50% Off at Neiman Marcus with Visa Checkout

Neiman Marcus is offering $50 off a purchase of $100 (regular priced merchandise only) when you pay with Visa Checkout.  If you don't already have Visa Checkout, it takes all of 3 minutes to signup. The deal expires tomorrow, 2/17.  To get the deal, select "pay with Visa Checkout" and you'll automatically receive $50 off your order.

Yes, Neiman Marcus is insanely overpriced and most of the stuff they sell is more than $100.  That said, they do have a lot of great travel stuff including Tumi accessories.  You could pick up a travel kit for $95 and add some socks to clear the $100 threshold.

I was able to get a Tumi Alpha Bravo travel kit (last one so no longer available) which retailed for $115 but I scored it for $65.  I also used my ShopRunner account to get free 2-day shipping and went through the Shop with Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall and earned 5x points on the purchase.

This is a pretty good deal if you were already in the market for something that NM sells.

Review: Cathay Pacific First Class 777-300ER Hong Kong to LA

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 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to Los Angeles

We were originally slated to fly home the next day on American's direct service from Hong Kong to Dallas.  I had been looking for other options prior to the trip but couldn't find anything.  The night before we were supposed to head home, I found availability on Cathay Pacific first class.  Because there were some challenges in switching our flight, I'm going to write a separate post about what we did and how we did it.  But now onto the trip report...

After spending a wonderful afternoon in The Wing, we made our way down to the gate.  Boarding had already begun and we were on the plane within minutes.  Cathay Pacific only has 6 first seats on their 777-300ER (vs. 8 on Singapore for example) so the cabin feels incredibly wide and spacious.  We were shown to our seats (1D and 1K) with Emily taking the window seats and me in the aisle.

Cathay Pacific First Class

Oh hey 1K

Our plane had Cathay's "refreshed" first seat which was cool.  While there isn't a door that closes, this is probably my second favorite first class seat (next to Singapore Suites).  The seat is unbelievable comfortable for both lounging and sleeping.  There is a fold out tv which can be angled to ensure you get the perfect viewing angle.  There's a touch screen seat control, remote, two reading lights, and power ports.  On the left hand side of my seat was a cubby to store small items.  

First of many glasses of Krug

United Double Bills...and Actually Apologizes

I booked our tickets to Hawaii at united.com last week.  I logged on to my American Express account to pay my bill on my Business Gold Card (earning 3x Membership Rewards points for airfare purchases) only to discover that I had been double billed for the the tickets.

I contacted American Express to let them know and they opened up an inquiry and promised to investigate.  I also contacted United via email to let them know.

After a few days, they responded.

I was really impressed with the email and the apology.  While I did ask for 10,000 miles in my email, I wasn't expecting anything.  Impressive service if you ask me to both take care of the issue and provide some "goodwill" compensation.

The 10,000 miles have already posted to our accounts and the duplicate billing issue resolved.  Thanks United!

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

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