Maximing intra-Asia travel by purchasing Avianca award miles

Intra-Asia travel is notoriously expensive, especially when you're looking into non-hub destinations like Sapporo and Hangzhou.  For example, fares between Sapporo and Hong Kong, a 5-hour segment, regularly run in excess of $800 USD roundtrip.  Even major routes like Tokyo to Beijing, a 3 1/2 hour segment, rarely fall below $500.  Due to outrageous pricing within these markets, award miles come in very handy for intra-Asia travel.

Avianca, the flag carrier of Colombia, joined Star Alliance last year and has a lucrative award redemption chart.  For example, flights between North and South Asia, which encompass all of East Asia, are only 30k award miles roundtrip. One-way awards can be purchased for half price at 15k miles, and there are no fuel surcharges.

Avianca's loyalty program, LifeMiles, is known for occasionally offering 100% bonus miles for purchasing award miles.  Their current 100% bonus miles campaign runs through April 30th, and $30 will get you 2k miles instead of the normal 1k miles, thus pricing miles at 1.5 cents per piece.  30k x 1.5 cents = $450, so from that angle alone, many intra-Asia destinations become reasonably priced.  Better yet, Avianca allows you to purchase 60% of the miles required for a redemption at the time of booking (in the case of a 30k intra-Asia trip: 18k miles) for 1.275 cents each, so you'll only need to buy 12k miles initially for $180.  When you're ready to book your award flight, simply purchase the 18k miles for an additional $229.68.  So in total, you're looking at $409.68 for all award travel within East Asia, which is an absolute bargain considering that you can fly with a combination of elite flag carriers like Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, ANA, Asiana, etc.

A real steal deal: roundtrip Sapporo to Hong Kong for $229.68 + 12k miles = $410

LifeMiles is a relatively new program, so changes, including award miles devaluation, can happen at any time.  But for now, this is the cheapest way to get around East Asia when they offer their 100% bonus miles campaigns.  Always check for award availability on their website before purchasing miles as availability may be sparse at best during the peak seasons.  Also, you need to have already been a LifeMiles member in order to take advantage of purchasing miles promotions, so be sure to sign-up for an account in order to be eligible for future 100% bonus miles campaigns.

Free Hilton HHonors Gold status with 6 easy steps

Hilton HHonors is one of the worst hotel programs in terms of points redemptions, but one of the most generous when it comes to elite status benefits.  Out of all hotel programs, only Hilton, Hyatt, and Starwood Preferred Guest offer free breakfast to top-tiered elites, and only Hilton offers it to their mid-tiered Gold elites.  In fact, one of the biggest gripes that top-tiered Hilton Platinum elites complain about is the general lack of differentiation between Platinum and Gold benefits.  That being said, Hilton is offering free Gold status for 1 year to Australian residents with a Visa Infinite credit card.  There are easy ways to circumvent the Australian residency and Visa Infinite card benefit, as outlined below:


1.  Login to your Hilton Honors account.  If you don't already have an account, you can create one for free.

2.  Create an Australian address by using this address generator.  Don't worry, you're not creating or replicating a real address.

3.  Change the address on your Hilton Honors profile to your newly generated Australian address.

4.  Generate a random Visa Infinite credit card number by using this website.  Scroll down to "Generate a credit card number" and select "Visa - Chase Manhattan Bank".  Replace the output with “4119 45xx xxxx xxxx” and hit generate.  Don't worry, you're not creating or replicating a real credit card number.

5.  Go to Hilton's Visa Infinite landing page and enter the credit card number that you generated.

6.   Gold status should be reflected on your account within 24 hours.  Then change the address associated your account back to your actual home address.


On top of free breakfast, Hilton Gold offers the following benefits as outlined on their website, many which are better than top-tier benefits for low-end hotel loyalty programs:

• Space-available upgrade to a preferred room (Waldorf Astoria^® Hotels & Resorts, Conrad^® Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton™)
• Quick Reservations & Check-In based on room preferences
• Late Checkout
• Express Checkout
• Spouse Stays Free
• Complimentary In-Room, High-Speed Internet Access during stays
• Complimentary Access to Fitness Centers/Health Clubs
• 2 Complimentary Bottles of Water per stay (Waldorf Astoria^® Hotels & Resorts, Conrad^® Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton™, Embassy Suites™, Hilton Garden Inn^®, Hilton Grand Vacations^®)
• eCheck-in: Select your room and check in 24 hours in advance at participating properties
•  Earn a 25% bonus on all Base Points

The Gold status offer is good through May 31st, 2013, but since Visa and Hilton can choose to pull it at any time, you should do it now.  You will be granted Gold status through March 31st, 2014.

Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard with 40,000 point sign-up bonus and 2.2% cashback

The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard is offering a 40,000 mile sign-up bonus after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months of card membership, which is an easy threshold to reach.  Barclay "miles" are actual currency that can be converted to statement credit for 1 cent per mile, so the 40k mile sign-up bonus is worth $400.  But the real kicker is that the Barclaycard offers 2X miles for ALL purchases with no annual cap.  And if that's not already sweet enough, the card also gives you 10% miles back when you redeem your miles towards travel purchases, effectively increasing your cashback to 2.2% and your sign-up bonus to $440.

Typically, cashback cards aren't noteworthy because frequent flyer miles are worth more.  However, the Barclaycard is an exception with their 2.2% cashback.  One of the biggest advantage of cashback cards is the freedom to book without restrictions.  In the case of frequent flyer miles, you'll have to find an off-peak date with award availability in order to make your miles worthwhile.  But with Barclay miles, just book whatever flight, hotel, train, cruise, car, etc. that you want through any portal and you'll be able to redeem your miles towards it in the form of a statement credit.  You'll also be able to earn frequent flyer points with your respective carrier since your purchase still counts as a revenue ticket.  Some of the other card benefits include the following:

-No foreign exchange transaction fees
-$89 annual fee waived for the first year
-0% introductory APR for the first 12 months of card membership
-MasterCard's renowned purchase and travel protection coverage

The 40k sign-up bonus is for a limited time, so as always, don't delay.

JAL's marginal domestic improvements for elites

Few airlines exhibit vast chasmic differences between their international and domestic soft products.  Either they're consistently spot on or consistently lousy (aka United).  As I mentioned last year, Japan Airlines is a notable exception with domestic lounges that fade even in comparison to United Clubs.  I flew the CTS-HND route for the third time this past week, and was surprised to see some marginal enhancements to their service for elites:

1. CTS Sakura Lounge doubled in size
The CTS Sakura Lounge was the worst lounge I've ever been to until I visited the Nagoya lounge, which doesn't even offer WiFi.  I was surprised to see the recent additions, which included mood lighting with bar-styled seating.  Charging adapters for <iPhone 4S, Android devices, and most Japanese dumbphones were ample.  I was disappointed to see no enhancements in consumable offerings, and an utter lack of iPhone 5+ adapters was laughable.

Instead of just adding a room with enhanced fixtures, what JAL should have done was build a separate domestic first class lounge.  The CTS-HND segment is the busiest air route in the world, supporting a behemoth of business travelers, many who are oneworld Emeralds and first class passengers.

2. On-board greetings
Before takeoff, I was greeted by my last name and personally thanked by a flight attendant on the CTS-HND segment.  I figured that this was an isolated incident since no one else was greeted and it's never happened before.  But the same exact procedure happened on my return segment, which likely makes this an enhancement for elite flyers.  The flight attendant apparently had my name on the list.  This is a practice American Airlines performs for their Executive Platinums who aren't upgraded on a domestic flight as they're eligible to receive a complimentary snack and alcoholic beverage.  A personal greeting with JAL was welcoming, but it would have helped if it came with a free snack and beer, which is exclusive to the first class cabin.

3. HND Diamond Premier Lounges
The Diamond Premier Lounge is JAL's first class domestic lounge product, which is exclusive to their busiest hub at HND.  Upon landing at HND, I noticed on the airport map that there were now two Diamond Premier Lounges and two Sakura lounges.  Normally, JAL doesn't grant lounge access to arriving passengers, so I made an excuse to the lounge angels and was granted access.  The lone enhancement: seaweed and salmon onigiris, which is actually a decent addition since JAL lounges have virtually zero food.

Bottom line
Always good to see improvements, albeit marginal.  CTS dropped the ball on their golden opportunity to up their game with their lone lounge.  And JAL should offer more than just a personal greeting of appreciation for your business.  JAL domestic travel is still a pumpkin, though I'll take it over United on their best day.

Free 1-year Regus Businessworld Gold membership with lounge access

Regus is best known for their worldwide business lounges, which is a like an office away from your office.  They also operate lounges at select airports, and Regus Businessworld Gold membership gets you unlimited access to any of their 1,500 business lounges worldwide located in 600 cities.  They're currently offering 1-year complimentary Gold membership to Avis Preferred Service members, which is free to enroll in.  Simply register for Avis Preferred Service, then enter your Avis number at the Regus activation page.  Since Gold membership costs $49 per month, this is a $588 value for free!!

Regus business lounges typically offer business work spaces, WiFi, refreshments, and beverages.  Keep your expectations low for consumables as the token lounge in Sapporo, Japan only offers coffee and tea for free.  That's right, Coke and granola bars come at a premium.  So while these lounges fade in comparison to international airport lounges, you can't beat free.  Airport lounges are very limited, but include Amsterdam and Munich airports.  Here is a full list of their lounges.

ICN to NRT with Korean Airlines Lounge

HND to GMP with Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Park Hyatt Seoul
ICN to NRT with Korean Airlines Lounge

Incheon International Airport (ICN) is the largest airport in Korea and has been consistently ranked as the best airport on the face of the planet by numerous rating agencies.  As the primary hub for Asiana Airlines (Star Alliance) and national carrier Korean Airlines (Skyteam), ICN has limited oneworld routings restricted to flights to/fro oneworld hubs.  For my return trip, I flew on Japan Airlines from ICN-NRT because the timing worked out better than GMP-HND's morning flights.

Korean Airlines Lounge
Cathay Pacific is the only oneworld carrier that has a lounge at ICN, and I definitely wasn't looking forward to it based on the subpar quality of their NRT lounge.  Oddly enough, JAL directed me to the Korean Airlines (KAL) Lounge, which is typically reserved for premium Skyteam passengers.  Korean carriers are known for beefing up their lounge products, so I was looking forward to this one.

The KAL Lounge definitely had a western touch to it.  Cold foods included a salad bar, danishes, and cheeses.  Hot foods were pasta, fried shrimp, and grilled chicken.

Soft drinks and beer were the usual.  Where the lounge really felt short was with the meager premium alcohol selection, which was reminiscent of a U.S. carrier international lounge.

KAL copied American Airlines and United Airlines on this crap

The lounge had individual private bathrooms and shower rooms.  The seating capacity was good with a TV room and lounge sofas.

TV room

Individual restrooms

The lounge had one of the best terminal views with floor to ceiling windows, all facing the main terminal.

Cathay Pacific Lounge
30 minutes before departure, I decided to stop by the Cathay Pacific Lounge just to see what it was like.  To no surprise, it was pretty much in par with their NRT lounge.  In other words, I did feel relieved with my KAL Lounge invitation.

ICN-NRT on Japan Airlines
I was able to secure an emergency exit aisle seat at the time of booking for this 2-hour flight.  However, economy class is economy class, so nothing to boast about here.

"Special" seafood meal request

Nothing special about this super light meal

Once again, requesting a seafood meal in advance was a big mistake.  Based on my experience for the en route segment, I tried to cancel my request at the check-in desk, but was denied because it wasn't 24 hours in advance.  So you'll need that 24-hour cushion to either cancel or request a special meal.  The normal meal was a seafood donburi, which far surpassed my special meal of salmon sashimi over a half slice of bread.

Bottom line
The KAL Lounge is an average Asian carrier international lounge.  As a oneworld Emerald, I've become accustomed to first class lounge access, which evidently only exist at oneworld hubs.  So whereas it was a bummer not getting bumped to KAL's first class lounge, I was still happy to be thrown into their biz class lounge so that I could avoid the Cathay Pacific lounge.  And, at 10,000 award miles each way, this is one of the best AA redemption values.

Park Hyatt Seoul

HND to GMP with Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Park Hyatt Seoul
ICN to NRT with Korean Airlines Lounge

Chase Hyatt credit card free nights
The Chase Hyatt credit card is best known for its generous sign-up bonus of 2 free nights at any Hyatt property worldwide, including flagship properties like the Park Hyatt in Tokyo and Sydney, which can regularly run for over $600 per night.  The card also offers an annual anniversary free night that can be used at category 4 properties, which typically includes mid-tier Hyatt Regency hotels.  Category 4 hotels rarely include flagship Park Hyatt properties, especially at bustling cities like Seoul.  However, the Park Hyatt Seoul is an exception and an excellent redemption value for this annual benefit.  Furthermore, the card grants you automatic Platinum status, which includes perks such as room upgrades, free WiFi, and late checkout.

Park Hyatt Seoul
The Park Hyatt Seoul is located at the busiest intersection in Seoul's financial district.  I entered the hotel at 9:45 am to check-in early and the 1st-floor bell boys already knew my first name when I told them my last name.  I was personally ushered to the lobby on the 25th floor, and our bags were taken to our room.  Upon check-in, I was given a complimentary upgrade to a deluxe room and free WiFi pursuant to my Platinum status perk.  What's interesting is that the lobby is located on the top floor and the rooms are on the 4th-23rd floors.  So after taking the elevator up to the check-in desk, I was then escorted down to my room on the 8th floor.

The 55-square-meter room was filled with electronic controls that powered the shades, dampers, and excessive lighting.  The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a nice view of the famed COEX building, which is the largest underground mall in Asia.

The bathroom had a small sauna and two shower head options.  The vanity kit was littered with useful amenities that were synonymous to the Tokyo Park Hyatt's.  I left the room at 10:15 am and returned at night to find a bundle of large seedless grapes and a personalized welcome card on the table.

Breakfast
The buffet breakfast is located on the 2nd floor.  It's hardly a deal at 40,000 Won (~$36.50 USD), but definitely worth the food and experience.  Upon getting seated, you're offered eggs cooked to your liking and your choice of beverages.  I opted for scrambled eggs diced with smoked salmon and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Pastries

Fruits

Smoked meats, fish, and cheese

Hot Korean breakfast items

Gelato for breakfast, anyone?

My personal favorite: fresh fruit smoothies blended to your liking.  I chose strawberries, oranges, and apples.  This breakfast was definitely a good start to the day, and could last you at least through the afternoon.  Unfortunately, this was also my last day in Seoul, so I'd spend the entire afternoon flying.

Bottom line
At $400 per night, this hotel is easily the best redemption value for a category 4 hotel whether using points or your credit card annual free night certificate.  It's one of the best hotels in Seoul at a prime location, and service is excellent, though somewhat inferior to the Tokyo Park Hyatt's unparalleled service.  Upon checkout, I was given a complimentary luxury taxi ride to the bus station at the Coex, which offers nonstop service to ICN every 20 minutes.  It's less than a kilometer away, but still a nice complimentary amenity.  And if you're a Diamond member, you'll be given a complimentary upgrade to a suite along with free breakfast buffet.

Next: ICN to NRT with Korean Airlines Lounge