If you’re a nerd like me then you are enjoying the posts about booking a flight to and from Asia before the AA devaluation. If you aren’t enjoying these posts, then there’s a strong possibility that you don’t read my blog anyway. Still, I thought I would insert that sentence in your honor.
The Trip Report appropriately called The Year of the Monkey hasn’t even got off the ground and already I have four posts on the flight planning including this one. They include:
I left my last post wondering if I was reaching the marginal return on my reservation given the opportunity to add more segments. Just asking that question meant that I had not. Here is what I came up with and I believe, but cannot guarantee, that it will be final. Unless there is a dramatic change, this will be the last post regarding flights on what has become another great #tpolonem booking.
JFK-YVR-HKG-BKK-KUL-CGK
I wanted to go to Jakarta to add it to my Country Count and found it more convenient to do it in the beginning of the trip. From Jakarta I will pay for a ticket to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and make my way back to Bangkok and Hong Kong. I am also paying for the flight from Kota Kinabalu to Bangkok but am using Avios to go from BKK to HKG. The price for that flight is $150 but I used 7500 Avios + $20 instead. After that, I am adding a wildcard country by going to Sanya, China. That flight retails for $300 but I used 4500 Avios + $15.46 to make the booking. Finally, I will be flying Dragonair Business from Sanya to Hong Kong en route back to NYC on Cathay Business. The DragonAir segment would cost $509 if someone was foolish enough to pay for business class on a flight that short.
All searches were done on British with Avios awards booked directly on the website and the others by calling American directly.
There you have it. TPOL is tired now. Goodnight.
I’m on hold with AA today for the fourth time. I’m talking to a nice agent and I’m at peace from the hold music because it is barely audible. The reason I’m calling AA again is because I want to improve my reservation. The first rule in making an awards reservation is to lock up the long-haul portion. That was done. I have JFK-YVR-HKG-BKK all in Cathay first. This includes the flight from HKG-BKK meaning I will get to enjoy the Champagne Bar after all. For the return segment, I originally had HKG-EWR in business class.
More impressed by my departing segment than my return, I decided to search for additional segments for my flight back from Hong Kong. The reason is two-fold: First, why not stretch the value of your precious miles to the limit? Second, TPOL is a man of adventure. Besides playing the Country Count Game in order to reach the century mark, there is a separate thrill that comes from visiting new places.
Here are the countries within Asia Region 2 that could be added to my return segment while still preserving the 55k mile requirement.
The only ones I have not visited are Guam, Java (since Bali is a separate territory from Indonesia according to the TCC), Saipan, and Borneo. (I’ve been to Brunei (Borne) and Malaysia proper (Kuala Lumpur) but Indonesia Borneo and Myanmar Borneo are also considered separate countries.)
I tried to book Guam or Saipan but of course there was no availability. In order to maximize miles and memories, I elected to fly from Kota Kinabalu (Borneo in Malaysia) to Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. I will also find a way to get to Jakarta (Java, Indonesia) in between arriving in Bangkok and departing Asia so I can check that off of the list. Remaining true to TPOL’s Travel philosophy, I will spend the required 3-4 days in each new destination.
Plenty of lounge time, business class time, and a generous layover in Hong Kong
With the return secured, I can’t help but take a second look at the JFK-YVR-HKG-BKK routing and ask if I should terminate my itinerary in Bangkok.
So much Cathay First…
Should I add another segment? Maybe I should add a flight that leaves the day after which departs before 6:10PM in order to maximize more first class time and more lounge time. But where would I go? I love Bangkok so what could be better than staying there for a few days? At some point there is a marginal return from the additional lounge, the additional flight.
The question is have I reached it or should I keep going.
It may be Saturday night in NYC but all I can think about is an evening in December when TPOL will actually take flight. This morning I booked an imaginary flight from JFK to HKG via Vancouver with service to BKK to get one more round of luxury before the much ado about something, AA devaluation. I also booked a separate business class ticket from HKG back to America. The problem with the reservation was that the departing ticket came a month after the return ticket.
My plan was to change the departing flight later this year when the flight became available while preserving the glorious rate of 67,500 AAdvantage miles + $34.50 for 21 hours of Cathay First. Not fond of uncertainty and obviously obsessed, I kept searching for a flight that I actually would take. Dealing with British Airways slow search can drive a sane man insane. Well my friends, I can happily say that this Saturday night was not wasted as I found that ticket and it is now mine, all mine.
The best part of the phone call was the AA representative telling me that I would have an hour on the ground in Vancouver which would allow me the chance to get off the plane, should I so desire.
I will most certainly waive that option.
I can almost taste the Krug champagne.This is a 4 cabin flight. TPOL + 5 others or no one else
The criticism I receive for points travel is that I could not afford to perpetuate the lifestyle if I had to pay for my flights. I do not have to tell my points brethren why this hotels.com, captain obvious, analysis is stupid. I will add that even when TPOL makes it big, I’m not going to spend $12,000 to fly to Hong Kong and feel good about it. With Devaluation Day quickly approaching, the opportunity to go to my favorite continent in class is going to be taken away from me.
Therefore, like everyone who went through the same ordeal with Hyatt DSUs, TPOL searched British Airways forwards and backwards with flights origination from Chicago, New York, Newark, Los Angeles, and San Francisco for a pre New Year departure in first class. There was absolutely nothing available for the entire month of December. The next step was to check the month of January. I didn’t want to search for anything before December because Cathay opens up first class close to the departure date making a booking in November or a prior month a solution for now but a headache later.
Again, there was nothing. That is until I clicked on a certain magical date and found the following:
That’s a lot of first class on Cathay
The problem I may have is finding this routing in December which could complicate trying to preserve my 67.5 price point. My argument is that any JFK-HKG flight should be able to be substituted because this itinerary is one flight number. Therefore, if the direct JFK-HKG opened up and this one didn’t I should be allowed to book it as well. I will continue to check for a route that doesn’t stop in Vancouver between now and ticketing. If this is all there is then I think it will still work.
As for the return, I locked in a comfortable business class journey home. Since I’ve already flown Cathay first from Hong Kong and in the interest to preserve AA miles for a more meaningful flight in the future, I am satisfied with the business class option apart from having to miss out on the champagne bar in the Cathay Lounge. It’s just Moet anyway.
Saying goodbye to 55k AA the right way
Le Méridien Ile Maurice Hotel Review is part of the Trip Report: The $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World which covers 5 Continents, 13 Countries, and 17 Cities.
Find the nerdy planning here. Find the picture preview here.
Getting There: Here’s an unwelcome surprise, the cost of getting to the hotel is $100 via taxi. In Mauritius, renting a car may be worth the trouble if you plan on exploring the island. Otherwise, it’s cost-prohibitive to go anywhere without forking over cash to a private driver.
I foolishly booked Le Méridien Ile Maurice for one night to save a few points. The next two nights I would be at the idyllic St. Regis Mauritius which was located on the other side of the island and had I taken another taxi would have cost $100.
Having said that, I can’t blame my stupidity in logistics on this hotel. It is a very nice property with a huge pool, good gym, complete breakfast, and direct access to Mauritius’s main attraction, the ocean. Still, I contend that if you are going to fly all the way to Mauritius, especially if it is your first time, it is worth skipping the affordable option for the luxury one. Even though I was upgraded to a suite, it was nothing special compared to the 1 bedroom St. Regis villa.
Overall, I really didn’t do much at this hotel after a day of travel besides take a few photos and lounge on a beach chair. Suffice to say, the review is not as comprehensive as others. Hopefully, the brevity of words will be overlooked for the beauty of photos.
Le MeridienA perfect dayThe hotel felt a bit datedView from my roomThe pool at nightSunset in MauritiusContemplating stealing the boat to St. RegisI stayed at Le Méridien Ile Maurice and all I got was this awesome tee shirt
Bluebird, REDbird, Serve: all are dead. And after jumping from one to the next, so is my desire to manufacture spend. The problem is my aspiration to learn new, efficient means to reach the mins on my plethora of cards is at an all time low. Complain as I must, I wish that banks would just charge me a slightly higher annual fee and leave me alone to enjoy my bonus. The days of caring about if my Top Cash Back cleared leaving me with a slight profit in the purchase of the Rubber Duck are gone. All I want is points without hassle. Exploring the Reddit forums, I have come across some viable ways to inch forward but today I’d rather reminisce about swiping my credit card at Target twice a month for 5k per card. Tomorrow I have to get motivated to reach the mins on the following:
Citi Business: 3k =50kAA
Citi Personal: 3k =60k AA
United: 2k =55k United
Marriott: 3k =87.5k Marriot
Southwest: 2k =50k SWA
Amex Hilton: 1k =70k Hilton
British: 10k =Additional 50k Avios
TPOL is in need of a virtual assistant to handle this inconvenience. All interested should inquire within.
More Travel, Less Mins please
Bunny Chow in Durban, South Africa is part of the Trip Report: The $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World which covers 5 Continents, 13 Countries, and 17 Cities.
Find the nerdy planning here. Find the picture preview here.
On the way to the Hilton Durban, a comfortable choice in the heart of Durban, I had a chat with the taxi driver. Among other factoids, he told me that Durban has the largest concentration of Indians outside of India. This seemed as random as Sao Paulo having the second largest Japanese population outside of Japan. After learning why so many Indians came to South Africa, I asked the driver about the Indian food in Durban.
New cities means new food and in Durban that food is called bunny chow. Bunny chow is made from a hallowed out piece of bread filled with your choice of curry ranging from spicy to ridiculously spicy. The only comparison I can use to describe bunny chow is a throwback to Tim Horton’s campaign, “And I ate the bowl!” While Mr. Horton’s dish was disgusting, this South African and Indian infusion was not. At a price of 98 rand or $6.50, I was able to get more than my fill of lamb bunny chow from the famous House of Curries on Florida.
So if you ever find yourself in Durban and are looking for a local treat, TPOL recommends bunny chow, a dish with a curious name but a one-of-a-kind taste. For more unique food recommendations be sure to check out the Libations Travel Menu.
House of Curries, not sure about that nameQuarter is plentybest beryani!bunny chow! curry lamb within bread and you eat the bread at the same timeExtra water and beer is imperative
Do I pay with points? Do I pay with cash? Do I pay with points and cash?
This age old question depends on the math. Let’s take them one at a time:
Cash: Cash is king. As such, I prefer to keep it in my bank account and find no satisfaction in spending it to prove the point that I can afford to do so. However, there are times when I will make a hotel booking with cash instead of the other options. For example, I am going to Auckland in a couple of months and there are no great points options. It makes more sense to spend money on a boutique hotel than it does to waste all my Hilton points to stay for free at a hotel that doesn’t seem special. The second instance I use cash is when the rate of the hotel is less than the value of points. In these circumstances I find myself strangely wishing that the room would cost more so I could justify using points instead.
Exclusively Points:Almost as precious as cash is my cache of points. I have separation anxiety when I make a points reservation completely with points. The level of stress depends on the hotel group. Here’s my ranking from easiest to burn to the other extreme, from my cold, dead hands.
Club Carlson: If I am booking with Club Carlson which has hotels located in more exotic destinations like Stockholm, Sweden, Riga, Latvia or Corsica where rooms range for a few hundred dollars, I have no problem burning my points. This is especially true after Club Carlson’s devaluation.
IHG: TPOL has missed the boat on IHG giving away buckets of points through its promotions. The highest my balance ever reached was 100k points primarily in thanks to Chase’s sign-up bonus. I used those points to book two nights at the InterContinental Bora Bora.
Hilton: The same can be said of Hilton which also experienced a terrible devaluation. 95,000 points gets you what 50,000 points used to be able to. So long as I am using my Hilton points at a top-tier property like the Hilton Moorea, I am at peace with using points to make the reservation. The problem with Hilton is finding properties of this caliber in locales that I want to visit.
Hyatt: Cash and points is not always available for Hyatt hotels. When this is the case, I don’t mind spending my points to get a free room.
SPG: SPG points are difficult to accrue even with an Amex sign-up offer. After you’ve burned through the initial bonus, the best way to obtain a significant amount of points is to stay at SPG hotels, devote your spending to your Amex card, or beg blog followers to give you a referral. Because I value SPG points like my unborn children, I tend to use them for stays requiring 2-3k points per night (see Aloft Bangkok).
Cash and Points: Cash and points go together like tacos and Tuesday if the value is right and the availability is there. The simple formula for determining value is as follows: number of points(valuation of points) + cash < room rate.
Hyatt: Is Hyatt worth 1.7 cents per point, is it worth 2 cents per point? That’s up to you to decide. I use 2 cents because it makes me scrutinize the deal before booking the room. I seldom have buyer’s remorse when I do a points booking whether it be exclusively points or a combination when I surpass the 2 cents threshold. At the same time, I will rationalize that my value of Hyatt points is overvalued when I come up a bit short of the 2 cent mark.
SPG: SPG points are worth 3 cents each. I assign this premium to SPG points because I fought hard to build up my SPG account and must remind myself that trading them away for a 30,000 point stay at the St. Regis New York is not as good a value as cash and points redemptions at the St. Regis Osaka or St. Regis Mauritius.
Domestic Reservations: The exception to the winning cash and points formula is for domestic reservations. The points for premium rooms in the United States in cities like Chicago and New York are inflated. Staying at the W in New York or the Park Hyatt NYC may appear to be a great mathematical deal but I would rather stay at a Hyatt House in Scottsdale or Four Points in New York than burn my points on domestic service.
Summary
In the end, it is a better idea to Shut Up and Book! than get too involved in the Money Ball game of points valuation. Concurrently, it is also a good idea to establish your own rules for what is and what isn’t a good value.
Hyatt House: No better deal than 4k + $55 in the heart of Old Town
I didn’t post for a couple of days and it’s already 9:30PM Eastern time so I am going to save my real post for tomorrow. In need of content, redundancy, and points, I thought I would share what has been overshared by everyone: SPG is now offering 35k points for signing up for their credit card offer and I would receive 5k if I refer you.
A bigger question for another day is whether bloggers should post on offers and news that their colleagues have already posted on. I will argue (not evident by this post) that they should so long as their spin on it advances the subject or is at the very least humorous.
35K SPG points! Get ’em now!
Use your SPG points to stay at the W Scottsdale, douches included
Like a criminal waiting to get caught so he could exhale in relief, TPOL is glad that serve is dead for him and now for his associates. After my initial shutdown, I took a voodoo like approach when it came to loading my other serve cards. I would walk into a Family Dollar backwards, carry two cloves of garlic in my left pocket, and would yell out ‘dum dum diday’ every time a load was successful.
This stressful Press Your Luck style approach only netted me a measly $2500 in loads before the Whammy emails this morning. For those looking for a discernible pattern as to why they got shot down, let me be the first to tell you that there isn’t one. On one card I loaded $500 a day and made purchases with merchants. On the other, I loaded $500 only a single time before the news of its death arrived in my inbox.
Perhaps loading the magical $500 amount was the reason but if that’s the case then good riddance. It was already annoying when Family Dollar dropped its daily permissible load amount from $2000 to $500. The manager even said that the reason for doing so was to stop ‘manufactured spenders.’ He added that he was supposed to take the ID of customers who tried to load more than that amount and report them. (to whom I have no idea) Although I contemplated doing so, I rejected the idea of loading $273 one day and $118 another day while using the gift card to make purchases.
Now that it’s truly dead I can get back to chasing the dream of entrepreneurship full-time. But first, I need to find a way to MS another 40k. Looks like my insomnia from meeting mins has returned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZRpwFHLDHA
