I hate to say it, but I think this is the biggest improvement to the Delta SkyMiles program in years. Even more frustrating to me than Delta’s devalued mileage currency is how incredibly incompetent their SkyMiles agents are. Up until now there was no way to search Korean Air award availability online, which meant the only way to find out about Korean Air award space was to call SkyMiles. I gave up on that last year after having at least a handful of agents that had never heard of Korean Air. So while Korean Air actually has decent award availability, I’ve found actually booking award tickets on them through Delta to be a royal pain at best and nearly impossible at worst.

Well, it appears as if ExpertFlyer (which is a subscription service that costs $99.99 per year or has monthly subscription options) has just started displaying business class award space on Korean Air.

To look up Korean Air award space, just log into your ExpertFlyer account and click on “Awards & Upgrades.”

From there type in the route you want, then select “Korean Air” in the drop down menu, and then select “Business – Award (O).”

Then the next page will display the award space. The number next to “O” displays how many business class award seats are available.

Award space is actually fairly good on Korean Air, especially now that you can find it without having to talk to a SkyMiles agent.

A few reminders:

• While you can redeem Delta miles for Korean Air business class, you can’t redeem them for Korean Air first class.
• Korean Air serves a ton of destinations in North America, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver.
• Delta does impose blackout dates for Korean Air redemptions, which wouldn’t be reflected on ExpertFlyer. According to this FlyerTalk post, the blackout dates for 2012 are as follows: January 1-8, January 20-25, March 1-4, May 4-6, May 18-July 1, July 14-August 26, September 28-October 3, and December 7-31 (put simply, the whole summer is blocked out)

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

I’ve had a bit of a weird sleep schedule since getting back from Shanghai (I slept from 4PM to 2AM last night), and unfortunately my weird sleep schedule came with some pretty weird dreams.

My first dream was actually totally awesome. I was flying from Tampa to Miami on American, and there was an aircraft substitution… to a Lufthansa Airbus 380! Due to the aircraft substitution Lufthansa built a temporary First Class Terminal in Tampa, and I was driven to the plane in a Porsche Cayenne. As it turned out they forgot to cater the caviar for the first class cabin, so the purser proactively offered me two American systemwide upgrades as compensation. Boy, my dreams are vivid.

And then there was my second dream, and I just can’t help myself with bringing this one up. In my dream I was at a 7-11 and happened to start talking to someone about Le Meridien hotels. I had mentioned I stayed at the Le Meridien in Vienna, and he nearly had a heart attack at my use of “the” given that “le” is the French equivalent of “the.” Now, my use of “the” and “Le Meridien” in the same sentence is something many blog readers have called me out on, and as a result I’ve dropped “the,” and just said “Le Meridien.”

That being said, I’m still not convinced that’s correct. Grammar is my weak point, so please accept my apologies in advance if I’m making a fool of myself. But “Le Meridien” is a proper noun (nobody would say “oh, I’m staying at The Meridien tonight”), so is it really wrong to say I’m staying at the Le Meridien tonight? Last I checked, mixing languages in the same sentence is a big no-no, so I’m not sure why it would be wrong to say “the Le Meridien.” I’d argue either way is fine depending on context, though is it really wrong to use “the” in front of “Le Meridien?”

Grammar experts, liberate me, please!

Continental’s online award search tool just got even more useful, since they now display Swiss award space (which they didn’t previously). While Lufthansa has literally stopped releasing first class award space to their partner airlines more than a few weeks before departure for all their routes, Swiss still releases first class award space on select routes in advance, including Montreal to Zurich, and Zurich to the Middle East/India/Asia. Given what a good first class product they have, they’re easily one of the best Star Alliance first class options for award tickets nowadays.

This addition comes after Continental also started displaying Singapore and Air China award space in December, now making this one of the easiest to use and most comprehensive Star Alliance award search tools.

British Airways’ shopping portal is offering 12 points per dollar spent at Nordstrom, though they’re also presently running a promotion whereby triple Avios points will be award on your first qualifying purchase of more than $50 in a single transaction at Nordstrom, for a total of 36 points per dollar spent at Nordstrom. While Avios points aren’t nearly as valuable as they were before the devlauation, you still have to value them at around a cent or so each, which makes this a 36% discount in the form of miles for Nordstrom shopping.

So the initial offer is:

And then the bonus offer is:

To access the shopping portal, first go to ba.com and log in to your British Airways Executive Club account.

Then on the next page select “Collecting Avios.”

Then on the next page select “Shopping.”

Then on the final page select “Shop with BA eStore now,” which should take you to their shopping portal.

The key is that once you select Nordstrom as the partner you want to shop with, you’ll have to enter promotion code NORDX3 on the following page:

And that should be it. Just make sure you make a single purchase of more than $50 and use the promotion code, and if you want to be on the safe side, even take screenshots. I can’t imagine they’re intending to be this generous, so if you’re interested I would take advantage of this offer sooner rather than later.

(Tip of the hat to The Points Guy)

There are a few noteworthy route additions/cancellations/adjustments which I figured I’d briefly mention:

Air New Zealand announces new service to Bali

Air New Zealand has announced that they’ll begin twice weekly service between Auckland and Bali as of June 20. Bali is one of my favorite places in the world, so I’m really excited to see another Star Alliance option to Bali. The flight hasn’t been loaded into the GDS yet, so I have no clue how award availability is looking. This is pretty significant, though, since you’ll now be able to travel on an award ticket from the US to Bali with a stopover in New Zealand, another one of my favorite places.

The only downside is that the 8.5 hour flight from Auckland to Bali is operated by a 767-300 aircraft, which features their regional business class product. Still, if it allows me to travel from the US to Bali via New Zealand, I’m totally in!

American cuts New York to Tokyo Narita, adds service to Tokyo Haneda

American, American, American. What the heck are you thinking? First you cut your Chicago to Delhi route, and now you replace your New York to Tokyo Narita flight with a new New York to Tokyo Haneda flight as of this summer. Yes, this is the same flight they cut last year because it wasn’t doing well. Haven’t we learned our lesson that transpacific flights into Haneda are nothing more than hype? Yes, the airport is a bit closer to the city, though the awful arrival and departure times mean transportation into and out of the city can be a nightmare, and we all know how expensive Tokyo is. Beyond that, connections are virtually non-existent with the flight times. I give it a few months at most before they cut it again. What are they thinking? Oh well, it’ll probably at least be worth a double miles promotion for the route.

Thai cuts nonstop service to the US

As of May 1, Thai will cut their nonstop Los Angeles to Bangkok flight and instead replace it with a flight that stops in Seoul/Incheon in both directions. The flight will be operated by a 777-200 in place of the A340-500 currently operating the route. This is awful for just about all passengers. For one, the 777 doesn’t have a premium economy product, while the A340-500 did. Furthermore, economy on the A340-500 had an unheard of 36″ of pitch, while it’s not quite as generous as the 777. What I can’t for the life of me understand is that Thai doesn’t at least operate the service with an aircraft featuring a first class product. I mean, surely a flight to the US would get more paid premium traffic than their routes to Rome, Madrid, etc., right?

This past weekend I met reader Carberrie in Shanghai, and among our topics of conversation were… miles and points (shocker, I know). Anyway, one of the topics that came up was American’s OneWorld distance based award chart, and while I’ve mentioned it many times in the past (including in this TravelSort article), I do think it’s worth highlighting what an amazing value it can be one more time, especially in business class for further distances.

American’s all partner award chart doesn’t allow any stopovers except at the international gateway, so it really limits the number of destinations you can visit on a single trip. However, American also has a OneWorld award chart, which is a distance based chart, with the following costs:

There are a couple of interest things to note about the chart. First of all, it’s interesting how the premium for business class over coach is minimal, while the premium for first class over business class is substantial, especially as you go further down the award chart.

I think the real value in the award chart comes with the zone 6 and zone 7 awards. Let’s look at the zone 6 award, for example. You can fly between 14,001 and 20,000 miles in business class for a total of 130,000 miles. A simple roundtrip business class award to Australia would usually cost you 125,000 miles, and you couldn’t include any stopovers (except at the US gateway airport). Instead, for a premium of only 5,000 miles, you could fly business class from Los Angeles to Brisbane to Melbourne to Sydney to Auckland to Los Angeles, stopping at each airport, and still have nearly 4,000 miles of travel to spare. Alternatively, you could fly from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Melbourne to Sydney to Los Angeles on a zone 6 award, stopping at each airport. Those are just a couple of examples, as the possibilities are endless.

If you go up to a zone 7 award for only 150,000 miles in business class, you can really thoroughly explore both Asia and Australia (or Europe and Asia). For example, you could fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Singapore to Melbourne to Sydney to Auckland to Los Angeles, stopping at each airport, and still have nearly 4,000 miles of travel to spare.

In some instances you can even save miles by using a OneWorld award over a partner award. For example, American usually charges 135,000 miles for business class to the Middle East, while you can almost always get there in fewer than 20,000 miles, which would only cost you 130,000 miles on a OneWorld award.

Anyway, if you have a lot of time on your hands and want to visit lots of destinations, the value of a OneWorld award can’t be beat.

The basic restrictions are as follows:

• A maximum of 16 segments are permitted
• You need to fly at least two OneWorld airlines
• Can’t connect in any city more than twice

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to BrewerSEA for sending in this one.

Correct Answer: Delhi, India
Winner: Jon

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

It seems like Ritz Carlton is running the closest thing to Hyatt’s former “faster free nights” promotion this quarter. Ritz Carlton is offering one free night at any tier 1-3 hotel (you can see a listing of hotel tiers here) after every two stays between February 1 and April 15, 2012.

Registration is required by March 1, 2012, and members can earn a maximum of two free nights which will be valid for one year. Furthermore, only those that are members of Ritz Carlton Rewards as of January 13, 2012 qualify, as well as new members that were not previously members of Marriott Rewards.

If you enjoy staying at Ritz Carlton hotels (who doesn’t?), this really is a spectacular deal. Just as an example, the Ritz Carlton Cleveland goes for $239 per night most weekends, and if you book through Virtuoso or American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts you’ll get free breakfast and dinner. So two stays there can earn you a stay credit that can be used at any of a number of $600+ per night Ritz Carlton properties. While this promotion probably isn’t worth “mattress running” for, it is a great opportunity to get a lot of extra value out of your Ritz Carlton stays.

(Tip of the hat to The Points Guy)

Via US Airways’ Facebook page, they’re offering 10 minutes of Gogo in-flight wifi when using promo code USFREE10.

I’m not sure whether to say “how generous” or “wow, what cheap b@#%$&^@.”

A couple of weeks ago I needed to spend a night in San Francisco in order to get my Chinese visa, and unfortunately hotels were outrageously expensive. After looking at all of the options I ended up booking Le Meridien for $269 per night through American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts. By booking through Fine Hotels & Resorts I received a $100 food and beverage credit, complimentary continental breakfast, a room upgrade, and 4PM late check-out. As was the case with my stay at the Westin Grand Frankfurt, the food and beverage credit are incredibly valuable to me, while the room upgrade and 4PM late check-out benefit aren’t worth much to me, since I get those anyway as a Starwood Platinum member.

I made it to the hotel at 3PM and was promptly helped at check-in. All of the Fine Hotels & Resorts benefits were explained, and the agent commented that I would be getting a great room upgrade with “more room than [I'll] know what to do with.”

Lobby

Sure enough I did get an upgrade to a “named” suite on the 18th floor, the “Villa Magna Suite.” Starwood technically excludes “named” suites from Platinum upgrades, so this was the first Starwood stay I’ve ever had where I got a suite upgrade without asking, let alone an upgrade to a suite I wasn’t technically entitled to. So kudos to the hotel for that.

Room entrance

And the room was indeed massive. It wasn’t a traditional two-room suite but rather a huge single room with a small divider in the center.

Bed and desk

The divider in the center of the room had a flat screen TV facing the bed, and then on the other side was the living room.

TV

Desk and seat with ottoman

The living room was huge with a three piece sofa set.

Living room

Living room

The room boasted views of nearby buildings in the Financial District.

View from room

The bathroom featured a single sink, shower/tub, and toilet.

Bathroom

Sink

Shower

Since I had a $100 food and beverage credit and was alone, I decided to order room service. I had some crab cakes and mushroom ravioli. Both were good, though neither great. I wouldn’t order either without a food and beverage credit.

Room service

The following morning I had my “continental breakfast” in the restaurant, Park Grill. While the restaurant was decorated nicely, I was surprised to find out that “continental breakfast” consisted of coffee, juice, and a croissant OR toast. Instead of getting into a discussion of that here, see my previous post on the subject to chime in.

Park Grill

Continental breakfast

Overall I was very pleased with the upgrade I received, and compared to the rates the competition were charging, I think I got a fairly good deal. That being said, there was some element of “shabbiness” to this hotel that I can’t quite put my finger on. I love Le Meridien as a brand, but this hotel didn’t quite live up to the other great hotels they have, in my opinion (I loved my stay at Le Meridien Vienna, just as a comparison). In San Francisco my go to hotel remains the InterContinental, and I’ll continue to stay there whenever possible. But with a decent rate (<$150) I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this hotel as being a good value.