This past March I took my husband on a trip to Dubai for his spring break/our anniversary. I had close to 300K American Airlines AAdvantage miles and there was a looming devaluation on the horizon thanks to the finalization of their merger with US Airways. Since we are currently paying for his MIT graduate school tuition, we really didn’t have the money to even go on spring break. He even chose to forego joining his classmates on a week long trek through Brazil due to low funds. That’s when we decided that it was time to see if we could put some points/miles to work with an award redemption.

Sean said to me, “Find the craziest destination you can and let me know how we can swing it.” So I started brainstorming and one of the first destinations that popped into my head was Dubai. Could I possibly manage to fly two people on a poor student budget in first class to Dubai and back and use points to pay for the whole thing? My first step in searching for award availability was to go to use AA.com and see what my options were.

American Airlines is a member of the oneworld alliance which includes other airlines such as:

• Air Berlin
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• LAN
• TAM
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 Airlines
• SriLankan Airlines

For example, this means if you are based in the United States and an AAdvantage member that you can fly with any of these airlines and still earn miles that credit to your frequent flier account. You can also redeem your miles for award travel on either of those airlines. If you hold elite status with any, then you get reciprocal benefits when flying on oneworld carriers.

I found British Airways flights that connected in London Heathrow, but I wanted to avoid that because even flying on an award ticket with British Airways/through LHR racks up RIDICULOUS fees (fuel surcharges). I’m talking $1,600+…so much for a “free” flight, right?

I definitely did not want to book those because it defeated the whole purpose of my mission. Now here is what you do if you want to find other oneworld alliance award flights that may not display on AA.com. Their website only displays award flights for Air Berlin, British Airways, Qantas, Finnair, and Royal Jordanian. If you want to research other airlines then head over to the British Airways website.

Now I know I just told you to avoid British Airways for award flights due to astronomical fees, but bear with me. Their website displays other oneworld partner award availability like Qatar Airways, JAL, and Cathay Pacific. All you do is register for a free Executive Club frequent flyer account in order to access this part of the site.

Here, I found Qatar Airways flights in business class that matched our desired dates. So I called American Airlines and spoke with one of their award redemption representatives to ask how many AA miles it would cost me for two round trip first class flights. She informed me that the aircraft flying this route was the BRAND NEW A350 and that it only had two classes onboard: economy and business which still had lie-flat seats. Perfect! It would cost 67,500 miles one way per person. So 270,000 miles total plus $94.60 in taxes/fees for Boston to Dubai roundtrip with a connection in Doha. I had enough thanks to plenty of American flights, credit card sign-up bonuses, and my Citi AAdvantage Executive MasterCard!

Now, here’s what they cost for the cash buyer:

Qatar Airways Boston to Dubai

I asked her to place it on a five day complimentary hold so I could confirm the dates and times with my husband. That’s yet another thing that I love about American Airlines. Giving a complimentary five day hold is so convenient and makes the planning way less stressful (unlike Delta). Plus, if necessary, it gives you additional time to earn, transfer, or purchase any additional miles you may need for the redemption.

When it was time to book she waived the phone booking fee because the flights were not visible on AA.com. Anytime a flight is available for online booking and you reserve a flight over the phone with a booking agent they charge you an additional booking fee. Make sure you remind them of this if you find a flight through the British Airways website!

Lastly, it was time to take care of the lodging. We needed five nights in Dubai and we decided to first look into using Hilton Hhonors points for the Conrad, but we decided that we didn’t like the location of the Conrad and wanted to stay near the Dubai Marina area. That’s when I found the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort and like our Le Meridien stay in Thailand we took advantage of the buy four nights and get the fifth night free promotion. For the dates we needed it was 56,000 SPG points for five nights (including the free night). It was a no brainer. Luxury resort in the perfect location right at the base of the Palm right in the Dubai Marina? Done.

So there you have it. A newlywed couple paying for MIT graduate school managed to pull off a luxury vacation on one of the top airlines in the world on a brand new A350 and enjoyed five free nights in a gorgeous Starwood resort in Dubai. That’s why I love taking advantage of points and miles!

The other special thing we loved about this trip was the fact that it was Qatar Airways’ brand new launch of the Boston to Doha route. The inaugural flight was the night before ours and despite how fresh it was the Qatar Airways employees did a fantastic job from check-in to landing. The flight blew away all expectations with multiple course mouth-watering meals, complimentary pajamas, slippers, gifts, incredible wine, and of course…the glorious full night’s rest on the lie-flat beds. Our experience was so phenomenal that we’ve already booked another business class award ticket with them for next year: Johannesburg to Boston!

Doha to Dubai in First Class

The post How I got $25,000 worth of airfare and 5 Nights in Dubai for Only $94.60 appeared first on Seize the Globe.

How/why we booked Le Méridien Resort and Spa Koh Samui:

Continuing from my Thailand Honeymoon – Part 1 post that detailed the first half of our trip…

Full disclosure: the honeymoon was super high on the priority list. To put it in perspective, we booked the tickets four weeks after our engagement and before I put a single wedding dress on my body. Our strategy for flights was a little out there for most people, but since Sean and I like to maintain several different types of elites statuses we wanted to turn it somewhat of a mileage run as well. I have status with oneworld carriers and Sean is Star Alliance Gold originally through Aegean, but now also using Turkish Airlines. That is a whole different blog post altogether, but if you want to learn a little about the details you can read my old post here (it’s outdated since Aegean restructured their loyalty program shortly after). Therefore we knew we wanted to travel on a Star Alliance carrier so we could not only rack up tons of miles for Sean to maintain his elite status, but also for the fabulous lounge access during our connections.

First lounge stop of the trip. United Airlines Red Carpet Club at NRT

As for the hotels, we decided to split the duties for choosing our lodging. Sean selected the resorts for the first week and I decided on using Starwood (SPG) points to book our second week. The reason why we did this is because Thailand is very inexpensive. Although we could have stayed in Conrad and W hotels the entire time we simply did not wish to spend all of our points because it would not be the best value of redemption. The Starwood property I chose was the Le Méridien Koh Samui Resort and Spa. Sean and I have stayed at several SPG properties and both hold Gold elite status with them. Sean once missed earning Platinum status by 2 nights one year and that’s hopefully a mistake we’ll never overlook again. Our elite status not only gives us extra points each time we stay at a property, but it frequently means free upgrades to suites at check-in. Additionally, the Starwood Preferred Guest program is one of the few travel loyalty programs that allow spouses to transfers points between accounts for free!

After I confirmed the availability of our preferred dates on spg.com, I called Starwood in order to hold our reservation because I did not have enough points in my account to cover the stay. The rate was 12,000 SPG points per night for the standard room and the fifth night was free. When I called the Gold Service Desk and spoke to a customer service representative, he helped me both transfer points from Sean’s account to cover the balance and put the reservation on a 7 day hold until the transfer fully processed. The agent on the phone asked me about the purpose of our trip and after I told him it was a honeymoon he made sure to document that in the reservation. This piqued me interest and I proceeded to ask him about the potential of getting a complimentary upgrade since I noticed that I could not book a suite for that particular week. He gave me a blanket statement that there’s always a possibility when there are special events like honeymoons involved. That’s when I really started to investigate. You see, honeymoons are an incredibly memorable time in people’s lives. Hotels absolutely love going above and beyond for honeymooners in order to establish a brand loyalty. Hotel chains know that if they can make a good first impression on your honeymoon then it is very likely that you will return to either the same property or similar resorts within their portfolios for future trips such as anniversaries.

From there I took it a step further and decided to directly contact the resort’s General Manager. I used a combination of researching on TripAdvisor and LinkedIn to locate her name and contact information. Then I sent the following e-mail:

Hi Xxxxxxxxx,

I recently booked an award booking for my upcoming honeymoon at Le Méridien Koh Samui Resort & Spa in April 2015. We were really looking forward to booking the Plunge Pool suite, but  unfortunately it was not an option for an award booking. I am an SPG Gold member and my account number is xxxxxxxxxxxxx and the reservation confirmation number is xxxxxxxxxxxx (15 – 20 April 2015). We are beyond excited to be celebrating our honeymoon at your property. We just wanted to connect with you and see if anything could be done in terms of an upgrade to the plunge pool due to our Gold status and since it is our honeymoon? Please let us know! We absolutely cannot wait to begin our marriage at your beautiful resort.

She responded within a few hours and said that she would be happy to help. She explained that I would need to follow up with her as our check-in date approached because I had contacted her 7 months in advance and did not have enough visibility to predict the capacity of the hotel. Additionally, she also told me how to properly secure the Plunge Pool Suite option using additional points in case we felt more comfortable knowing it was confirmed beforehand. I decided to risk waiting to see what type of complimentary deal SPG could offer instead.

Over the course of the next few months of wedding planning, I periodically kept in contact with the General Manager and was feeling pretty good about the situation. I knew that no matter what happened, we still had an incredible honeymoon planned and an entire week in the Gulf of Thailand and three other resorts to visit!

Final Stop: Le Méridien Resort and Spa Koh Samui

It was hard to believe that our honeymoon was close to complete, but we still had five more nights to enjoy at this gorgeous SPG property! Everything at this resort was calm and serene—even beginning at the check-in process. After taking a short ride from Mantra, we arrived at Le Méridien and were escorted through the breathtaking outdoor lobby to wait in a comfortable lounge area and served mocktails. After a few minutes of decompressing from the hotel transfer, a front desk employee approached and began to inform us about the resort’s amenities while checking us in. Unfortunately, the General Manager was traveling in Bangkok but she made sure to annotate our reservation with a complimentary upgrade to THE PLUNGE POOL SUITE.

We couldn’t believe it actually worked. Here we were with the opportunity to stay five nights in a private, luxury suite for free thanks to the SPG program! Needless to say, it was a spectacular stay. The staff was incredible and they really took time to take care of the details. This included complimentary drinks for our elite status as well as surprise room service desserts to celebrate our new marriage. Since the previous week was non-stop adventure and exploring different resorts, we took the few days to just relax together and enjoy the glorious pool and island of Koh Samui.

The post Thailand Honeymoon: Part 2 – Le Méridien Koh Samui appeared first on Seize the Globe.

This is long overdue, but I figure better late than never. We traveled to Thailand a full year ago as a honeymoon celebration and the reminders of the memories on Facebook and printing photos for Sean’s US permanent residency interview all prompted me to write this. So here is a review of our itinerary and the resorts we enjoyed. I’ll also detail how we managed to score 5 nights in a suite at the Le Meridien Koh Samui for FREE in a follow up post (Part 2).

Why Thailand?

The first question I usually hear is, “Why did you choose to go to Thailand?” My husband suggested it since he traveled there in 2012. He originally visited Bangkok, Chang Mai, Chang Rai, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Phuket, and a few other locations. While he was there he actually joined his best friend who worked full time for many years rescuing underage girls from sex slavery. He helped with that for a short period of time and the rest of it was a holiday. Since Sean took advantage of seeing several parts of the country, I trusted him to pick the top destinations he thought would be suitable for our honeymoon. He chose Koh Phangan and Koh Samui!

First Stop: Salad Beach Resort – Koh Phangan, Thailand

Now, you’ve probably come to realize that I love my points and miles. I really don’t like spending money on travel–especially accommodations–because I know I can stay in baller 5-star hotels for next to nothing by maximizing my points strategy. So you can imagine I was skeptical of what Sean’s surprise hotel choices for the first week would be. However, after we arrived to Salad Beach Resort, checked-in, and been escorted to our PRIVATE BEACH BUNGALOW, I politely waited for Sean to tip the bellman and waited for him to leave before turning to him and saying, “Are you kidding me right now, SEAN?! Just how much did this cost? We were supposed to use POINTS for this trip! We just paid for our wedding and now your graduate school tuition is next. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?” He replied with,

“You’re not going to believe me. We get this air-conditioned, private beach bungalow and breakfast buffet every day for 5 nights all for $30 USD a night.”

Come again? I knew I married this man for a reason. Salad Beach Resort was an excellent surprise and a fantastic way to kick off our honeymoon in Thailand. We were right on the beach with a fabulous pool and massage/spa area right outside our door. Thanks to the excitement and jetlag of our trip, we were awake super early each morning to maximize our time at the buffet and the food was incredible. Not to mention we enjoyed dinner on the beach every single night and even had live entertainment with fire dancers.

Truthfully, Sean and I are terrible about remembering to take photos and even worse about posting them online. Hence why this blog is so neglected. You can’t really just write blog posts with no photos! Who would want to read that? So forgive me as I’m still getting used to the idea of taking proper photos and videos. I only have a saved Snapchat video of right outside our bungalow, and no photos of the actual room itself. However, we did manage to progress in the photo department as the trip continued.

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I recommend going to Koh Ma beach down the road for at least a day. Also, be sure to go scuba diving with Sail Rock Divers. Their information is always posted at the resort. We had a blast with them! I’m a certified PADI Open Water diver, but Sean was a complete beginner during this trip. Sail Rock Divers usually advertise at the resort and that’s how we discovered them. They charged 2,500 THB ($70 USD) for certified divers and 3,500 THB ($100 USD) for beginners to do two dives and this included breakfast, lunch, equipment, all taxis, and beginner instruction. Such a steal!

I have previously dived in Maui and the Great Barrier Reef  and found Sail Rock to be just as exciting and an instant favorite due to all the various schools of fish and the WARM water (no need for anything more than a rash guard). Sail Rock is essentially a large rock in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand and can be described similar to an ice berg as the rock is MASSIVE below the surface and teeming with sea life. Unfortunately, even though it was during whale shark season we did not see any during either of our dives.

Brad was our personal instructor and he gave me a quick tune up (because I had not dived in a few years) and taught my husband the basics for his discovery dive. He was incredibly friendly and professional. We had an absolute blast and it was a great environment for a wide range of ages as there were a few pre-teens present as well. They did not overload the boat with people which made it a very comfortable trip. Breakfast consisted of small, assorted sandwiches and lunch was mild thai food, lady fingers, and cake. Sean said the only improvement he would say is if they could provide a beer after all the dives were complete for the return boat ride.

Second Stop: Milky Bay Resort – Koh Phangan, Thailand

We only stayed here one night for a quick stay in order to have a convenient place to sleep after the Half Moon Festival (which is essentially a rave in the jungle on the lunar calendar). They greeted us with sweet mocktails upon check-in and immediately helped us rent a motorbike. We stayed in a private bungalow right next to the beach and pool area and found it to be quite lovely. It was air conditioned and included a lit candle underneath an aromatherapy oil tray–which was a nice touch.

The included breakfast featured various options and was incredibly good. I have to highlight that the staff is VERY friendly, polite, and professional. Yu, in particular, is personable and remembered our names from serving us lunch the day prior. She spoke great English, made us feel genuinely welcomed, and was willing to help with absolutely anything. The only true downside to this resort is that the beach is not that great…although if you walk far enough into the water there is a sandbar where you can sit. But back to the PARTY!

These people also knew how to cater to the Half Moon partygoers. They hosted a pre-gaming party at their bar on the beach and gave free shots of tequila at 10:00 PM just before the taxis arrived to take us. This was great because it allowed us to meet four other travelers from Wales and party with them the rest of the night.

Free Shots at Milky Bay Resort

The best part about the timing of this particular Half Moon Party was the fact that it was the beginning of the Thailand Water Festival, “Songkran” which is the celebration of their New Year. So in addition to our free Red Bull and Vodka bucket that was included in our ticket price we were also given free squirt guns to help celebrate the festival beginning at midnight. That leads me to one of my most critical tips about traveling in Thailand during this time of year.

 

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