Tag Archives: Cathay Pacific

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10 Day Asia Trip Report Summary (China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan & Nepal)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  By the time you read this post, I will be flying Cathay Pacific business class back to San Francisco.  At the beginning of the trip, I flew Air China business class from San Francisco to Beijing.  For the last 10 days, I have been hopping around Asia and I visited these cities:

  • Beijing, China (1 night)
  • Yangon, Myanmar (3 nights)
  • Dhaka, Bangladesh (1 night)
  • Paro & Thimphu, Bhutan (2 nights)
  • Kathmandu, Nepal (2 nights)
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Great Circle Mapper: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=PEK-RGN-DAC-PBH-KTM

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Reader Question Answered: Best Uses of Alaska Airlines Miles

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Is finding award seat availability a challenge for you? It’s no secret that families find it both challenging and frustrating. The easier part is accruing miles and points, because after all we put our spend on credit cards offering us bonuses, accrue miles from flying, and can even buy miles when we need to. We have big smiles on our faces when we see our airline point balances, but often those smiles turn to frowns when we try to put them to good use booking award flight tickets. Reality is not always an easy cup of espresso to swallow!

Alaska Airlines Award Tickets

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Synchrony Bank Cathay Pacific Credit Card Churning 12 Month Language

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday.  I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted.  This (Prime) week has been draining and I am thankful that we made it to the weekend.  I just have a quick post to share about the Synchrony Bank Cathay Pacific Credit Card.  I got this credit card on August 25, 2017 and knew the $95 annual fee was coming right around the corner.  Usually, I like to wait for the annual fee to post, see if I can talk the rep out of charging me for the annual fee or downgrade to a no annual fee card.  I had a bad experience recently where I tried to do that with the TD Bank Aeroplan Credit Card and it was a real headache. Let me explain…

I called TD Bank the day after my statement closed that showed the annual fee.  I asked the rep if she could waive the annual fee (not possible), then I asked if she could downgrade my card to a no annual fee version (also not possible), so I decided to close the card.  I thought all was good until a month later, I received a statement in the mail showing the $95 annual fee, a $35 late payment fee, and a $1.50 interest charge.  Furious, I called TD Bank and told the rep that I closed the card so I should not (and I would not) pay the annual fee and other fees.  She said that since I called after the annual fee posted, she could not reverse the charge.  I complained that that was not correct.  She put me on hold for a few minutes, talked to her supervisor, and then said that all charges were taken care of and no payment was necessary.  Dealing with TD Bank left a bad taste in my mouth and I didn’t want to go through a similar experience with Synchrony Bank, so I decided to close the card before the annual fee posted.  The following day, I received this email from Synchrony Bank with a link to a letter.  What the letter said interested me…

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Planes, Trains, and More Planes, 2017 Edition: Asia for the Holidays

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Buenos dias everyone,

Like last year, I just left Mexico City for a long international trip over the holidays – this time to Asia instead of Europe. This time the trip wasn’t built around a mistake fare, but rather a desire to visit the Leshan Giant Buddha and the Chengdu Panda Base, both in western China.

I started planning the trip in mid-September, and found that Asiana Airlines had pretty good business class availability across the Pacific for the dates we were looking at. I tacked on United economy flights between Mexico City and LAX (though this resulted in an overnight layover in each direction, since United only has one flight per day between those two cities), and added a domestic Air China economy flight from Shanghai to Chengdu after a one-week stopover.

A world map centered over the Pacific Ocean showing the following flight routing in red: MEX-LAX-ICN-PVG, SHA-CTU

Map generated by gcmap.com

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My 8 Credit Card App-O-Rama Results (Mostly Bad News)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all has a great weekend.  A few weeks ago, I applied for 8 new credit cards during my App-O-Rama.  Here are the 8 credit cards and sign up bonuses that I applied for (not in this particular order).  Unfortunately, my App-O-Rama skills are not as good as they used to be and I was (ultimately) declined for most of these credit cards.

  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card: 30,000 AS Miles + $100 statement credit after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($75 annual fee)
  • Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Credit Card: 75,000 VA Miles after spending $12,000 in 6 months ($90 annual fee)
  • Bank of America Amtrak Rewards Credit Card: 30,000 Amtrak Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($79 annual fee)
  • US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card: 50,000 FlexPoints ($750 in travel credit) after spending $4,500 in 3 months ($400 annual fee)
  • Wells Fargo Visa Signature Credit Card: 20,000 Go Far Reward Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($0 annual fee)
  • First Bankcard Best Western Credit Card: 50,000 Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($59 annual fee, first year waived)
  • Synchrony Bank Cathay Pacific Credit Card: 50,000 CX Miles after spending $2,500 in 3 months ($95 annual fee)
  • Barclays Wyndham Rewards Credit Card: 45,000 Wyndham Points (3 free nights) after spending $2,000 in 3 months ($75 annual fee)

Long story short, I applied for 3 Bank of America credit cards, starting with the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card.  I recently closed my previous Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card a few weeks ago, so I was ready to apply again and earn more Alaska Airlines miles.  Unfortunately, my application went to pending.  Since I was not immediately declined, I decided to apply for a Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Credit Card.  Surprisingly, I was instantly approved for that credit card with a pretty small credit limit.  With that success, I decided to apply for a Bank of America Amtrak Rewards Credit Card.  Unfortunately, that application went to pending as well. 1 out of 3 instant approvals was not bad.  I was hopeful that the 2 pending applications could be approved with a short reconsideration call.

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