I think you do know that CX does release last minute award space. I poked around the next few weeks and see a handful of J seats available, definitely not what I'd call plentiful.

Angle flat isn't so bad I almost did JL J SAN-NRT on the JL 788, but switched to CX J before the flight. Have flown KUL-DOH (QR), KUL-ICN (KE), KUL-PEK (MH) on angle flats and I slept well enough.

The other alternative if you really want the sky suites is to try KUL-NRT-SFO/DFW/IAD/LAX and take a connecting flight. SFO-YVR is probably the least painful option. This would work on CX and JL.

This post has been edited by tishaban: Mar 4 2016, 04:27 PM

My experience is limited, but I doubt you'd see much change 3-4 months out, the changes usually happens 2 weeks or closer to your departure date. If you have the flexibility of mid week then the options would be much better.

I flew CX in Dec 2014 and Oct 2015. Got 5 J seats in Dec 2014 about 2 weeks before flight (LAX-HKG-KUL) which I upgraded happily from LAX-SAN-NRT-KUL. Outbound KUL-HKG-JFK flights in Oct 2015, not a single J seat cleared the week I was flying out, even a few days before and after were completely full up to departure date. The inbound EWR-HKG-KUL had several J seats open up pretty early, but I was on an Asia Miles award ticket so it would've been expensive to upgrade only one flight to J so I stayed in PE.

SPG account holders, try the new SPG promo game

https://www.spgpromos.com/getinthegame/?EM=...EGAME_PROMOTION

I didn't win (yet?)

What's your objective? Want to fly one of the longest flights in the world in SQ Suites and you have enough (~200k miles return)? You'll end up paying RM200k x 1.9% = RM3,800 + airport taxes and fees (RM3k?) ~ RM7k total.

Don't have enough points? Yes a KF mile may be RM0.057 but if you don't have enough miles or don't know what to do with it that's an opportunity cost not worth paying for.

Ask yourself what your objective is, and if you have enough miles to reach that objective. Miles are worth something only when redeemed (says yours truly with far too many points already )


This post has been edited by tishaban: Mar 8 2016, 09:34 PM

I'm not sure how you do your calculation. RM100k x 1.9% = RM1,900 fees up front.

RM100k in FD for one month earning 3% annual interest = RM3,000/12 = RM250 only. If you take RM10k out each month, after 10 months I calculate that you earn only around RM1,375 from interest, far less than what you pay up front.

Personally though I would do it, paying RM 525 for 100k Krisflyer miles is worth it IMO. Which bank is offering this?

Actually Maybank did a 0% balance transfer with 0 fees once upon a time, so I'm not surprised UOB is doing something similar, I'm guessing the 1.9% fees is just to cover their points/miles cost.

Too bad I don't have a UOB card, worth investigating otherwise.

So the Starwood-Marriott deal is now off again. I might continue to be SPG Gold for the 9th year after all!

Lifetime Platinum is too far away haha. But I agree with travel restrictions I'm also somewhat limited on the number of nights I can/willing to do on my own. With business travel I could typically reach 25 nights on business travel alone. Oh well...

Your questions are too generic. Hard to answer without knowing what your primary objectives are.

Same thing with redemption rates, what's your primary objective plus how are you earning those miles?

Google and read up more info online, ask more specific questions and there will be plenty of people to give you opinions.

My early years were SPG Gold from my US Amex Platinum charge card, only in the past few years that I'm with a US based company that I've stayed more at SPG properties, primarily in Houston So I've been gold since 2008 but still 100+ nights short of lifetime gold, with the economy the way it is I guess I won't be getting lifetime Gold anytime soon.

So Marriott upped their bid, but Anbang still has lots of cash. I'm surprised Marriott actually went all out this time, I'm hoping Anbang will win this one. I guess we can hope

OT thanks to the AA devaluation it's next to impossible to find EY F awards on the A380 now...


This post has been edited by tishaban: Mar 22 2016, 11:45 PM

So far I've been treated quite well as SPG Gold in the US. When I'm traveling alone on business I don't really care about room upgrades etc but the 4pm late checkout is almost always a given and it's a huge advantage. I've not tried it yet but the online check in/key is also a nice advantage especially if you're checking in to a busy hotel like the Sheraton NYC where there's like 30+ people waiting in the regular line and 20+ people waiting in the SPG Gold/Platinum line to check in

I was Accor Platinum for 1 year back when I traveled Europe a lot. Locally I like the Pullman in Kuching and Putrajaya, fantastic hotels with very reasonable rates but I don't get recognized or upgraded much (at all?). It's like most of them don't know what Accor Platinum is although this was probably 3-4 years ago. So I used up several thousand points to get the cash vouchers and haven't stayed at Accor hotels much.

Hyatt is nice but as you said, expensive if you're paying yourself. I also don't see much benefit being Hyatt Platinum during my last stay at Grand Hyatt Singapore. Their cash + points rates are very attractive though so I might just continue this one.

Finally I recently started with IHG, fantastic service and upgrade at the Intercontinental while I was in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Great service at the Holiday Inn Melaka some weeks back too, but I didn't get an upgrade. I might stay with IHG for awhile.

I don't do Marriott, not yet at least

SQ is definitely stingy. CX is not so bad, particularly on routes where they fly multiple planes and at the last minute.

But I don't like Asia Miles because they charge more for 1-way compared to return, less flexibility

It should be the multi-carrier chart since you're combining two separate airlines.

There are a bunch of Oneworld airlines in Europe eg. Iberia, Finnair and Air Berlin. It's possible to do KUL-DOH-x-MXP and continue with one of those airlines although it may bump up the total airmiles flown. Also be creative in your routing to and fro, you might not be able to find KUL-DOH-MXP but MXP-DOH-KUL may be wide open.

Also I used to find availability on the DOH-xxx but KUL-DOH was frequently full, so KUL-BKK-DOH and KUL-SIN-DOH are options too.

I like QR service too in general, but their A320/330 J seats are way behind their 787 J seats in terms of comfort.

If your source of miles are credit card points, then leave it there unless you have a specific redemption in mind. So if you have 200k worth of Asia Miles in your Maybank TP, and only need 140k Asia Miles for a redemption, only transfer that much. Keeping it in original form allows you more flexibility especialy during promos

Haha, oh well. There's still JAL Mileage Bank if you have options for that (basically SPG points) at roughly 20% fewer miles.

There are some that share benefits between airline and hotel programs but it's very limited and Enrich being a very small player in this business is definitely not one of them. SPG/Delta Crossover is one, Marriot/United RewardPlus is another. Google for details, but it's mostly FYI only as it doesn't apply to most of us in this region.

If you're singaporean or can get a Singaporean credit card, Stanchart is offering 40k Krisflyer miles if you open a VI card account with them

https://www.sc.com/sg/campaign/visa-infinite-krisflyer/

Trying to book a last minute KUL-NYC return flight using Asia Miles, and it's mostly full. Damn CX and those AAdvantage flyers who booked flights up front

Have to be creative to look for options now. I have calling Asia Miles on the phone to book a ticket...

Yeah, not even 1 seat available, was looking to travel the week of May 15th.

Does the lounge stay open past midnight? Last I flew out of Beijing the lounge closed at midnight so I got kicked out and had to hang around the airport gate.