Palo Will Travel Blog

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United Airlines Polaris Business Class: IAD-SFO B777-200

Flying at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic treated me well by being upgraded on United with just Premier Silver status. United was operating their international configured planes for domestic routes and I got lucky to fly their 777-200 (Layout 5) from IAD to SFO featuring their new Polaris Business Class...

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Hawaiian Airlines First Class: HNL-SFO A330-200

I was able to snag a one-way ticket from Sydney, Australia (SYD) to San Francisco (SFO) via Honolulu (HNL) on Hawaiian Airlines for only $360. Using 25,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles I was able to upgrade my HNL-SFO segment to lie-flat First Class. Upgrade availability is based on a First Class...

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Singapore Airlines Business Class: SIN-DPS B787-10

Staying overnight in Singapore after I landed from Tokyo makes it a great stop on the way to Bali. We had 23 hours to explore this amazing city. It was a warm February night, but we were still able to explore the Marina area including Marina Bay Sands. With COVID-19...

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Singapore Airlines Business Class: NRT-SIN A380

Singapore Airlines introduced their new Business Class seats on their A380 at the end of 2017 and I was lucky to be able to fly it earlier this year before all A380’s were grounded due to COVID-19. I redeemed 95,000 Singapore Airlines miles plus SGD 50 in taxes for Business...

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Etihad First Apartment Class: AUH-JFK A380

This was our final long haul flight on the way home from our journey to Africa last year which I booked on miles/points. I was only able to secure 2 First Class seats (3A & 4A) at the time of booking which can be very challenging with Etihad, but you...

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Cathay Pacific First Class: SFO-HKG B777-300ER

This was our first flight on our journey to Africa last year which I booked on miles/points. I was only able to secure 1 First Class seat at the time of booking, but I set an ExpertFlyer alert in case they opened up a seat closer to departure. Sure enough,...

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2020 Travel Halted: COVID-19

On March 11th, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 Coronavirus as a global pandemic. This has brought global travel to a halt. The entire industry is frozen and we’ve seen flights been reduced by at least 80%. Here are some of the latest developments:   Emirates is now testing all...

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Air Seychelles Economy Class: SEZ-PRI DHC-6 Twin Otter

After arriving from Johannesburg on Air Seychelles brand new A320neo, we connected to Praslin on their small twin otter plane which they use for inter-island (domestic) flights. The plane seats 19 passengers, but given such a late night flight there were only 8 passengers. We boarded the plane from the...

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Air Seychelles Economy Class: JNB-SEZ A320neo

Flying a new airline and a brand new plane to a new country to scratch off my map made this a fun flight. Air Seychelles has a limited route network, but from Johannesburg they offer a flight 5x weekly. They received their first A320neo aircraft in August 2019 so the...

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Alaska MVP Gold 75K Status Recap for 2019

I was very fortunate to hold Alaska MVP Gold 75K status from October 2018 until December 2019 via a status match from AA Executive Platinum. Alaska MVP Gold 75K status is their highest tier offering upgrades to First Class, Lounge passes, instant Premium Class upgrades at time of booking, no...