Triangle Trip

If you’re a global traveler from the US and need to check emails and have Internet access when you’re abroad, get a BlackBerry if you don’t already own one. I have been abroad and used local carriers (3, Telus, Telstra, Vodafone, etc.) for voice and data then found out my weekly bill was over US$100. The reason for the high fee is due to my data usage. Most international phone companies charge data by the kilobytes or megabytes of upload/download on your device.

The frugal way to get on the Internet and check emails is to leverage the BlackBerry network. If you have a BlackBerry plan from the US, your data service such as email, browsing and BlackBerry Messenger will be traveling on the BlackBerry network. International carriers will allow BlackBerry traffic to go through free of charge (they actually charge BlackBerry but you as the consumer don’t have to worry about it).

I recommend you buy a BlackBerry and join a BlackBerry data plan which is available for T-Mobile for around $40 a month with international roaming – $20 per month for US only (for the record, I am not compensated by T-Mobile or RIM for this post). If you already own a BlackBerry from Sprint, Verizon, etc., get your carrier to enable international BlackBerry service which is around $20 more per month. For the extra $20 a month, you’ll buy the piece of mind of having Internet and email without losing your pants. I have tried this approach in Canada, France, Hong Kong, and the UK, and did not see additional charges on my bill.

On my last United flight, I had already selected by seat online, but I always like to look when I get to the airport when I go to the kiosk. The first kiosk approached rejected my credit card and said see customer representative. I had to go next door to the next kiosk which recognized my credit card. Using the credit card is probably the easiest and quickest method to pull your information.

I selected my flight, pressed check in, and then onto checking the seats. I like to check seats to a) get a better seat b) tell me about the # of people on the plane. This time however, the kiosk touchpad was a little out of sync. I had to press the button a few times to get each button to work. The worst part was I accidentally hit another seat number. I ended up with a ridiculous back middle seat. Immediately I tried to go back to my original seat, but the UP arrow button did not work.

For newcomers to seating, the kiosk only displays a few rows at a time, and you have to click up or down to seat the next rows. I looked for a cancel button, but didn’t see anything. I clicked EXIT thinking that would cancel but it didn’t. I had to start all over again and put my credit card in. I checked seats again, and confirmed it DID change my seat number to the back middle seat. I swiftly clicked back on my original seat. Fortunately no one in that span of time took my seat.

With a sigh of relief, I continued on the check-in process, I click next on the bottom right. The NEXT page is immediately an upgrade page. And the upgrade button is on the same spot as the next button on the page before. This is very tricky of united, because you have a tendency to hit next, next, next in the same spot. The DECLINE button is actually on the bottom left, the other side.

For experienced United travelers, we all know how many upgrade options they try to buy, or more mileage for more money. United travelers beware of the kiosk, it doesn’t let you zip through unless you really know it.

Big A out.

I don’t really understand the concept of banking airline miles on travel reward programs such as Asia Miles and Canada’s Air Miles. These programs seem like a consolidation of all your travel activities (miles, hotel stays, etc.) without the benefits from the airline or hotels. Another very minor advantage is you can also use your miles for other goods like travel gear and electronics, but many US airlines offer that type of redemption option.

What I am trying to say here is:  if you decide to bank Asian Miles on your Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, you’ll only get Asian Miles but zero Marco Polo miles or benefits. I see the value in Asian Miles if you are flying all sorts of airlines throughout your life and want flexible redemption of miles/points. However, I don’t think you are getting the most out of the Asia Miles program if you only travel with one or two international airlines – say Cathay Pacific and ANA when you live in Hong Kong.

With the consolidation of US airlines and global alliances, all travelers should only need three frequent flier accounts to accumulate airline miles. Make sure your frequent flier account is on one of these alliances: Star Alliance, SkyTeam or OneWorld. Most of the major airlines in any country have membership with one of the alliances. For example, if you live in the Hong Kong, you will only need three accounts:  Cathay (OneWorld), China Southern or Korean Air (Skyteam), and ANA, Singapore Airlines or Thai (Star). You should bank all your air travel on one of the accounts. For redemption, you can easily book your flights on a member airline – i.e., use your Marco Polo miles to book a American ticket from Hong Kong to Chicago.

Once you have enough Marco Polo points in a year, you will get more benefits such as 25% to 100% more miles on every flight — something Asia Miles or Air Miles cannot offer. So forget the airline/hotel/car mileage consolidation programs and stick to an airline or alliance to make your miles pay off.