Long Haul Business Class for under $2K (Long Post)

[Little Evil]

22 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

United's online shopping portal is offering 50 miles per dollar spent at magazines.com today

I already get too damn many magazines, but this looks to me like a way to get United miles for 2 cents each (actually a little cheaper if use a miles-earning card for the purchase) with the magazine effectively tossed in for free

I am going to snoop around and see if they have anything that interests me....

Keep an eye out for newpapers too. Some of these offers may include NY Times and the like, including digital subscriptions. I occasionally pick those up when I get sick of paywalls. 

[Luv2Phuket]

More on the magazines.com offer:

I looked and American's shopping portal is running the same promotion (50 miles per $ spent).

I got a subscription to Ring Magazine (friend is an editor and I should have subscribed long ago) and Kiplinger's, and should get 2,600 United miles.  I went back and got another 500 miles by getting my brother a one-year subscription to Golf magazine.

Also, this disclaimer flashed by quickly, so I went back and took a photo of it - certain magazines do not qualify for the offer:

 

[Luv2Phuket]

FWIW, I decided to transfer 68,000 UR to Korean - this should put me a little over 900 miles short of 95,000, but I have plenty of time to put that on my SkyPass credit card -- I want to see if the purchases I have recently made earn me any bonus (I think they were all 1x, but not sure) and how long it takes for them to post.

I also just learned a VERY valuable lesson:

I have 3 different Chase UR accounts.  Started by transferrign everything left in the one with the lowest balance (only 7,000 UR), and then moved to another to get to the full 68,000.....NOPE....only ONE transfer to the same SkyPass account within a 24-hour period!

If you are planning to move UR to SkyPass from multiple accounts, be sure NOT to wait until the last day or you may be screwed!

[Little Evil]

Targeted Amex offer alert. Nothing spectacular, but it is a freebie if you regularly break $2k per statement. Spend $2k on one or more purchases in a statement cycle and get an additional 1k points on top of the 2k+ that would you already be earning. Can do this 3x. The language is a little scant, but it would appear that this is just once per statement. It is also unclear how this stacks with any other promotions like the 2 for 1's. Have to active it before it kicks in. Again, nothing too mind blowing, but low hanging fruit for those who keep Amex as a primary spend card. 

Edited to say that I think this might be targeted to people like me who significantly decreased pattern spend after getting other top tier cards. In fact, if it wasn't for Amex lounge and their more flexible version of Priority Pass, I'm not sure if I would be keeping the Plat card. 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Little Evil

[Luv2Phuket]

44 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

Targeted Amex offer alert. Nothing spectacular, but it is a freebie if you regularly break $2k per statement. Spend $2k on one or more purchases in a statement cycle and get an additional 1k points on top of the 2k+ that would you already be earning. Can do this 3x. The language is a little scant, but it would appear that this is just once per statement. It is also unclear how this stacks with any other promotions like the 2 for 1's. Have to active it before it kicks in. Again, nothing too mind blowing, but low hanging fruit for those who keep Amex as a primary spend card. 

Edited to say that I think this might be targeted to people like me who significantly decreased pattern spend after getting other top tier cards. In fact, if it wasn't for Amex lounge and their more flexible version of Priority Pass, I'm not sure if I would be keeping the Plat card. 

Thanks for the ehads up!  I will check to see fi I got it - have to purchase an airline ticket in the next day or so (small regional flight) and was looking at using my AMEX for the 5X points any way.

The lounge access with AMEX Platinum is nice.  I had to go to Reno twice in the past couple of weeks, and it got me access to the Escape Lounge there.  Pretty nice!

If you have the personal AMEX, the $15 Uber credit per month is pretty sweet.  I don't use Uber much, so I cash it out for a "free" meal once a month via Uber Eats.

[Luv2Phuket]

On 8/20/2018 at 18:52, Luv2Phuket said:

FWIW, I decided to transfer 68,000 UR to Korean - this should put me a little over 900 miles short of 95,000, but I have plenty of time to put that on my SkyPass credit card -- I want to see if the purchases I have recently made earn me any bonus (I think they were all 1x, but not sure) and how long it takes for them to post.

DAMMIT!!!!!  Apparently, my credit card spend somehow netted me 2,000 bonus miles....so it turns out, I transferred 1,000 TOO MANY UR!

If I had transferred 1,000 UR less, I would have been damn near perfect, but, because I wasn't aware of that 2,000 mile bonus, I am now sitting at 96,017 Korean SkyPass miles.....sigh....

I HATE orphaned miles, and, unless KE links with another credit card provider, I'm looking at having 1,017 left sitting there after I book a OW first class ticket to BKK.

[Whooah]

“A nice problem to have!”  That’s what I tell myself when something like just missing a mark by a little bit too much happens.

Curious what you recommend on Korean from LAX to BKK - any particular jets you like, times that are best, etc.  Will probably fly to LAX and from there to BKK when I go - Korean looks like a good choice.  Never flown on Korean.

[Luv2Phuket]

4 hours ago, Whooah said:

“A nice problem to have!”  That’s what I tell myself when something like just missing a mark by a little bit too much happens.

Curious what you recommend on Korean from LAX to BKK - any particular jets you like, times that are best, etc.  Will probably fly to LAX and from there to BKK when I go - Korean looks like a good choice.  Never flown on Korean.

I have only flown their A380 between LAX-ICN.  I found their first class to be very comfortable, but not particularly stellar.

I think they have started 787 service between ICN and LAX, but this review certainly implies that first class is NOT much of an upgrade from business class - https://thepointsguy.com/2017/02/korean-air-787-biz-first-seat/

Based on that, the seats appear to be IDENTICAL!

[Luv2Phuket]

Not airline-related, but has anyone else had issues with the Starwood/Marriott merger?

I was starting to lose it, because, when I logged in to my SPG account, it had combined with my Marriott account....but none of my SPG points had moved.  It turns out, you have to manually transfer the points (even though they have merged the accounts).

My next concern was that I had NO idea what my SPG account number was!  While waiting on hold for 30 minutes for an SPG rep to help me find it, I played around with the tab to merge accounts and somehow got it to work. 

Bit of a pain in the ass, but my account went from a little over 94,000 points to a little over 191,000.  Since SPG should transfer at 3:1, I assume that means I had a little over 32,000 SPG points pre-merger.  Unfortunately, I can't come up with a way to confirm that (but it sounds like more than I thought I had, so not that worried about it).

LOTS of blog comments from people outraged over how poorly the merger of accounts has gone -- people aren't getting proper status credit, points from cancelled points reservations are not being refunded (but are just disappearing, etc.  I'm not a big Marriott or SPG guy, so it hasn't had a crushing impact on me (now that I got the manual transfer to go through).

It's a DAMN shame the Marriott in Pattaya switched to Avani!  I think those Marriott points would've gotten me about 10 free nights there!

[Little Evil]

Wish I could help you out with personal experience, but my only dealings in hotel status is through comp Amex Plat/Starwood Gold. I just don't use hotels enough to earn significant points, and when I'm in LoS, I end up staying in local joints like Page 10 or Acqua for $50/night or less. 

 

 

[Little Evil]

Anyone have any experience with AA award flight changing? While I've booked tons on AA, and even cancelled a couple, I've never tested these waters.  

Scenario is that my ideal award itinerary isn't available. Found one that brings me back to JFK instead of BOS. I'm temped to jump on that while it is still open, but wondered if AA will allow me to change the second leg to BOS if that opens up before I leave. I'll eat a 1 hour flight if I have to on the way home, but would much rather get the direct flight. 

[Luv2Phuket]

Anyone have any experience with AA award flight changing? While I've booked tons on AA, and even cancelled a couple, I've never tested these waters.  
Scenario is that my ideal award itinerary isn't available. Found one that brings me back to JFK instead of BOS. I'm temped to jump on that while it is still open, but wondered if AA will allow me to change the second leg to BOS if that opens up before I leave. I'll eat a 1 hour flight if I have to on the way home, but would much rather get the direct flight. 

I have changed award itineraries a number of times, but can’t recall if any were AA.


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[smithzac91]

Not airline-related, but has anyone else had issues with the Starwood/Marriott merger?
I was starting to lose it, because, when I logged in to my SPG account, it had combined with my Marriott account....but none of my SPG points had moved.  It turns out, you have to manually transfer the points (even though they have merged the accounts).
My next concern was that I had NO idea what my SPG account number was!  While waiting on hold for 30 minutes for an SPG rep to help me find it, I played around with the tab to merge accounts and somehow got it to work. 
Bit of a pain in the ass, but my account went from a little over 94,000 points to a little over 191,000.  Since SPG should transfer at 3:1, I assume that means I had a little over 32,000 SPG points pre-merger.  Unfortunately, I can't come up with a way to confirm that (but it sounds like more than I thought I had, so not that worried about it).
LOTS of blog comments from people outraged over how poorly the merger of accounts has gone -- people aren't getting proper status credit, points from cancelled points reservations are not being refunded (but are just disappearing, etc.  I'm not a big Marriott or SPG guy, so it hasn't had a crushing impact on me (now that I got the manual transfer to go through).
It's a DAMN shame the Marriott in Pattaya switched to Avani!  I think those Marriott points would've gotten me about 10 free nights there!

I have logged into both of my accounts recently and noticed that my points haven't been combined. I thought they were going to do that for us. Thanks for the intel. I'll have to go in and make the changes now.

Anyone have any experience with AA award flight changing? While I've booked tons on AA, and even cancelled a couple, I've never tested these waters.  
Scenario is that my ideal award itinerary isn't available. Found one that brings me back to JFK instead of BOS. I'm temped to jump on that while it is still open, but wondered if AA will allow me to change the second leg to BOS if that opens up before I leave. I'll eat a 1 hour flight if I have to on the way home, but would much rather get the direct flight. 

I have a trip booked with AA on points for November. I wasn't happy with one of my layovers and called to ask them to change a flight for me. They did so quickly without a charge.

I had to wait for availability on the flight that I wanted and when it finally appeared I called right away. The portion of the flight was domestic-HOU-DFW. I'm still checking Cathay's award availability to see if I can change my return at a later date. I have seen some availability on Cathay but nothing domestic to make the entire route work.

If nothing else works, just keep calling them and asking. They don't seem to mind me badgering them.

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[Little Evil]

I love the knowledge base here! Good Intel without the smug "oh, you don't know that, noob?" responses. Great stuff guys! 

[Luv2Phuket]

Be careful changing your flight after you are in Thailand.

MANY moons ago - before I was a points/miles whore - I was scheduled to fly through Tokyo just as a typhoon was hitting.

I called AA and was able to change my flight to day later (maybe 2). IIRC, I was on a paid ticket; not miles.

When I showed up at BKK, they had NOTHING on me ticket wise. This was before I worked for myself, so I started to panic about WTF I was going to do!

Eventually got AA on the horn and we got it resolved, but it took a while and I nearly had a stroke. Luckily, I have OCD about getting to airports early.




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[Little Evil]

Just a heads up - I read a while ago that if you call Amex Platinum Travel, they can often get discounts on PE, J, and F fares. I cash out points 99% of the time, so I've never tried it before. Just recently had to set up a longhaul that I had to pay for. Tried calling them up. They priced out the PE itinerary $250 less than the lowest pricing I've seen in weeks (been tracking prices in Google Flights). Definitely worth calling them if you need to buy a ticket. These prices are not the same as their travel website search engine, so while it sucks to have to call, it is definitely worth it.  

[bouncewithme]

On 8/27/2018 at 19:25, Little Evil said:

I love the knowledge base here! Good Intel without the smug "oh, you don't know that, noob?" responses. Great stuff guys! 

Agree, this is one of my most followed threads on the forum, it’s been incredibly helpful and guys are always happy to help, you included!

[bgtp]

On 8/27/2018 at 20:25, Little Evil said:

I love the knowledge base here! Good Intel without the smug "oh, you don't know that, noob?" responses. Great stuff guys! 

It’s funny. On the travel hacking sites, you’ve got a lot of pricks obsessed with their ‘status’ acting in the smug manner you mention. Likewise on the whoring sites, a lot of mongers act smug towards those with less experience than them. So, it’s nice to have a helpful travel hacking thread here on PA without all the crap you see on the price threads, etc. Makes me wonder if there’s a similarly laid back thread about whoring among all the typically uptight threads on Flyertalk.

[Little Evil]

2 minutes ago, bgtp said:

It’s funny. On the travel hacking sites, you’ve got a lot of pricks obsessed with their ‘status’ acting in the smug manner you mention. Likewise on the whoring sites, a lot of mongers act smug towards those with less experience than them. So, it’s nice to have a helpful travel hacking thread here on PA without all the crap you see on the price threads, etc. Makes me wonder if there’s a similarly laid back thread about whoring among all the typically uptight threads on Flyertalk.

I'm wondering if we just got lucky, in that everyone interested in this thread just turned out to be a solid human being. Other parts of this forum are downright aggressive. Could be the alpha-male mentality on other parts of this forum that Pattaya often attracts. 

[Little Evil]

6 hours ago, bgtp said:

It’s funny. On the travel hacking sites, you’ve got a lot of pricks obsessed with their ‘status’ acting in the smug manner you mention. Likewise on the whoring sites, a lot of mongers act smug towards those with less experience than them. So, it’s nice to have a helpful travel hacking thread here on PA without all the crap you see on the price threads, etc. Makes me wonder if there’s a similarly laid back thread about whoring among all the typically uptight threads on Flyertalk.

lol. I just realized what you said on that last line. 

[Luv2Phuket]

3 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

lol. I just realized what you said on that last line. 

I missed that, too!  55555

[bgtp]

18 hours ago, Little Evil said:

lol. I just realized what you said on that last line. 

 

18 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I missed that, too!  55555

Geez, all that build up and you guys missed the punchline 555

[Luv2Phuket]

Interesting review of Hong Kong Airlines business class from LAX - HKG:

https://thepointsguy.com/reviews/hong-kong-airlines-a350-business/

The reviewer got the flight as a "mistake fare," so it was only $600.  Given Hong Kong Air's lack of transfer partners (someone in comments suggested they partner with Virgin), I can't see myself paying $3,000 to fly them to Hong Kong and there is no tangible way for me to book them using miles.

That said, I might sing a VERY different tune if they somehow ended up replacing Korean Air as a transfer partner for Chase UR!  555

[scorpio]

Has anyone here used Worldwidemilesclub.com. I was quoted $1367 US for a round trip business class ticket from LAX to MNL. I just don't know if I can trust them or not. Yes it is one of those sites that uses other peoples miles to get you a award ticket. Thanks for any input.

[bouncewithme]

On 9/8/2018 at 23:20, scorpio said:

Has anyone here used Worldwidemilesclub.com. I was quoted $1367 US for a round trip business class ticket from LAX to MNL. I just don't know if I can trust them or not. Yes it is one of those sites that uses other peoples miles to get you a award ticket. Thanks for any input.

I dont know anything about them, but curious, what airlines are the tickets on?