Tagged: SFO

View from The St. Regis Suite (Villa 508) 3

The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort: Overview

The new St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort opened in November 2016 and I was lucky to be able to spend a few nights at the resort in early November just after their 1 year anniversary. The resort is a 45 minute seaplane ride from Male (MLE), but getting to Male will...

JetSuiteX Embraer 135 2

How to Fly Private for Cheap!

The holidays remind many travelers of how painful it can be to travel commercially. Luckily, there are a few small companies offering excellent options to fly private without having to pay $5,000+ per hour. Checkout the options below… Blackbird Air Blackbird offers mainly turboprop and seaplane service on short 30...

Your bag might not make it on time... 1

Delayed or Lost Luggage?

With bag fees on the rise over the past years, most travelers try to travel with just a carryon. Sometimes it’s inevitable that you’ll have to check a bag, especially on an international trip. In the last 3 months, I’ve had 2 instances where my checked bag failed to show...

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Virgin Atlantic Upper Class: SFO-LHR A340-600

After many flights with Virgin America and a few with Virgin Australia, I was ready to try Virgin Atlantic. This is Sir Richard Branson’s first airline which he started in 1984. I booked the flight using 70,000 Delta Skymiles and $5.60 back in November 2016. The same flight now costs...

Bay Area 1

Cathay Pacific Premium Economy Class: HKG-SFO B777-300ER

I covered Cathay’s Premium Economy product in this previous post, but this one will focus on flying Premium Economy on the B777-300ER. The seats are similar yet the layout is different. After grabbing dinner in The Pier and a shower in a cabana in The Wing, I proceeded to the...

Sunrise Sydney 2

Hotel Tips and New Global Entry Interview Option

Staying in hotels almost 50% of my nights last year, I learned a few tips. Tip #1: Book directly with the hotel, using 3rd party sites such as hotels.com increases your odds at getting “walked” last minute. This means you will be placed in a nearby hotel due to an...

London 2

Award Booking Assistance using Chase Ultimate Reward Points

A few loyal readers, Claire & Danny, signed up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve 100K bonus when it was available last year and recently reached out to me to assist with booking an award using their Chase UR points. They were flexible on their dates but their destinations were set in...

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JetBlue Mint Class: SFO-JFK A321

I earned 75,000 JetBlue miles during a promotion last year and I finally used them for Mint Class from SFO to JFK on a redeye flight. It was a perfect flight to test their Mint Class, “Business Class”, lie-flat service. JetBlue offers Mint Class on select routes which can be...

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AA Executive Platinum & Luggage Tracking

It was a very busy year of travel in 2016 and I’ve finally achieved the highest published status tier of an airline due to my increased travels to Australia. Flying American Airlines to Australia guarantees inflight WiFi and a new 777-300ER plane. The Main Cabin Extra seats make Economy class...

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First JetBlue Experience: SFO-LGB Route

In June, JetBlue released a promotion, #GoForthWithJetBlue Points Match, matching the points that you had with Virgin America and giving you JetBlue points if you complete 1 roundtrip flight by 8/31. I had never flown JetBlue and heard they are a competitor for Virgin America which is my favorite domestic airline. The...