January 21, 2011
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Shenzhen Sheraton Grand China
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Grand Hyatt
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Hong Kong
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Premier Jetfoil to Macau
Christmastrip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Westin Macau
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Macau
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-HKG to HAK on UO157
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Sheraton Haikou,Hainan Island, 100% Suite upgrade
Christmas trip to Hongkong, Macau and Hainan Island-Back to Shanghai on Hainan airline
Hainan airline was rated 5 star by skytrax, personally, I won’t read the rating too much, but they are the truly the #1 airline in China. Hainan airline is a very young and it’s the only Providence/city government own airline become successful.Look what happened to Shanghai airlines? it had be merged with China eastern due to consecutive loss and huge debt. Air China, China eastern and China southern are owned by central government.
Hainan airline was very innovative compare to all other Chinese airlines, they were the first airline introduced Y up fare, first and only airline in China offers miles don’t expire as long as 1 activity in every 3 years. First airline introduced “Status match” . The best part was, they matched any airline on earth, even if you don’t have any status with any airlines, if you can show them proof that you have flew a sum of 40K km or 30 segments with all airlines in 2010, they will give you Gold status, which will be valid for 2 years. I got my Gold status using AA program.
Shanghai has 2 airports, PVG and SHA, but for some reason, one one flight on Shanghai airline arrives in SHA, all others on MU or HU arrives in PVG, which are located 75km away from my home. Hainan airline has 1 flight using A330 every other day, because the Aircraft will used for PVG-BRU late in the night.
Interesting part of Hainan Y up fare is you can not use first class check in counter and lounge, but with Gold card, you can use all of these, so best combination with HU is Gold card+ A clas(Y up) fare. After checking in, someone will escrow all Gold member to the lounge, but HAK lounge is under renovation, they just use separate an area in departure hall as temporary lounge.
After boarding the AC, I was shocked, business cabin only has 4 people, I, my wife, nanny and baby. I guess I was traveling on a non busy day. A330 Business class has lie flat seat, but it’s actually flatter than most lie flat, close to 180 degree. seat equipped with AVOD.
Flight landed on time, we finally arrived home after 3 weeks. Shanghai was COLD
Some thought about this trip, Hong Kong is a great city，I like it a lot, great food, lots to do. Macau? If not for gamble, I don’t see a reason to go again. In about 1 month, I will go to Tahiti, New Zealand and Japan and I am sure the trip will be more intertesting.
Posted by Troy under 2010 Trip, Other Airline Reward Programs |
January 17, 2011
Many people have mentioned one of the best mileage redemption of using BA miles is with BOGO redemption certificate, which you can redeem miles required for one person, but fly 2. However, you need to have BA US or UK credit card and spending certain amount in order to get this certificate and pay high fuel surcharges and fees(more than $ 1000 per ticket(if stopover in UK to EU beyond). I know, 2 first class for $1000*2 is a great deal, but I think there are some other good ways to use BA miles too
British airways have 4 different kinds of redemption, BA only, BA+1 partner, 1 partner only and oneworld distance award. what I will talk about is 1 partner only award.
BA awards allow UNLIMITED en route stopovers, when I say unlimited, it’s truly unlimited, although the T&C mentioned most direct routing applies, well, the actual outcome depends on your luck with booking agent on the phone.
All award lists below are one way amount, R/T just double, First class on 3 cabin X3
1 Using on Lan for North America to South America or within South America or South America domestic， North to South America one way Economy is 20000 , business is 40000, within South America one way is 12500, business is 25000, South America domestic economy is 10000, business 20000.
2 From Europe to USA/Europe to Hawaii or Central America/USA domestic, if you want to tour USA using BA miles on AA. From EU zone 1 to USA Economy one way 25000, Business one way 50000. include Hawaii or Central America? Same amount. Just want USA domestic+Canada? Economy one way is 12500, business is 25000. welcome to America!
3 India domestic. Kingfisher Airways will join Oneworld soon, they have the best India domestic network, never been to India, no problem, Economy one way is 10000, business is 20000
4 Russia domestic, please check here
5 Japan domestic, Japan Airline. You can travel all the way from Sapporo to Naba. One way economy 7500, Business 15000.
6 Australia domestic on Qantas. Same thing, enjoy your tour in Australia, Economy one way 15000, Business 30000.
7 North America to Far East on CX, AA or JAL, 25K in Y, 50K in business one way. touring America to China/Japan or touring Japan from US or JFK-YYZ-HKG-xxx in Far East on CX
When planing your trip, try to plan with one direction, I am not saying you can’t get it done in one award with backtracking(there are people have done with serious backtracking), but it will be a lot easier to convince a agent to issue the ticket. Also, since award can be booked in one way, you can stop diff cities on your way back.
Please note: all above redemption collects fuel surcharge with exception of LAN, but I think the actul pay off are much more better than YQ, even in Economy class.
reader a1l613 reporst, BA doesn’t charge YQ for s7 redemption
Also, it’s still unclear whether BA charges YQ on AA or not. I know they don’t charge them before, but now AA charges BA, BA should also charge AA. online redemption still showing no YQ, unclear about phone booking
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, Award redemption, British Airways, Oneworld, Other Airline Reward Programs |
January 15, 2011
Hong Kong(UX)/Hong Kong express airlines(UO) are subsidiary of China fourth largest airlines-Hainan airlines, what I call the only hope of Chinese airlines. They have long haul service to Seattle, Toronto, several European countries, Dubai, Asia and Africa. they also have UO and UX to flight many Asia cities from Hong Kong. Most their long haul aircraft are newA330/340 with nearly 180 flat bed business class. Their program are very easy to use and seats are pretty easy to be found. Award are distance based, so my flight from Hong Kong to Haikou only costs me 9000km per person in business class. The only small problems are my paid infant ticket was collected fuel surcharge+ their lousy website
The easiest way to go to HKG from Macau is by ferry, same company I mentioned earlier, they have many ferries throughout the day to go to HKG. Also, Hong Kong is considering you are transit through, so will refund the airport departure tax 120 HKD at airport. The only problem with this route is you can not enter Hong Kong. Our flight was 4:15 pm, but when I got to ticket window to buy 1:30 ferry, they said only flight departure after 4:30 can buy 1:30 ferry. since they didn’t actually check the ticket, I then told them my flight is 4:45 instead.
After getting the ticket, we took our bag to check in counter. According to the website, our flight was eligible for upstream check in service, which I can receive boarding pass for our flight, but for some reason, they were not able to print our boarding pass, so we had to check in again after arriving Skypier at HKG airport.
The Ferry arrived on time at 2:30pm, after disembark from the ferry, I collected my boarding pass, departure tax refund receipt at transfer desk. Before boarding the train to the terminal, there was a desk to refund departure tax, you won’t miss it. Since we still had lots of times, we decided to went to the lounge. Hong Kong express flight doesn’t have their own lounge, need to us Hong Kong airline lounge, but it’s actually far away from UX gate 5xx as they were located at remote gate area and need to take transfer bus.
We were last few people to board the plane because of waiting for the bus. The plane was B737-800 and interior was exactly identical to their parent company-Hainan airline. It was a short flight with meal service, I ordered Beef and taste was pretty good. After 1 hour flying, we arrive Haikou Meilan airport, capital of Hainan Island, a place I have been countless times since I was 11.
Posted by Troy under 2010 Trip, Other Airline Reward Programs |
November 30, 2010
I just saw this news earlier today, Lufthansa M&M will use a new redemption table effective Jan 3rd, 2011.
Here is new table
Basically, about 10%-20% increase for business and First class, Economy will remind the same(but I doubt who’s going to redeem Economy anyway consider their high fuel surcharge)
However, one way will be dropped from 75% of R/T to 50%, but LH one way is only working for selected carriers.
Finally, 2 stopovers are still permitted per R/T.
Someone said the best use of LH miles is China domestic first class flights, you can have 2 stopovers(backtracking even permitted)+destination+ $10 fuel surcharge and it only costs you 35K for everything!
Posted by Troy under Other Airline Reward Programs |
November 29, 2010
I have talked about here and here on these Credit cards, in short, Fidelity AMEX earns you 2 Air Canada points per dollar. I got asked few times on how to do the transfer, it is a little bit confusing, here is detailed step
1 After you get the card, call Customer service to turn off auto deposit into Fideltiy function
2 go to BOA worldpoints website, use your acct number, last name and Zip to log in(Please note: they have pretty bad website, they always tell you acct number is incorrect, don’t worry, just come back another time)
3 After logging in, click travel, then you will see on right “Partner Travel Options“, Air Canada, then proceed
This card should be considered as one of the best card out there, for every 60K spending , you will get a first class ticket to Asia. There is no limit on number of points you can earn
Posted by Troy under General Frequent Flyer Advice, Other Airline Reward Programs |
September 22, 2010
Few months ago, I talked about Fidelity Amex card in here, basically, you earn 2%(2 points) for every dollar you spend, those are BOA world points, you can redeem them for travel or other rewards or direct deposit into Fidelity my smart cash account as cash. The card only carries 1% foreign transaction fee
Today, I went to the website again, found out a new redemption partner-Air Canada Aeroplan, you can now transfer you worldpoints into Aeroplan miles on 1:1 basis, that means you earn 2 miles per dollar charge to this credit card. 120K miles will get you First class to some Asia countries, one stopover+ one open jaw or 2 stopovers permitted
Air Canada Award Chart
If you just get a card, make sure to call the number on the back to TURN OFF auto deposit into Fidelity account function.
Posted by Troy under Award redemption, General Frequent Flyer Advice, Other Airline Reward Programs |
August 13, 2010
I have not read the detail yet, you can find them here.
The largest #1 and #2 airlines in South American intend to become LATAM airline. Both are under diff alliances, so there is no way to stay in separate alliance after the merge. Also, the top 2 airlines in a region merge, hard to believe it can pass the Antitrust Evaluation.
Anyway, let wait and see.
Posted by Troy under Oneworld, Other Airline Reward Programs, Star Alliance |
August 3, 2010
I had some diffculty with LH intra Europe awards with BD miles yesterday, the flight is FRA-PRG in business class, both ANA and LH website showed at lest 4 seats available, but BD agent told me she could not see anything, not just business class, also Economy class. I then tried to route via DUS or VIE, same thing,not a single flight available in any class from FRA-DUS or VIE on LH with BD miles despite ANA and LH showed many seats.
Hopefully, it just a temporary thing.
Posted by Troy under Award redemption, BMI Diamond Club, Other Airline Reward Programs |
July 4, 2010
Many people have talked about a newly joined member of *A -Aegean Airline Gold qualification and award redemption chart. I checked their award rule yesterday, they are very strict!
Your reservation must be ticketed 5 days prior to departure and the most importantly, you can not change your reservation after ticketing! The only way to do it is cancel the reservation and lost 50% of miles, then rebook another one.
For those of you who is considering Aegean Airline, you may need to re consider again!
Posted by Troy under Other Airline Reward Programs, Star Alliance |
June 29, 2010
After a nice dinner with my high school friend, my trip continued to HNL on AS 851. Check in was quick, but there were only three stations for first class, I wonder how are they going to handle during peak travel time!
After boarded the aircraft, something interesting happened, my seat assignment was 1F(the last seat I was able to select), window seat, but I saw someone was already sitting there, I was pretty happy about it since I prefer aisle anyway. In the beginning, I though he must sit on the wrong seat, but I saw his boarding pass was showing also 1F . How could that happen? I was the last one to select the seat!
I think because the flight was severing to Hawaii, which I guess it considered some kind of premium flights, it had menu for the breakfast. I chose Pancake+omelet, I had to say, it’s very good and different! The first hour was easy to kill because flight still within US conentint, so Wifi still working, after that, I started to watch in flight entertainment digEplayer. Not a single action movie other than “speed” in the system, so I chose to watch some documentaries. finally, after 5 hours and 41 minutes flying, I arrived in Honolulu.Since AS has 20 mins baggage arrival promise, their bags arrived fast!!! By the time I got to the claim area, belt already started.
I reserved Robert’s Hawaii shuttle service to the hotel-Sheraton Princess, the shuttle arrived shortly after I got off the terminal. Better than I thought because my friend told me sometimes the wait can be very long! The traffic in Honolulu is bad!!!!!! Very BAD!!!!! It’s just make me feel like in NYC with narrower street! Finally, it took me ONE and HALF HOUR to arrive my hotel!
First impression of Honolulu, not so good, not the way I saw on TV!! Overall, my trip is no where near what Gary or Lucky did on Premium first class travel using award, although we all used 120K!! Well, consider 120K Delta is a lot easier to get than Air Canada, I am happy with what I have!
Posted by Troy under 2010 Trip, Delta, Other Airline Reward Programs |
