Currently in Guangzhou on business. Took SQ Business class and while the service was great, the food left a lot to be desired. Very bland and tasteless. Flat seats were great for the 4 hour flight, fell asleep watching Revenant (great performance from DiCaprio notwithstanding).

How's the premium lounge at Baiyun? I presume I can get in flying SQ J?

Not even 1 seat?

Thanks! Have no choice, my flight departs 120AM so hopefully the crowd will thin out later in the night.

This thread is very informative, learnt a bunch from helpful and experienced people who have shared their tips and tricks.

My miles come predominantly from Maybank credit card spends. I simply do not fly enough to get status of any sort. Not that it matters when you can redeem business or first class seats as lounge access and other benefits will be available to you anyway.

Posting this from Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. Halfway through our Rocky Mountaineer tour.

Flew into the US on CX J, still one of my favourite business class seats. I love the extra space when lowering the armrest. This trip we managed to snag 2 seats in the mini-business class cabin just behind First Class. There were only 4 of us so it was very quiet and exclusive. CX FA's I find to be more genuinely warm and caring as compared to MH or SQ (they are less attractive/sexy but I'm not into eye-candy for red-eye flights anyway).

Tried out the new Dnata lounge, Qantas and BA lounge at Changi (Qantas is the best IMHO) and CX's the Bridge and the Wing in HKG on the way here. Both CX lounges were crowded as usual but there were no problems finding seats or getting a shower before our flight.

Tried out Virgin America First Class from SFO to Seattle, absolutely loved it, especially the funky tune they play as their pre-take off safety routine. Loved the plush white recliners and cool ambient lighting on board. This was a paid flight btw, I had no way of redeeming this flight.

At the end of the day, whatever strategy one employs, the time and effort spent on accruing miles and points is definitely worth it.

* Edit: did the Boeing factory tour and loved it. Learnt so much and actually saw a Korean Air Dreamliner being tested. The tour guide played dumb when I asked her about delivery problems for QR 787s though

This post has been edited by dctravels: Jun 10 2016, 08:59 AM

Haven't tried it but if it works, then that's a loophole to be exploited for sure.


Keep your miles and go for Mhupgrade instead.


You could transfer to another for a fee. Otherwise, can't really see a better use other than topping up with treat points

Relaxing in CX's First and Business Class lounge SFO on our way home. Very impressed with the shower rooms. Large and spacious with the trademark carrera white marble. And of course CX's Noodle Bar for the win!


Attached thumbnail(s)

Search availability first then convert. I do not know how's the situation with redeeming Emirates flights with Enrich miles so maybe just LHR for Enrich. My recent CX waitlists have cleared around 20 days prior to departure. No such luck with SQ. YMMV of course.

Sad to hear CX retreating from KL, we will be left with only second-tier and low-cost airlines soon.

On a brighter note, I've just completed a redemption for travel in November featuring SQ Suites (SIN-BOM), QR 787 J (DEL-DOH) and QR A380 F (DOH-BKK). I'm trying to redeem AI F for BOM-DEL but no luck yet. Hopeful to try out 3 first class seats in one trip.

My CX F trip to JFK has been pushed to January next year. Thank goodness KUL-HKG will still be on CX J.

FWIW, just got a text that conversion of AmBonus Points to Asia Miles will get 10% more miles. Valid from 15 Aug - 31 Oct 2016.

It's 5X TPs (not sure about utilities)

I would post in flyertalk, see what the experts say.

There is an ongoing deal under Visa Luxury Hotels for Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and Curio hotels that features a buy one night get one night free offer (book before 31 Dec 2016 and stay before 31 March 2017).

The full list of participating properties is here:

Waldorf-Astoria

Arizona Biltmore
La Quinta Resort & Club, California
Boca Beach Club
Boca Raton Resort & Spa
Casa Marina Resort
The Reach
Waldorf Astoria Orlando
Grand Wailea
Waldorf Astoria Chicago
The Roosevelt New Orleans
The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria
Waldorf Astoria Park City
Waldorf Astoria Panama
El Conquistador Resort
Las Casitas
Waldorf Astoria Beijing
Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund
Trianon Palace Versailles
Waldorf Astoria Berlin
Rome Cavalieri
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem
Waldorf Astoria Jeddah
Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah
Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah
Conrad

Conrad Miami
Conrad Chicago
Conrad Indianapolis
Conrad New York
Conrad Punta del Este Resort & Casino
Conrad Dublin
Conrad Algarve
Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus
Conrad London St. James
Conrad Makkah
Conrad Dubai
Conrad Cairo
Conrad Pezula
Conrad Beijing
Conrad Dalian
Conrad Hong Kong
Conrad Macao, Cotai Central
Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay
Conrad Tokyo
Conrad Pune
Conrad Bali
Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
Conrad Manila
Conrad Centennial Singapore
Conrad Seoul
Conrad Bangkok
Conrad Koh Samui
Curio

Arizona – Boulders Resort & Spa
Philadelphia – The Logan Philadelphia

http://www2.visasignaturehotels.com/hilton-one-night-free/

This is actually not the correct website for Asia Pacific cards but the Stay 2 1 Free promotion doesn't appear on the website for our cards. I've booked through the above website with my Maybank card with no problem.

There is no promo code, just select the Stay 2 – Enjoy a Free Night Limited-Time Offer rate.

Offer has been discontinued. Hope some of you managed to book:

"Due to popularity of the complimentary night offer, the offer is no longer available. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. You can book a stay at any participating Waldorf Astoria, Conrad or Curio hotel by October 31, 2016 and receive a $75 USD Visa gift card after your stay (see promotion page for more information)"

Interested to know what you all think of the Marriott-SPG merger/takeover. Personally I'm happy to have Gold for HHonors, SPG and Marriott now with minimum effort. :-)

Lucky from OMAAT wrote about this some time back.

Thanks to members like bro GenX and bearbear for their tireless efforts in posting all things related to miles and points from a Malaysian perspective. Maybe I should stop being lazy and start posting, maybe focusing on redemption for large groups and families.

Exactly. Very easy to be disheartened reading about credit card churning in the US but we make do with what we have. Having access to Enrich, AsiaMiles and Krisflyer offers plenty of options already. Redeeming more exotic cabins like Etihad Apartments or Emirates F remain elusive or at best, requiring a higher amount of miles by transferring between FFPs (absorbing a devaluation of your miles along the way).

I don't mind sharing my 2 cents and giving back to the forum.

Flight awards are valid for one year from the date of issue. So you must not issue your ticket before Dec/Jan if you're looking at Dec 2017 for your last sector.

Totally agree. I use to have an arbitrary rule of not bothering with business class unless the flight exceeds 2.5-3 hours but have recently found myself in the front cabin most of the time either through MUUpgrade, miles redemption or full-fare purchase. I had forgotten how ridiculous economy check-in lines at KLIA can get and nearly missed a flight because of the long queue at check-in (in the end I got out of the queue and paid for last-minute upgrade to J).

The confirmed overhead space for my carry-on luggage is a big plus, so much so that I almost always board last. Being one of the first to deplane has great value to me too as that means getting to the immigration counters before the hoard arrives, easily saving me 15-20 minutes by my estimate. The better seats and lounge access are also appreciated of course.

Six-footer here too. Flew KUL-CDG on AirAsia X's flat bed in 2011 and that was as good as it got in terms of AirAsia. I do not like SQ's J seat which forces you to sleep sideways with a tiny feet cubicle (those who've flown it will know what I mean).

Flew MH Y in Feb KUL-KIX. Not too bad but waist/hip area was sore for a few hours post flight.

BTW, I think what's going on at the maybank2cp thread is a farce.

I only got 35% so am giving it a miss.

On a separate note, a FlyerTalk user came across details of an upcoming flash sale via the Hilton Sydney website. If it's accurate, we’ll be seeing 40% off prices for properties across Asia Pacific (other than China, HK & Macau) for stays up to 17 Apr 2017 when booking between 7-11 Nov 2016.

EY Apartments, LH F. Envious. Might go the LifeMiles route to redeem these flights. Looking forward to your reports!