Archives for February 2020

Review: American Airlines Flagship Business / 777-300ER / Hong Kong to Los Angeles

February 28, 2020 by boltonpoints

AIRCRAFT: 77W / 777-300ER
ROUTE: HKG – LAX
SEAT: 8D and 8G (Business)
COST: CASH + SYSTEMWIDE UPGRADE (SWU)

We’d found reasonable fares to get from Hong Kong back to San Francisco, so this seemed like the perfect way to use my last two SWU’s (systemwide upgrades), which Executive Platinums get four of when they qualify/re-qualify. The SWU’s themselves have become increasingly harder to use over the years, and finding confirmable space at booking is almost non-existent. Nevertheless, our upgrades cleared a couple of weeks out, however I didn’t receive a notification from American. The way I found out is Chase – where I booked the flights – notified me to say that my fare class had changed. Minor details considering Hong Kong to LAX is about 13 hours.

*Singapore Airlines A380 views from the bus!*

Check-in

We arrived into Hong Kong on a separate VietJet flight from Phu Quoc around 3:00 in the afternoon. The American flight didn’t leave until nearly 8pm, so although it can be risky booking separate flights on an international itinerary, I felt comfortable with the 5 hour window. The downside is that because our itineraries were separate, we needed to get our bags and clear immigration.

We then headed back to the departures hall, where there was an American check-in desk but no agents. We were told by another couple who had just done this flight several weeks prior, that they wouldn’t open check-in until 3 hours out. Since I was Executive Platinum at the time, I was able to wait in the Flagship check-in line. At about 3.5 hours before departure, an agent arrived and checked our bags.

The Lounge (The Pier)

*I want my house decorated like this lounge*

We made it through immigration and security in about 10 minutes. Once through, we beelined for The Pier – Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge – which I had access to thanks to my Executive Platinum status (oneworld Emerald). We’ve been to Hong Kong’s airport many times, and normally we’d lounge hop, but given that we only had about 2-2.5 hours to play with, we decided to stay put. We were able to take much needed showers, followed by a complimentary foot massage at the spa! Tip: put your name on the spa list the second you arrive, as the queue can be long.

Cathay has been in financial troubles for the last couple of years, and the political unrest in Hong Kong has only exacerbated the problems. The airline has begun to cut some services, including first class from many Asian routes. We also noticed that the champagne options in lounge had changed from Vueve Clicquot to Perrier-Jouet, a small, but noticeable downgrade.

After showering and foot massages, we dined in the sit-down dining room. As we always do, we ordered signature dan dan noodles, followed by our server’s recommendation to get the pork ribs. Both were excellent. We left the lounge with 45 minutes before our flight.

The flight

*33 min before departure is apparently final call*

We arrived at our gate where boarding had already begun. We entered the plane through the middle door, where we were greeted by smiling flight attendants.

American’s cabin is a 1-2-1 configuration, with them middle seats in a reverse-herringbone setup, making them great for those traveling together. Overall, these are my favorite business class seats that American offers, which makes sense since the 77W is their flagship aircraft.

At our seats was Casper bedding, Bang and Olufsen headphones, and an amenity kit and slippers. I had my own pair of Bose headphones with me, but decided to give the new B&O headphones a try and they were excellent, and definitely an improvement over the Bose headphones offered for the last few years, though either would probably be considered industry leading since most airlines skimp here. Now if only American didn’t collect them 45-60 minutes prior to the end of the flight…

Hong Kong is one of the few routes where American offers pajamas, which are also by Casper and come in two sizes: S/M and L/XL. The route also features a mattress pad, which you won’t find on most European routes in business. American First Class (international) on the 77W will always provide PJ’s and mattress pads, regardless of route.

As for the bedding, I really do find the combination of Casper’s bedding with the seat to be almost unrivaled for business class. I consistently get 7+ hours of sleep on American flights, something I can’t even say with other airlines. To be fair, I’ve flown long haul American more than any other airline.

Shortly after stowing our bags, a flight attendant came around offering water, orange juice, or champagne (which was actually prosecco) in plastic cups. She seemed annoyed about something, although she did take the plastic wrappers from the bedding and threw them away. As of last week, American stopped wrapping bedding in plastic (yay for less plastic!), however prior, I always found it frustrating that FA’s almost never proactively clear the garbage from seats, even though every single person in business has it.

The amenity kits were well stocked with a brand I haven’t heard of, but can certainly get behind the name for a 13 hour flight with recycled air: Allies of Skin.

Menus were also at our seats:

The same flight attendant came by to confirm my order, which was “you ordered the seafood, right? Still want it?”. There was no greeting or addressing me by name, but just a quick interaction so he could move on. I find this so frustrating with many US flight attendants because it literally takes no additional effort. In this case, he was holding the manifest, which has my name on it!

We pushed back a few minutes prior to our scheduled 7:55pm departure and were airborne by 8:03.

*Business class bathrooms are stocked with CO Bigelow products*

Within about 20 minutes, flight attendants began rolling the drink cart through the cabin. I changed into my pajama’s as soon as the seatbelt sign was off.

I ordered a glass of champagne, but it turned out to be terrible. The next time the flight attendant walked by, I asked if I could switch to a Woodford Reserve, which he was happy to do. One thing to note if you’re a bourbon drinker, for whatever reason (*cough* cheap *cough*) American only caters a handful of Woodford’s for the entire plane, which seats close to 300 people. Order early and ask for a second one because they’ll likely be out after the initial beverage service.

About 30 minutes later, the meal service started. First up was a salad with a sweet potato, carrot, couscous, and feta appetizer. The appetizer was fresh, however it didn’t taste like much of anything and I couldn’t really differentiate between the sweet potato and carrot. The Chinese salad dressing was very good and went well with the chosen greens.

Next up was the main, prawns with polenta and a provencal sauce. The prawns were cooked perfectly, however the meal was kind of bland with a forgettable sauce. That said, it was a pretty good meal by AA standards, so I’ll call it a win.

Leigh ordered the cauliflower “crab” cake and it was excellent to the point of this would be something I would order in a restaurant.

For dessert, I had the cheese plate.

After my meal, I continued to watch movies. American’s entertainment options are robust, however they play about 90 seconds of ads before every selection, which gets old really quickly. Between the dishonest in-flight credit card pitches and the ads, American: stop soliciting your customers!

I decided to connect to the wifi to get caught up on some work. Prices for the entire flight are reasonable, however the speeds were spotty and do not allow streaming like AA’s domestic high speed wifi.

After desert service, the lights were turned down. At this point, proactive drink refills mostly stopped, so if you needed water or something, your best bet was to visit the galley, which has a self-service snack bar setup.

After getting about 7 hours of sleep, I woke up to the flight attendants getting the cabin ready for breakfast service. At this point, we were almost the San Francisco area, heading down the coast to LAX.

I’d pre-ordered the American breakfast and the omelette turned out to be one of the best egg dishes I’ve every been served on a flight. The omelette perfectly cooked; still light and fluffy. Prior to service, I quickly made my way to the lavatory to change back into my clothes before the eventual logjam ensued.

About 30 minutes from arrival, the crew began getting the cabin ready for arrival. We touched down a few minutes early, however the captain let us know we’d be parking in a remote stand. If you’ve never had to do this at LAX, keep that lucky rabbit’s foot with you, because it’s a massive pain in the ass. Passengers are forced to deplane by ramp, only to be loaded into a bus and be driven to Tom Bradly International Terminal to clear immigration and gather bags.

*The only positive to deplaning at a remote stand is the view of this monster!*

Once at baggage claim, we wait a good 40 minutes for our bags, watching every single non-priority tag bag come out ahead of ours. Bags are an area where American does not do well and I consistently notice that most works simply must ignore the orange priority tags.

Overall thoughts

For most of the last decade, American has been the leader in international business class hard product in the US (Delta and United have now caught up), and they’re the only US airline still offering international first class. The seats, lounges, wifi, and bedding all make for a “hard to screw up” combination. Our flight from Hong Kong was no different: we got plenty of rest, which is really the whole point of business class. The food and the service are always the x-factors when it comes to US airlines, and you really just don’t know what you’re in for until you’re in it.

Our crew was mostly friendly, but they certainly didn’t go out of their way for anything or even address me by name. I’ve had crews on both the low end and the high-end of the spectrum; this crew was about average, so no complaints from my end (it’s all about expectations!). I would (and probably will) fly American Flagship Business again, especially on the 77W. That said, if I’m given the option of flying say Cathay Pacific, then I’m going to fly Cathay 10/10 times because I can expect excellent service, whereas American is a dice roll.

Make no mistake, there are some incredible American flight attendants out there, I just believe that American should do more to invest in the soft product, which could make them a global leader in business class. Of course you’ll need to disregard what management is doing to their domestic experience.

Have you flown American Flagship Business? If so, what was your experience?

Planning an affordable trip to Bora Bora and French Polynesia

February 25, 2020 by boltonpoints

We’ve all seen the Instagram photos of the overwater bungalows, surrounded by crystal clear water, with dramatic Mount Otemanu in background. In said photos, it looks like a mix of Hawaii’s mountains and the Caribbean’s blue waters. This dreamy paradise is one that most people only dream of visiting, primarily because it’s prohibitively expensive.

Bora Bora gets most of the fame, however it’s just one of the 118 islands and atolls that make up French Polynesia, one of the more remote places on earth. With that remoteness comes sky high prices, but with some advance planning, a trip to the South Pacific doesn’t have to break the bank.

Getting there from North America

Rewind to late 2017, when United announced that it would begin flying to Pape’ete, Tahiti (the capitol) from SFO. The flight was originally supposed to be seasonal, but it’s done so well that it’s now year around. Prior to United’s announcement, French Polynesia was served by three airlines from North America, none of them legacy US carriers. Air Tahiti Nui, Air France, and low-cost carrier French Bee dominated the market, offering few options to use points and miles to get there (Air Tahiti Nui is redeemable using American AAdvantage miles, while Air France charges an obscene amount Flying Blue miles for a one-way).

United’s new flight has helped put downward pressure on prices, and now round-trip economy flights can be had for under $600 (~$300 for one-ways). At around approximately 9 hours, it’s more than doable in economy, as you’re not crossing any datelines and only the return is overnight.

As of today, the routes that can get you from the US to French Polynesia are:

San Francisco (SFO)
- United / 3x weekly / Tue, Thur, Sat (both directions)
- French Bee / 2x weekly / Fri, Sat
Los Angeles (LAX)
- Air Tahiti Nui / Daily
- Air France / 3 – 4x weekly

If you have a stash of United miles (or Chase Ultimate Rewards, which is a 1:1 transfer to United), they can be redeemed starting at 35k each way, though at less than a 1 cent per mile, this isn’t the best deal or use of miles.

*Award prices for United SFO-PPT in coach*

*United business redemptions aren’t a good deal*

American miles can also be redeemed for their LAX-PPT flight starting at 40k miles per leg in economy, 65k in premium economy, or 80k in business. Like United, Air Tahiti Nui uses a 787-8 Dreamliner for the flight.

*American availability on Air Tahiti Nui*

Regardless of how you get to Pape’ete, you’ll still be required to take an additional flight to get to Bora Bora. Air Tahiti is the only airline that offers inter-island flights, and they only operate during daylight hours. Since some flights arrive at night, be sure to plan for your overnight stay in Pape’ete. I failed to take this into account when booking the rest of our itinerary, booking our Bora Bora accommodations for the same day we flew into Pape’ete. It was a long protracted fight with both United and our Bora Bora hotel, but it ended up getting resolved (phewww). Flights from Pape’ete to Bora Bora were about $200 per person.

Lodging

Bora Bora boasts numerous points hotels across several brands. Marriott (2), IHG (2), Accor (2), and Hilton (1) all have high-end properties around the island. Hyatt is noticeably absent from French Polynesia, which is a bummer since as I said a couple of weeks ago, they have the best elite loyalty program out there.

Most of these hotels will run between $500-$2000/night, the higher-end being on the eastern side of the atoll, where you’ll find the Le Meridien, St Regis, and InterContinental Thalasso. I can attest that the views of Mount Otemanu from that side are nothing short of spectacular; something you really don’t get from the other areas of the island. What you do get is a closer proximity to Vaitape, where all of the non-hotel restaurants are located, along with markets and stores, which I’ll address later.

We did an excursion that took us around the entire lagoon, stopping at the InterContinental, Hilton (Conrad), and Sofitel, and I can say without a doubt that the Le Meridien and St Regis have the best real estate on the island.

When we went last January, we stayed at the Le Meridien using points. This was before Marriott Category 8 kicked in, so we were able to redeem at the Category 7 price of 60k points/night, and with the 5th night free, got 5 nights for a total of 240k points (rates were well over $1000/night that week)!

A few notes about the hotel:

The property itself is beautiful, but it’s been a while since it’s seen updates. The harsh sun and saltwater aren’t kind, and the materials of this property no different.
As an Ambassador Elite, we were not only updraded to an overwater bungalow, we were given the probably the second best one in the entire resort due to the incredible view of Mount Otemanu from our deck.
The bungalows are definitely on the smaller side compared to other resorts there (the St Regis’ are about twice the size), however the resort is the best situated on the island due to it’s central views.
The food and drink – which I’ll hit on later on Bora Bora in general- was expensive and not worth the cost. We did got to happy hour a couple of nights, though there isn’t much night life to be had (nor should there be). Breakfast was excellent however, which was included for Marriott Platinums and above, so I’d recommend pigging out then (and waiting until mid-late morning if you can).
The property has a plenty of outdoor activities for free, including paddle boarding, kayaking, and visiting the sea turtle rehabilitation center onsite (great experience!).
The staff was incredibly friendly and generous
Lastly – somehow they use STYROFOAM cups and plastic water bottles in the rooms for coffee. I can’t even begin to explain… (there is a water dispenser in the gym, which is also well equipped).

Le Meridien photos:

Food and drink tips

Okay, so the first thing to remember is that Bora Bora is an atoll in one of the most remote places on earth and produces very little of its own food supply. As a consequence, everything has to be shipped in, meaning it’s outrageously expensive.

And since Bora Bora has no roads that connect many of the resorts to the main island, you’re a captive audience once you’re there. At the Le Meridien, cocktails started at $25 and a seafood pizza (12″) about $30. Unless you go do an activity, you’re at the resort all day, so it adds up quickly depending on your eating and drinking habits. If you’re like Leigh and me on vacation, the daily bill for drinks will exceed our flights home. 😉 Not to mention the urge to snack when you’re being lazy. Unless it’s your honeymoon, it’s hard to justify these prices for the better part of a week, not to mention waiting on room service all the time just isn’t that convenient!

BYO F and B!

We’d read about the prices beforehand, and since we’d just taken our actual honeymoon 4 months prior (to Seychelles and Kenya), we were not in the market for price gouging. We knew there was a market in town where we could buy fresh food upon our arrival, so we decided we’d supplement that with a Trader Joe’s run. We bought everything from our favorite chips, to beef jerky, to peanut butter stuff pretzels. We also brought wine and liquor, which you could also buy from duty free. We decided that packing it would be easier than having an additional bag from duty free.

Once we landed in Bora Bora, we took the public ferry that runs into town (Vaitape), in lieu of the $120 private pick-up via the hotel. The pick-up fee is ridiculous, however the main reason we wanted to do the ferry is because it allowed us to hit the market on our first day. From there we were able to take the $25 hotel transfer (same boat) from Vaitape back to the hotel. The frustrating part about the Le Meridien is that they charge an exorbitant price for the airport pick-up, when their neighbor and demonstrably higher-end St Regis does not.

There’s one primary market in town – Chin Lee Market – and they have pretty much everything you could want. From pre-made foods, to sandwich meat, to cheese, to heavenly fresh-baked French bread, and other local snacks, everything is covered. I also picked up a some beer since a six pack there costs less than one of the same canned beer at the hotel.

*The local dish – Tahitian Poisson Cru! (fish with coconut milk)*

Since we had a couple of hours to kill between the ferry drop-off and our pick-up, we first went to grab lunch and walk around the town. Our lunch was an excellent intro into the seafood heavy diet of Bora Bora. We then visited several shops, including a boutique that was selling the famous Tahitian black pearls. To me, the black pearls looked like the sultry version of the normal white pearl.

Afterward buying groceries, we made our way to the boat dock. While waiting, we were offered fresh cut fruit from some local women. I of course obliged, however they wouldn’t accept our money. Talk about hospitality! I also managed to find a pretty sweet “Hawaiian (Polynesian) shirt” that I still where on beach trips to this day.

We would come back into town one night for dinner at Bloody Mary’s, the local haunt for tourists and famous people. With its sandy floors and pick your own pieces of fresh seafood, it was a fun experience that I’d recommend doing one night if you get cabin fever at your hotel.

Our final night, we dined at the St Regis’ primary restaurant, Lagoon by Jean-Georges. The meal will set you back about $100-$150/person, though it was one of the best meals that I’ve ever had. Because it’s a sister property of the Le Meridien, you can charge it to the room (and earn points!).

A fish that can only be caught at night at 1000′ depths. Yum

Things to do

For the most part, we were totally fine with vegging for the majority of our time there, but we wanted to venture out for one day. We booked a full-day excursion with Lagoon Service Bora Bora and it didn’t disappoint. For about $120 a person, we went snorkeling in eel infested coral, went swimming with and fed sting rays, went on an incredible snorkel with more sharks than I’ve ever seen, and were fed lunch. Other than a splurging at the St Regis for dinner, the lunch was the best food we had our entire trip. Considering lunch in town would’ve cost about $75 per person, before the boat transfers, I’d call it a win! We were living right, because our guide serenaded the us with his ukulele throughout the day!

As for land activities, I really wanted to hike Mount Otemanu, but was told by the hotel that was no longer possible. Instead, we made use of the water activity gear provided for free by the hotel, but we primarily just vegged on the deck of our bungalow reading. When we got hot, we just jumped in the crystal clear water to cool off, climbing a set of stairs to reclaim our lounge spots. We did plenty of snorkeling around the bungalow too, where we saw sting rays, eels, tropical fish, and even turtles! Scuba diving is an option, however I don’t think it’s necessary given the shallowness and visibility of the water.

The thing we learned really quickly is that Bora Bora is a place to relax, not explore. Everything and everyone moves slow, so you might as well get on beat too. They don’t call it Boring Bora for nothing!

Other places to visit

After five nights on Bora Bora, we flew directly to Mo’orea – a small island thats just ten nautical miles from the main island Tahiti. Wow, what a change of pace! We rented a car upon our arrival and off we went. We’d booked a night at the Hilton Mo’orea using points (standard rooms go for 80k points/night). The hotel was much larger and lively than our accommodations in Bora Bora, and there was even a parking lot!

Everything in Mo’orea (and Tahiti) was at least half the price of what we paid in Bora Bora, a welcome relief.

At the time, I was a Gold member, so I had no expectations of being upgraded to an overwater bungalow. Much to our surprise, we were upgraded to a room with a private pool. The property felt new and well-maintained. Also, included in your stay is everything that’s in the mini-fridge, which includes beer and soft drinks, all of which are refilled each day. Another cool thing about the hotel is that they offer daily excursions by boat. We didn’t get to take advantage of it since we only had one full day.

After vegging most of the afternoon at the hotel, we took in a Polynesian show which was fantastic. Watching these guys spit, spin, walk on, and do just about everything you can imagine with fire was nothing short of incredible. Bravo!

The next day, we continued to drive the island counter clockwise. Our first stop was a very quick hike at Belvedere lookout (quick because you can basically drive to the top). Afterwards, we visited a juice factory and rum distillery which was one of the most bizarre tours I’ve ever been on. Basically, you show up, show yourself into the lobby where theres a basket of hair nets, then you’re off on the tour, all without speaking to a soul. At the end, there was a gift shop where you could taste the different rums and juices.

Next up was a restaurant we’d read about, Snack Mahana, which by any standard was nothing short of spectacular. Local seafood served 10 feet from the water, all at plastic picnic tables and shaded by a massive tree…yes please!

We drove the rest of the way around the island, finally arriving back at the airport. Leigh and I both agreed that when we come back to French Polynesia, we will absolutely return to Mo’orea. The island offers everything Bora Bora doesn’t: freedom. There’s so much to do there, it’s really like an undeveloped Hawaii.

Mo’orea was the final stop on our trip, so we ultimately made our way to the airport (queue sad music montage). I was able to add the Mo’orea to Pape’ete flight onto our United flights for almost no additional charge (United codeshares with Air Tahiti on many inter-island flights), so we opted for that. There is a ferry that takes about an hour and costs much less than flying the leg without an associated connection.

After the shortest flight of my life (all of seven minutes), we were left with about a five hour layover, which normally is fine, but we had to recheck our bags, and because the flight wasn’t until after 9, we had a bunch of time to kill with bags. We lugged our bags to a food truck serving fresh seafood (surprise!), only to found out afterwards that there was a luggage storage option in the airport. Fail 🙁

Once we checked in and dropped our bags, we were able to visit the Air Tahiti Nui thanks to Priority Pass, where we both got to take much needed showers. With several flights departing at night, the lounge was a welcome reprieve from the craziness of the terminal.

Overall impressions

My god, this place is beautiful. All of it. It feels like Hawaii from a different time, and it has the added advantage of being far removed from surrounding cultures. What we found during our week there was not only crystal clear water, but authentic people and experiences. At only 8-9 hours from the US west coast, its easily accessible, flights are reasonably priced, and there are plenty of points options for hotels. With that said, will I visit Bora Bora again? Maybe, but not likely for some time. For Leigh and me, we like options, and being held captive at the resort doesn’t offer that. Even though it’s painfully beautiful, there are plenty of other places I’d like to visit before returning.

On the cost note, I’m sure that it seems ridiculous that I’m suggesting you bring your own food and drink to a tropical island, but trust me, you will thank me. If you show-up empty handed, I would be prepared to spend no less than $500 a day on food and drink. Of course everyone’s situations are different; we travel frequently and had just gotten back from our honeymoon. My suggestions are merely that, but hopefully there’s some useful advice in there. I’ll also so that there is a convenience factor here. Having snacks and drinks in your bungalow are worth it to at least make the stop at the market. Time moves slowly in Bora Bora and room service is no exception.

Will I visit French Polynesia again? Absolutely. Mo’orea was a welcome change of pace with more than enough to do. Though we spent minimal time on Tahiti, I’m sure by comparison there’s even more to do there. Both have the advantage of the international airport being so close.

Have you been to French Polynesia or Bora Bora?

From left field! Alaska Airlines to join oneworld, renewing partnership with American

February 13, 2020 by boltonpoints

Talk about things I didn’t see coming this morning! Alaska Airlines – who has toyed with becoming a oneworld connect partner in the past – is now officially joining oneworld as a full member.

According to Alaska’s press release, they’ll be joining the alliance in summer 2021. With joining oneworld, Alaska and American will be renewing their left for dead partnership. The final cuts to the partnership – which effectively gutted everything except for reciprocal lounge access – were set to kick in March 1. Alaska and American are calling their renewed partnership a “West Coast international alliance”, which means:

the ability to earn and use miles on both Alaska and American
full elite status reciprocity
lounge access to nearly 50 American Admirals Clubs worldwide and seven Alaska Lounges in the U.S.
continued domestic codeshare and expanded international travel from Los Angeles and Seattle for hassle-free booking and travel between Alaska and American Airlines

But wait, there’s more!

In what might be an even more unexpected move, American is launching two new long haul flights from Seattle!

Bangalore, India, which begins October 2020 (tickets on sale next month) using a 787-9
London, England, which begins March 2021 using a 777-200

Both flights will feature 3 class cabins (economy, premium economy, and lie-flat business). Personally, American’s 787-9 is my second favorite aircraft in their fleet (behind the 777-300ER) and features the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat in business. The Bangalore flight will clock in 8,078 miles – making it American’s second longest flight (DFW-Hong Kong is currently) The Seattle-London is 4,800 miles, and will add further capacity from Seattle, as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic already operate a daily flights (increasing to 2x/daily each during warmer months).

What does oneworld mean for Mileage Plan Members?

For those unfamiliar with airline alliances, the purpose of them is to provide a more seamless experience for customers when traveling internationally. Eventually, Alaska elites will get the perks that American elites have enjoyed for a long time, including priority seating, access to business and first class lounges, and priority baggage handling. Alaska will need to map its current status levels to the different tiers of oneworld, which if they stay as they are (which might be a big if), will probably look something like this:

Mileage Plan MVP = oneworld Ruby
Mileage Plan MVP Gold = oneworld Sapphire
Mileage Plan MVP 75k = oneworld Emerald

The benefits of each tier are outlined below:

Ruby	Sapphire	Emerald
-Access to Business Class priority check-in -Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating* -Priority on waitlists and when on standby*	-Access to Business Class lounges -Access to Business Class priority check-in -Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating* -Priority on waitlists and when on standby* – Priority boarding -Extra baggage allowance -Priority baggage handling	-Access to First and Business Class lounges -Access to First Class priority check-in -Fast track at select security lanes -Priority baggage handling -Extra baggage allowance* -Priority boarding -Priority on waitlists and when on standby -Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating

What’s next

Joining oneworld won’t happen overnight, so Alaska has provided a timetable as to when members can expect changes:

Effective immediately:

Redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on all American Airlines flights and continue to earn miles on American flights with an Alaska flight number.
Access any of American’s 50 Admirals Club locations worldwide with an Alaska Lounge membership.
Continue to earn and redeem Mileage Plan miles on our current portfolio of 16 Global Partners.

Starting spring 2020:

Earn Alaska Mileage Plan miles on any American Airlines flights, domestically and internationally.

Starting summer 2021:

Earn and redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on all oneworld airlines.
Alaska elites will enjoy privileges, including priority boarding, premium seating, baggage benefits and more when you fly on American Airlines or any oneworld airline.
Access 650 lounges within the oneworld network as an MVP Gold or Gold 75K member.

My take

Alaska

This is great news overall, with some caveats. On the one hand, Alaska – Seattle’s hometown airline – joining forces with American to take on Delta is a bit of a feel good story, since Delta has really bullied their way into the market. On the other, I’m afraid Alaska may end up losing its competitive advantage with its MileagePlan program.

Currently, Alaska has individual agreements with more than a dozen international airlines that allows MileagePlan members to redeem on airlines such as Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and others. What’s always made Alaska’s program even more alluring is that they charge comparatively low redemption rates for premium cabins redemptions. For instance, redeeming American miles for Cathay Pacific first class will cost you 110k AAdvantage miles, while using Alaska miles, the same flight cost 67.5k.

Alaska has unique partners that are either aren’t apart of an alliance, like Emirates, or in the case of Singapore and Korean Airlines, belong to other alliances. My fear is that the individual agreements they’ve set with each airline may dissipate in order to be more aligned with American/oneworld. With that said, if you’re eyeing one of those sweet spot redemptions, I’d book it sooner than later. Again, my hope is that those partnerships remain in tact, but only time will tell.

American

As for the American side of the announcement, there’s nothing not to be happy about (’bout damn time!). American is restoring its partnership with Alaska, and by next summer, will offer reciprocal benefits to both airlines’ elites. The fact that they’re calling this a West Coast Alliance just goes to show how symbiotic this relationship. Currently, American has almost no capacity on the west coast unless you’re originating or ending in LA or Phoenix. Alaska on the other hand has a robust network all throughout the west coast, including smaller destinations.

American has offered some codeshares with Alaska, but booking the codeshare has typically cost a considerable amount more than booking directly with Alaska for the same flight. With the restart of the partnership, the two airlines will immediately begin offering more codeshares from LAX and SEA. Eventually, you’ll be able to book any Alaska flight, enter your AAdvantage number, and earn miles. This is where I’ll get the biggest benefit, as lack of west coast capacity is one of the primary reasons I broke up with AA.

As for the new flights out of Seattle are really the gravy on the announcements today. Increased capacity is always a good thing, and the additional American “metal” on the west coast gives AA elites another option to redeem systemwide upgrades, though I’m sure the Bangalore flight will be a hard one to clear. The Bangalore flight represents American’s first flights to India since 2012, and the only US airline flying to Bangalore. It’s also interesting since the initial rumor was that the flight would be out of Dallas, but at over 9,200 miles, was probably too much for a conservative airline like American to take on (unlike United is very aggressive at ultra long haul flying).

Lastly, this development might make me think about keeping my American Airlines Executive World Elite MasterCard (which comes with Admirals Club access), depending on how quickly other codeshares are rolled out. In November, American announced that it would copy Delta and United, allowing only those traveling same day on American, oneworld, or Alaska flights eligible for entry, regardless of whether you have a membership. You read my write up the American card as well the other cards in my wallet here.

Are you excited for Alaska to join oneworld? Will you be flying either of American’s new flights out of SEA?

The state of the Marriott Ambassador Program (and Bonvoy)

February 11, 2020 by boltonpoints

For Marriott loyalists, Ambassador Elite status is the pinnacle. A holdover from the SPG days – and as the name suggests – customers that meet the qualifications get a single point of contact to deal with all things Marriott. In addition, the members get access to the (questionable) Your24 benefit, where theoretically, you can check into a hotel at 10pm after a late flight, and check out at 10pm the following night. I’ve never had success with it and I know a host of others that haven’t as well (it’s up to the hotel’s discretion).

So how do you earn such a status? It used to be that SPG required 100 nights to earn Ambassador status. Since the merger, Marriott has introduced a $20,000 spend requirement as of 2019, which translates to a $200/night average. If you have a Marriott credit card with annual 15 night credit, then the nightly average jumps to about $235.

How the status has evolved

Let me backtrack by stating that even Platinum (50 nights) with SPG was a legendary status. The differentiation between SPG Platinum and the upper levels of Platinum (Plat75 and Ambassador) were much larger than the differentiation between Marriott Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador. I held Ambassador status with SPG for about three years, which meant for three years, I was pretty much treated as royalty at the hotels I stayed. I frequently got big suite upgrades, along with beer, wine, and snacks waiting for me in my room (ambassadors ask for food and drink preferences upon status achievement).

The true perk of the status is the single point of contact. If I have any issue with a hotel – an incorrect folio, poor service, or even lost item – I can throw that over the fence to my ambassador who will handle it for me. Further, when trying to plan special occasions, having one person to work with makes a huge difference.

The other big perk is that Ambassador Elite members are theoretically supposed to be at the top of the upgrade queue. I’ll get into this more in a bit.

Overall, I used to think it was worth it to do a mattress run if I was close to achieve Ambassador status. These days, I don’t think it is (especially if you’re short on the spend requirement).

The biggest change is that Marriott is the first word in the program and not Starwood. With that came lots of things, most notably a huge influx of people. Starwood – like Hyatt these days – was always more of a boutique option for hotels. Members had to go out of their way to stay at SPG properties, and in turn, were handsomely rewarded. No matter how high end the property was, elites were always given free breakfast and the ability to upgrade to suites. In fact, the language of the SPG program mandated that if a suite was available at check-in, the hotel must give it to an elite.

These days, you could trip on the sidewalk, look up, and see a Marriott property (almost 8,000 hotels worldwide, compared to Starwood’s 1,500 at the time of merger). With the numbers increasing so much, it’s become hard not to feel like anything but a number with Marriott. The merger by all accounts, didn’t go well from an IT perspective, which certainly didn’t endure goodwill from anyone. Further, all of the additional members have made competition for upgrades even more competitive.

As for the Ambassador program, it too has become a victim of Marriott’s success. Because the spend requirement didn’t kick in until 2019, I imagine that the number of Ambassador users was astronomical in 2019. Marriott never had such a program, but they certainly had thousands – if not tens of thousands – of members that routinely stayed 100 nights. Now that the revenue requirement has kicked in, I imagine that number has depleted some, but nowhere close to where things stood pre-merger.

What’s changed

It had not occurred to me until Leigh and I were at the JW Marriott Phu Quoc in December and she said, “what happened to all the goodies you used to get?” She was of course referring to the bottle of wine or champagne that was routinely left for us upon check-in. At the JW, we were given a drink voucher that was only good during happy hour.

I hadn’t put much thought into it, but she was right. I hadn’t received the same level of service from the hotels as I had in the past. I spent a week or two mulling it over, even asking other ambassador members their thoughts, before emailing my own ambassador to get hers.

Before I get into her response, let me start by saying I lucked out with my ambassador. She’s thorough, helpful, and comes from SPG, so she knows what the intention of the program really was/is. After my email, she called me, saying that I wasn’t the first person to mention that I thought the service of the ambassador program had been deprecated.

A few points from her:

The old SPG mantra was under promise and over deliver. These days the Marriott mantra is over promise and under deliver
Each ambassador is responsible for more members than the entire ambassador program under SPG (!!!), meaning she can’t possibly provide personalized service. My ambassador is responsible for more than 500 members alone.
Ambassadors don’t get any sort of report of when or where their members are staying on a weekly or monthly basis. In practice, this means that if there’s a special stay coming up, you need to let your ambassador know about a week out, otherwise don’t expect much.
They continue to have issues – mostly at legacy Marriott hotels – with enforcement of standards and recognition of Ambassador Elites. She alluded that each hotel has a budget to do things for ambassadors, but many still choose not to (again, legacy Marriott hotels). This is why I prefer legacy SPG hotels whenever possible (Westin, W, Luxury Collection, St Regis) to Marriott legacy (Marriott, Courtyard, Ritz).
In order to provide better service in 2020, she plans on working extra hours because that’s what we deserve after spending $20k with her employer. I said that’s really not what the solution should be, but rather a better ambassador:member ratio. She alluded that they’re hiring more people, though many of the new hires are questionable in her opinion.

My Take

On the one hand, I’m sort of relieved to hear it’s not just my imagination that things have gone downhill on the Ambassador side. On the other, it really sucks that Marriott has deprecated such a unique program that did provide some value for its best customers. Marriott is continues to show that it’s going to just be the 800 pound gorilla rather than trying to earn customer loyalty.

The St Regis Florence – celebrating our anniversary

Will this cause me to break up with Marriott? No, but I have already started diverting a good portion of my hotel stays to Hyatt, especially as they continue to grow their footprint. It’s impossible to talk about the Ambassador program without talking about Marriott Bonvoy overall, since they keep moving the goal posts. Examples include:

Category changes – Just last week, Marriott announced its annual category changes that will go into effect March 4th, and nearly a third of all properties are changing (22% are increasing in award price, and only7% decreasing). This is a substantial increase in mid-tier properties and will negatively affect far more people that the Gritti Palace or St Regis Maldives increasing in price. This is on top of the introduction of Category 8 in March 2019, meaning the highest priced hotels went from 60k/night to 100k/night within 6 months, a 67% increase!
Peak pricing – The bait and switch introduction of peak/off peak pricing in September 2019 was not what anyone (blogger, or otherwise) thought would be the case. Marriott sold it as being based on seasonality (i.e., ski resorts costing less in summer), but in fact, it’s dynamic pricing that’s based on occupancy. In practice, this means that the sooner you book, the better rate you get.
No blackout dates – Marriott promised to adopt SPG’s policy of no blackout dates as long as a standard room was available. What came to pass was hotels being given the ability to designate a small fraction of rooms as a standard rooms, then play games with whether it was available or not. I’ve seen this myself at the Los Alcobas Napa Valley, and all you have to do is visit any Marriott forum to see a list of others not playing by the rules. Even months out, there will be seemingly no availability, even when standard rooms are available using cash.

Eventually, Marriott’s degradation of the program will catch up with it, I just don’t know that it’ll be anytime soon. Their footprint is massive and they really do have a huge portfolio of aspirational properties. As for the Ambassador Program, it’s a nice-to-have, but nothing worth going out of your way for, especially given the revenue requirement.

My strategy moving forward is to keep Marriott Platinum (50 nights) or Titanium (75 nights), which includes the 15 night credit from any number of Marriott Bonvoy cards (like the Bonvoy Brilliant card from American Express). I’ll then spend the rest of my time in Hyatt properties, because as a Globalist (60 nights), I find that I’m treated as well or better than many Marriott properties, without the hoops to jump through.

What are your thoughts on Marriott’s changes to the Ambassador program or the Bonvoy Program overall?