Since every other travel blogger has posted multiple times about this, I might as well throw my hat in the ring as well, but I’m not going to talk/speculate about the devaluation itself so much as write about things tangential to the devaluation. 1. So many blogs posted about the supposed devaluation, which I guess…
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…
Warning: #firstworldproblems (or maybe #firstclassproblems?) Nothing feels better than lounging around at home in airline pajamas and browsing Flyertalk. But one common problem people find with airline pajamas is that they’re liable to shrink. One way to avoid shrinkage is to not wash the pajamas at all, which is not particularly hygienic. Instead, I’m going…
I’ve written before about my dilemma on whether or not I should mileage run for American Airlines Executive Platinum status, and I pretty much concluded that it’s not really rational for me to do so. I would be booking incremental (i.e. not already planned/largely unnecessary) trips to get the status, and since I don’t have…
This is story #2 in a series about my experiences traveling as an Asian male. You can find story #1 here. In Athens, my friends and I went to the Central Market, which had lots of things that you might not normally find in a US market, like lamb testicles. While walking around, lots of…
We’ve finally received email confirmation: American Airlines is going to honor the “Fast Track Your Way To Elite Status” promotion, much to the delight of people who registered in time and to the chagrin of many current AA elites. I received the following email today, confirming my eligibility for the promotion as I don’t currently…
The big dirty non-secret amongst popular travel blogs is that many of these bloggers make their money off of credit card affiliate links. So when you click on one of their credit card links, apply for the credit card, and get approved, the blogger makes money. I have no idea how much, but I’m guessing…
One of the Ultimate Rewards transfer partners that never gets much attention is Amtrak. Perhaps understandably so, since most people don’t think of train travel as particularly aspirational, and trains aren’t planes or hotels, but I think that Amtrak should merit a closer look. When I was younger, I took Amtrak with my mom from…
Assuming we’re not talking about fixed-value points currencies like those of Virgin America or Southwest, the marginal value or incremental value of a point can vary wildly. This is due to the fact that most loyalty programs have redemption levels, and if your points haven’t reached a given redemption level, they’re not really worth that…
Last week, there was a very brief period of time when you could sign up for an apparently untargeted promotion that offered American Airlines Gold status after flying 6,000 miles, Platinum status after flying 12,000 miles, and Executive Platinum status after flying 30,000 miles between September 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013, as long as…
