Palo Will Travel Blog

United 747 0

United MileagePlus Award Charts to Disappear

United announced a few weeks ago that they will be eliminating award charts and move to a variable pricing method later this year. This is horrible news as they follow the trend set by Delta. If you have United miles and have been saving for a specific award ticket, I...

Secret Flying 0

Secret Flying Mobile App Push Notifications

I’ve been following Secret Flying for years now via Twitter, but they announced their new mobile app recently for iOS and Android. With the mobile app, you can now subscribe to push notifications from your home city to be alerted when the latest deals are posted including error fares. Some...

SWA Hawaii 0

Southwest begins Hawaii service March 17th. Fares start @ $49 each way

Southwest has finally put Hawaii tickets on sale. They have an opening offer as low as $49 each way from Oakland to Honolulu/Maui. https://www.southwest.com/hawaii/ Oakland to Honolulu flights start March 17, 2019 Oakland to Maui flights start April 7, 2019 San Jose to Honolulu flights start May 5, 2019 San...

St. Regis Deer Valley 0

Marriott & Hyatt Hotels Award Price Changes in March 2019

Marriott has announced that as of March 5th, category 8 hotels will start charging 85,000 points per night instead of the current 60,000 points. Book now before they require 41% more points. Many hotels are also changing award categories on March 5th with a majority increasing by 1 level. You...

Cathay Pacific 2

Booking Africa using Miles/Points

Flying to Africa from the US is a long haul so using miles/points to fly in Business or First Class makes a huge difference. There are sweet spots in various airline award charts and I was able to take advantage of 3 of them for an upcoming trip.   Alaska...

HKG-SFO from Seat 1A 1

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

I had flown Cathay Pacific First Class before on this same route (HKG-SFO) and plane (B777-300ER) 2 years prior so I had my expectations set really high. In 2016, I had used 67,500 American Airlines miles to book a last minute ticket. This time I used 70,000 Alaska Airlines miles...

Rose Parade 2019 0

Happy New Year! 2018 Review

Happy New Year! During 2018 I was able to scale down business travel, but it was another busy year with over 80,000 miles of flying and visiting 13 countries. Below is an overview of my 2018 travel…   Hotel Stays (21, 3 less than 2017): ARIA Resort & Casino – Las...

Landed @ CLD 0

California Pacific Airlines: SJC-CLD ERJ-145LR

On November 1st, California Pacific Airlines made their first commercial flight from Carlsbad, CA (CLD) to San Jose, CA (SJC). They are a new airline servicing northern San Diego County being headquartered out of CLD. Currently with only 4 planes in the fleet, it’s hard for them to make up...

St. Regis Bali 1

Credit Card Application Batch – 2018

During 2018, I decided to apply for 2 more credit cards as I continue to diversify & build up my point/mile balances. I applied and was approved for the following cards: American Express Gold Card ($250/yr, not waived 1st year): 50,000 AMEX points after $2,000 spend in 90 days 20% back on US...

Singapore Airlines The Private Room SIN 0

Singapore Airlines: The Private Room Lounge SIN

After landing in Singapore from my long haul from SFO via HKG, I spent some time in The Private Room Lounge while I waited for my flight to Bali. Access to the lounge is only for Singapore Airlines customers traveling in First or Suites Class. You aren’t able to bring...