Triangle Trip

AA has finally adopted Alaska Airlines‘ one-way reward model.  Passengers are no longer required to book a full roundtrip reward, but can segment out legs of the trip.  Think about the opportunities that you have missed in the past:

1.  While booking your reward ticket, you see that one leg of the trip requires an AAnytime  (50k) ticket, while the other leg only requires a MileSAAver (25k) ticket.  Instead of paying 50k, you now only pay 37.5k!

2.  While booking a normal ticket and comparing prices, you see that one leg of the journey was 3x as expensive as the other, but it still didn’t make economical sense to use your points on this one.

3.  You decide to extend your stay on a trip, but it’s prohibitively expensive to change your return ticket

4.  You’re running from the law and you’re not coming back stateside

No, this doesn’t excuse poor service and whatever other faults American Air may have, but it’s a great reach out to its core customer base.

American Airlines new Flex Rewards webpage

Video announcement by the President of the AAdvantage Program

-Terminal D

Like Captain G, I recently canceled a flight.  I had purchased a round trip ticket on Southwest and I already traveled on one segment (the outbound).  I wanted to cancel the return trip and thought this would be a painful process. The following points that made my Southwest experience a pleasant one.

1.  Southwest allows you to cancel any segment without a change fee. No $150 change fee like other airlines (See Captain G’s post on United).

2.  Southwest credits the entire segment you are canceling (this is when you buy non-refundable tickets).

3.  Southwest does not outsource customer service. I love how I can understand the customer service representative without an interpreter.

4.  Southwest customer service representative was very polite and considerate and even explained how to use the credit for my next ticket in the detail.

When traveling abroad, I generally like to stay with US-based hotels as they are pretty consistent in terms of quality of service, providing a clean room and being in convenient locations. You also get better value for your hotel rooms at international locations as US hotel chains rarely discount their international rooms compared to domestic rooms. All the major US hotel brands are in Hong Kong (Hilton Conrad, Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton). Here’s an evaluation of each US hotel in Hong Kong:

I highly recommend you stay at one of the following hotels for convenience in Hong Kong:

JW Marriott or Conrad – Both hotels are located inside Pacific Place in Central. The MTR (train) station is also connected to Pacific place. The main bus terminal is right across the skywalk from Pacific Place. The Hong Kong JW Marriott and Hong Kong Conrad also offer great views of the city if you are on the top floors. Both hotels have hotel lounges that server food and alcohol. The JW Marriott lounge is one of my personal favorites in the world. The JW Marriott is by far the best hotel in Hong Kong.

Sheraton – Located in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui area, the Sheraton is in an extremely convenient location. The Hong Kong Sheraton is next to the famous Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon. You can go any where in Hong Kong or Kowloon from the Sheraton. The Kowloon MTR station is two blocks away and all major buses travel through Tsim Sha Tsui. You are also minutes away from Victoria Harbor where you can catch the Star Ferry to get to Hong Kong Central or Wanchai.

Renaissance – Located in Kowloon near Victoria Harbor. If you have a room with a water view, you will get a panoramic view of Hong Kong Island which is one of the best views in the world (on a sunny day of course). Like the Sheraton, the Renaissance is close to all major attractions and transportation. The Renaissance is actually a few blocks away from the Sheraton

I would shy away from the following US hotels:

Grand Hyatt or Renaissance Harbour View – Both hotels are in Wanchai, near the Hong Kong Convention Center. Hyatt is near the harbor so it becomes very inconvenient to by car or MTR. If you were taking the MTR train (to the Wanchai stop), you will have to walk ¾ of a mile to get to the Hyatt or Marriott. To compensate for the long walk from the Wanchai train station, you will find a great view from your room at the Marriott. I would not stay at either hotel unless I am attending a convention.

The W – The W is located in the newly developed section of Kowloon and attached to the Elements Mall. Aside from the mall, there is not much to do in the evening (or day). Public transportation can also be a challenge as only one MTR line goes to this station. You can always take cabs from the W to your destinations but it can be costly.

You can also check out my earlier post on: Where to go when you are visiting Hong Kong.