Planning a Mileage Run to Shanghai

Breaking Down Two Mileage Runs for 30,000 EQMs to get AA Executive Platinum
Getting a Chinese Visa
Planning a Mileage Run to Shanghai
Vegetarian Economy Meals on American Airlines
Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza Shanghai
Eating in Shanghai
Getting a Chinese Massage aka Tui Na
First Class Lounge (No. 69) Shanghai Pudong PVG
Concluding Thoughts on My Mileage Run to Shanghai


As part of my quest for Executive Platinum status on American Airlines, I booked a weekend trip to Shanghai. My ticket was about $950, and the routing through Chicago nets me about 17,500 miles, so it’s about 5.4 cents per mile for the mileage run.

I’ll have a little bit over 24 hours in Shanghai, so I need a place to crash for one night. I booked a number of different options, including an IHG PointBreaks hotel, a refundable stay at a non-chain hotel, and an IHG hotel when some of the hotels were 50% off on award stays a couple of weeks ago, and I ended up choosing to stay at the Crowne Plaza Shanghai, which seemed like a decent deal at 10,000 Priority Club points (acquired at a .6 cents per point during this year’s Daily Getaways offers, so this night cost me about $60) when it was being offered at 50% off. The PointBreaks hotel would have been cheaper at only 5,000 points per night, but it looked like the Crowne Plaza has a better location, and since I’ll only have a day in Shanghai, location matters more.

I’m looking forward to riding the Maglev at least once (a high-speed magnetic levitation train from the airport to Longyang Road station), wandering around the French Concession, and maybe getting a blind massage. And of course, I’m looking forward to eating: one of my friends who’s spent some time in Shanghai has recommended Sichuan Citizen, Jia Jia Tang Bao, and Xiao Yang Shengjian Bao, and I might check out Lost Heaven based on the recent NYTimes article that mentions the Beijing location.

Are there any things that I shouldn’t miss when I’m there? I got a 1-year multiple-entry tourist visa, so I can always go back.

6 Comments

  1. Be sure to show your boarding pass when you buy Maglev tix. It’s Y100 rt normally but it’s discounted to Y80 if you have a plane ticket. Oh and it’s more awesome than you can imagine. But try and make sure you go when they are running at top speed. Most of the day they don’t reach the top speed of 430km/hr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train

  2. can you share how is your epxerience to get Chinese visa in U.S ? I’ve heard they are getting worse and asking for more documents like an invitation from the Chinese side?

    1. Requirements have gotten stricter and more documentation is necessary (personally i’ve gotten 4 in the past 4 years) but you def don’t need an invitation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *