Chase Sapphire Preferred Dividend Posted

I logged on to check out my recent Chase Sapphire Preferred statement and noticed my dividend from 2014 spend posted.  As you all know, this is my favorite card and sits at the top of my wallet.  While it's a major bummer that the dividend will be eliminated after this year, I'm still a big fan and will keep the card regardless.

Last year, my 7% dividend (on all points earned including sign-up bonuses) was about 3,000 points.  In 2014, I managed to put more spend on this card through both more actual spend and "manufactured spend."  Including category bonuses and "Shop Through Chase" points, I earned about 72,000 points on the card last year.  My 7% dividend posted and was 5,039 Ultimate Rewards points.  My actual spend was quite a bit lower - in the 30K range.

I value UR points at around $.02 each so the value of the dividend was over $100.  The annual fee on the CSP is $95 so at least for 2014, the dividend paid for the card.  Not a bad deal.

Is Upgrading to Hawaii a Good Deal?

Generally speaking, premium cabin flights to Hawaii from the lower 48 aren't anything special.  Unless you're flying on a handful of United flights, you're not getting a lie-flight bed, amenity kit, fancy Champagne, etc...That said, the flights can be pretty long.  Even from Denver, you're looking at  7+ hours westbound and nearly that coming home.

You are off to Hawaii after all (so in theory you should be pretty stoked) and the airlines know this.  So first class fares are exorbitant.  For our trip to Maui in October, we found relatively cheap coach fares (~$800 each) with a stop in San Francisco on the way there and the direct flight home.

Andaz Maui

Upgrading coach tickets to first class using miles used to be a decent use of miles.  But now it is so easy to earn a massive amount of miles that it's far better "value" wise to book an award ticket in a premium cabin.  Obviously this reduces the cash outlay as well.

One exception I've found is Hawaii.

• Our cash fare cost $800 per ticket
• Had we purchased a first class fare for the outbound (coach home) the fare would have been ~$1,800
• Basically United is selling the first class upgrade for ~$1,000

Cash upgrade

Since the upgrade doesn't mean a ton to me, I figured I'd check to see if there was availability using miles.  It is 8+ hours in the air so I'm willing to "pay something" for an increase in comfort.

Mileage upgrade

There were a couple of seats available (I took the screenshot after I upgraded one of us) for 25,000 miles each way.  We are sitting on a boatload of United miles so this was a pretty easy decision.  The inbound redeye is pretty uncomfortable either way so we'll both take our chances on the back of the bus.

While I wouldn't pay $1,000 cash each for the upgrade, the fact that 25,000 miles is "buying" $1,000 in cash value is pretty good ($.04/mile).  I would imagine this is the way United sells the majority of it's upgrades prior to departure.  Hawaii is also a good use of a United Regional Premier Upgrade (RPU) if you are sitting on any of those.

Review: The Wing First Class Lounge

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
The Bridge Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge
Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Taipei
W Taipei
Cathay Pacific 777 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong
The Wing Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge
Cathay Pacific 777-300 ER First Class Hong Kong to Los Angeles

Upon landing in Hong Kong, we headed to The Bridge for some coffee and plane spotting.  I previously reviewed The Bridge in this trip report series so won't go into much more detail than that.  After an hour or so in the The Bridge, we headed back into the terminal and made our way to The Wing.  The lounge is located on the opposite end of the terminal as The Bridge so it's a bit of a hike.  But it felt great to stretch our legs knowing we still had a lot of traveling to do.

Not a bad walk from The Bridge to The Wing

I have read numerous reviews of The Wing but it was still a bit hard to find despite the fantastic signage in the airport.  When we found the entrance, we were warmly greeted and welcomed into the gorgeous space.  I love the look of this lounge - black lacquer, white marble, and red and brown leather make for a super sexy combo.

Ground floor entrance to The Wing

This way to The Cabanas

Like All the Right Points on Facebook!

All the Right Points now has a Facebook page!  I'd really appreciate it if you take a second to like the page.

This is a great way for you to get easy access to new content (and share with others) on Facebook.  I'll be posting links to all new blog posts on this page moving forward.

If you're not into social media and would prefer a daily email recap of posts, feel free to subscribe via the text box on the right hand side of the page.

Thanks again for your support!

2015 Travel Coming Together

The beginning of the year is always interesting as the "clock" resets to zero in so many ways.  I love looking at the calendar with virtually nothing booked and slowly filling it in with a trip here and there.  Weekend trips, long-haul trips, birthday trips, anniversaries, etc...

2015 is now shaping up to be the best travel year yet and I'm really excited about everything we have booked.  Here's a quick overview:

In April, Emily and I are headed to Vancouver for my birthday.  We haven't been in 7 years but our last visit was awesome so we're both excited to return.  The easiest way to get there would be to fly direct from Denver.  But that's not that fun.  So we're flying to New York to take Cathay Pacific's service across the continent...in first class.  We loved our recent Cathay first trip so much that we just had to get another flight in this year.

Cathay Pacific First Class

In May, we're headed to Europe.  This will be our first trip with a long-haul flight direct from Denver. As of now, we'll be visiting Amsterdam, Vienna, and Paris and returning in Singapore Suites!  We also have some great stays booked (all with points) at the Park Hyatt's in Paris and Vienna.

In June, I'm taking my brother on a whirlwind tour of Asia.  We'll start off by flying Cathay First from LAX to Hong Kong on our way to Bangkok where we'll spend a couple of days.  Then back to Hong Kong for a few days (in Thai Airways first class) before flying home on Asiana's A380 First Class Suite.  This will be he first time in Asia so it will be great to show him around.

We'll spend most of the summer in Denver celebrating a couple of key birthdays and anniversaries.  In October, we're headed to Hawaii for a few days at the newly opened Andaz Maui.

All in all, it's shaping up to be a great year.  All of these trips have been fully "paid for" with points and miles.  I hope you'll come along for the ride and maybe pick up a thing or two.

Review: Cathay Pacific 777 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
The Bridge Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge
Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Taipei
W Taipei
Cathay Pacific 777 Business Class Taipei to Hong Kong
The Wing Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge
Cathay Pacific 777-300 ER First Class Hong Kong to Los Angeles

Upon arrival at TPE, we made our way to the Cathay Pacific check-in counter.  While the business class queue was quite busy, there was no line for first class.  Since we were on separate reservations it took awhile to get everything sorted out but the representatives were great and soon we had our lounge invitation and boarding passes all the way to LAX in hand.  We were a bit early arriving to the airport so they proactively put us on an earlier flight so we could enjoy The Wing at Hong Kong.  Both agents told us "we would enjoy that lounge much more" and they were right.

We only had 45 minutes until boarding and queues for immigration were pretty long so we didn't make it to the lounge or really get to explore the airport at all.  We spent the last of our Taiwanese Dollars on a few souvenirs and were soon boarding the 777 that would take us back to Hong Kong.

Taxi at TPE - Delta, United heavies parked on the ramp

Today's flight would be configured with Cathay's new regional business class seats.  They are totally comfortable for an hour flight but look much more like domestic first class than anything resembling "lie flat."

We both thought these phone pockets were pretty cool

The flight was only 75 minutes so I didn't have a ton of time for pictures.  There was a very quick meal, coffee service, and of course the belly cam.  

On approach into HKG

Beyond that, the flight was uneventful and we were soon on approach to Hong Kong's International Airport.  Gorgeous views on the way in though.

Over the "piano keys" at HKG

Once on the ground, we made our way over to The Bridge to do some plane spotting before the real fun would begin at The Wing.

New Blog Design

All the Right Points has a new look.  Thanks to my amazing wife for helping me get the new header and logo up and running.  The header contains images from a number of our favorite places including Hong Kong, Dubai, London, and Taipei.

Thanks so much for your support and hope you like the new look!