2019 List Of AmEx Transfer Partners And Their Award Sweet Spots

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Credit cards that earn transferable points currencies are extremely valuable because of the tremendous flexibility they provide. American Express (AmEx) partners with eighteen airlines and three major hotel chains and these partnerships are the key to unlocking the most value from your AmEx Membership Rewards Points.

Amex Airline Transfer Partners
Amex Airline Transfer Partners

A large part of what makes transferring AmEx points to airlines so valuable is that you can use award chart sweet spots to really maximize that value of your points. As you can see from the chart below, different AmEx airline Continue reading 2019 List Of AmEx Transfer Partners And Their Award Sweet Spots

Alaska Airlines 40k Credit Card Offer And An award Sweet Spot

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Alaska 40K Offer

A strange thing happened this morning when I headed out to the cardmatch tool to check to see if I was targeted for the Amex Platinum 100k offer (I was not); I came across an offer for the Alaska Airlines personal credit card that offered 40,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles after spending $2,000 within 90 days. As many of you know, the usual Alaska Airlines Personal offer is 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 within 90 days, so this is a significantly better offer than usual.

Cathay First class caviar
Cathay First class caviar

Alaska Miles For First Class To Asia

Alaska miles are super valuable for flying business or first class to Asia. They charge just 50,000 miles to fly Cathay Pacific Business Class to almost anywhere in Asia, and 70,000 miles if you wish to enjoy the mid-flight caviar in Cathay Pacific First Class. Continue reading Alaska Airlines 40k Credit Card Offer And An award Sweet Spot

Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific The Bridge Hong Kong

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Cathay Pacific The Bridge HKG

Cathay Pacific The Bridge Business Class Lounge, Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)

Cathay Pacific The Bridge HKG
Cathay Pacific The Bridge HKG Entrance

Cathay Pacific’s lounges in Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) make connecting in Hong Kong as close to a delight as can be said about waiting for a flight. Over the past 5 years I’ve spent a lot of quality time in airport lounges and I still look forward to landing in Hong Kong and heading to a Cathay Pacific lounge. The consistency and quality of both their business class and first class lounges means that I can depend on a nice warm meal and a hot shower to have me feeling refreshed before catching my next flight.

Continue reading Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific The Bridge Hong Kong

Aeroplan awards on Cathay Pacific?

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cx-first-seat
The countdown to Justin Trudeau redeeming his Aeroplan miles for CX first has begun (maybe)!

Here’s an interesting development from my favorite airline awards program based in “America’s top hat.” Air Canada has recently expanded their little-known codeshare partnership with Cathay Pacific and their subsidiary Cathay Dragon and has hinted that soon they will begin allowing redemptions of Aeroplan miles for these flights as well.

Continue reading Aeroplan awards on Cathay Pacific?

Double Decker Planes and Powder Staches!

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Have you ever gotten to fly “upstairs” on an airplane before?

Does “reverse coffin” sound like something you’d be into?

I have always wanted to ascend those magical stairs to the fancier cabin perched atop the squalor that is coach, but up until now I had never gotten the chance to do so. Thanks to some US Airways Dividend Miles that I had scored from the US Airways credit card signup bonus, plus a few more miles transferred over from my Starwood Preferred Guest account, I was making it a reality.

All Your Powder Is Belong To us!!!
“All your powder Is belong to us!!!”

Continue reading Double Decker Planes and Powder Staches!

Do Eat The Caviar In First Class (Part Tres of Dos)

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To me this next little experience sums up how things are in this world. When leaving the plane in Hong Kong, the 6 first class passengers exit through their own separate boarding door. The entire rest of the plane exits out the other door.

Time for some caviar!!!
One door to rule them all!

So we exited out our special first class boarding door and headed straight for The Wing, Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge. I know when I hear the words “airport lounge” the image that pops into my head does not prepare me for the experience that is The Wing. First of all, most lounges are somewhat industrial seeming. Sitting at an AA lounge in Chicago or the US Airways lounge in New York you get the feeling that style is always balanced against pragmatic considerations, like how long the carpet needs to last, or how resistant the seat fabric is to having orange juice spilled on it.

Continue reading Do Eat The Caviar In First Class (Part Tres of Dos)

How to get a window seat in Cathay Pacific First Class

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Reserving the best seats in Cathay Pacific first class.

By now many of you are probably stacking up fat ‘staches of miles and getting ready to book some exciting trips to far flung destinations.

One of my favorite uses of Aadvantage miles (and also Alaska miles) is for flying first class on Cathay Pacific. I typically book awards for Emily and I from New York City to Bangkok and the 16.5 hour flight from New York to Hong Kong is definitely one that you want to be able to sleep on. There is nothing that promotes a good night’s rest quite like Cathay’s spacious First class lie flat beds (and some Ambien).

Cheers babies!!!
Champagne for two!

The only point of consternation (besides the taxi ride to JFK) is that, even though American Airlines has award access to 1/3 of all the seats in the 1st class cabin, the agents at AA can only book the middle seats, 1D and 2D. While the middle seats are still quite comfortable, I strongly prefer a window seat from which to watch the world zip by.

Continue reading How to get a window seat in Cathay Pacific First Class

When Buying Miles Makes Sense

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Do you have few miles or points but would still like to fly business class?

Do you have some money to spend on upcoming travel but not enough to buy those hilariously priced business class tickets?

I feel your pain!  Flying coach on long-haul trips sucks and I spend an inordinate amount of time making sure that I avoid ever having to do it again.  Mostly, my strategies revolve around using credit card sign up bonuses to build up large balances of frequent flyer miles that I can redeem for business and first class travel.  But it takes time to build up these balances.

For those with travel plans that are happening in the very near future they might benefit from another way to avoid coach that doesn’t involve taking out a second mortgage on their cat.

When Buying Miles Makes Sense

It makes sense to buy miles when A) you might otherwise have paid for the business class ticket or B) you really don’t want to fly coach and are willing to pay a little extra to avoid it.

Alaska Airlines miles can be used to book business class on Cathay and Emirates
Alaska Airlines miles can be used to book business class on Cathay and Emirates

Continue reading When Buying Miles Makes Sense

Do Eat the Caviar in First Class (Part Dos of Dos)

Posted on by theflyingmustache
3 windows and an aisle? yes, please!
3 windows and an aisle? yes, please!

This is the second part in a three part series that begins here:

And now onto the flight!

Initial impressions of the seat and the cabin:

Cathay Pacific First Class Cabin
Cathay Pacific First Class Cabin

The cabin is lovely and spacious.  There are no overhead bins, as each passenger gets their own little closet, and that makes it feel like you have tons of vertical space.  The seats are huge, comfortable and have a full range of adjustments, including lumbar support.  The decor is tasteful for an airplane.  There are little vases built into the cabin where they put a live orchid, which is a very nice touch.

Continue reading Do Eat the Caviar in First Class (Part Dos of Dos)

50k US Airways Offer Gone From Barclays Site. Last Chance To Apply.

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As of today the US Airways Dividend Miles card with a 50,000 mile bonus offer has been removed from the Barclays site.  Thankfully, I still have a working link for you, though this final opportunity to get the card will likely be short lived.

Barclays US Airways card
Barclays US Airways card

Continue reading 50k US Airways Offer Gone From Barclays Site. Last Chance To Apply.