Roundtrip Flights to Australia: ~$550

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Guru — No Comments ↓

You’ll want to act fast on this one – United has launched a sale on flights to Australia for under $550 roundtrip! This appears to be an attack on Delta, as most of the lowest fares are departing from Delta hubs (Atlanta, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and Detroit), and flights are available to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Here’s an example of fares between Atlanta and Melbourne for July: You can search flexible dates on ITA Matrix, and book directly with United. If you book with United, you have 24 hours to cancel completely free of charge, so if you’re at Continue reading Roundtrip Flights to Australia: ~$550→

Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge and HK Express Hong Kong to Chiang Mai

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Guru — No Comments ↓

Introduction American Airlines First Class Greensboro to Charlotte to New York and a Day in NYC Cathay Pacific Business Class New York (JFK) to Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Arrivals Lounge and 12 Hours in Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge and HK Express Hong Kong to Chiang Mai Le Meridien Chiang Mai and Exploring Chiang Mai (Part 1) Exploring Chiang Mai (Part 2) and Dusit Princess Chiang Mai Hotel Thai Airways Bangkok to Delhi and Radisson Blu Connaught Place New Delhi Exploring Delhi (Part 1) India Rail Delhi to Agra Exploring Agra and the Taj Mahal and Radisson Blu Continue reading Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge and HK Express Hong Kong to Chiang Mai→

Roundtrip Flights to Asia Under $500!

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Guru — No Comments ↓

One of the best sites for up-to-the-minute travel deals is The Flight Deal, and they recently posted details about a huge sale on flights to Asia, including Bali, Seoul, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Kuala Lumpur for anywhere between $350-$600 roundtrip! These fares are available from a wide variety of cities in the US, so there’s a good chance that you’ll find a deal from a city near you. Most of the best prices I’m seeing are in March-April, and September-December. For example, here are the fares between Charlotte and Seoul: As The Flight Deal recommends, using Google Flights Continue reading Roundtrip Flights to Asia Under $500!→

British Airways Avios Awards Increasing in Price Soon!

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Guru — No Comments ↓

I’ve posted a number of times about what I have found to be one of the best deals available today: British Airways Avios Awards for short, nonstop flights within the US. As of now, nonstop American Airlines flights that are less than 650 miles in distance are only 4,500 British Airways points (called Avios) each way. This is their first tier of award prices, which you can see in the full chart below: This is particularly useful because short, nonstop flights are often disproportionately expensive: Unfortunately, as of February 2, 2016, that first tier will be eliminated. When signing into my British Continue reading British Airways Avios Awards Increasing in Price Soon!→

Cathay Pacific Business Class New York (JFK) to Hong Kong

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Guru — No Comments ↓

Don’t Miss Out: Etihad A380 First Class Apartment Available with Miles

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Guru — No Comments ↓

The Mrs. Guru and I recently got back from a trip to Hong Kong, India, and Thailand and on the way home, we were able to fly on the Etihad A380 First Class Apartment, which no other airline can compete with today: Currently, Etihad only flies the A380 from their hub in Abu Dhabi to Sydney, London, and New York. They do make a decent number of seats available to Sydney and London, but recently it’s been almost next to impossible to book the Abu Dhabi to New York flight using miles. When they first announced that they would be Continue reading Don’t Miss Out: Etihad A380 First Class Apartment Available with Miles→

American Airlines First Class Greensboro to Charlotte to New York and a Day in NYC

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Guru — No Comments ↓

I always question myself when I book these painfully early flights, but in this case, we were starting our trip, flying from Greensboro to New York on Saturday, November 21, which was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. As a result, finding award availability was a bit tricky, so our only real option was to leave super early in the morning. The good news was, we would be in NYC by about 9:30 am, so we would have the full day in the city.

We were mostly packed the night before, and soon headed out the door in the dark.

We pulled into the Greensboro airport around 4:40 am, and had already checked in online. The American check in counter was actually bit busy, since American has several departures before 6:00 am (yes, this is busy for Greensboro).

We headed straight to security, where we were the only passengers in the Pre-Check line. I’m thrilled everytime I fly out of Greensboro, since I haven’t found a time yet that they don’t offer full Pre-Check, unlike many major airports (I’m looking at you Philadelphia and Newark, among others) where they only offer Pre-Check screening at certain hours. In any event, we were through security and at Gate 44 in no time, with about 10 minutes before boarding started. Continue reading American Airlines First Class Greensboro to Charlotte to New York and a Day in NYC→

An Amazing Asian Adventure: Introduction

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Guru — No Comments ↓

I had been eyeing a trip to Asia for a little while, since we had most recently done trips to Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. Both the Mrs. Guru and I had a relatively sizable number of frequent flyer miles with American Airlines, and as of now, American has, by far, the cheapest award prices to Asia. For comparison, a One Way Business Class ticket from North America to anywhere in Asia currently only costs 55,000 miles using American miles, but United and Delta both charge 80,000 miles. I knew that eventually, American would be raising their prices, which they just announced a few weeks ago, so it was the perfect time to book this trip while their prices were still way below the competition.

I also had read a lot about Etihad Airways (based in Abu Dhabi, UAE), since they have a First Class that is head and shoulders above any seat on any other airline today. Their First Class on the Airbus A380 isn’t just a seat; they call it an Apartment – and for good reason! Inside your Apartment, you have a huge seat, along with a separate 80” long sofa that folds down into a bed. Here’s a sneak peak of what the First Apartment looks like: Continue reading An Amazing Asian Adventure: Introduction→

An Update on Updates

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Guru — No Comments ↓

Happy Holidays to everyone – it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to post an update, but in the mean time, we’ve taken a number of exciting trips. You may have seen a few recent posts on Twitter or Facebook about the trip we just took to Hong Kong, Thailand, and India, which was a fantastic time. We also had a great time down in South America, and I never finished our trip to Greece, so I have plenty to catch up on. I’m planning to cover our Asia trip first, since that’s the freshest in my mind. Continue reading An Update on Updates→

Delta 20 Minute Baggage Guarantee is Now Permanent

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Guru — No Comments ↓

A few weeks ago, I posted about a then-temporary promotion that Delta was offering, where they guaranteed that your checked baggage would arrive within 20 minutes of your arrival, or they would offer you 2,500 miles as compensation if it took longer. Initially, this promotion was only valid through March 31, but they’ve now made the baggage guarantee a permanent (well, until further notice) offering. Now, anytime you check a bag, you’re guaranteed to have it back in your hands within 20 minutes of your flight arriving at the gate. If your bag takes longer than 20 minutes to arrive, Continue reading Delta 20 Minute Baggage Guarantee is Now Permanent→

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