Introduction
TPA-MIA-JFK on American with a visit to the MIA Flagship Lounge
The Andaz Wall Street
JFK-SFO on American Flagship Service with a visit to the JFK Flagship Lounge
SFO-HKG on Cathay Pacific with a visit to the BA F lounge
The Wing and HKG-DPS on Cathay Pacific
The Grand Hyatt Bali
The InterContinental Bali
DPS-HKG on Cathay Pacific
The Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha Tin
The Wing and HKG-SFO on Cathay Pacific
SFO-JFK-MIA-TPA on American

—————————————————–

Upon arrival in Hong Kong I headed towards the “SkyeXpress” counter. In the past I’ve always taken the Airport Express into the city, but this time around we were staying at the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin, which is located in the New Territories. Why? Because I needed Hyatt stay credits, the hotel came out to 130USD all-in (as opposed to double that in the heart of the city), and I wanted to see a new area of Hong Kong.

So the Airport Express wouldn’t get us there, but the “SkyeXpress” bus goes nonstop between the airport and hotel. My brother took the Airport Express into the city to meet up with a friend, while I just wanted to sleep, so I bought a ticket for a very reasonable 100HKD (a special rate they have for hotel guests). I was escorted all the way to the waiting area, where I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the airport scene in “Meet the Fockers.” I was quite clearly the only person sitting there waiting for the bus, and an agent came up, stood in front of me, and loudly exclaimed, as if to an audience “ladies and gentlemen, we are now ready to board the bus to Sha Tin.” After that announcement she looked straight at me and walked me to the bus.

My bus “boarding pass” was taken, I took a seat on the bus, and the door closed. I’ve gotta say, holy cow, this was the nicest bus I’ve ever been on. I’m no bus enthusiast, but damn. It was a huge bus with leather seats in a 1-2 configuration. I’d say the width of the seats and seat pitch was about the same as domestic first class. I can’t even begin to say how bad I felt being the only passenger on this bus which probably seats 50 people. Doubt they’re making a profit on my 14USD fare!

Driving towards Hong Kong, especially at night, is always amazing. I listened to some music on my iPhone and enjoyed the 45 minute ride. Upon arrival at the hotel I was helped with my bags and directed to the front desk (as if the location wasn’t glaringly obvious). Once there I was immediately thanked for being a Diamond member and the agent explained I was being upgraded to the club floor and I would receive free internet. I asked the agent to hold a key for my brother since he was arriving later; she obliged.

The bell boy walked with me to my room with our bags (as I also had my brother’s bags), and once in the room explained all the features to me. The room was a decent size, modern, and still had the “fresh” look to it.

Hallway

Entrance

Room

As seems to be the norm by now, the bathroom was separated from the room by a glass partition, though there was a privacy screen. There was also a large shower and toilet.

Bathroom

Room

Beds

Again, you’ll have to pardon my bitching, but what the hell is up with Hyatt’s “food and beverage” amenities? Three apples and six nasty cookies. Really? I wish we had a choice of choosing 1,000 points in place of the amenity at international properties as well.

Welcome amenity

View of bedroom from bathroom

Sink

Bathroom

It was getting late and I was still a bit jetlagged, so after checking my email for a bit I was ready for bed. I was quite thirsty, though, so first went to the Regency Club to get something to drink. I sat there in the dark with a bottle of water just enjoying the relative calm after a rather long day. After that I slept like a baby for about ten hours thanks to the very, very, very comfortable beds.

Upon waking up I could tell it was a not-all-that-nice day in Hong Kong. It was foggy and looked like it might rain.

View from room

Floor layout

We headed to the club lounge for breakfast. The lounge has both an indoor and outdoor area. I loved the outdoor area given that it was quite windy and it’s just cool to be on a high floor and get some fresh air, but it was a bit too windy, so we ate breakfast inside.

Outside patio in Regency Club

Regency Club

I forgot to take a picture of the breakfast spread, but it was surprisingly good. They had some hot options along with everything else you’d expect from a club lounge spread. Definitely filling, though didn’t want to eat too much before our longhaul to San Francisco.

By the time we finished breakfast it was 11AM and we had set up a transfer to the airport at 2PM. We walked outside the hotel for a bit, only to realize that there wasn’t anywhere to stroll for an hour or two. There wasn’t enough time to go into the city, so we ended up getting some work done. After showering, packing, and getting ready, it was time to leave.

Check-out was prompt and we once again took the “SkyeXpress” bus to the airport. Sadly enough (for them), we were the only customers yet again.

Lobby

Lobby

Hotel entrance

Hotel exterior

View from hotel

Ridiculously nice bus

Look at that legroom…

Arriving at the airport

We got to the airport just before 3PM, two hours before our departure. We had a nice stay at the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin, and the hotel was very nice, though I’m not sure I’d return. The location is rather inconvenient, and even the very reasonable price doesn’t make it worthwhile when actually wanting to see Hong Kong. Next time I’ll probably redeem points or free nights at the Grand Hyatt or otherwise stay at one of the two InterContinental hotels. That being said, for a quick overnight I wouldn’t hesitate to return, as the bus is convenient.

This is a huge relief. For years now Chase has had the deal whereby you can earn 25,000 Continental OnePass miles for opening up a Chase personal or business checking account with debit card, and you can do it once a year. Last year I earned 50,000 OnePass miles by doing this, and I had every intention of doing so again this year, but I just haven’t found the time. Originally the offer was only good through March 31, and with that date looming, there were no signs of the offer being renewed. But fortunately they seem to have extended the promotion through June 30 today. That’s perfect, because if you sign up on April 1 or later, you can even earn Mileathon credit.

Here’s the coupon for the personal checking account and here’s the coupon for the business account.

Introduction
TPA-MIA-JFK on American with a visit to the MIA Flagship Lounge
The Andaz Wall Street
JFK-SFO on American Flagship Service with a visit to the JFK Flagship Lounge
SFO-HKG on Cathay Pacific with a visit to the BA F lounge
The Wing and HKG-DPS on Cathay Pacific
The Grand Hyatt Bali
The InterContinental Bali
DPS-HKG on Cathay Pacific
The Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha Tin
The Wing and HKG-SFO on Cathay Pacific
SFO-JFK-MIA-TPA on American

—————————————————–

Bali is one of those crappy airports that I actually like, at least airside. At first it’s rather frustrating. When you enter the airport you first have to show your ticket as they screen all your bags. Each passenger goes through a metal detector, including taking off shoes, belts, etc. Not sure what purpose that serves since you still have your checked bags, but then again I’m no security expert.

Queue to enter the airport

Once inside the airport we proceeded to the Cathay Pacific check-in counters, where we were promptly helped. They were randomly pulling people over to screen bags, but fortunately we weren’t chosen (fortunately only because we wanted to save time, not because we had anything to hide). At check-in I once again asked whether it might be possible to be seated in the first class cabin, given that we were on first class tickets and I have status with OneWorld. As I mentioned in the outbound portion of the trip report, this flight is operated by a 747 which has three cabins, but Cathay only sells coach and business class on this particular sector, but they’ll seat some passengers in first class and offer them business class service.

Anyway, the agent obliged and offered us seats 3A and 3K, which we gladly accepted. Our bag was checked to Hong Kong and off we were through the maze which is Denpasar Airport. Once up the escalators we had to pay our departure tax (gotta love that they charge you to enter the country and to leave the country), at which point we lined up to have our passports and documents checked yet again.

Airside, Denpasar Airport is surprisingly nice, with lots of duty free shops and restaurants. We headed straight to the contract lounge that Cathay Pacific uses, the same one I used the last time I departed here while flying Singapore Airlines.

Duty free shops

Stairs to the lounge

It’s rather impractical that the lounge is on the second floor without an elevator (as far as I can tell), although it’s quite comical because they have employees standing around just to help passengers with their carry on bags.

The contract lounge here is definitely one of the nicer ones out there. It’s spacious, well decorated, and has a fantastic food spread, at least by contract lounge standards. I’m convinced it has the tastiest quasi-junk food anywhere in the world.

Contract lounge

Contract lounge

Buffet area

Buffet area

Pre-flight snack

Another thing that makes this lounge unique is the outside observation deck they have, directly overlooking the tarmac and runway.

Observation deck

View from observation deck

As luck would have it, we happened to be out there just as our inbound Cathay Pacific 747 was landing from Hong Kong.

Here she comes….

About an hour before departure we headed to gate seven, where our flight was departing from. At Denpasar they have security lines at each individual gate, and surprisingly enough the line wasn’t very long, so we were in the gate area in no time.

Our plane

Gate area

At about 3:30PM boarding was announced for business class passengers, and we were among the first aboard.

Cathay Pacific 784, DPS-HKG, 747
Saturday, March 13
Depart: 4:00PM
Arrive: 8:45PM
Duration: 4hr45min
Seat: 3A (Business Class)

As usual we were escorted straight to our seats in row three. The flight attendant, Kitty, introduced herself and offered us beverages. We both went with champagne.

View from row three

Pre-departure champagne

Looking at row two

The first class cabin continued to fill up to the point that seven out of nine seats were taken. Coincidentally enough, the same couple that made fun of my pants on the way out was on this flight seated right in front of us. We were asked if we wanted anything else to drink before takeoff, so I went with an orange juice.

Orange juice

As the door got ready to close the captain came on the PA to welcome us aboard. I couldn’t help but grin as the captain, clearly an American, welcomed us aboard “his” Cathay Pacific 747. Let me explain, it’s not that I prefer pilots from the US, it’s just that back in the day when I wanted to be a commercial pilot, it was always my dream to fly for Cathay Pacific. Where else can you start off flying heavies and be in command of a 747 flying longhauls after less than a dozen years with the company? When I see an American pilot on Cathay I can just kind of relate and say “good for you for not putting up with the US airlines.” I’m even kind of jealous!

Hell, I would have loved to have a chance to talk to the guy and hear about his background — what made him decide to fly with Cathay, how he likes it, whether he regrets not working for one of the loss-leading legacies, etc. Whenever I talk to a US pilot that’s unhappy, I ask them why they don’t work for foreign carriers like Cathay Pacific. Their response is typically something along the lines of “Hong Kong, eh.”

Anyway, he advised us of our flying time of 4hr17min and told us Violet and her team in the cabin would take great care of us. Moments later the main cabin door closed and we were off to Hong Kong.

Our route this evening

Plane’s reflection on the jet bridge

After a fairly quick taxi we were cleared for takeoff on runway 09 and airborne moments later.

Number one for takeoff

Once airborne

Now, having an American pilot isn’t all sunshine and brownies (did I just invent my own phrase?). As I was expecting, he kept the seatbelt sign on for quite a while and switched it back on whenever there was even the slightest bit of chop. Nonetheless the crew was up after a few minutes to begin their service, and Violet, the inflight service manager, distributed the menus and introduced herself to us. In general inflight service managers do a good job, but then there are some that are truly outstanding, and Violet was one of them. She was engaging, polite, curious yet not intrusive, and a bit less formal than many of ‘em are.

Dinner menu and wine list

The dinner menu read as follows:

Starters
Seared herb crusted salmon with wasabi mayonnaise, asparagus and semi sun-dried tomato

Mesclun salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and citrus vinaigrette dressing

Main Course
Pan-roasted lamb chop with thyme rosemary sauce, potato gratin, green beans and capsicums

Yellow seafood curry with steamed rice with shallots and stir-fried kailan

Stir-fried chicken with black bean sauce, steamed jasmine rice and baby pak choy with black mushrooms

Dessert
Fresh seasonal fruit

Banana cheese cake with raspberry coulis

Tea and Coffee

Pralines

And the wine list read as follows:

Champagne
Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne

White wines
P.Ferraud & Fils Vire-Clesse 2008
Trinity Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Red wines
Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz 2006
Bodegas Alto Almanzora Este 2007

Port
Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 2004

As we leveled off I tried to decide on a movie. After all the hype I’ve heard about it, I decided on “Twilight.” After about ten minutes I decided I’m not on “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.” I’m on “Team This-Movie-Sucks.” I gave up and watched a marathon of “Kourtney & Khloe Kardashian Take Miami,” which, it goes without saying, doesn’t suck.

Kitty came around to take drink orders, and I went with the usual, which was served with a small ramekin of cashews.

Diet Coke with lemon and cashews

Moments later dinner orders were taken, and I went with the chicken option. Tablecloths were quickly distributed and the salad and appetizer were plopped on our trays shortly thereafter, followed by the bread basket

Appetizer and salad

Seared herb crusted salmon with wasabi mayonnaise, asparagus and semi sun-dried tomato

Mesclun salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and citrus vinaigrette dressing

Stir-fried chicken with black bean sauce, steamed jasmine rice and baby pak choy with black mushrooms

For dessert I went with the banana cheese cake and coffee, which was decent, though banana and cheese cake just isn’t a great combo, in my opinion.

Banana cheese cake with raspberry coulis

As dinner finished up pralines, toothpicks, and towels were distributed. I was just nearing the end of my third episode of whatever crap show I was watching and decided it was time to take a nap before our arrival in Hong Kong as the sun began to set.

Sunset

I woke up with about 45 minutes to go to Hong Kong, as the inflight service manager distributed Hong Kong arrival forms. I started to talk to her as my brother started to talk to one of the other flight attendants. The ISM mentioned the whole crew was continuing to Paris in two days, which they were very excited about. Eventually we swapped, as my brother talked to the ISM and I talked to the other flight attendant. My brother mentioned the age difference between us (without mentioning our actual ages), and the ISM managed to guess both of our ages on the nose. She also, somehow, managed to ascertain that my brother was in business school in New York. Kind of freaky, almost!

Soon enough we began our descent towards Hong Kong as the flight attendants began to prepare the cabin for landing. We arrived at the gate right on schedule (shed-jewel, remember!) after a smooth landing and quick taxi.

We bid farewell to the crew, thanked them for the great service, and proceeded to the immigration lines. After a quick train ride and five minute queue in the immigration line we had our checked bag and were in the arrivals hall. We proceeded to the “SkyeXpress” bus counter, which was the easiest way to get to the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin, where we’d be spending the night before our long journey home.

As I write this post I’m trying to figure out which “category” I file this under. It just occurred to me that it’s probably time for a “dumba$$” category on the side of the blog, and I’m pretty sure a special website belongs there.

For a couple of years now it has been possible to drop the fuel surcharges on many international tickets by adding a segment (typically to Canada) to the end of the itinerary. I have to admit I never took advantage of it, as the thought of an international longhaul flight in coach is terrifying, but nonetheless it was quite useful for many. Hell, there’s even a thread on FlyerTalk discussing the topic with nearly 5,000 posts. This technique could often take hundreds of dollars off of flights.

While this was by no means secret, FlyerTalkers did a good job of “beating around the bush.” Frankly I’m amazed it lasted as long as it did. How the hell did the airlines not catch on for several years?

And then, just like that, it disappeared. For some reason I can’t quite figure out, airfarewatchdog.com thought it would be a good idea to publish an article outlining exactly how the fuel dumping process works. Brilliant, right? Well, hours after the article was posted, fuel dumping was no more.

On one hand there are all kinds of nasty names I’d like to call AirFareWatchdog, and I’m not alone. Look at the comments on the article, directed towards them on Twitter, and on their Facebook page. It ain’t pretty, and they’re beyond dumb for posting an article outlining this. At the same time, how the hell did it take the airlines two years to figure this out? Frankly, I thought they just had no way of preventing this, but the fact that they pulled it hours after the article was published suggests that’s not the case. Are they really that oblivious?

Either way, AirFareWatchdog, shame on you…

Thanks to all that participated in the Australia Gold Coast giveaway sponsored by Boarding Area and American Express. This afternoon I picked a winner via random.org, selecting a number between 1 and 481 (sorry Kim, you are late when you submit your entry before midnight mountain time when I clearly said the deadline was eastern time).

And random.org selected comment 70, which came from reader Blake:

Use your rewards for something you cannot afford — premium class flights, expensive hotel rooms. You get to feel like a star and it has the best % return!

And random.org chose a great entry! Not only is Blake a reader and frequent commenter, but he actually left a worthwhile comment. I was concerned the winner would be one of those dozens of entries that didn’t involve miles and points, was two words, or said “pick me.” Fortunately I didn’t have to face the dilemma of what to do if such an entry won.

Blake will be advancing to the final round, where he has a 1 in 20 shot of winning a $10,000+ trip to Australia. And you can bet I’m crossing my fingers he wins, as there’s an iPad in it for me.

Introduction
TPA-MIA-JFK on American with a visit to the MIA Flagship Lounge
The Andaz Wall Street
JFK-SFO on American Flagship Service with a visit to the JFK Flagship Lounge
SFO-HKG on Cathay Pacific with a visit to the BA F lounge
The Wing and HKG-DPS on Cathay Pacific
The Grand Hyatt Bali
The InterContinental Bali
DPS-HKG on Cathay Pacific
The Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha Tin
The Wing and HKG-SFO on Cathay Pacific
SFO-JFK-MIA-TPA on American

—————————————————–

We were picked up promptly at noon from the Grand Hyatt in the InterContinental’s S-class Mercedes. As a club guest an airport transfer is included, so it was very nice of them to extend this benefit to being picked up from a different (competing) hotel.

After a 30 minute drive we pulled into the very familiar looking InterContinental, which I find to be one of the most beautiful and relaxing places on earth. This might be a good time to mention that I stayed here a couple of years ago. I won’t make this report quite as detailed, so I suggest checking out my original review of the property, so I can focus mostly on the differences. It’s also worth noting that we paid around $300 all-in per night for a club room through InterContinental’s Friends & Family rate, which is a great value given how phenomenal the club experience is at this hotel.

Airport transfer

As we arrived at the hotel we were escorted to the club lounge where we were promptly checked in. As the agent processed our check-in we were offered drinks and cold towels. The agent then explained to us all the benefits of being a club guest, the resort amenities, etc.

Drinks and towels

We were walked to our upgraded room, a club duplex suite. As you may remember from my last review, I got lucky and got an upgrade to a Jimbaran Suite thanks to high occupancy, which was beyond amazing. Not only was the room huge, but the views were spectacular.

As we were being walked to our room the agent asked whether we had been to the hotel before, and I indicated I had. He asked whether I stayed in a club duplex suite last time, and I said “no, I stayed in one of the Jimbaran Suites, actually.” He then asked me whether he should check if they have any available they could move us to. Um, sure, why not? I couldn’t really tell whether they were just moving me up because I was a Royal Ambassador (a club duplex suite is a single level upgrade, while Royal Ambassadors typically get a two level upgrade), because I’m a returning guest, wanted to upsell me, or what.

We got to our room and after the guy was on the phone for a few minutes, he indicated one was available. Great, right? He then indicated he would give us a special rate of only $300 extra per night, as opposed to the usual $400. Not a very tempting offer, and actually left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. First of all, if a room is otherwise sitting empty you should do better than offering a 25% discount, and you should indicate up front that you were looking to upsell us, in my opinion — something like “would you like me to check if a Jimbaran Suite is available as a buy-up?” Maybe I was naive, and hell, we might have paid an extra $100 per night, but not $300.

Fortunately that was the only even slightly sour point in our stay. This hotel was just as awesome as I remembered it.

I’ve gotta say, I really love the club duplex suite. The room is two floors and very nice, with a large living room, desk, guest bathroom, couch, chairs, table, patio, and upstairs bedroom with large bathroom.

View from door of room

Our room

Bedroom upstairs

Looking down from second floor

View from bedroom to bathroom

Going down the stairs

Living room

View from entrance

TV

As far as the room itself goes, I almost prefer the duplex suite to the Jimbaran Suite. It’s kind of cool to have a hotel room with two floors. What sucks about the club duplex suites are the locations and the views. They’re all located on the fourth floor, and because of the high railing on the outside patio, you really can’t see anything other than the top of palm trees. Compare that to the view and location of the Jimbaran Suite from my previous stay.

View (or lack thereof) from the patio

Patio

Bathroom and tub

Sink

Bathroom

Shower

Guest bathroom

Chocolate and fruit

I appreciated the fact that there were at least a dozen bottles of water scattered around the room (in addition to the minibar) which were refilled a couple of times a day.

As far as the resort itself goes, it’s exactly how I remembered it. The hotel was virtually empty, so there was plenty of space at the pool, the club lounge was never full, and it had an all around relaxing atmosphere.

Club building

Grounds

Beautiful pool

Club pool

Club pool

Now one of the most spectacular parts of the resort has to be the club lounge, which is worth every penny. There’s a steep premium for it and they never upgrade Royal Ambassadors to club rooms, so it’s something special. As I mentioned earlier it includes roundtrip airport transfer, and if you were so inclined you could easily not spend a dime on food otherwise.

Club lounge

Club lounge

In the mornings you can have breakfast either in the club lounge (6:30AM-12PM), in one of the restaurants, or even room service, all at no additional cost. We had breakfast in the club lounge both days, and the spread was spectacular. They had made-to-order omelets along with anything else you could want. Hell, they even had sparkling wine.

Tables set for breakfast

Breakfast

Throughout the day they have nine menu items available made-to-order. They’re by no means huge portions, but are perfect for a light lunch or snack. You can order as many as you want, so….

Snack

Then there’s afternoon tea, although we never took advantage of it. The evening spread is what’s most impressive, really. It’s available from 5PM till 8PM and consists of a variety of hot and cold options along with a variety of alcoholic beverages.

Evening spread

Evening spread

Evening spread

Still trying to decide if this is the most brilliant or idiotic display ever… I’m going with brilliant

Evening snacks

What really sets this hotel apart, though, is the service. Indonesians are some of the friendliest people in the world to begin with, and the service at the InterContinental is so polished. While the service at the Grand Hyatt was good, this hotel takes it to a different level.

I’m convinced there are few places in the world nicer than Jimbaran Bay in the evenings. With the incredible sunset, palm trees, bands playing, and seafood restaurants set up on the beach, it’s quite the scene. Another cool thing is that the approach course and even runway are visible from Jimbaran Bay. Makes for quite some plane spotting!

Evening overlooking Jimbaran Bay

Evening

Sun getting ready to set

Pool in the evening

That’s the airport runway in the distance…

Seafood restaurants set up on the beach in the evenings

Sunset

Evening

By the end of our stay I felt truly relaxed for the first time in at least a year. No stress. No cell phones. No computer. Just relaxing. It’s kind of nice every once in a while, since I’m usually more of a city person.

The InterContinental Bali remains one of my favorite hotels in the world. The grounds are great, the service is incredible, and the club experience is worth every penny. On the last day of our stay we were driven to the airport in the hotel car once again and slowly began our homeward journey.