Bar

Honeycomb

When we called to book, there was only one 4-day block with availability: November 30 – December 4. So that’s how we chose the dates. While not ideal, as we had to fly on Thanksgiving, there was probably little in the world that would have been better to make me forget about the close UM loss to ohio than taking a swim a few mere hours after the game (it ended around 4:30am):

Our Private Pool

Of course, the villa was pretty awesome as well:

Half of the Bathroom

Bedroom

Large “Rain” Shower

Those who know me well, know that I can be the laziest person on Earth. For folks who share this character-trait, there could not possibly be a better hotel. As the villas are on seven distinct levels of the westward-facing cliff, with drastic grades, no one is expected to walk between levels. So, need to go to the pool? Option A: Walk 10 feet to your own private pool. Option B: Pick up the phone, press 0, ask for a Buggy, wait 2-3 minutes, walk 5 feet, and get in one of these:

Buggy!

Time for breakfast? Buggy! Time to get your car? Buggy! Time to get lunch? Buggy! 4 days at the resort, and I might have taken 40 total steps. Pure Bliss.

In fact, if the Buggy is too much work for you, you can always order any dish from any restaurant for room service:

After a relaxing day at our private pool, we were too stressed to get in a buggy – so we ordered in.

One downside of the Conrad is that F&B is rather expensive (think $8 Singhas – the Thai equivalent to Bud Light). During our research, it was suggested that we rent a car for a total cost of $107 (thanks to Flyertalk promo codes). Given airport transfers were $50 each way, we decided having the freedom of a car would be a good thing. Of course, when the car pulled up, with the steering wheel on the opposite side, there was a bit of trepidation. NSPfiance’s nerves were further tested during the first 10 minutes of the drive, as multiple dogs, bikes, skooters and people would shoot in front of the car and traffic would drive so close to the center that I was forced to drive partially on the shoulder of the road with palm tree leaves whipping the side of the car:

Driving from the Right!

Of course, the car allowed us to eat at more local establishments outside of the resort itself…

A Local Lunch Hotspot

…visit local beaches (Chaweng and Lanai)…

Lunch and later Shopping at Chaweng Beach

…and stock up on $0.50 Singhas and bottles of white wine from the local markets:

Stocking Up at a Local Market – You can’t earn credit card points here!

Overall, I can’t imagine a much nicer place in the world. Bora Bora and the Maldives might have a little bit nicer view-appeal in the over-water bungalows, but the price point for the Conrad Koh Samui (free), the ease of everything, the ability to roam the island at your own leisure, taking advantage of the $6/hour massages, plethora of great shops and cheap food and drink outside the resort, was really phenomenal.

While we were sad to go, we still had Singapore, Bali and Beijing to explore.

The Final Sunset

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Bangkok Airport Hotel & Bangkok Airways
December 9, 2013

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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CX 617 – Business
December 3, 2013

Part 1: Seven Hours in ORD
Part 2: Cathay Pacific – First Class (CLE > ORD > HKG)
Part 3: Cathay Pacific – Business Class (HKG > BKK)

With each step, descending from stair to stair from the 2nd Floor Wing lounge to the boarding area in Hong Kong Airport, I could feel the diminution from First Class to Business Class. CX 617 offered only two cabins: Economy and Business. While I already yearned for the personalized service and Krug Grand Cuvee, I was also excited and interested to experience Cathay’s Business-Class product.

Our layover was fairly quick, two hours total, about an hour and a half after clearing quasi-immigration/security. We immediately headed to The Wing, Cathay’s lounge in HKG. The location couldn’t be more perfect, we literally were on the second floor looking down over the boarding area for our gate. While I was disappointed that the lounge did not have electrical plugs in the general seating area (what airport lounges doesn’t have ample places to charge computers/phones/etc…?!), the lounge did provide food and drinks, and looked relatively modern:

Seating Area

The Wing

There were both prepackaged items as well as hot food made-to-order

Drinks

Quite frankly, the lounge was nothing spectacular, and I was glad we had such a short layover. Before we knew it, our next flight was boarding.

A few minutes after we were seated, a flight attendant came by with pre-poured water, mimosas and orange juice options. As I only drank water in the lounge, I opted for a mimosa. The seats were fairly comfortable and NSPfiance and I booked middle seats knowing the seat configuration was a 1-2-1:

NSPfiance pre-flight, roughly 30 seconds prior to her passing out for the entire flight.

I was excited to see curry on the menu:

Thai food, finally!

The spicy yellow curry went nicely with a glass of wine:

Drink Menu

Of course what Asian meal would be complete without a wonderful Haagen-Dazs dessert?

My first Cookies & Chocolate experience. Cookies & Cream definitely wins that battle

I then settled into my seat, turned on an hour-long Louis C.K. television special (which was fantastically hilarious) and before I knew it, we were approaching Bangkok Airport.

Overall, the flight was a nice experience. Had I been paying for the flight, I don’t think it would have justified spending more to travel in Business Class for just under three hours. Definitely a world apart from our previous flight.

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Luxury Airline Travel  / Travel

Amazon: $25 off $75
December 2, 2013

UPDATE: This deal has expired.

This won’t last long…

AMEX will post an automatic $25 statement credit for any Amazon purchase of $75 or more. That includes gift cards. AMEX is not limiting this to one per household, so you can register every AMEX card you have for this! Took me about two minutes to register and purchase. Links for quick and easy access below.

Register your AMEX card here

Purchase the Amazon gift cards here

Enjoy 33% off your holiday shopping!

HT to DansDeals.Com

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CX 807 – Wow
December 1, 2013

Part 1: Seven Hours in ORD
Part 2: Cathay Pacific – First Class (CLE > ORD > HKG)

One of the premium business & first class products in the world is Cathay Pacific. When planning our trip, I knew it was a requirement that we try this product. There were a couple different options to fly Cathay to Hong Kong: Fly American metal from CLE > ORD > SFO and then Cathay metal from SFO > NRT (Japan) > HKG (Hong Kong), or the fast, more efficient route: ORD > HKG. I’ll take option #2. I will tell you that complex award tickets and travel takes time and patience, and for those who know me, know this is not a virtue I hold. So if I can handle it, I’m confident just about everyone in the world should be able to as well.

NSPfiance and I began searching for flights roughly eight weeks prior to our departure date. Given than we were locked into November 30 – December 3 for our stay at the Conrad Koh Samui, our travel dates really weren’t flexible: We were departing from the US on Thanksgiving Day. Roughly one week into our search a business class seat opened up. Cathay Pacific award space bookable with American Airlines miles can be searched very easily by using the British Airways web site. American also allows a hold on an award seat for five days. I held that seat hoping a second seat would open up. Five days later, no such luck. I cancelled the hold and NSPfiance picked it up. Five more days went by and nothing. Japan Airlines, also known for having a good product (though not nearly as nice as Cathay) had two first class seats available, so I put a hold on those. The next morning, NSPfiance was up at 4:30am to head to the gym, and lo, two Business Class seats on Cathay were available!

Cathay is known for releasing one or two first class seats roughly 330 days prior to the flight and then not opening up seats until roughly a week before the flight, although it seemed that starting around the beginning of November, award space leading up to flights were almost non-existent! Poor timing for us. We were checking British Airways site daily, and roughly eight days before the flight, a single seat opened up! While such an arrangement could wreak havoc in the NSP-household (one of us would have to “rough it” in Business, #FirstWorldProblems), four days before our flight was set to take off, NSPfiance saw the most beautiful screen:

First Class is Available!

And thus, a pair of first class flights valued at over $11,000 each were secured for 62,500 American Airlines miles each (American’s World card gives a 10% discount on Award Tickets, up to 10,000 miles per year, so the actual mileage without that credit card would have been 67,500 each).

Knowing this would be our flagship trip, we were excited for the 15-hour 50-minute journey. The seats/pods/suites were huge:

First Class Seat(ing Area)

We started out on the tarmac with a glass of Krug Grand Cuvee (Champagne that retails at $169 a bottle!). OK – maybe I started out with a few glasses:

Pre-Flight Toast

…but it didn’t stop me from changing into my pajamas – 16-hours, I better be comfortable:

Krug Grand Cuvee

I began my spread: Tablet in side compartment area, old clothes hanging up in my own private closet:

Personal Closet

Takeoff was a good opportunity to check out the menus for the flight (as well as the special wine menu):

I opted to start out with the caviar and sushi-grade salmon:

Caviar

Oh, one other nice thing about the First Class suites, they are set up for two people to enjoy their meals together:

Eating Together

The delicious appetizer was followed by scallops and salad:

Salad with Scallops

Then the true Thanksgiving staple came out: Lobster! While a glass of Krug would have been a perfect accompaniment, I chose the Chateau Haut Brisson La Reserve, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2009 that was a limited-edition to their wine menu (retails between $50-$70 per bottle).

Thanksgiving Dinner

Of course, no meal on Cathay would be complete without hand-written notes from the amazingly attentive flight attendants:

Hand-written Notes

It was then time for the fact that I only had three hours of sleep in the previous 55 hours to kick in. I put down my seat into a fully lie-flat bed, pulled up the duvet, donned the eye-mask that was included in the Ermenegildo Zenga amenity kit…:

Amenity Kit

…and went soundly to sleep for about three and a half hours. After waking up, I ordered coffee, which unexpectedly arrived with an almond biscotti and chocolates. I was still too full to take advantage of the offered snack of Haagen-Dazs!

Coffee and Chocolates

I decided to scan through the large collection of movies and settled on The Great Gatsby. After finishing the movie, I decided I wanted to get up and be vertical for a bit. With only six first class seats in the first class cabin and only two other individuals in the canon on the opposite of the plane, we essentially felt like we had the entire cabin to ourselves with the high walls of the suite. I decided to freshen up a little and was delighted that a razor and shaving cream were provided in the lavatory:

Post-shave, I chose another movie: Now You See Me on the rather-large TV:

Large TV

After another couple-hour nap, I was awakened by NSPfiance who was craving the dinner selection which started out with a fruit plate:

For the entrée I selected the seabass, chive mashed potatoes and green beans:

Dinner is Served

Dinner was finished with tiramisu:

Dessert

We then settled in for the final hour of the flight. Overall the experienced lived up, and even exceeded, the almost impossible expectations. We knew it would be tough traveling “down” in Business Class on our next flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok. I can tell you that I am already in the works to figure out how to plan another trip on Cathay. Laos? Cambodia? Myanmar? I know this one will be in:

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And Thus It Begins
November 28, 2013

Bags Packed!

I believe this trip will require an 8-part series, covering flights, hotels and everything in between. We have a whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia, but while there are 12 flight segments (CLE > ORD > HKG > BKK > USM > BKK > SIN > DPS > SIN > PEK > LAX > ORD > CLE), 5 countries (USA, China, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia) and 4 hotels – all within 12 days – the trip was carefully planned out to provide maximum rest, relaxation and exploration.

Neither NSPfiance nor I slept last night, given that Thailand is 11 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. When we arrive at 11pm, we want to hit the airport hotel, get a good night sleep and wake up refreshed for our first of four days in a heavenly Thai island resort.

Of course, the journey is part of the fun, and relaxation. While travel can be hectic, stressful and at times painful, we carefully orchestrated our trip to make the actual travel part of the trip.

NSPfiance in First Class – Gotta love regional jets that have six(!) first class seats.

My AMEX Platinum card comes with a Priority Pass Lounge Access. There was one shared lounged in Terminal 5 at ORD:

Priority Lounge Seating

Food offerings were nothing to write home about

Standard US Lounge Drink Offering

I did like the espresso machine…

Our First Class seats on Cathay Pacific from ORD > HKG allowed us access to British Airways First Class Lounge:

British Airways First Class Lounge: Terminal 5 (ORD)

Woodford Reserve?! If only I had slept in the past 48 hours…

I did have capacity for a champagne toast with a cheese plate

We are about to board. We are in seats 1A and 2A. This Bird looks awesome. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

CX807 – 11/28 (F): Happy Thanksgiving!

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Luxury Airline Travel  / Travel

The Value of Knowing Prepaid Cards
November 28, 2013

Prepaid cards come in many shapes, sizes and colors. You have reload cards – some of which are ridiculously valuable, ala Vanilla Reloads, and others have less flexibility. Some cards can be added to a Bluebird account at a Wal-Mart money center, some can be cashed out at a bank or ATM and others can be depleted through Amazon Payments. Thus, the goal is to buy a pre-paid card (and often pay the extra fee), and find a way to extract the money from the card. Again, this “manufactured spending” is where you essentially buy cash, expecting the rewards to outweigh the fees.

Let’s look at this week’s CVS deal on Paypal Prepaid cards:

What a Deal!

Purchase a $150 prepaid Paypal-branded Mastercard debit and receive $50 in Extrabucks (essentially $50 cash that can be spent at CVS). While this ad states “limit 1 per household,” that restriction was not there when the offer first came out. So I walked 2 minutes to my local CVS, bought a $150 Paypal Prepaid card for $154.95 (because of the $4.95 fee) and received $50. I bought a 2nd $150 Paypal Prepaid card for $154.95 and received another $50. NSPfiance did the same thing. That left us with $600 cash held in prepaid cards, $19.80 in fees and $200 in Extrabucks to spend at CVS.

So what did we do? Amazon Payments allows you to send up to $1,000 for goods/services each month via credit cards. As NSPfiance purchased a number of items recently for the condo, including picking up the tab for painting, I owed her a decent sum of money. So I added the Paypal Prepaid cards to my Amazon Payments account, and sent the cash to NSPfiance. That left us with paying $19.80 in fees and receiving $200 to spend at CVS (not to mention the points earned from credit card spend).

The key is to know the differences in the cards and the fastest/best way to deplete them. I was once stuck with $1,000 in AMEX Prepaid cards that I just had to spend down because I bought the wrong version. While this isn’t easy, and like anything takes some time to learn, the rewards are endless. Once you have the knowledge, the process is very quick and painless. As you see from the above, not a bad haul for ~15 minutes of my time.

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Cash Back  / Credit Cards  / Miles & Points

When a $450 Payment = $1,000s: AMEX Platinum
November 3, 2013

For awhile I have had my eye on the AMEX Business Platinum card. The benefits are just about unrivaled; however, there has always been a $450 annual fee (not waived) that is a scary barrier. But upon examining the benefits, one quickly realizes that the $450 payment quickly fades away with the benefits that come along with the card.

At a 10,000 foot level, here are the highlights of the benefits:

  • Lounge Access at multiple airline clubs
  • Free membership into Priority Lounges
  • Gold Status with Starwood Preferred Guest
  • $200 per calendar year in airline reimbursements for non-flight charges
  • $100 Statement Credit for Global Entry
  • 50K Membership Rewards points*

*AMEX often sends out targeted offers. What tipped me over the edge on this card was when I received a 100K Membership Rewards sign-up bonus. Now, let’s start looking at how these benefits far outweigh the $450 annual fee.

  1. Lounge Access: Most clubs offer some sort of free food/alcohol. Given my fear and dislike of flying, I routinely hit up an airport-bar, purchase one or two $8 beers and sometimes tack on an appetizer. Being very conservative, four trips to lounges/year instead of hitting up the airport-bar should save ~$50. (Net Cost: $450 – $50 = $400)
  2. Gold Status with SPG: Free internet, room upgrades, bonus Starpoints or a “welcome drink.” While traveling domestically free internet really is not of much value to me, as my Galaxy S3 phone has hot-spot capability; however, international travel is another story. I won’t add any tangible value to this, but it is a nice benefit none-the-less.
  3. $200/year airline reimbursement on ancillary fees: Here’s where the going gets good. Note that the $200 is in a calendar year, not rolling 12-months. That means you can take advantage of this twice during the first year you have the card. AMEX states that this reimbursement comes from charges for checked bags and other fees charged by airlines, but are not valid for plane tickets themselves. HOWEVER, many airlines’ gift cards counts toward this reimbursement. I chose Southwest Airlines for my “reimbursement airline” – and then any non-flight Southwest Airline charges that hit my AMEX automatically receives a statement credit. I purchased two $100 gift cards. As you can see, I received a statement credit just two days later:

    $200 of Statement Credits

    And here’s another ADD-ON. With the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass, the $200 of airline gift cards gets me $400 worth of flights! Doing this two times in the first 12 months of the card gets me $800 worth of Southwest flights! (Net Cost: $450 – $50 – $800 = +$400 Value)

  4. $100 Statement Credit for Global Entry: $100, free. (Net Cost: $450 – $50 – $800 – $100 = +$500 Value)
  5. 100K Membership Rewards Points: With bonus transfers, you are looking at between 120K-150K miles into various programs such as British Airways. That’s enough for 13 round-trip short-haul flights. Say I use these to visit my family in Detroit from Baltimore or use it for my family to fly out and visit me, with flights at least ~$150 round-trip (again being conservative), that’s another $1,950 in value! Of course, you can use these for long-haul premium cabin flights on ANA, Emirates, Singapore, etc…and receive thousands more in value. (Net Cost: $450 – $50 – $800 – $100 – $1,950 = $2,450 NET PROFIT!)

Overall, this is a great card purely for the benefits, and while the annual fee is a tough initial pill to swallow, as you can see above, really pays dividends.

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Credit Cards  / Miles & Points

Extending Expiring Southwest Credits
October 27, 2013

I had an old Southwest Award Credit valid for a one-way trip. It was set to expire on November 4th, so I began to look for flights to book in the next week or so for future travel. What I quickly learned was that the ticket had to be purchased for a flight that took place prior to the expiration! Well, that wouldn’t work.

So how do you extend your Southwest Awards? Airtran and Southwest are in the process of merging, but have not completed the process. So you can transfer Southwest credits to Airtran and then back to Southwest.

Why would one want to do this? I transferred a one-way credit for 8 Airtran A+ Credits:

I then transferred back to Southwest Credits:

If you do this with a round-trip ticket, you will extend the expiration date by a year! If you only have a one-way, you will have to spend just over 9,100 points to “buy” a second one-way and receive a round-trip reward. That’s what I wound up doing. End result? Extending that award by 12 months. Not bad!

Award extended for an entire year!

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