Favorite New Hotel Amenity

One of the hardest parts of traveling is navigating.  Today, we take our smartphones for granted.  At home, we can make a dinner reservation, get directions, call an Uber, or Instagram all while trying not to get hit by a car crossing the street.

Internationally that's a bit more challenging,  Yes, there are carriers (T-Mobile) that offer pretty good international cell phone plans but do those phones work as well at home?

I generally add 100MB of data and 100 minutes of voice calling to my Verizon plan each trip.  $40 isn't cheap but it's an insurance policy against needing to call home, work, or use some data while out and about.

St. Regis Istanbul complimentary smartphone

The St. Regis Istanbul offers a free smartphone for the duration of your stay.  The Samsung phone (first tab using a Samsung and I much prefer my iPhone 6S) was pretty easy to setup although I found the navigation a bit challenging.  Regardless, we used the phone for maps, lunch recommendations, and weather.

I know more hotels are offering this as an amenity.  Given the (at least locally) cost of cellular data has come down so much, this can't cost the hotel very much and was really a huge benefit for us.  Kudos to the St. Regis Istanbul for offering a great amenity to guests!

Review: St. Regis Istanbul

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Sheraton JFK Airport
Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK
Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER New York (JFK) to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge
St. Regis Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Business Class A330-300 Istanbul to Male
Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives
Conrad Maldives
Transfer from Conrad Maldives to Male
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-200 Male to Singapore
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Singapore
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge to Singapore
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Singapore to Tokyo (HND)
Andaz Tokyo
ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo (NRT)
ANA First Class 777-300ER Tokyo (NRT) to San Francisco

We exited the airport and hopped in a cab for the 30 minute ride to the St. Regis.  Our driver spoke broken English but I showed him the hotel address and location on my phone and he seemed to know where he was going.  The ride was gorgeous - the sun was still coming up, traffic was light, and we drove along the Sea of Marmara most of the way into town.  Istanbul is among our favorite cities in the world and the it felt so good to be back after all that's happened just enjoying the scenery.

St. Regis Istanbul views

We made it to the Nisanti area where the St. Regis is located and guided the driver to the hotel.  He was on the phone and blew past the entrance.

St. Regis Istanbul exterior

Using a British Airways Travel Together Ticket One-Way

The British Airways Chase Credit Card offers a 'Travel Together" ticket upon spending $30,000 in a calendar year.  This means you can book two people in any class of service for the price of one.  There are a couple of catches.  First, travel must originate in the US.  Second, the ticket is good for two years.  Third, the cardmember earning the ticket must be one of the passengers.  And the biggest catch is the you must pay the taxes/fuel surcharges on both tickets.

So you're essentially booking an award ticket for two for half the miles.  I earned a travel together ticket back in late 2014 which was slated to expire in early December.  If you do it right and book a first class ticket, the benefit is worth 200,000+ British Airways Avios.  Not a bad deal for putting $30K in spend on one card.

One of the biggest complaints about the ticket is finding roundtrip award availability.  I probably would have had no trouble had I booked further out but just started looking for a November trip a couple of weeks ago.  While I wasn't able to found roundtrip availability that matched dates we could travel, I was able to find a day that worked for us on the outbound.  

I actually had no idea that you could book the travel together ticket as a one-way!  I found availability on the direct BA flight from Denver to London (which is great so we don't have to position anywhere) and from London to Dubai.  I was able to search, book, and ticket everything online!  

The total price for both first class tickets was 153,000 Avios and ~$1,550 in taxes.  Even better, American Express is currently running a transfer bonus for Avios.  With the bonus, I transferred 90,000 Membership Rewards points which became 108,000 Avios.  Combined with my Avios balance, that was enough to book the ticket.  So the actual ticket cost 135,000 Avios/MR points - not a bad deal for 2 in the pointy end of a 747 all the way to Dubai.  

Especially considering the cash cost is running north of $12,000 per ticket!

Obviously we need to find a way home but with more options and less restrictions, that shouldn't be a problem.  Stay tuned as the trip comes together!

Review: Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Sheraton JFK Airport
Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK
Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER New York (JFK) to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge
St. Regis Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Business Class A330-300 Istanbul to Male
Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives
Conrad Maldives
Transfer from Conrad Maldives to Male
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-200 Male to Singapore
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Singapore
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge to Singapore
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Singapore to Tokyo (HND)
Andaz Tokyo
ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo (NRT)
ANA First Class 777-300ER Tokyo (NRT) to San Francisco

After a solid flight from New York, we eventually found our way to the Turkish arrivals lounge.  After customs, make a right and look for the Starbucks.  The lounge is to the left.

Entrance to the Turkish Airlines arrivals lounge

The lounge is relatively new and I didn't find much online in terms of pictures/services.  So I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had read that the lounge is only open until around 11AM so only open for a handful (TK4 from JFK) of US departures.

Earn 5x at Department Stores with Chase Freedom

I've written about the Chase Freedom card a number of times including post about the 5x category (restaurants) last quarter.  Freedom is one of the best "fee free" cards on the market.  While the card is marketed as a cash back card, if you have another Ultimate Rewards earning card (such as an Ink business card or a Chase Sapphire Preferred card) you can transfer the cash back points earned to your Ultimate Rewards earning card.  You can then use those points to transfer to a variety of travel partners (British Airways, United Airlines, Hyatt, etc..) which provide far more value then simply redeeming for cash back.

Chase Freedom provides a quarterly bonus where you can earn 5x cash back (and ultimately 5x Ultimate Rewards) on up to $1,500 in spend per quarter.  During Q3 the bonus categories included restaurants and warehouse clubs (i.e. Costco).  While the quarter isn't over, I've already maxed my 5x bonus and Emily is getting pretty close.  

Registration/activation is open for Q4 which offers 5x at department stores, warehouse clubs, and drug stores.  While I was hoping for a 5x (or a 10x) bonus at Amazon, these categories are pretty solid for holiday shopping.  Between warehouse clubs, department stores, and gift cards from drug stores, we should easily be able to do some of our holiday shopping at 5x.  

Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER New York to Istanbul

Introduction
Introduction Part Two
Planning & Booking
Sheraton JFK Airport
Lufthansa Business Class Lounge JFK
Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER New York (JFK) to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Istanbul Arrivals Lounge
St. Regis Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Business Class A330-300 Istanbul to Male
Transfer from Male to Conrad Maldives
Conrad Maldives
Transfer from Conrad Maldives to Male
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-200 Male to Singapore
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Singapore
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge to Singapore
Singapore Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Singapore to Tokyo (HND)
Andaz Tokyo
ANA Suite Lounge Tokyo (NRT)
ANA First Class 777-300ER Tokyo (NRT) to San Francisco

Turkish Airlines TK4
New York (JFK) to Istanbul (IST)
August 18, 2016
Aircraft:  777-300ER
Seats:  3A/3B

Boarding was called in the lounge and we proceeding to the gate.  There was already a dozen people queuing in the business class line when we arrived.  At this point we were a few minutes passed our boarding time so I checked FlightAware and our departure was pushed back 30 minutes.  We each made a few last minute calls while standing in line and then boarding was finally called.  Note that no announcements were made about the delay.

We boarded and bounded down the jetway before turning left into the larger of two business class cabins.  We were seated in 3A/3B in four row cabin setup 2-3-2.  

Turkish Airlines 777-300ER Business Class

While seating in the middle of the middle section would really suck, that wasn't  a problem for anyone on this flight.  The cabin seats 49 and we pushed back with roughly 25 seats occupied.  We had flown Turkish a few times in 2013 but we were eager to see how the service and product had evolved since.  We would not be disappointed.

When Do Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Credits Post?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 annual travel credit is one of the most lucrative benefits the card offers.  But how fast do credits post?

First, the credit triggers automatically which is awesome.  Second, it triggers on everything from airfare to hotel spend to carshare to Uber.  And third, it seems to hit within a business day.

I've already received my $300 credit for 2016 after spend with Car2Go, Uber, and a prepaid hotel stay.  That's before my $450 annual fee hits which I'm assuming will be billed upon the closing of my first statement.

I'm looking forward to another $300 travel credit in January!!