point fu

pros great reward availability  flight was half-empty midweek good food big plane and very nice business class seats for a 3 hour regional flight they use two doors for boarding: faster and more pleasant  cons   no wi-fi Business Class has 2-3-2 config so you can still end up in a middle seat how i did it 75,000 Korean Air points for Manila – Seoul – JFK ( For comparison, JFK – Seoul is 62,500 ). 40k points came from a sign-up bonus for a Korean Air credit card . The rest came from Chase Ulitmate Rewards, most of which we acquired from a 60k point bonus for a Chase Ink Business card. (Both cards we've since canceled). Planning is here . conclusions Korean Air has great award availability and accepts instant point transfers from Chase, so this will stay a go-to option when getting to Asia provided I'm not flying on one of their Peak dates  when redemption rates jump.  If timing means I need to fly the A380, I might spring fo...

pros cheap A320 instead of a puddle-jumper the coolest airport shuttle EVER cons frequent delays and cancelations out of Caticlan airport loud, terrible, unescapable christmas music throughout the tiny terminal how i did it Cash – US$115 per person, one way. This is with the supplemental charges for seat selection and a checked bag and all fees and taxes.  flight This flight actually started out on Philippine Airlines, departing at the crack of dawn to get to Manila in time for our noon flight home on Korean Air. A couple weeks before the trip I got an email from Philippine Airlines telling me my flight had been canceled and that I'd been moved to a later flight. Since the new time would cause me to miss my connection, and because a native told me that Caticlan is notorious for random cancelations and delays , I decided to just cancel the ticket (with a full refund because of the schedule change) and fly out the night before. ...

pros beautiful lounge with a full buffet toto washlet in the lounge  brand new 737 with sky interior excellent staff on the ground and in the air decent food  cons fairly expensive  no jetway; bus out to remote stand instead no priority security line no wi-fi how i did it I just paid a bunch of money (US$450 per person, one way TPE-KLO). Since China Airlines is Skyteam I should earn some Delta miles, so there's that. I'll also get the airfare 3x bonus from Amex. We really didn't want to fly Taipei to Manila and then on to Boracay, just because this under-two-week trip already had too many legs on it. But, t his flight was kind of a unicorn – when I first started planning this trip it appeared to exist but didn't seem to be bookable anywhere. Eventually I found it by booking directly on China Airlines website. arriving The Taipei airport is quite far from the city , and given that we needed to be at the airport by 5am for a 7am...

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. 🛬 UPDATE: Trip report for this flight! $498 from Taipei to Kalibo on China Airlines in Business Class 🛬 UPDATE: Trip report for this flight! $115 from MPH to Manila 🛬 UPDATE: Trip report for this flight! 75,000 Korean miles ( Korean Air credit card bonus topped off with Chase points) plus $45 for Manila – Seoul – JFK in Business Class 🛬  UPDATE: Trip report for the Manila to Seoul leg! 🛬  UPDATE:   Trip report for the Seoul to JFK leg! 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 we...