View from the Wing

April 19-22, 2006

Sheraton Pattaya Resort

We were walked outside the terminal by a representative of the Sheraton while the Thai Airways porter pushed our bags. He opened the door to the resort’s BMW M5 and we were off. The car had cold waters, packaged fresh wipes, magazines, and the day’s Bangkok Post. Of course at 10 o’clock at night it was too dark to read, and I was too tired in any case after sleeping 3 hours on my flight from Tokyo.

At this time of night there was no traffic at all and most of the drive is freeway. It was dark and we didn’t much of Pattaya on the way to the resort.

The entry way to the Sheraton was well-lit and there were plenty of staff to greet us despite the late hour.

Front of the resort in the daytime

Reception building and main building rooms

Our bags were taken away and we were seated at a reception desk and given cold towels and and a chilled lemongrass tea drink.

They took a credit card and told us about platinum benefits at the resort (excellent Platinum recognition!): the (extensive) breakfast buffet is free to platinums (otherwise 625 THB per person I believe, so this was a US$100 savings for the two of us over 3 days) and we were upgraded to a Deluxe Pavilion room.

We were originally booked on points, with the booking made in late 2005 while this was still a category 2 property (it’s now category 3). So moving from the main buildings to a large pavillion room is great.

This is more or less the resort’s version of a suite, it’s a large room with sitting area and large bathroom but no separate rooms, and there’s a large covered outside pavillion sitting area.

The resort had explained in advance to me by email that they don’t upgrade to their Deluxe Oceanfront Pavillion rooms, but the nomenclature is a bit misleading as our room had both a view of the resort and of the Gulf.

One commenter recently described these rooms as superior, in that you see everything lit up in the evening rather than just seeing the darkness at night. Still, next time I’ll probably spring for the oceanfront pavillion if only to see the difference. After all, this is Thailand, and the rooms are thus affordable.

As it was nearly midnight we retired to our room right away, and it was a very stylish room at that.

Here’s the bed:

The room had a nice couch and coffee table, and we were greeted by a platinum amenity of a nice bottle of wine and large fruit plate already in the room

This is the view from the room into the bathroom

Very stylish bathroom sink, although the faucet doesn’t extend far enough out thus splashing is inevitable

Bathtub

We started off the next morning at the breakfast buffet. The restaurant has both inside and outside seating. Here’s a view from the outside seating.

Breakfast was outstanding in variety and quality, and was our first real sense of just how good a stay this was going to be. They brought us the best hotel coffee I’d ever tasted. It was strong, bold, but not overly hot or burned. Delicious! And the orange juice had an interesting local flavor, definitely not too acidic.

The buffet consisted of an omellette station, cold fish, cheese, Asian options such as pad thai and dim sum, and American options like sausage and bacon. There was a cereal station and a fruit station, as well as assorted fruit juices. Service was prompt and efficient in addition to friendly. I had a bit of difficulty explaining on the first morning that I wanted half and half or cream with my coffee (I usually do have difficulty with this) rather than just milk — but they got the idea and I never had to ask again during my stay.

After breakfast we scheduled spa appointments and headed down to the pool.

The resort has three pools with the Gulf in the background

There’s a man-made strip of beach but rocks stand between the sand and the water. That’s alright, the water looks cloudier than what I like to swim in anyway.

When we walked down to a pool one of the attendants would ask our room number and from then on would know our names. They would immediately make up a lounge chair for us, covering each with two towels just so. The lounge chairs were interesting, each was actually a double so rather than being just two chairs side by side they were literally attached and you lay next to your sweetheart.

The attendants constantly brought by complimentary resort-branded water bottles, cold towels, and occasionally refreshments such as frozen pineapple juice.

Most of the time the pools were deserted, and you could always find at least one of the three that was.

W-style music is playing at the pools.

Though you rarely saw more than a couple of other guests the ones you did see were occasionally in line with what you think when you hear Pattaya — one morning at breakfast there was a white man in his mid-50s sporting a wedding ring and breakfasting with a teenage Thai boy still wet from a shower. And once I saw another middle aged man sitting at the pool with a young Thai girl, and there was clearly a language barrier between them. But for the most part the rest of Pattaya is a world apart in the resort.

Our days developed a clear routine — breakfast followed by pool or beach followed by spa treatments and then dinner. We never felt any desire to leave the resort. This is Thailand, so spa treatments are affordable — no $200 massages as at top places, or $100 like we’re used to at home — but everything at this property is impossibly expensive for Thailand, many treatments are ~ US$75 although daily 30% off specials are offered and we even spent 5000 THB one evening on dinner without alcohol (but the meal was worth twice that!).

The resort’s signature restaurant is called Mez. Reservations were recommended, so I called ahead. When we arrived I was asked whether we had reservations. It was rather bizarre, because there wasn’t another guest in the restaurant. I had asked for a table where we could watch the sun set, and there was one such table with a ‘reserved’ placard on it for us. (It was cloudy so the sunset was obscured, the other side of the restaurant would have been just as nice as it looks upon a man-made waterfall.)

The beachfront building consists of Latitudes lounge on the ground floor and Mez upstairs on the second floor. The beach restaurant is actually outside on the room of the building at pool level.



The sign for Mez at its entrance.



Inside the restaurant

Service at the restaurant was outstanding, a combination of both the excellent accomodating staff and being the only ones at the restaurant for the entire length of our meal. Clearly the décor and atmosphere matches more closely with a W than a Sheraton, and combined with the music at the pool and the high quality of facilities and service it really could be rebranded as such.

The food was expensive for the area, and combined with the resort probably being below capacity during midweek while we were there, no doubt contributed to its desolation.

Appetizers were at least US$10 (and as much as $20) and entrees about $17! Impossibly high for the area. And yet I was so satisfied I would never complain, and I’ve since commented that I wish this restaurant was replicated near my home in Washington, DC.

Here are the dishes from dinner:

We thoroughly enjoyed our three days here. This has to be one of the best resorts in Thailand, surprisingly enough since it’s branded a Sheraton. Service was outstanding, truly on par with anything I’ve experienced at a Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton. It’s an oasis within driving distance of Bangkok, no additional flight required, which makes it attractive, and it’s far enough removed from Pattaya itself that it doesn’t take on the character of one of the more unsavory parts of the country.

On the way out of the resort back to Bangkok we had the hotel car stop by the Hard Rock Hotel because I had promised to pick up a t-shirt for a friend.

The drive through the town during the day was a real eye-opener, the town itself wasn’t particularly well-developed and most offerings along the road were bars. Strolling down the road were balding, fat white men with young Asian women and men. We were extremely glad we stayed at the Sheraton, and not say the Marriott that’s closer in to town.

Here’s the Hard Rock Hotel Entrance



And the Hard Rock lobby

Even more photos after the jump…
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Wednesday, April 19
Narita - Bangkok

Thai Airways International Flight 677

First Class, Boeing 747

Departs: 4:55pm

Arrives: 9:25pm

We checked out of the Hilton Tokyo using the temporary lounge on the 30th floor. I used my remaining yen to pay the hotel bill, which was just some room service coffee and the transfers back to Narita. I asked when the executive lounge would reopen and was told summertime, June or July. “It will be much larger, we are very excited.”

Then went downstairs to the front of the hotel for the 12:10pm Airport Limousine Bus. Turns out this was a bit of a mistake, there was no traffic whatsoever and I we could easily have taken the 1:10pm departure. Instead we’re at Narita around 1:40pm. After the perfunctory passport check upon the bus entering the airport, we’re at terminal 2 moments later – a full three hours before our departure, and also before the Thai checkin counters open.

We take a seat and at 2:15pm we get up as we watch a long line form to screen baggage before entering the checkin area. We’re behind scores of people, but a Thai representative takes business and first class passengers out of line. Security screens our bags first and we’re taken to the checkin counter. Our bags are checked and boarding passes and lounge invitations are issued. The Thai representative walks us to security – scratch that, through security - first class passengers use the crew line which has no one in it. We were announced as first class and screened, and then the service director walked us to the immigration line.

She asked us whether we were being met at Bangkok or if we’d need complimentary limousine service. I declined, as we’re being met by the Sheraton Pattaya’s BMW, and alas I understand that Thai only offers this service to downtown Bangkok and not outside the city. Meanwhile, remembering a recent trip report where the Sheraton failed to pick up as scheduled, I was wondering whether I made a mistake in not having Thai at least assist in arranging a transfer. Oh well, fingers crossed. (This same woman came onboard to make sure she didn’t miss asking anyone about a limousine transfer on arrival.)

Once through immigration we walked downstairs to the shuttle waiting to take us to the satellite terminal, our flight would be leaving from gate 86. Just to the right of the shuttle exit is both the JAL and ANA first class lounges.

We give our lounge invites to the ANA greeter and we’re shown to some nice window seats. Another woman comes to take our drink order and gives us hot towels and packaged snacks. There are also some assorted sushi offerings. There’s a smoking section and another section with two comfortable recliner chairs and restrooms behind an automatic sliding glass door. Nice service aside, the lounge is physically unimpressive (this is, after all, Narita).

Our plane

The plane, unfortunately, wasn’t equipped with the new long-haul first class, unsurprising for the Tokyo-Bangkok route. The seats had fairly limited pitch, it’s first class and you still would have to climb over your seatmate if they were reclined in order to get to the lavatory. The seats were even an uncomfortable, itchy velvet. Fine for 6 hours, for sure, and better than anything you’d get from a U.S. domestic carrier. But ANA, Singapore, or Cathay Pacific this is clearly not.

The plane didn’t feature video on demand, just video channels playing on a loop. The overhead bins were small, but there was underseat storage using a bin underneath the seat in front of you and storage behind seat your seat that was usable when not reclining.

The old first class seats

Here’s the uncomfortable-looking business class cabin

Pajamas — slippers and tops, but not pants — were distributed. The men’s pajamas were Guy LaRoche. The amenity kits are Bvlgari, as are the toileteries in the lavatory.

Meal service began shortly after takeoff.

Edamame

Caviar and ‘95 Grande Dame

Caviar was served without a proper caviar spoon. It’s one of the little things that Thai seems to get wrong, in spite of a clear financial investment in their product. What’s the point of good caviar that you’re supposed to eat with a metal spoon?

Saffron Shrimp, Japanese Mackerel, Egg Stuffed with Eel, and Beef Pastrami

Shrimp Wonton Soup

Salmon in Yellow Curry

We sat next to the rudest American couple. Perhaps in their 60s, they had flown in from Houston and were no doubt tired and irritated. They snapped at the lounge attendant. They snapped at the flight attendant upon boarding and then when being offered drinks. And they mocked a business class passenger trying to board (as they attempted to cut him in line). And then the husband snored loudly through much of the flight.

Fortunately the snoring didn’t bother me as I slept for three of the six hours of the flight. And while the seat wasn’t as comfortable as ANA’s long-haul, the pillow was extremely comfortable. I woke up with only an hour left in the flight.

When I woke up a flight attendant brought me a mini-Haagan Daaz carton. I expected Sundae I guess, especially since it was announced at the beginning of the flight that coach would get ice cream before landing as well. I expected the first class offering to be more elaborate, but still it hit the spot.

Where Thai really shines is in their ground service. On check-in we were taken through security. But the nicest offering is their first class arrivals service.

Flight attendants pass our a card to first class passengers prior to arrival which will identify them to ground staff.

Thai Airways staff are standing in the jetway and once you’re identified as a first class passenger they lead you through the terminal to immigration and take you to a special desk. Instead of waiting in line you sit down at a desk while they handle your paperwork with immigration officials (and stand over the bureaucrats while they key in information).

Moments later you’re taken to baggage claim, where you’re identified to porters who assist you with your bags. Our were taken from baggage claim directly to our driver from the Sheraton Pattaya Resort, and off we went!

Onboard menu after the jump…
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I went to lunch at Kozue, the Japanese restaurant at the Park Hyatt Tokyo.

The restaurant is made up of rich amber wood walls, floors, and tables. The tableware is all unique. The restaurant has a breathtaking view out towards Mt. Fuji from its 40th floor perch.

The menu, much more affordable at lunch than dinner, offers both individual choices (to which you can add rice, miso soup and Japanese pickles) and set course meals (beginning at JPY3900 at lunch and I believe JPY12000 at dinner, our meal was JPY6200).

Our first course consisted of several items: Kelp Flavored Snapper and Fresh Seaweed with Vinaigrette Soy Sauce; Marinated Tofu, Konnyaku and Deep Fried Puffy Bread; Simmered Short-neck Clam, Yachiazami and Fuki Greens; Conger Eel and Seri Greens with Sesame Sauce. Everything was delicious, especially the Eel and the Snapper.

Our main course was Grilled Yonezawa Sirloin and Seasonal Veggies Wrapped with Hoba Leaf. The meat and veggies were actually inside the leaf, sliced in 1/2 inch thick and 4 inch long pieces. The meat was really good, more fatty than I’m used to, but that added amazing flavor. This type of meat is even more prized then Kobe beef, which is quite a delicacy in American Asian-fusion restaurants.

This course was served with a little pot containing hot, smoldering branches with a wire top. The meat is served rare and guests can cook it further to taste by placing the leaf bundle on the clay pot for a few minutes.

This was followed by tempura.

And then dessert.

A really wonderful meal, outstanding quality and authentic Japanese yet accessible even to Westerners unfamiliar with the cuisine (being inside the Park Hyatt more or less ensures that).

After quickly clearing customs and picking up our bags, we walked over to the Airport Limousine Bus desk in the arrivals hall and bought our tickets to the Hilton Tokyo.

We paid our JPY3000 apiece for the ride and went outside of baggage claim. We had to wait half an hour until the next bus would be headed to the Hilton. No problem, it was nice to walk around outside and stand up for a spell. Standing nearby the pickup spot for our bus we were questioned by police who asked for our passports as an airport security measure. They wrote down passport numbers and asked our occupations, but I must admit this was the friendliest questioning by police I’ve ever experienced and I didn’t mind a bit (though the thought did cross my mind, “how do I know these are really cops rather than people playing dress-up who would take my passport?” paranoid, I know).

Our bus departure was 4:25pm, which put us into Tokyo right at rush hour unfortunately. The trip took a good two hours before we pulled up at the Hilton.

No mention of rate glitch, only that when I mentioned I’d be checking out early that the room was prepaid by Expedia and they wouldn’t be able to refund unused nights.

The Executive Lounge is closed for renovations until mid-summer, so they’ve set up a temporary lounge for checkin/checkout ont on the 30th floor. Breakfast is served as a complimentary buffet in their second floor French restaurant. Afternoon tea time is in Brasserie “Checkers” on the second floor. And cocktails are in St. George’s Bar on the first floor, with the cover charge also waived for executive floor guests.

I was given a Queen smoking room, despite my request for King non-smoking. The room didn’t smell of smoke at all, and I only knew it was a smoking room by the presence of an ash tray. The queen bed was fine, just meant I was closer to my wife, though it was a bit hard for my taste. At my $3 rate I just didn’t have it in me to argue.

There was complimentary water in room and complimentary high-speed wired internet also as part of the executive room package. But there’s no cord, thankfully I bring my own cord and router.

Tokyo is an expensive city to be sure, but then many large cities are. In reminds me in many ways of Manhattan. The basic Hilton room should have been $300, not $3, and was hardly special in any way. Room service was actually reasonable, coffee was JPY900 per person but that’s an “all-in” price.

Anyone wanting to save money on food can always eat at the Denny’s across the street from the hotel.

Late one evening we were hungry and didn’t want to head out far from the hotel. We walked across the street to check it out. Now, I never eat Denny’s at home. But I admit I was hugely curious, and there was something bizarre about going to Denny’s in Tokyo. It wasn’t that I wanted a ‘piece of home’ just the sheer irony and curiosity of it all, and I was reasonably rewarded.

It turned out to be a fabulous experience for what it was. Food was MUCH better than anything you’d get at a similar place in the US. It’s Denny’s serving mostly Asian fare. Service was very good and prompt (there’s a buzzer at your table to call a waiter, saves them time moving around the restaurant looking for who needs help and lets them keep fewer folks on staff). And quite reasonably priced, dinner for two was about JPY2900.

We checked out Tokyo Disney, since my wife has never been to any Disneyland, anywhere. We took the direct bus from Shinjuku (JPY600 apiece each way, 50 minutes). It was a Tuesday and there were no lines, which was surprising as I’ve seen this described as the busiest theme park in the world.

We also made a quick trip to Ueno Park for the ‘real’ Cherry Blossoms, none of that DC blossom stuff we’re used to at home.

Additional photos after the jump…
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And so Nuts About Southwest, the Southwest Airlines blog is born…

Time will tell whether I subscribe to its RSS feed, but I haven’t yet.

Earthlink Voice is offering 25,000 Delta miles for internet phone service, a minimum commitment of six months would appear to be required to get the miles. They’re also offering 10,000 miles for using their high-speed internet.

(Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

Update: Reader Alan reports that the fine print on the offer requires a 12-month commitment. So even though miles should post within six you’ll probably face a penalty for cancelling early if you want out before 12 months are up.

Last minute package discounter Site59 is offering $59 off on packages of $700 or more through May 31 with discount code SITE59GETAWAY.

Friday, April 14

Washington-Dulles to Tokyo

NH Flight 1: Scheduled Departure 12:20pm / Scheduled Arrival 3:20pm

Seats 2A, 2C

Left home at 9:45 and we were at Dulles at 10:30am. There was one person at each of the coach, business, and first class lines. Ironically, everyone waiting in the business and coach lines were checking in before us. The woman who began checking us in stopped in the middle to take care of the crew and then left the business class CSR to handle us.

ANA leaves out of B41, and the B concourse no longer requires the people mover. The underground concourse is fine, but a couple of the moving walkways weren’t functioning. That place is sure deserted a bit before 11am! And it’s such a dreary walk, you’d think they’d spice it up a bit or at least sell more ad space. Not every underground walkway has to be 70s futuristic like ORD but something would be nice.

Lounge is just past gate B41, with the business class side to the left and the first class (signet lounge) to the right. They check your boarding pass on the way in and direct you to the appropriate lounge, but you could easily go to whichever one you wish – the bathrooms are shared between the two lounges, and you could enter from one side and exit into the other lounge with impunity. Not that there’s any reason why you would: the first class side was crowded with Star Golds not flying in First, and there’s nothing special about the First Class lounge in any case. In terms of furnishings and food it would be a poor excuse for a United Red Carpet Club with its lone saving grace being self-serve mid-shelf liquor. Snacks were scarce, although the Japanese flavor to them was nice – there was some kind of trout item which was quite tasty.

Boarding is done directly from the lounge, and we were called up about halfway through the boarding process. First Class boards from the forward door of the 777 so very little traffic passed us by – just a few of the business class folks who were in the F lounge.

First load was 9/12, business was half full, and coach couldn’t have been more than 1/3 full. Mostly Japanese. Very light load for a Friday. No wonder there have been persistent rumors of ANA dropping this flight, they must not be getting much feed from United. (Informal polling showed that very few folks that I know here in DC were even aware that it was possible to fly non-stop to NRT.)

No pre-departure drinks were offered, but FAs offered pajama bottoms and sweaters which I declined since I was already in my own traveling gear and it wasn’t nice “take home” stuff.

Amenity bags are passed out empty and a basket is brought to you from which to choose your amenities. Previous reports were that FAs left the baskets out for people to take what they wished throughout the flight, but this wasn’t done today.

Meal was outstanding, this was probably the best airline catering I’ve ever experienced. There are both Western and Japanese menus, you’re welcome to mix and match at will, and then there’s a set of a la carte items to order from throughout the flight. Everything was boarded in sufficient quantity.

I found the Old (“SuperStyle”) seats to be hard and uncomfortable to sleep on. Pillow wasn’t all that big or fluffy and the blankets weren’t comfortable either. A duvet would be nice. It’s a good thing these are being phased out on long-haul (Dulles is the last US market I believe to get new style, and by the date of our return was running new style every other day — just not on the day I was flying back). The old seats are really just a mid-tier business class product and not reasonable for first.

Entertainment was a mix of video on demand (just a handful of movies and shows) and programming that cycles. There were games but none really to my taste.

Bathroom was stocked with towels similar to the hot ones that are generally passed out, and those were covered with flower petals. There were amenity items such as mouthwash and toothbrushes and toothpaste (all in sealed packets) as well. One of the two F bathrooms was oversized, which is nice to facilitate changing.

I have to give serious kudos to the ANA FAs. While much has been said about their ‘formal’ service, and it’s true that they’re not chatty (at least they weren’t with me), they are incredibly efficient at providing every possible comfort.

I never reached bottom on a drink. My glass was never empty for 14 hours. When I fell asleep, a FA came over and brought a comforter and covered me up without waking me. I hadn’t had any dessert with my lunch, though I mentioned that I might want tiramisu (off the a la carte menu, rather than the lunch menu). A couple hours before landing the same FA came over and asked whether I wanted a tiramisu before landing. Just a little thing, but it felt meaningful.

Landing was very hard and we came into a gate in the mid-80s, taxiing across the entire airport. We were out to baggage claim quickly as they deplaned from both the forward door and the one behind F. Only moments after we were through passport control our bags came out, the F class priority tags make all the difference. No delay at customs and we walked up to the desk in the arrivals hall for the Airport limousine bus.

Menus and photos after the jump…

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Via Starwood’s The Lobby blog, USAToday.com has a list of the 100 best hotel restaurants in the United States.

It’s a generally reasonable list, recognizing outstanding restaurants such as the Inn at Little Washington and Maestro. But I take it all with a grain of salt, since it leaves off CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, DC which must be currently one of America’s best restaurants. It certainly outshines the restaurant at the Intercontinental Harbor Court hotel in Baltimore, which the lists ranks at number six.

I’m checking out of the Intercontinental Bangkok today, and I was exceptionally happy with my stay.

Normally I’d be happiest at the Peninsula or the Metropolitan. Neither is expensive luxury by world standards, Bangkok is after all probably the best city in the world for luxury hotel values. But I couldn’t turn down the value offered by the Intercontinental.

I arrived here a couple of days ago after a seemingly endless trip to Bangkok in the Sheraton Pattaya Resort’s BMW. (I’ll share details of that truly amazing, astonishly property sometime in the next few days.)

We pulled up to the Intercontinental and walked up to the checkin desk and were escorted up to the club lounge. The lounge is brand new, now on the 37th floor, and the old 33rd floor lounge has been closed.

We were seated and given flowers and a chilled fruit drink while they took my credit card and passport.

I had emailed the hotel prior to booking to find out how upgrades work here and was told that Royal Ambassador members are upgraded two room categories, which means:

• Regular room –> club room
  
• Club room –> club suite
  
• Club suite –> ambassador suite

So I booked a Club Suite at US$218/night. Staying two nights and applying a free weekend cert, so that $218 covered 2-nights in a 1000 square foot ambassador suite. My upgrade was confirmed by email at booking, but not reflected on priorityclub.com. (They gave me their internal hotel confirmation number which differs from Priority Club’s.)

The two ambassador suites at the hotel were occupied when we checked in and so we were pre-blocked into the 1600 square foot Diplomatic Suite, the second best suite in the hotel.

Quite simply, the suite is amazing.

There’s a kitchen, with separate door access so that serving staff can enter the room without disturbing guests.

Off the kitchen is a meeting room/dining room with a table that comfortably seats 10. TV and VCR in dining room.

There’s a small office/desk with wired high-speed internet (complimentary). Fortunately, I carry a wireless router when I travel.

The living room is spacious with TV/VCR, comfortable couch, and three comfy chairs. The living room is what you walk into when you enter the room.

The foyer, by the way, is marble with columns. And off the foyer is the guest bathroom.

Bedroom is large with bed, couch, dressing area, etc.

Bathroom is huge with separate soaking tub and separately enclosed glass shower. Toilet and bidet, no separate toilet room. Double sinks.

The suite is on the 33rd floor, and offers a panoramic view of Bangkok — the suite wraps around perhaps 220 degrees, and there’s windows looking out on the city all the way around the room from the bathroom off the bedroom all the way around to the edge of the dining room.

Back to the club lounge, it’s open 24 hours, with computers and meeting rooms and three separate food presentations throughout the day.

Breakfast is served there from 6am to 10:30am, and it isn’t just a buffet. There’s table service and I ordered up some pad thai the first morning while my wife had eggs benedict in addition to extensive buffet offerings like the usual bagel and lox.

Tea with snacks are available from 2pm - 4:30pm.

Evening cocktails and canapes from 5:30pm - 7:30pm.

The lobby of this hotel is busy, and I would never ever stay here except in a suite with club lounge access. But service in the club lounge is good (only ok by Thai standards) - I’ve been remembered by name since I got here and I’ve received plenty of assistance in activities and bookings.

Up on the roof above the 37th floor is a small (though uncrowded) pool area.

As a welcome gift from the hotel I received a nice leather business card holder. The welcome amenity was a fruit basket, chocolates, bottle of wine, water — all of which were replenished daily.

They offer a pillow menu, my pillow selection delivered promptly. Room service coffee ordered at 5am, arrived before 5:10am. Recognized my 4pm checkout and told that I could pay additional money for later checkout since I have an 11:55pm flight. Instead, though, I simply have full use of the lounge and the spa after I checkout at 4pm.

This isn’t really a complaint, but the minibar was stocked with a couple beers, soft drinks, waters.. not much else, which of course is disappointing because as a Royal Ambassador drinks from the minibar are complimentary.

The Intercontinental is right next to the skytrain and Gaysorn Plaza, with tremendous upscale shopping like Pucci, Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, etc.

It’s a great location if you’re moving about the city, but lacks the peace of the river which houses the Peninsula, Mandarin Oriental, Shangri-La, and slightly off the water the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit.

Around 9am in the morning of November 5th I got a fare alert notice. I’d been on Flyertalk already but hadn’t yet checked out the Mileage Run forum. Big news – the Tokyo and Osaka Hiltons were selling for $2 on Expedia, or I could spend an additional buck for an Executive level room.

I figured I’d be a sport and go $3 for the better room, since it came with breakfast, complimentary internet, and evening cocktails…

Originally Expedia and Hilton were only going to honor November bookings, at least that’s what they told the media, but I had it in writing (email, actually) that mine was a valid rate and they never once disputed this or tried to cancel it.

So with the lure of $3 rooms in Tokyo I thought that my wife and I ought to go.

(I actually also booked the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay at $3 on a separate Orbitz pricing glitch and was one of the few folks to have that reservation honored. I thought I’d switch hotels during my stay, especially since my wife had never been to any of the Disney theme parks and I thought I’d take her to Tokyo Disney. But in the end we decided to shorten our Tokyo stay and add Thailand into the mix, and to just take the direct bus to Tokyo Disney from Shinjuku Station instead of messing with changing hotels.)

We cashed in 240,000 USAirways miles for 2 First Class awards: Washington-Dulles to Tokyo in First on All Nippon Airways (ANA), Tokyo to Bangkok in First on Thai Airways, and then returning Bangkok-Tokyo (2-class Business Class) and Tokyo-Dulles in First on ANA.

Availability for 2 seats on the precise dates I wanted wasn’t any problem at all, one call put the flights on hold.

Planned a few months in advance I managed to arrange things at work to take a week and a half off.

So now I’m in the midst of that trip! I’m generally online throughout most of my travels, but since this one is vacation I’ve been quite remiss in blogging. But I’ll be catching up shortly.

Last month Northwest began charging $15 to pre-reserve its best (sic) coach seats. Now they’ve relented and decided not to charge this fee to elite members.

One benefit has always been blocking the better coach seats for elites. There’s not really much in the way of ‘better’ coach seats on Northwest, unlike United which offers elites extra legroom at the front of the coach cabin. But all of a sudden non-elites could take these seats for $15, and even elites had to pay.

(Bizarrely under the scheme, elites would get upgraded to first class but still be charged extra money for cruddy the coach seating they had pre-reserved.)

Now Northwest says they’ll still reserve some of these seats exclusively for elites and won’t charge elites for ‘coach choice’ seating. It’s a small victory, a very small victory, but the coach choice program had become endemic of a belief that Northwest no longer cared about its best customers. So it’s good to see the move reversed.

I’m pleasantly ensconced in the Diplomatic Suite at the Intercontinental Bangkok, but this news is important enough to say some things about before I head out to dinner.

United has announced changes to its frequent flyer program, which are pretty much all bad.

They begin by announcing new “Domestic Short Haul Saver Awards” — these are short flights that require 15,000 miles in coach instead of 25,000 miles. United has actually been offering these for some time now, and the announcement is that the benefit is being reduced not introduced.

Previously the reduced mileage was applicable to flights of 750 miles or less. Now it applies only to flights of 700 miles or less. What difference does 50 miles make? Just ask New Yorkers. LaGuardia-Chicago is 733 miles. Newark-Chicago is 719 miles. Since the awards only apply to flights on United and not partners, New Yorkers can only use this award to fly to Washington-Dulles.. And nowhere else.

The other ‘improvement’ is saver awards available on every flight to every destination. But this promise doesn’t say how many awards or in what class of service. United has historically been reasonably good about award availability to begin with, so there’s not clearly and new benefit here whatsoever.

Now that United has packaged together two meaningless improvements in a press release, you naturally have to get ready for the other shoe to drop.

The lighter punch: new award booking fees start October 16: $75 for travel ticketed six days or less prior to departure and $50 for travel ticketed 7-13 days prior to departure. 1K and Global Services members are exempted from the fee.

It remains to be seen whether this can be circumvented when booking travel on all United metal. As long as routings remain the same, date changes are free on all-United awards. So in theory you could book travel a month out and then change the dates to just a few days in advance provided there’s the award availability you need. This strategy has worked with American for a long time. Which brings up another basic question here: some carriers have had award ‘expedite’ fees as a legacy of paper ticketing days and even a time when award ‘certificates’ really did have to get generated. Those fees just didn’t go away (because they generated revenue) once awards went all-electronic. But to introduce such fees now is absurd. Sure, airlines want to discourage the use of awards for last minute travel which is usually otherwise more expensive. But this is just chinsy, a junk fee to say the least.

It irks me, but I can live with it. What’s much worse is the devaluation of miles that United has announced.

“Miles required to redeem for certain awards to change”

United’s new award chart is here.

Some tidbits:

• Domestic first class awards go from 40,000 to 45,000 miles.
  
• Domestic first class to Hawaii goes from 60,000 to 75,000.
  
• First class from North America to Europe goes from 100,000 to 125,000… 5,000 miles more than first class from North America to Asia (which thankfully stays the same)!
  
• Australia takes a huge hit: coach goes from 60,000 to 80,000… Business from 90,000 to 110,000… First from 120,000 to 140,000.

But even worse is what United is doing to their ’standard’ awards, which offer last seat availability on any flight for additional miles.

• Domestic coach goes from 40,000 to 50,000 miles and domestic first class goes from 80,000 to 90,000.
  
• North America to Hawaii in first class goes from 120,000 to 150,000.
  
• Again, Australia takes a hit: coach from 100,000 to 150,000… Business from 150,000 to 220,000… First from 200,000 to 270,000. Wow.

My best guess is that award space on United is going to get very tight for awhile, with members burning through miles and making bookings before the new chart goes into effect in October (those bookings can stretch out through September, 2007). Then awards will become a bit more available, as members will have exhausted some miles and remaining miles won’t nab as many awards.

I predicted this exactly two months ago (and the implications of my writing on mileage inflation has suggested this would happen for far longer). But it’s still a big blow.

United Mileage Plus miles are no longer a clearly superior currency. They’re still preferable to Continental and Northwest miles, for sure, though not nearly as much as they used to be. But the award chart no longer offers substantially better value than American’s.

Complaining to United will likely do little good, they surely expect some blowback. Other carriers have changed their award charts over the past few years but United — while in bankruptcy — seemingly held back. They lured travelers to their planes with generous mileage bonuses. Offers of 30,000 miles might have convinced people to fly, thinking “hey, that’s a third of a business class ticket to Autralia!” Then United turns around and says “we’ve given you so many miles of course mileage prices go up.”

Instead, it might not be a bad idea to start mailing those United Visa cards back to Chase Bank. They’re the biggest buyer of Mileage Plus miles, and the United Visa is their strongest credit card product. If they started losing customers because of their partner’s changes they might exert some influence over United’s frequent flyer program.

Increasing the price of an award by 70,000 miles in a single swoop is unconscionable. Increasing the price of an award (as in the case of intra-Hawaii awards) by 100% in a single swoop is unconscionable. United should hear from its members about this.

In addition to the bonus for transferring Diners Club points to British Airways, there’s also a 30% bonus for transferring Starwood points between April 20 and July 20, 2006.

By way of example, 20,000 Starwood points yields 32,500 British Airways miles under this promotion.

If you don’t already have a British Airways Executive Club account, it is possible to open one even without booking a BA flight.

My travels have been a bit too diverting lately, and what little online time I’ve had has been devoted to keeping up with my day job. But I should be blogging again by the middle of next week, say by the 27th at the latest. And I should have some interesting tidbits to share about first class travel on ANA and Thai and some wonderful service and suites.

Via Online Travel Review, Kyle from South Park is apparently the mascot for Air Arabia, the discount airline based in Sharjah, U.A.E.

Refresh the home page and you’ll see Kyle in various states of Islamic dress.

The Upgrade Travel Blog points to a Wall Street Journal piece on shortcuts at airport security checkpoints.

You don’t always have to go through the security line designated for your your terminal. At DFW, for instance, all the terminals are connected so you can go through any checkpoint — and the checkpoints vary tremendously in wait times. In Detroit you can cut through the airport Westin, which has its own security screening into the airport.

HotelChatter links to my photo of sunrise off the deck of bungalow 105 at Bora Bora Nui.

I love it too, and nine months later it’s still the background on my laptop’s desktop.

Via Marginal Revolution come details of the future of airport security in Russia:

Millions of passengers traveling through Russia soon will have to take a lie detector test as part of new airport security measures that could eventually be applied throughout the country.


The technology, to be introduced at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport as early as July, is intended to identify terrorists and drugs smugglers. But many passengers will be chilled by the set of four questions they will have to answer into a machine, including, “Have you ever lied to the authorities?”


The machine asks four questions: The first is for full identity; the second, unnerving in its Soviet-style abruptness, demands: “Have you ever lied to the authorities?” It then asks whether either weapons or narcotics are being carried.


To cut delays, passengers will take the tests after taking off their shoes and putting baggage through the X-ray machines. He doesn’t get his shoes back until he satisfactorily answers the questions. Each test will take up to a minute. “If a person fails to pass the test, he is accompanied by a special guard to a cubicle where he is asked questions in a more intense atmosphere,” says Vladimir Kornilov, IT director for the airport.


The fully automated instrument to be used, known as the “Truth Verifier,” is hardly the polygraph familiar from old spy thrillers. Passengers will simply speak into a handset. Thanks to “layered-voice-analysis technology,” the system, developed by an Israeli company, can even establish whether answers come from the memory or the imagination.

It’s been reported in the Washington Times, I just hope the current administration wasn’t reading the paper.

Southwest’s newest destination was announced today: Washington-Dulles.

So we lost Independence Air and their crazy $39 walkup fares to pretty much everywhere along the East Coast, but at least we have Southwest coming… and that means mega mileage bonuses from United, at least for whatever Southwest announces as its initial routes, which will be limited as they’ve only requested two gates.

Service should start in the fall.