Continuing To Learn How To Use Miles & Points
In my last post, I talked about how I managed to hobble together a free return flight from Vietnam even though United.com did not show any availability. Well, the more I thought about that flight, the less I was looking forward to it. It was almost 35 hours of travel, 10+ on a cramped Dreamliner with extra seats added in the rows. So, I started researching. And researching some more.
I realized that I could use Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines to fly home, if I booked with American Airlines miles. Even more enticing, I had enough miles (thanks to two recent credit card signup bonuses) to book that trip in business class! Once again, there was no award availability showing up on either airline no matter what site I used to search. So I used the same tactic as before to cobble together an itinerary.
This time, I ended up adding one day to our trip, but I'm not dreading a second of the travel. We'll depart from Vietnam to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific regional business class. After a late evening arrival in Hong Kong, we'll have an overnight layover that will allow us a full morning in the city. Then we're off to Narita (Tokyo), once again on Cathay Pacific business class. We land in early evening and have another overnight layover, so we'll hop into Narita town and get a taste of Japan. Late the next morning, we'll depart Narita on Japan Airlines in Sky Suite business class to fly direct to Chicago.
Not only does this itinerary give us a taste of two additional cities/countries that we've never visited, it greatly reduces our in-air time (and puts us in a higher class seat). I'm very excited about this change. However, now I'm stuck with the economy tickets that I didn't really want in the first place. My strategy is to wait for an inevitable schedule change and then cancel the flight for free. If that doesn't happen, I can cancel for a couple hundred dollars, which I'm willing to do.
Then, I got the travel bug again last night. Aaron and I have been talking about visiting the Pacific Northwest for a while, but we don't have enough vacation time for another long trip in 2015. While browsing destinations online, I realized that we could stay in downtown Portland for 5 nights for approximately the number of Marriott points I'll have available when my credit card bonus posts (plus a 23,000 point transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards). I didn't realize that Marriott offered the fifth night free after staying for four nights on points. This stay alone was worth over $1,200.
Airfare was reasonable, in my opinion, so now we have a Friday - Wednesday trip to Portland to look forward to in October. Our return flight is completely ridiculous (it includes a 35 minute layover in Los Angeles), but it was the only thing I could book that was the lowest rate and didn't leave at 6:00 a.m. I'm once again banking on an inevitable schedule change that will allow me to rebook us a better connection. Worse-case scenario, we'll miss our connection and I'll easily rebook us using the Delta mobile app to get home.
Now, I'm considering attending the Chicago Seminars in October ... I do believe I've gotten addicted to this miles and points hobby.
I realized that I could use Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines to fly home, if I booked with American Airlines miles. Even more enticing, I had enough miles (thanks to two recent credit card signup bonuses) to book that trip in business class! Once again, there was no award availability showing up on either airline no matter what site I used to search. So I used the same tactic as before to cobble together an itinerary.
This time, I ended up adding one day to our trip, but I'm not dreading a second of the travel. We'll depart from Vietnam to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific regional business class. After a late evening arrival in Hong Kong, we'll have an overnight layover that will allow us a full morning in the city. Then we're off to Narita (Tokyo), once again on Cathay Pacific business class. We land in early evening and have another overnight layover, so we'll hop into Narita town and get a taste of Japan. Late the next morning, we'll depart Narita on Japan Airlines in Sky Suite business class to fly direct to Chicago.
Not only does this itinerary give us a taste of two additional cities/countries that we've never visited, it greatly reduces our in-air time (and puts us in a higher class seat). I'm very excited about this change. However, now I'm stuck with the economy tickets that I didn't really want in the first place. My strategy is to wait for an inevitable schedule change and then cancel the flight for free. If that doesn't happen, I can cancel for a couple hundred dollars, which I'm willing to do.
Then, I got the travel bug again last night. Aaron and I have been talking about visiting the Pacific Northwest for a while, but we don't have enough vacation time for another long trip in 2015. While browsing destinations online, I realized that we could stay in downtown Portland for 5 nights for approximately the number of Marriott points I'll have available when my credit card bonus posts (plus a 23,000 point transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards). I didn't realize that Marriott offered the fifth night free after staying for four nights on points. This stay alone was worth over $1,200.
Airfare was reasonable, in my opinion, so now we have a Friday - Wednesday trip to Portland to look forward to in October. Our return flight is completely ridiculous (it includes a 35 minute layover in Los Angeles), but it was the only thing I could book that was the lowest rate and didn't leave at 6:00 a.m. I'm once again banking on an inevitable schedule change that will allow me to rebook us a better connection. Worse-case scenario, we'll miss our connection and I'll easily rebook us using the Delta mobile app to get home.
Now, I'm considering attending the Chicago Seminars in October ... I do believe I've gotten addicted to this miles and points hobby.
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