This is the first of a series where I’ll be exploring lesser known routes and how to use them effectively in your award tickets. Hidden Gems covers routings and values that you may not know about, and how to take advantage of them to maximize your award travel. This week’s Hidden Gem is Korean Air’s flight 61/62 From Los Angeles Continue reading
I’ve decided to start posting some restaurant reviews here. I’ve been posting reviews to Yelp and TripAdvisor for a few years but here I can use a much longer form and embed pictures and highlight words to create a richer review than is possible on third party sites. Wow, wow, wow. A night after being underwhelmed at a private Continue reading
Hilton just announced a huge new devaluation in their award chart, with some hotels costing nearly double what the currently do. These changes are set to go in to effect on the 28th so get in now. If you haven’t read about it yet check out any of these blogs. The crazy thing about this is that everyone is losing. Continue reading
I’m writing this from my hotel room in the Bugis district of Singapore. Yesterday my food in Singapore consisted of McDonalds courtesy of nearly everything else being closed for Chinese New Year. Today however I set out to grab a taste of Singapore. That meant going to a real Hawker Center. Unfortunately, with the national holiday no hawker centers are Continue reading
If you’ve never been to a frequent flyer gathering before I can tell you you are most definitely missing out. There is an upcoming gathering, FTU DC, which will be held in McLean, Virginia in April. I’ll be going and I hope to meet some new people there. I met some really great people last time and learned a lot. Continue reading
After a bunch of time finding the proper flights and lots of post its figuring out routings I have finally booked my first foray in to international first class and the First Class Terminal at Frankfurt. I spent hours searching using AwardNexus, ExpertFlyer, and the ANA Tool (thanks to Wandering Aramean Travel Tools) and finally found a routing that was Continue reading
Thanks to Singapore’s system updating last year I’m heading to Singapore and flying SQ Business Class and First Class. I’ll also be flying United’s new 787, KLM’s updated business class on their 777-300ER, and Malaysia Airlines regional business class on their 737-400. Aside from Singapore I’ve flown all these airlines before, but not on these aircraft. I’m excited to fly Continue reading
Seat Guru used to be the go to to find out info on aircraft and flights, but it seems to be falling out of touch, and because since at one point they were considered the authority, many people don’t realize they aren’t so great anymore. They are able to get away with not being up to date. For example they Continue reading
As you can see I’ve got two mileage runs coming up! I just booked a mileage run, taking advantage of a ~$400 fare from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico. The deal is mileage run worthy since it allows connecting in New York at JFK, which as you can see is quite a bit out of the way, exactly what I’m Continue reading
It looks like Delta is ready to ruin the one positive part of their award chart, and that long rumored devalue might be true. I’m really hoping this is just one of the issues of Delta computers screwing up pricing, but I’m not going to count on it. While searching for random awards I encountered an oddity. Tokyo to Amsterdam Continue reading