Emirates Begins Flying A380s to Prague and Taipei

Last week, Emirates continued their global expansion in laughing previously announced upgrades to their Taipei and Prague service.  Both cities will be served by the A380 direct from Dubai.

Taipei will receive the "dense" A380 configuration without first class.  Prague will get the "better" A380 configuration including first class.

Emirates First Class Caviar Setup

It's been a long time since I was in Prague but I loved the city and hope to go back at some point.  This is definitely the way to go as you can fly Emirates First Class from the US all the way to Prague.

Taipei 101 view from the W

We were in Taipei 16 months ago and very much enjoyed the city.  While there are better options to get there (EVA direct from many cities in the US with an outstanding business class product) I would definitely recommend a visit to the city and a stay at the W.

My 5 Favorite First Class Products

Over the past four years, I've been fortunate enough to fly on some of the world's best carriers in international first class.  If you're wondering how I've been able to do that, start here.

In fact, I've flown more than two dozen segments on nine carriers with another few dozen flights in international business class.  People often ask about my favorite carriers, flights, amenities, seats, etc...it's not the easiest question to answer since crews matter and vary from flight to flight.

Amenities (pajamas, amenity kits) are rotated.  Catering can be vastly different from one flight to another especially when comparing flights from a home base (i.e Singapore Airlines out of Singapore) vs. an outstation (i.e. Singapore Airlines from Frankfurt).  Don't forget aircraft - while the seat on Emirates' A380 and 777 is very similar, the experience is vastly different given the shower and onboard bar on the A380.

All that said, here are my personal rankings of the top 5 international first class products (in order):

1)  Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment

Hands down, Etihad offers the best first class product in the sky.  The amount of personal space is just ridiculous given that Etihad has a single aisle on their A380 vs. the double aisle that every other airline uses.

Etihad has amazing amenity kits stocked with Le Labo products and very comfortable pajamas.  The entertainment system is top notch and they offer live TV and wifi.

Alaska Devalues Emirates Award Chart

This has certainly been a week for big travel news.  First, Anbang withdraws their bid for Starwood.

And now this.

Without notice, Alaska Airlines massively devalued their award chart for redemptions on Emirates.  They did so without notice.  After significant backlash, they put out a blog post essentially blaming the travel blogging/hacking community for exploiting the rules.  They are the ones that make the rules and they can change them at their prerogative if that was truly the issue.  That's like saying one would be "exploiting" the law by smoking pot in our great state of Colorado.  The rules were changed...it's legal...I don't think that's exploitation.

Perhaps what they meant is "we see way too many people redeeming for first and business class awards and we need to change that."  Or perhaps Emirates told them exactly that.  Either way, they could have been WAY more transparent about the change and perhaps given some time for the changes to kick in  As Points MD notes, maybe there is a silver lining to this change?

I don't fly Alaska and don't have any loyalty for (or against) them.  I'm not even that upset as I will still be able to collect Alaska miles through a variety of means and hope to fly Emirates First Class again in the future.

Caviar setup in Emirates First Class

But blaming our community for "exploitation" seems like a bit of hyperbole.  The internet is a treasure trove of information.  There are lots of deals out there in the world.  Put the two together and it's natural that someone is going to write about a better way of doing something, obtaining a service, or purchasing a product for a lower price.

It will now cost 600,000 miles for a roundtrip first class award (for 2) to the Middle East/India.  I was able to snag that award for the equivalent (we only flew one way) 360,000 miles just 5 months ago.  That is hyper inflation!

Airlines/hotels are going to devalue - that is just part of this game.  They should do it respectfully and with notice.  Hopefully Alaska will learn from their mistake and won't repeat this in the future.

On to the next deal!

Review: Emirates First Class 777-300ER Dubai to Male

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300ER First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

We boarded from the Emirates First Class lounge which basically means you get your boarded pass scanned at the "gate" in the lounge, talk an elevator down to the concourse and walk straight to the jet bridge (cursory boarding pass glance on the way).  The boarding area had already been cleared out so when we stepped on the plane, we were amongst the last passengers to board.

This flight was scheduled to be operated by an older version of Emirates' First Class Suite.  The flight to Male is under 4 hours during the day so that didn't matter much to us.  We were pleasantly surprised when we stepped onto the plane to see Emirates' "new" first class.  The seat is essentially the same as the A380 seat - just a little bit narrower.

Emirates 777-300ER First Class

Mini bar in the air

Since we flying into Male, we both selected window seats (1K/2K) so we could enjoy the views.

Dom, Date,  Arabic Coffee

Review: Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300 First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

The drive from Al Maha to DXB took around 40 minutes in light traffic.  It was early on Saturday morning when we pulled up to Emirates premium check-in at DXB's massive (and awesome) Terminal 3.  The premium check-in experience isn't really that in my opinion.  It's massive in scale, there's an enclosed porte-cochere with exhaust from idle engines and tons of people running around.  Nothing like the Singapore Airlines First Class check-in at Changi or Lufthansa's First Class Terminal in Frankfurt.  Definitely an area where Emirates can/should step up their game.

Emirates First Class Lounge DXB Entrance

We were happy to get inside and quickly made our way to the first class check-in desks where we were assisted with very little words and zero smile.  Perhaps due to the fact that it was early on a Saturday.  Bags checked to Male and boarding passes issued, we walked down the corridor to the dedicated first/business immigration and security.  I missed taking a picture of the business class check-in section...there must have been 100 desks.  Emirates really does "connect the world."  Unbelievable.

Which flight is Jennifer Aniston on?

Review: Emirates First Class A380 Dallas to Dubai

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300 First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

I can't begin to describe the excitement of boarding our Emirates A380 flight to Dubai. While I've had the opportunity to fly almost 20 international first class segments, this would be the first time flying Emirates...on the A380...with the shower spa...and the on-board bar.

Time to fly

For those that don't want to wait until the end of the post...this was my best flight ever.  I think Emily will agree.

Happy wife at the bar

Have you seen the Emirates Jennifer Aniston commercial?  Flying anything but Emirates seems like a nightmare going forward.

Buy Alaska Miles at 50% Off

Alaska Airlines is selling miles at a pretty significant discount through 12/23/15.  The sale is actually a "mystery" sale where you enter your Mileage Plan number and either receive a 35%, 40%, or 50% offer.  My account was targeted for the 40% bonus which brings the cost (if you purchased the maximum 60,000 miles) down to 1.97 cents per mile.

While I wouldn't speculatively purchase a big chunk of Alaska miles, if you are looking to book a premium cabin award on either Cathay Pacific or Emirates, this would be a great way to top up your account.

I actually purchased a handful of Alaska miles during the last sale in order to top up my account and book our Emirates first class flights to the Maldives.  I booked those flights for 90,000 miles each way per person.  Through this promotion, you can get pretty close to that amount for $1,650 + tax.  While you are limited to 60,000 (used to be 40,000) miles per transaction, there's no limit to the number of transactions you can make.

If you (hypothetically) had 0 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and wanted a roundtrip Emirates first class ticket to the Maldives, that would cost you 180,000 total miles and about $40 in fees.  If you were targeted for the 50% bonus, you could make 2 transactions for a total of $3,546 and purchase the 180,000 miles needed for the roundtrip award.  While I certainly would prefer to earn miles in other ways, this approach would still dramatically reduce the cost of something VERY expensive.

Here's an example Emirates first class flight to the Maldives:

$3,546 is still a lot cheaper than nearly $22,000!!!!

Round the World in 11 Days: Planning & Booking

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300 First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200 Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

They say the best part about a vacation is the anticipation.  This trip is no exception.  Emily and I have had The Maldives on our bucket list for years.  For us flying halfway around the world to get to a beach is part of the fun.  When the opportunity to spend time in The Maldives and Al Maha, (outside Dubai) I started to work on flights.  Here's an overview of the booking process and what everything cost.

Hotels:

We've already covered our first couple of nights in Dubai at Al Maha.  This cost me 78,000 SPG points (normally 120,000) thanks to Starwood's recent promotion.  Given the fact that the resort is all inclusive (3 meals per day and 2 activities) and room rates go for more than $1,500 USD/night, I consider this a great deal.

Cash rates at Al Maha Dubai

All in, I'm getting about 5 cents worth of value from my SPG points.  Not that I would ever pay $2K for a night in a hotel but this regardless, this is one of the best redemptions of my life.

We'll then head to the Park Hyatt Maldives for 4 nights using Hyatt Gold Passport points.  The hotel used to be a category 6 then went to 7 and now is back to 6.  So 25,000 points per night for a total of 100,000 for our stay.  I used a combination of Hyatt points earned from stays and transferred in the rest from my Chase Ultimate Rewards account.  I did pay cash to upgrade us to an overwater bungalow for the last night of our but I'll leave that out of the booking process since that was totally optional.

Park Hyatt Maldives beach

Round the World in 11 Days: Introduction

Introduction
Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300 First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200 Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

After a summer break due to our new family member, Emily and I are 30 days away from our most anticipated trip yet.  Both of us have had the Maldives at the top of our bucket list and we actually had a trip booked in late 2014.  Life got in the way and we ended up canceling the trip...and I'm glad we did because a year later, our itinerary is even better.

The Maldives is far.  Really far.  Almost 11,000 miles far.  For those keeping score, that is nearly halfway around the world.  So we decided to break up the trip on both ends with stops in Dubai and Singapore.  Flying through Singapore on the way home enabled us to make this a true round the world trip (RTW) which has been another bucket list item of ours.  In total, we'll fly nearly 23,000 miles as we make our way around the world.

Round the World in 11 Days:  ~23,000 miles of flying

After an early morning flight from Denver to Dallas, we'll spend a few hours in the American Express Centurion lounge relaxing before the 14+ hour Emirates A380 flight to Dubai.  This will be our first time flying Emirates and we're both pretty excited for the onboard bar, shower, and overall experience.  We were in Dubai a couple of years ago and enjoyed our time in the city.  For this trip, we're headed to the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa thanks to Starwood's generous 35% off promotion.  Al Maha is supposed to be an incredible resort and at nearly $2,000 a night would be completely unattainable without a large stash of SPG points.

After a four hour flight on Emirates first class to Male, we'll transfer via domestic prop plane and speed boat to the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa.  While there are dozens of reviews of the property online, we're both super excited to experience it for ourselves.  With just 50 villas (14 overwater and 36 on land) and a staff to guest ratio of nearly 2:1, it is supposed to be a very special place.  We'll spend three nights in the standard park villa and our last night in an overwater bungalow/villa.  Another bucket list item checked off.

We'll spend four nights at the Park Hyatt before transferring back to Male for a five hour redeye on Singapore Airlines.  Not looking forward to that but we'll be tired and use the flight to rest up for Thanksgiving in Singapore.

We've been to Singapore a couple of times and stayed at the same property (Conrad) during both trips.  We decided to check something new out and stay at the Grand Hyatt near Orchard Road.  It will be cool to stay in a different neighborhood and spend more time in a different part of the city.

Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class

While I would have loved to fly Singapore Suites again, availability was challenging post Thanksgiving.  So I "settled" for Singapore's 777-300ER first class which isn't fully enclosed but still an excellent way to fly.  We'll be flying Singapore to Hong Kong to San Francisco and then overnighting at SFO before catching an early flight back to Denver.

This is the best itinerary I've put together thus far.  We were able to cover all of the flights (with the exception of the connecting flights to Dallas and from SFO) and hotels with miles and points.  The Maldives is expensive and the fact that we were able to do so leaves us with a bit more cash to splurge on activities.  I'll cover the booking specifics in costs more in the next installment. Stay tuned!