When I write about efficiency, I often use the term “utility“, which can be thought of as a representation of your preferences or what makes you happier. And a large part of using miles and points wisely or conducting your life efficiently requires that you understand your utility function, which means that you understand what…
I picked up the Citi Hilton Reserve credit card in my last round of credit card applications, largely because I want to use the two free weekend nights at the Conrad Hong Kong when I’m there later this year. I like that the card gives free Hilton Gold status (although I may have already obtained…
I am not a fan of tipping. I’ll go into some of my pet peeves around the practice, but I heartily recommend a much more reliable source: a series of blog posts from a restaurant owner who had two restaurants–one with a flat service charge and one with tips–and his thoughts on how tipping led…
Traveling would probably be better for most people if all airports offered free wifi, but they don’t. For those that don’t, or those that have time restrictions on their free wifi, what’s a traveler to do? An unhelpful answer is to get lounge access, since I can’t think of a lounge that doesn’t offer free…
Writing this blog is a labor of love: it’s a lot of work to post regularly, and I don’t really make any money from it (if only I had enough traffic to pimp credit cards…). But one thing I’ve enjoyed is looking at the search terms that direct people to my blog. Many of them…
American Airlines 179 New York (JFK) to San Francisco (SFO) Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 Depart: 10:30am Arrive: 1:45pm Duration: 6h 15m Aircraft: Boeing 767-200 Seat: 3D American currently has their first class cabin on the flagship transcontinental routes (such as LAX-JFK or SFO-JFK) arranged in a 2-1-2 fashion. This means that the best seats for…
Since I was already in the American Airlines Admirals Club anyway while visiting the Flagship Lounge (the Flagship Lounge is located within the Admirals Club) at Terminal 8 in JFK, I decided to take a tour of the Admirals Club to see what the differences were between the two. The physical amenities were largely the same:…
Another perk of flying first class on an American Airlines three-class transcontinental flight besides Flagship Check-In is access to the Flagship Lounge. The Flagship Lounge at JFK is located within one of the Admirals Clubs, so when you enter, you need to get specifically let in to the Flagship Lounge. The first thing I did…
A little while ago, I used American miles to book a first class flight from SFO to BKK. Since I live at the international gateway city (in this case, SFO), it’s easy for me to add a free domestic one-way prior to the flight, so I took advantage to have my actual itinerary be JFK…
Since I don’t have Star Alliance Gold status (gasp), my only “free” option for lounge access was through Priority Pass Select. But the Priority Pass-eligible lounge at the Munich airport is in Terminal 1, and I was transiting through Terminal 2 since I was flying Lufthansa. I had read that it was possible to walk…
