Back To The Back: Thai Airways KUL-BKK-PVG Economy

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Tara

I had run out of United miles so it was back to the back of the plane for this trip. It was still a phenomenal use of miles since the routing got us from Brisbane to Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai to Koh Samui with a 23 hour layover in Bangkok, then an open jaw from Kuala Lumpur to Rarotonga via Bangkok and Shanghai with a 10 hour layover. In this post, we will look at the Thai economy experience on the Dreamliner.

In economy class you don’t get lounge access unless you have a credit card that includes Priority Pass (Amex) or Lounge Club (formerly include with Chase Ink). We wandered around the airport and checked out a few shops but didn’t buy anything. The kaftans were nice but out of my budget.

A quick shot of the business cabin as we walked through.

And here’s the economy cabin. This is where dreamliners become “nightmare-liners”. Seats are in a 3-3-3 so couples will usually have a stranger with them unless they get lucky and have an empty middle seat. We weren’t lucky but at least it was a short-ish flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok.

The one thing I did like was the controls in the seatback instead of buried in the side compartment of the seat.

Trying to sneak more photos of business class on the way out.

We had a 3 hour layover in Bangkok so we used Lounge Club to use the Louis Tavern lounge. It’s nowhere near as good as the Thai lounge from the last time we were here but better than sitting at the gate!

I was too tired to take photos of the plane between Bangkok and Shanghai so managed to pass out despite being in economy. At least this time we had no one in the middle seat! We quickly got transit visas and headed off to take the Maglev into town.

Getting To Thailand With Airline Miles

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Tara

Since I already have a more detailed post on South-east Asia, I will only add some Thailand specific tips here. The good news is that Thailand is one of the easiest countries in the world to get to on airline miles because everyone flies there! You can get a full list of airlines flying to BKK (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) on Wikipedia. The first step is to identify which airlines that participate in one of the 3 alliances serve the airport in question. You can do this by looking the airport up in Wikipedia and making a note of which airlines fly there and cross referencing with my guides on Star Alliance, OneWorld Alliance and SkyTeam. Since this list is so long, I will only put a snippet here to give you an idea.

If you are using Star Alliance miles on Thai Airways, you can continue on the same award to other airports in Thailand such as Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Krabi, etc. Some airlines such as Malaysian, Air China, Korean, Singapore, China Eastern, etc also serve different airports in Thailand thus avoiding BKK all-together.

Connecting in BKK to another destination such as Chiang Mai on Thai Airways is quick and easy. Just follow the signs to a special immigration counter for domestic connections which in our case was closer to the gate we arrived at. See photos here. The lines are much shorter too! You will still claim your luggage at the final destination airport and clear customs there. We were through immigration in 5 minutes flat and quickly found the gate to Chiang Mai. Our connection was around an hour so I had time to use the free airport wifi to check my emails.

If you are on a longer connection and not in Thai’s business class you can still get a massage at the airport. It’s much more expensive than massages in the city which are around 200 Bhat but if you are pressed for time but have sore muscles it might be worth it.

Premium Travel – Been There, Done That, Got Selfies – Now What?

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Tara

Conde-Nast Traveler does some interesting articles as do some miles & points bloggers who specialize in luxury travel. In this slideshow, they show the first class cabins of several airlines – Singapore, Etihad, Air France, Qantas, All Nippon, Asiana & Emirates. Sure they look fancy but do we really need all this luxury for a mere 8-15 hours of your life? Redeeming miles for first class could be anywhere from double to triple the miles for an economy flight.

Yeah, I know economy sucks but at the end of the day, you get to your destination the same time as everyone else and at worst you have to wait for them to disembark first. But then once off the plane, even a middle-aged backpacker like me can outrun someone dragging a rollaboard!

I’ve had my fair share of flights in business class which in recent years could be had for around 25-50% extra miles over the economy redemption. I’ve never flown first class but on our last trip to Europe, we had one segment BKK-IST in a wet-leased Jet Airways plane (they are no longer doing wet-leases). These trips were booked using US Airways miles obtained from lucrative promos such as Grand Slam that are now obsolete.

Thai Airways Business Class BNE-BKK

Turkish Airways wetleased Jet Airways first class suite (sold as business class) BKK-IST

Normal Turkish Airways Business Class Seat (as comparison), still pretty nice!

Swiss Euro-business Class BCN-ZRH-FCO, I would never redeem an intra-Europe award in J but this was part of a longer route back to Australia.

Air China Business Class FCO-PEK

Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class PEK-SIN, these seats were huge!

Singapore Airlines Business Class SIN-BNE, not an A380 but still nice and plenty of free Singapore Slings!

SO NOW WHAT?

So I’ve been there, done that and got the selfies. Now what? Airlines are tightening up on business class award availability. They are also devaluing their miles making premium seats much more expensive. It can come down to a question of do you want to travel in a larger seat, eat fancy food and drink champagne or do you want to have two trips instead of one?

Sure it was nice to have the lie-flat seats and get a good night’s sleep but we did have to take some very convoluted routes to do that. BCN-ZRH-FCO-PEK-SIN-BNE That’s 4 changes with security screening and lines at each stage which kind of negates the relaxation from the larger seat. The first 2 flights were delayed. Yes SWISS was delayed, who’d of thunk it? We could have been home a day earlier if we had done BCN-SIN-BNE but it wasn’t available at time of booking. We aren’t fans of fancy-schmancy food, I actually prefer the simplicity of economy food. The big seats that lie flat do make a big difference in arriving somewhere well-rested and I love having lounge access to surf the net on layovers and have free snacks.

Now that I have had the experience of luxury travel, it’s made me rethink what is important. OK, so I’m a destination based traveler so I know what’s important to me. Definitely not the food. Some airports have free wifi, otherwise I can just read or watch something I downloaded. Free snacks and drinks are nice but not a deal-breaker. Economy seats suck but my DR helped me out with sleeping pills and my husband can already sleep anywhere at the drop of a hat. The journey is basically what gets you to the destination. Some bloggers will have you believe that you shouldn’t leave home if it’s not in a premium cabin, but what’s the real point of travel? You need to GET some place first and if economy is the only affordable way to do it than so be it!

I’ve been blogging a series about a trip to Africa which was the last trip we did in business class using United Mileage Plus. Our most recent trip in April 2015 was Thailand, Malaysia & the Cook Islands all in economy. I’d blown my stash of UA miles and that’s all we could afford. Thankfully we survived! I’ll be blogging about this trip starting in June.

Now I am looking towards next year – 2016. This will be a major trip to Ecuador, Colombia, some Caribbean islands to see some amazing birds and a visit to family in the USA.. Looks like we are in for economy tickets again. If you are using AA miles, it’s almost impossible to get business class between Australia and South America or the USA and Australia as Qantas members have earlier access and snap them up. While I do participate in Qantas’ program, I am not about to pay their hefty fuel surcharges. I don’t have enough QFF points anyway. So once again, it will be the back of the plane but to some pretty amazing destinations!

A Bittersweet Farewell To Thai’s Business Class

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Tara

The last few years have been great not only for the places we have been but the way we got there. Although in normal circumstances, we would never aspire to business class the US Airways promos and Chase credit cards meant that we had plenty of miles. This luxury will soon be coming to an end for several reasons. I’m running out of credit cards to churn. US Airways is gone. And airlines are getting stingier about releasing premium award seats. So knowing that these would likely be our last business class flights for several years at least I wanted to really enjoy them.

THAI AIRWAYS BRISBANE BNE TO BANGKOK BKK

This was the first of a complicated USDM award to Israel returning from Barcelona. We settled in, got comfortable and had champagne.

This flight leaves at 2pm and arrives at 8pm Thai time so it really isn’t necessary to sleep. I watched Bollywood films with English subtitles through dinner, then lay down for a nap just because I could!

The onward flight was on Turkish Airlines so we couldn’t use the Thai Airways Spa. We used the public spa upstairs for a half hour massage, then went to the lounge to relax, check emails and have some snacks before the next flight left.

THAI AIRWAYS BANGKOK BKK TO BRISBANE BNE

I’ve blogged about this route before so I’ll just supplement it a bit here. There was no way we were going to pass up one last massage in the spa, even though it was a tight squeeze before our flight.

Purple is one of my favourite colours so I love the TG cabin decor. The smiling crew were lovely as usual.

I had to have my champagne!

We were pretty tired so we rushed through dinner so we could get some sleep. The lie-flat beds were very comfortable and had some fancy controls. I love the quilts they use, so soft and comfy!

I slept like a log and didn’t even have time to see a full movie before arriving at BNE. I don’t know if the future holds more mileage earning activities that would get us in business class again so we are on economy for at least the next 3 trips. But this one sure was nice while it lasted!

Why Bangkok Is My Favourite Airport For Transit

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Tara

While some people prefer Singapore Airlines, I usually prefer Thai, especially if it is a business class award because of the fantastic ground service. There’s nothing like a relaxing massage sooth those aching muscles! We had about 3 hours between flights on our India & Sri Lanka adventure so took full advantage!

The spa is in terminal C and a free 30 minute neck & shoulders or feet & calves massage is offered to anyone who is departing on Thai Airways in business class. You do not get this benefit if you are on a Star Alliance carrier, even in business or first class. If you are in Thai first class, you get a full body massage lasting an hour!

They will offer you some juice while you wait your turn. We only waited about 10 minutes.

This is the room for the neck & shoulder massage.

This room is for the foot massage.

Exotic snacks in the lounge.

Even the ladies’ room has a very “zen” feel to it!

I was really glad the massage relaxed me enough to sleep as the planes on the Bangkok-Bangalore route weren’t nearly as nice as the ones on the Brisbane-Bangkok route (see previous review).

The Thai Airways Business Class Experience

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Tara

I am not a person who would normally ever aspire to travel in business class. I’ve always considered myself lucky to even have the chance to travel the world in economy, something that very few people in the world get to do. Although I would never spend cash to buy a business class ticket or upgrade a paid economy when I have enough miles for a free ticket, sometimes the airlines dish up promos that are so generous that we can earn a large amount of miles quickly and cheaply. This is what happened in 2008-2011 when US Airways was running their Grand Slam promo. I was able to max out the 100k bonuses on both my account and my husband’s, topping mine off with the 2009 shopping promo and a few credit card bonuses.

I like to ensure that we have enough miles for the next 3 years’ planned trips in economy, then if we get extra miles we can redeem for business class tickets. This is the situation we have been in for the last couple years! So this award was booked using US Airways miles.

It was our first time using Thai Airways’ product and we loved it! The seats were very comfortable, the service was excellent and we enjoyed the big screen entertainment. The seats were angled lie flat but with the help of my Somidem (Ambien) prescription, I slept very well!

The ground experience at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport was amazing! Our business class tickets entitled us to a free half hour massage in the spa which we really enjoyed. It was more a relaxing massage than a deep tissue muscle massage.

The airport is massive and it can be close to a kilometre walk to get from terminal E to C past the lengthy terminal D.

After the massage, we checked out the buffet in the Royal Silk Lounge and waited for the flight to Seoul.

We had to take a bus to the plane, not sure why they don’t use the air bridges.

The food was great, even though we weren’t that hungry given the hour of night!

Getting To South Africa Using Frequent Flyer Miles

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Tara

Africa attracts the lion’s share (pun intended) of eco-tourists and the good news is you don’t have to spend a fortune to get there!

There are several regions in Africa that will appeal to birders especially so in this post we will have a look at South Africa. Most people would be flying into Johannesburg (JNB) but some may prefer to fly into Cape Town (CPT) so I will give options for both using my recommended frequent flier programs.

STAR ALLIANCE

UNITED AIRLINES

With United, it’s easiest to use their interactive award chart. To illustrate the mileage required you can just look at the “from Africa” section. These awards are on a one-way basis. If you are planning a multi-destination trip around Africa, you should book it as a round-trip to take advantage of a free stopover and open jaw to get more destination in the award.

Region Definitions: The chart above is for travel between the following regions.

Central & Southern Africa (includes Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote D’lvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Reunion Island, Rwanda, S. Africa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe)

Mileage award rates are quoted for one way savers.

To get to South Africa from the USA and Canada, it’s 40k in economy and 60k in Business. JNB is served by South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Thai, Egypt Air, Turkish and Singapore. CPT is served by South African.

From Australia and New Zealand, it’s 50k economy and 75k business. You’d be using Singapore or Thai connecting to South African, Ethiopian or Egypt Air.

From Europe it’s 30k economy and 45k business with connections on South African, Egypt Air, Turkish and Ethiopian.

You may also want to use your miles for intra-Africa trips but for domestic flights you would probably be better off paying for a cheap ticket online. You can get to other places in Africa for 12.5k economy and 25 business with South African, Ethiopian. Please note that Egypt is in the North Africa region so costs 22.5k economy and 35k business.

AVIANCA-TACA LIFEMILES

This program is a favourite with those who can’t easily get miles from the generous USA based credit cards as they often sell miles cheaply. The mileage costs are roughly the same as United but please note in the screenshot how much you can save by using the “More Money” feature to buy miles at roughly $0.15 each if you can’t otherwise get Lifemiles. Of course if you have more Lifemiles than $$ then simply book the “More miles” option. Check them out on their website. In the examples below, I show you an economy trip from New York to Johannesburg and a business class trip from Brisbane to Johannesburg.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES KRISFLYER

SQ is a great option if you live in a country where Amex Membership Rewards transfer to Krisflyer such as Australia. The YQ fuel surcharge can be pretty high but if you book online for SQ metal awards you save 15% of the mileage cost. See this example of a one way Brisbane – Johannesburg where the price comes down from 72,500 miles to 61,625 miles.

Notice the yellow highlighter below of the $430 YQ surcharge. This is why I don’t use Krisflyer for redemptions like this. I would use United in this case.

ONE WORLD AIRLINES

AMERICAN AADVANTAGE

This is the most popular of the One World alliance frequent flyer programs and they do have some great award options. If you are coming from North America and route via LHR on BA or MAD on IB you will have to pay fuel surcharges. You can save these charges if you use Air Berlin or Finnair from North America to Europe, then Etihad to Johannesburg. British Airways is the only airline serving Cape Town so you will most likely have to use Johannesburg as your gateway with One World. Later this year, when Qatar Airways joins One World, that opens up more routings too. Honestly, for trips to Africa, Star Alliance rules so I would be using their miles first.

All awards are priced as one way awards, add 2 to get a round trip.

From North America – Economy is 37.5k and business is 75k. Use British Airways, Iberia (see note above) or Air Berlin or Finnair to Europe, then Etihad to Johannesburg. In late 2013, Qatar Airways will be available.

From Europe – Economy is 30k and business is 37.5k. Use British Airways, Iberia (see note above) or Air Berlin or Finnair to Europe, then Etihad to Johannesburg. In late 2013, Qatar Airways will be available.

From Australia & New Zealand – Economy is 37.5k ,business is 50k. Use Qantas, Malaysian or Cathay Pacific to Asia, then Etihad or Qatar (late 2013) to Johannesburg.

Within Africa – economy is 10k, business is 17.5k. Options are very limited with only a few routes served by British Airways/Comair such as Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban, Harare, Livingstone, Maputo, Mauritius, Port Elizabeth, Victoria Falls and Windhoek.

BRITISH AIRWAYS & IBERIA AVIOS

This is a distance-based program so use Great Circle Mapper and the Avios Chart to calculate the award cost. All awards are priced as one ways awards, add 2 to get a round trip.

Avios Zone Chart

You have to add each segment’s award separately.

In these examples, London to Jo’burg is 5620 miles so falls in zone 7 and costs 30k in economy and 60k in business. If someone connects in Doha when Qatar Airways joins One World, there are 2 segments. New York to Doha is 6703 miles which falls in zone 8 and costs 35k in economy and 70k business class. Then you add Doha to Jo’burg which is 3862 miles, falling in zone 5 and costs 20k economy and 40k business. The whole trip from New York to Jo’burg would cost 55k economy and 110k business.

The British Airways/Comair flights can be a bargain.

In the examples above, Jo’burg to either Harare or Victoria Falls is in zone 1 so only costs 4500 Avios each way in economy or 9000 business. Jo’burg to Cape Town is in zone 2 and costs 7500 economy, 15k business. Jo’burg to Mauritius is in zone 3 and costs 10k economy, 20k business.

QANTAS

Qantas has direct flights from Sydney to Johannesburg with connections from other Australian cities. The awards are not cheap though. In this example from Brisbane to Johannesburg it’s a whopping 255k in economy one way! May be of use to Aussie business travelers who get lots of points from their work travel but too rich for my blood!

Using Points plus Pay doesn’t bring any relief but on the bright side it appears to include the YQ tax.

SUMMARY

Star Alliance rules Africa! If you have to use One World, avoid going through London on BA because of the taxes. I have a trip planned for 2015 and am currently collecting United Miles for this trip.

Mileage Earning Credit Cards – Asia, Latin America, Middle East And Africa Edition

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Tara

There are probably locally based blogs for these areas which would cover how to earn miles from credit card sign up bonuses so what I will do here is create a reference for the major airlines so you can see who partners with what bank, then Google for a local blog that tracks special offers on these cards. No matter which country you live in, always check with American Express as they have the Membership Rewards program available in most countries but the partners vary widely.

A good rule of thumb no matter where you live is to sign up for your local airline’s program (preferably one in Star Alliance or One World) to get credit card miles and any possible points from everyday living such as shopping, phone, internet, petrol, insurance, etc. While you are looking at the credit card pages I linked below, always check for any other “everyday” promos.

Then join the 5 main programs I recommend for eco-tourists as I will be concentrating on these when I post special promos. These programs have the best redemption levels to places where people usually want to go birding and offer the best promos throughout the year.

ASIA

Asians will have a lot of choices as it seems that the main Asian based airlines have partners not only in all Asian countries but some have partners in Australia and the USA as well. The links below will take you to the airline’s credit card page. Also check on FlyerTalk in the airline’s forum as people will usually post any new signup bonuses there. This blogger specifically caters to Indians with mileage earning credit cards and he would be more familiar with that market.