Messages

1

Just Shmooze / Re: Absent DDFers

« on: June 23, 2020, 09:46:11 AM »

Polo

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Up In The Air / Re: Best Amenity Kit and PJ's

« on: January 11, 2016, 04:45:25 AM »

+1

By far the least comfortable pj's I have.

They didn't even make it out of my bag.

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Up In The Air / Re: Best Amenity Kit and PJ's

« on: January 11, 2016, 03:11:59 AM »

EY needs some serious help when it comes to amenity kits and PJ's.

The kits themselves are not bad. Going to be getting another in tomorrow.

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Deals/Deal Requests / Re: Asi's on Groupon for 50% off!

« on: January 10, 2016, 06:59:39 PM »

Ever been before? I was not impressed at all. Good if you just want ok food.

5

Up In The Air / Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?

« on: January 10, 2016, 03:20:57 AM »

Wasn't available when I was booking. Honestly haven't checked since though, but I'm flying on a Wednesday on the outbound and the current routing has a very short layover which I need because anything longer and I could start having issues with Shabbos if there are delays or I miss a connection.

Got it. May be worth to check it out in case it works.

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Up In The Air / Re: What Award Itinerary Did You Just Book/Hold?

« on: January 10, 2016, 01:18:15 AM »

I've posted some of this over the past month but finally just finished the last flight so figured I'd post it all in one shot (and because I'm kinda proud of myself ). I separated the trips by the month that they're taking place in.

January
PHL-MIA AA Y (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 15,000 Avios
2 Nights in Miami.
MIA-GCM AA Y (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 9,450 Avios
2 Nights in Westin Grand Cayman: 32,000 SPG
GCM-MIA AA Y (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 9,450 Avios
4 Nights in Miami.
MIA-PHL AA Y (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 15,000 Avios

March
PHL-DOH-MLE QR J (2 Adults): 135,000 AA
6 Nights in PH MLE: 150,000 Hyatt Points
MLE-DOH-PHL QR J (2 Adults): 135,000 AA

May
EWR-HNL UA F (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 60,000 SQ
6 Nights in GHK: 4 Sign Up Nights + 50,000 Hyatt Points (May switch to Maui. Not sure.)
HNL-EWR UA Plan B (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 80,000 UA

(Going to book inter-Hawaii flights later on once I finalize which island I'll be going to.)

August
JFK-ICN KE F (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 199,500 KE
1 Night in Grand Hyatt Seoul: Anniversary Night
ICN-CNX KE J (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): Free Stopover
6 Nights in LM Chiang Mhai: 22,000 SPG
CNX-USM PG Y (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): 20,000 JAL
5 Nights in Sheraton Samui: 28,000 SPG Points (Hope to change to CKS if there is still availability when I have enough points.)
USM-HKG PG Y (2 Adults + 1 Lap Infant): Free JAL Stopover
2 Nights in Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui: 1 Anniversary Night + 15,000 Hyatt Points
HKG-JFK CX J (2 Adults + 1 Infant in seat): 165,000 AA

And to think that it was just three years ago that I was proud of getting one free flight to Miami because I had accumulated enough cashback credit on my Amex Blue Cash...

Looks like a great group of flights. One question which may have been asked already, why not try and go PHL-JFK-AUH-MLE or PHL-JFK-AUH-DOH-MLE for 90k AA each way?

7

Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:31:46 PM »

Then I guess you actually got a great dillema since you scored an awesome free upgrade and because of that are questioning the paid one you planned (and now have another excuse to go to BOB although I think there the OWBs don't have private pools)!

Well the pool at the WV is smaller than the bathtub I have here

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Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:25:29 PM »

If you hadn't gotten that free upgrade to an awesome deluxe beach villa though, would you be more willing to pay for the OWB upgrade?  I think you're just confirming that we'll only do two of five nights in and OWB but I am willing to pay for a Deluxe OWB for just a couple nights...we're going in the off season where it seems the upgrade fees are about half what they're offering you...

Absolutely. We were going to be paying for the upgrade on our last two nights, but after seeing the room, we decided to stay where we are.

True, we are here during the second highest time of the year. IF the quotes were cheaper, we would definitely be more willing to consider other options.

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Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:22:59 PM »

Usually at the property you can upgrade for a lot less than advance quotations...or free if you work it right.

I'll ask my hostess and see what they quote me, or give me.

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Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:12:41 PM »

Arghh.

How much was the cost for the next class?

Per the email I received, these were my quoted prices.

Pleased to offer you below current available upgrade options after 30% discount:
 
Beach Villa to Water Villa    ~ $260 USD
Beach Villa to Superior Water Villa     USD431.20 including tax per night additional.
Beach Villa to Retreat Water Villa      USD689.92 including tax per night additional.
Beach Villa to Deluxe Water Villa       USD862.40 including tax per night additional.

11

Credit Cards And Finance / Re: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:03:26 PM »

I transferred UR to Hyatt, on Fri. and the points are still not in the account.
Chase says its in progress, and can take up to 2 business days, and since its in progress, they can't do anything about it.
IME it's always been instant, and not sure what happened this time.

Could be something to do with Hyatt's recent update.

12

Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 09, 2016, 10:02:35 PM »

As I mentioned in a different post, the standard WV's were ~ 15-20 feet off the beach and standing in ~2-3 feet of water. For me, being in that much water wouldn't have been so magical. For those that are willing to upgrade to a higher category room, it will be amazing.

Personally, this just gives me an excuse to get to BOB and just book into an OWB.

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Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 09, 2016, 09:10:55 AM »

I had our island hostess show us what the water villa looked like before our planned move. After seeing the villa and it's size, we decided to skip the water villa completely and stay in our spacious deluxe beach villa. While I know it is almost sacrilegious to go to MLE and not stay in an OWB. We were not interested in paying the higher upgrade fee for the next class of villas and felt the regular water villa was too small and the water around it was not good for snorkeling.

14

Trip Reports / Re: Mrs. Hvaces42's Surprise London Birthday Adventure

« on: January 08, 2016, 04:47:06 AM »

Good stuff. Bummer about the cake.

When did you actually tell your wife you were going?

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Destination Guides And Trip Planning / Re: Maldives Master Thread

« on: January 08, 2016, 04:32:34 AM »

Thanks for the tips:

1. Are you paying 95K HH per night?.

2. Are the standard room is that  the Beach Villa?.

I used 95K HH per night for 5 nights and got one night free. Total HH is 380k.

Yes.