How we're getting to Boracay, Philippines

-

Summary

  • JFK—Houston—Taipei—Kalibo—Manila—Seoul—JFK
  • $439 JetBlue positioning flight from New York JFK to Houston
  • 80,000 United miles from Houston to Taipei on the EVA Air Hello Kitty plane in Business Class.
  • $498 from Taipei to Kalibo on China Airlines in Business Class
  • $115 from MPH to Manila
  • 75,000 Korean miles (Korean Air credit card bonus topped off with Chase points) plus $45 for Manila – Seoul – JFK in Business Class
  • TOTAL: 155,000 miles + $1042 . CPM low: 2.2¢, high: ∞ (Hello Kitty plane has been on the bucket list for a while now!) but seriously, somewhere in the 3.5¢ range, HOU-TPE r/t is $4800.
  • all numbers are per person
As I mentioned before, we've had long-term plans to attend a wedding in the Philippines. There were a bunch of good options, but in the end we decided to take a slightly more expensive and circuitous route in order to ride on Eva Air's Hello Kitty jet. I went to the Hello Kitty exhibit in Los Angeles a couple years ago and they had a bunch of the plane's memorabilia on display and that made me want to fly it even more. Can't wait to check it out myself! I was hoping to fly it from NYC or the west coast, but if it's gotta be Houston, then so be it. Rumor has it even the foie gras in Business Class has her face emblazoned across it :)



On our way back, we're flying on the Korean Air 747-8 upstairs – not quite a "bucket list" item, but definitely a big plane geek win for both of us. We love the upstairs on a 747, but we've never been on one of the very-rare 747-8's, which Boeing sold very few of. Sadly none of the buyers ever opted for the SkyLounge or SkySuites options. If you look at the pictures you can see Boeing proposed taking the back half of the plane – which isn't fully double-decker – and turning it a loft of sleeping compartments. Economy passengers could pay an extra fee to have a sleeping bunk in addition to their bed upstairs. I'd vastly prefer that to most of the Premium Economy options for long-haul flights! More info about the 747-8 here.



A few things I learned:
  • Flying Korean from New York to Seoul is about the same price (in dollars) as Los Angeles to Seoul
  • There were still lots of award seats on Korean Air in late August for most November dates
  • Korean JFK or LAX to Manila: 75k each way in Business, 95k in First
  • Korean JFK or LAX to Seoul: 62.5k each way in Business, 80k in First
  • United/Asiana JFK to Manila: 80k each way in Bus, 130k each way in First
  • Very surprised by the number of award seats we found on Asiana through United's website. We found several dates with 3 available seats with only two months notice.
  • We'd flown Korean in First before and it's not really worth the extra miles versus Business Class (plus it lacks the fun clubhouse feeling of the 747's upstairs Business Class mini cabin)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding and collecting Japanese Railway station stamps

-
Image
From Pokemon to Neko Atsume to shuinchou temple books , Japanese people love collecting things. If you've ever taken a ride on the glorious shinkansen bullet trains or ridden one of their extremely clean and punctual urban lines, then you know there's also a national obsession with great trains. The Eki stamp ("station stamp") is where those two obsessions meet . Most Japan Railways stations (including urban metro ones like the Yamanote line) have a unique stamp reflecting that station's history. Kids and train nerds (called "Tetchan") buy cute little books to collect the stamps of all the stations they've been to. The USA has a similar program with the national parks . One of my favorite stamps… All train-nerdiness aside, an Eki stamp book makes a great souvenir : it's flat, small, cheap, and light... and shouldn't take but a few moments to do when you're out and about. Special Eki stamp books are usually available at booksto
Read more

Southern Vermont's Frog Meadow Farm – a perfect getaway

-
Image
(updated October 2024) As I've said many times before , I'm not a big hotel person – I'd rather be out seeing the sights and meeting up with people than ensconced in the stylishly-bland, comfortable nowhere of a posh urban hotel. There are exceptions, though. Visiting a traditional Japanese ryokan inn immediately comes to mind. While they're often located in beautiful settings, the hotel itself is the primary destination. Beautiful seasonal food, soaking tubs and onsen baths, and lots of quiet time for just chilling out for a couple of days. For experiences like these, I'm very much a hotel snob. Wood-fired hot tub bliss Our first-ever trip to Vermont back in 2010 was specifically to visit Frog Meadow Farm in Newfane. A friend in San Francisco was describing it to us and it sounded a lot like an American ryokan for gay men: seasonal breakfasts, a wood-fired soaking tub, a massage studio, miles of private hiking and cross-country skiing trails, orchards and h
Read more

Where to find TOTO Washlets outside of Japan

-
Image
( updated Jun 2024 ) I love Washlet bidet toilets. I've had one in my house since my first visit to Japan 20 years ago and I love it when my hotel room or my plane has one. And it's not just me, the NYTimes wrote about them , and several competing brands have appeared in the US in recent years. If you want a Washlet in the sky, you don't have much of a choice – only ANA and JAL have them, and only in the premium cabins. (I think they have an exclusive arrangement with Toto, as we've not seen the Washlet appear even in the super luxurious middle eastern airlines that have butlers and onboard showers).  ウォシュレット! But what about hotels? As the spokesmodel in this commercial says, "I can't go on vacation anymore". A few of us were discussing this the other day and I said that yes, in fact, the presence of a Washlet would be a slam dunk for me when choosing a hotel. So I went poking around to find places outside of Japan that have them and started
Read more