Triangle Trip

Continental Airlines is trying to bring back some prestige to airline status by introducing an invitation only, Presidential Platinum status. To get Presidential Platinum, you will need to get Elite Platinum status with Continental; and you must have spent $30,000 USD on Continental Airlines, excluding partners.

Presidential Platinum does not offer anything more than Elite Platinum, except for being ahead of Elite Platinum for upgrades. Presidential Platinum status members will be prioritized behind United’s Global Services and 1K members, but ahead of Premier Executive members when traveling on eligible UAL flights. Essentially, Presidential Platinum is a junior United 1K status.

One more thing: Presidential Platinum status holders also get their Continental credit card annual fee waived. But who pays for annual fees on credit cards these days?

Continental missed its mark. What’s the point of another status tier when it doesn’t have any added benefits? Continental should have made Presidential Platinum like Delta’s new Diamond status – which requires 125,000 Delta miles to quality, and comes with tangible benefits like six (6) system-wide upgrades.

Since joining Star Alliance, Continental has been creating closer ties with United. Continental has adopted United’s system-wide upgrade this year. I am not sure if Continental’s OnePass program is heading in the right direction.

I already have the SPG AMEX, which I think is the best travel credit card out there.  You get 1 point/$1 for everyday purchases.  You get an additional 2 points/$1 for stays at SPG properties (W, Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridian, Four Points and more).  If you are Gold or Platinum SPG member, you get 3 points/$1 instead of 2 points for stays at SPG properties.  You can earn Gold status at SPG by spending $30,000 on the card in a calendar year.  A SPG night redemption runs around 10,000 points for a decent property.  So that’s about a $200 return for $10,000 spent on the card.  Not only that, the SPG AMEX allows you to transfer points to airlines miles at a 1:1 point to mile ratio, with a 5000 miles bonus for every 20,000 points transferred to miles.  So if you transfer 20,000 points to an airline mileage account, you would get 25,000 miles, usually good for a free domestic flight.  The card has an annual fee of $45 that is far less than the annual fees of airline cards, which run about $75-$100.  Lastly, I think SPG is the best hotel program out there and hotel points are far better than airline miles.

However, there have been 2 recent airline card offers that have been tempting, but not sure if its worth the hassle.

Firstly, the British Airways Visa Signature Card.  What’s so special about this card?  Well not much but the current promotion is probably the best signup promotion I’ve seen yet.  You get 50,000 miles for your first purchase on the card and then another 50,000 miles if you spend $2000 in first 3 months, which is easily doable.  That’s a total of 100,000 miles, which gets you 2 free transatlantic flights from the US to Western Europe in economy.  You also get a free companion voucher valid for 2 years for spending $30,000 on the card in a calendar year.  The downside of the card?  First, the annual fee is $75.  Also, personally I don’t ever fly British Airways and I don’t fly any of the airlines in One World, which includes American Airlines.  Star Alliance is probably the best airlines alliance out there especially now that Continental has defected over to them from Sky Team.

Speaking of Star Alliance, this brings me to the 2nd card on my mind: the Asiana AMEX from Bank of America.  You earn 2 miles per $1 spent on the card, which literally unheard of for airline credit cards.  Although the card has an annual fee of $99 this offset by the fact that the card offers an $100 annual rebate towards the purchase of Asiana Airlines ticket.  You also get a 10,000 Bonus miles Certificate every year in the month of your anniversary date of the card.  This is good towards a choice of an international or Korea domestic air ticket, a seat class upgrade or an excess bag allowance.  But its use it or lose it annually.  Also, there are a couple great things about Asiana Airlines.  First, as I alluded to before, Asiana is a part of Star Alliance, which consists of 25 member airlines such as United, Continental, US Airways, Lufthansa, BMI, Air China, ANA, and Singapore Airlines.  Below is the Asiana Star Alliance award ticket redemption chart:

This redemption policy also allows you to redeem a one-way ticket instead being forced to redeem a roundtrip.  Additionally, another great thing about Asiana is their favorable status qualification.  See my previous post about this.  Basically you just need 40,000 miles in 2 years to get Star Alliance Gold (Asiana Diamond).  This doesn’t have to be on Asiana but you can use any miles flown on Star Alliance partners for status qualification.  In contrast, you need to fly 50,000 miles with United in one calendar year to get Star Alliance Gold (United Premier Executive).  Recently, after hitting 1K with United, I’ve been banking all my United miles to my Asiana account.

So what’s the verdict?  If you are willing to deal with getting the BA Visa and then canceling after 3 months, the $75 annual fee is definitely worth the 2 round trip tickets to Western Europe.  If you fly Star Alliance frequently, especially to Asia, and don’t have any other credit cards with an annual fee, then I think making the Asiana AMEX your primary credit card is a great deal.  If none of these sound appealing enough, do look at the SPG AMEX.

I travel a lot for work and also work remotely at various locations so its critical I have essential items in my laptop bag where ever I go.  Here is a brief look inside my laptop bag, starting from the bag itself:

1. The Bag – I have regular North Face backpack that I got in the spring of 2000.  It’s nothing special, but it has survived the rigors of college, the demands of the workplace, and the grind of air travel.  Yet even after 9 years, it’s still very much intact and sturdy.  And still will be for several more years.

2. The Laptop – 15″ MacBook Pro.  I became a Mac convert last March after using PCs since 386’s were the cutting edge in personal computing.  What took me so long?  Mac OS X is the far superior operating system and the Apple Macintosh is a very fine machine.  A bit pricey but definitely worth it.

3. The Other Electronic Device – Canon Powershot SD500.  Sometimes my iPhone camera will just not do.

4. The Peripherals – I carry all my laptop peripherals in a nylon bag with many pockets about the size of a large fanny pack that I bought from Walgreens.  It’s pretty ugly but serves its purpose.

a) Power Adapter for MacBook Pro – For obvious reasons.

b) Ethernet Cable – Sometimes you have to go wired.

c) Kensington Security Cable – If I’m in a public place and have to leave my laptop to go somewhere even briefly, I always make sure to lock down my laptop.

d) Mouse, Travel-Size – I rarely use this, however, now that I’m on a MacBook.

e) USB Cable for iPhone – To charge my sorry iPhone battery.

f) 2GB Flash Drive – Emailing 700MB AVI files do not work.

g) DVI to VGA Display Adapter – Sometimes I will need to connect my MacBook to a projector to give those cliche powerpoint presentations.

h) USB Cable for Digital Camera – For those times on the road I need to transfer that pic to my laptop in order to email proof that Jessica Alba shared the elevator with me.

i) Charger for Digital Camera – I’ve had too many instances where I turn on my digital camera and it goes dead.

j) 4GB iPod Mini – This is not for listening to music.  My iPhone is for that.  I had no use for this piece of classic hardware.  So I decided to turn it into a mini hard drive.  This is for the times when a 2GB Flash Drive is not enough.

5. The Cards – I carry an oversized card carrying case to hold essential cards such as:

a) Business Cards – …obviously.

b) Travel Program Cards – Not just any card from an airline mileage club or a hotel rewards program.  These need to be cards that show status.  Not so much to show that you have status for a certain travel program but rather to show you have status at a partner travel program.  This has come in handy when I had to show that I was Star Alliance Gold when flying on Asiana using my United Premier Executive card or when I used my Amtrak Select Plus card to get into the Continental lounge.

c) Health Insurance Card – If I need any medical attention while traveling.

d) Clear Card – This is kind of useless as I have only been able to use this at New York’s JFK.

e) Regus Gold Card – The Regus Gold Card gets me access to thousands of business lounges across the US.  However, the few business lounges I’ve visited have been very disappointing; usually they are just a kitchen area with some chairs and a table.  Good thing I didn’t pay for this card; I got it complimentary with the useless Clear Card… figures.

f) Gift Certificate Cards – You never know when you need to buy something while traveling… or re-gift them while traveling.

g) Backup Credit and Checking Cards – See my post on why this is essential.

6. The Large Envelope – I carry a large envelope to hold some critical items:

a) Checkbook – No one writes checks these days but checks are a great substitute for an ATM at hotels.

b) Passport – This is not so much so I can go spontaneously to Paris but rather so that I have a government issued ID if I lose my driver’s license while traveling in order to fly back home.

c) Collar Stays – If I’m working at a location away from home, I drop off my dry cleaning at that location if I know I’m going to be back the week after.  Before dropping my shirts off at the dry cleaners, I always remove the collar stays.  They get placed in this large envelope so when I pick my dry cleaning up the week after, I have them to put back in my shirts.  Collar stays are essential for a professional look.

d) Several US Quarters – Barack said we need change.

e) Beverage Coupons on Various Airlines – I need to unwind in the air after a grueling week on the road.

7. Pad and Pens – There are times when I just need to jot or doodle some things down, like when playing Sudoku.

8. Earphones – Occasionally I rely on 2Pac to provide a more suitable work environment.