A Royal (dis)HHonor: Introduction

Woohoo, an economy class trip report!

You would pay a (modest) premium to upgrade a 50 minute flight? What would make that worthwhile? Just curious.

Seems like a perfect trip - not sure why you consider it anything less than great trip planning. Was it more than two iterations?

I know you had to revamp it but that was Hilton's fault, not yours and you capitalized it well.

@ Colleen -- Yes, I'd gladly pay $50 to upgrade a flight if it means priority check-in, boarding, seating, and baggage. Koh Samui Airport is an absolute zoo and the check-in queues can be upwards of an hour, so saving that for a modest premium seemed well worth it. Besides, the pitch in coach on Bangkok Airways is tight. *Really* tight.

@ beachfan -- Hah, you'd be surprised, that wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. I think I considered just about every destination in the world at one point or another in the planning process. I do a lot of second guessing in my trip planning, unfortunately.

You're right, koh samui airport is a complete zoo. Glad when I flew out of there on TG I was connecting in BKK to TG C class!

Hm, Lucky, did u mean Marina Bay Sands instead of Marina Bay "Sandra"?

@ wctl -- Whoops, fixed!

The issue is that OneWorld doesn’t fly to Koh Samui, so it’s not quite that straightforward.

What about the FY flight PEN-USM booked as an MH codeshare?

FWIW, that FY flight cost me about $160 when I bought it outright (not sure if you can book FY as part of an AA ward as the MH codeshare, but you certainly cannot as part of an AS award). No business class, though. This should give you a good idea what flying on FY is like.

@ eponymous coward -- To the best of my knowledge you can't redeem OneWorld miles for that flight.

Lucky, only the sea-sfo-hkg-sfo-sea cost 135k miles right?

Ha. I feel your pain. After SPG/Hilton/Marriott devaluations in this spring, I ticketed, and then canceled 6 reservations in the span of a month. So thankful for waived EXP award fees!

But I think I'm set... For now.

Wow, just wow! I can't believe that value - 135k and $100 for that length of return trip in F? Am definitely going to be boosting my AA balance!

@ Colleen On PG the modest fee gives you 10 KG more bag hold allowance (also join their frequent flyer program for another 10 KG) and as lucky says USM can be a zoo, so having 1-3 separate Blue Ribbon counters is great. There is even an air-conditioned lounge with food/drinks available. The Blue Ribbon (Business class) seats offer way better leg room than coach.

@lucky, why not use PG (who code shares with MI) on SIN-USM? Price to high? I found PG better in C than MI. With the separate car on arrival for C you even beat the immigration circus in USM.

Excellent. I'm flying CX873 SFO-HKG in F on the 15th, so looking forward to your report on the flight and the lounges on both ends. In HKG, transferring to a CX flight to BKK in C (two class service), but my understanding is I should be able to access The Wing due to arrival on F flight.

Lucky,

Just curious - but why did you fly to SIN on the outbound instead of BKK? Also, you said it was 17K for biz on the Silk Air flight - how much more is that over coach and do you feel it's worth the premium in points for such a short flight?

Need to plan the same exact intin for a couple months from now since I've got my Conrad Koh Samui AXON reserved - but no luck on the Cathay availability yet - wondering if I have to wait until 2 weeks out (looking for 2 F or Biz seats).

Thanks! I've been really looking forward to this report! 🙂

I think it is CX691 not CX91

@ Hung -- No, SEA-SFO-HKG-SIN, BKK-HKG-SFO-SEA cost 135,000 miles in first class.

@ Alan -- Yep, it's one of the best award values out there!

@ Sven -- I don't think PG was operating a flight the day I was traveling as I didn't see it in the schedule. And also got a separate cart for business class on MI from the plane.

@ lsbuffs -- Yep, for a same day connection you should get first class lounge access.

@ stacey -- It's 10,625 miles vs. 17,000 miles. I have hundreds of thousands of Membership Rewards points, so the premium was no big deal. For a two hour flight got a much bigger seat and priority boarding, baggage handling, and disembarkation. All seemed worth it to me.

@ Tony -- Fixed, thanks.

My wait at USM for check in in Y was exactly 0 seconds. With web check-in, you can use the same line as Business class.

Thanks Lucky! Any tips on scoring 2 F or biz seats from LAX? Wait till 2 weeks before?

@ Stacey -- For which route? 🙂

Sorry! LAX-HKG/SIN

Stacey - you do know Lucky runs a booking service, right?

I would strongly suggest using him - the cost is not too high, and the value is incredible!

Lark

@ Stacey -- Cathay Pacific does release a good bit of business class award space close to departure so I'd keep monitoring for that. They also release last minute first class award space, though I find it's especially tough to snag out of LAX. If you're willing to connect at SFO you should have better luck.

I tried adding singapore to my aa redemption but was told that i couldnt have a layover in hk. Was that info oncorrect? Great that you wete adpble to add it!

@ Hung -- As long as you're connecting within 24 hours you can add it to the award.

Nice bed.

How did you make the map of the flights?

@ CD -- I used gcmap.com.