Tagging Miles

Finally, a beer brewed for 35,000 feet!

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Cathay Pacific has partnered with the Hong Kong Beer Company to create a beer brewed for 35,000 feet enjoyment. They are calling it Betsy, after the namesake of Cathay Pacific’s first aircraft, a DC3, named “Betsy”

Enter the Worlds First Beer Brewed for 35,000 Feet

Beer Brewed for 35,000 Feet

We all know that flying dulls the senses. That’s why the difference in pressurization between the 787 and the A380 makes a difference. In fact, I recently discussed the dulling of the senses–with respect to wine–with Aaron Nelson:

The fact is, we lose a lot at 35,000 feet, and while airlines have tried to mitigate that loss of taste from choosing what’s available, Cathay Pacific has worked to brew anticipating that loss of taste from the very beginning. Here’s how they did it, in video form:

The key aspects that Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong Beer Company felt that they needed in order to create a beer brewed for 35,000 feet:

A Beer Brewed for 35,000 Feet

Source: Cathay Pacific

Even cooler, Betsy includes Dragon Eye Fruit from Hong Kong, and Fuggle Hops, from the UK. How appropriate that you can enjoy Betsy on flights from Hong Kong to Manchester and London. 

Will you go out of your way to fly Cathay Pacific to enjoy Betsy? Have you tried other beverages created for enjoyment in the sky?

Weekend in Taipei: Introduction

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  • Weekend in Taipei: Introduction
  • Review: Eva Air 777-300ER Houston to Taipei
  • Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei
  • Weekend in Taipei: Touring Taipei
  • Weekend in Taipei: Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Taipei to Hong Kong
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Chicago
  • Weekend in Taipei: Conclusion

To set the stage, I was yearning to get on a plane. It was the end of October, and I hadn’t been on a true long haul flight since the end of July. The end of July! I was getting stircrazy. Searching the British Airways Search tool, Searching United.com, Searching ExpertFlyer, searching for flights someplace that we could do a reasonable visit of in no more than 2 days off of work.

I was originally looking to go to Cambodia, but the flights just didn’t want to line up. I also really, really wanted to fly EVA Air. So, rather than make things complicated—as I am known to do—I decided to go the simple path. EVA Air is one of Taiwan’s more widely known airlines, they are a Star Alliance member, which meant I could redeem some Ultimate Rewards points via United, or Membership Rewards points via Aeroplan, or nearly any transferrable currency via Singapore KrisFlyer.

My next concern was where to stay. Despite the World of Hyatt news, this frequent leisure traveler is determined to requalify Diamond and become a Globalist—I think I’m going to put that on my business card. So, my next concern was that the Grand Hyatt Taipei was rumored to be haunted. How appropriate that we were staying there over Halloween weekend!

A quick turn to the Oracle of Twitter allayed my concerns.

Weekend in Taipei

Next, I needed to get home. A week earlier, my wife had jumped at the chance to fly Cathay Pacific First Class, we had done that last year and very much enjoyed it. Alas, that space was phantom, but, I ended up finding space in the 4 days between when we booked Business Class, and left. I only found 1 seat though, and ExpertFlyer was showing F2 (and went down to F1, meaning Cathay Pacific was only selling 1 seat in First Class). I put my wife up in First and accepted my likely fate in Business Class.

Alas, the day before we were due to leave, I took to twitter on my T-Mobile Apple iPhone 6, and low and behold, the American Air team was awesome, just proving that if you don’t ask, you don’t know.

Overall, the trip was a great weekend, if only 50 hours on the ground in Taipei, it was well worth the miles, and proved to be a very memorable trip. 

1 Million KrisFlyer Miles, Lemon Law for Hotels, Cathay Pacific’s Revolutionary Headrest

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The Weekly News Roundup is a collection of headlines from around the internet that caught the attention of the Tagging Miles team. Content on these blogs do not necessarily reflect the positions of Tagging Miles, and should not be considered endorsements. Have a great story we should read? Contact us now and let us know.

Travel:

Miles and Points:

  • Joseph Schooling, who won gold for Singapore in the men’s 100 meter butterfly received 1 million KrisFlyer miles from Singapore. There have also been reports on Twitter that he’ll earn ~$753k too. Not too shabby!
Singapore Olympic Gold

Found on Twitter.

Tagging Miles:

 

 

Conclusion: Last Minute Singapore F1 Weekend aka Our New Craziest Trip

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Our weekend trip was very hastily planned. In fact, from decision to plane, we had just over 12 hours, when all was said and done. We changed our flight once, for an even earlier flight, which proved to be a very wise move.

In hindsight, I’m not really sure that I could say there was a single goal of the trip. We wanted (in no particularly order) to (1) fly Cathay Pacific First, (2) return to Singapore, (3) see Sentosa Island, (4) experience the atmosphere of the Singapore Night Grand Prix, and overall, we really wanted to get away and focus on ourselves and our relationship. All of those wants were achieved.

Racking and Stacking the Costs

I’m not an accountant or bean counter, but, I do still like to know what I’ve spent for things (because award travel isn’t free!), and thought this would be a good way to lay things out:

Roll-up of costs:

  • $288.90 per person, one way DCA-BOS (last minute) – will earn AA miles on this at least.
  • 55k AA miles and $33.80 per person outbound
  • 5k AA miles and $75.50 per person return
  • 25k SPG Points for the W Sentosa (1 night) – Ouch! We had seen ~$250US a few hours before, but focused more on optimizing our flights, and in that time it more than doubled in cost to $561. Ultimately, we felt that we got good value out of burning those SPG points.
  • 80k Marriott Rewards Points for the Marriott Singapore (2 nights)
  • $7.55 for a one way rental (tax on a reward day) – originally BWI-JFK, changed to BWI-DCA
  • ~$18.00 for Uber from BWI to home.

There were other costs involved, such as eating, drinking, transportation around Singapore, but, I tend to think those things are budgeted for by the very nature of traveling, and probably add little value to the trip report, because how my wife and I do things may be very different than how you or another may do things. I will say though, that we did spend ~72.50 SGD for a round of Singapore Slings at the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel. That was our biggest splurge, and one that I’m not sure I’ll do again, but the rest of the costs fit into my $20 rule.

Conclusion

Overall, this trip proved to be exactly what we needed. Yes, it was 3 days off of work, which is more than I usually like to take, but, the fact is, for everything we were able to see and do, it was an incredible value. Flying Cathay Pacific was just as I’d imagined it, if not better. Seeing Singapore all done up for the Singapore Night Grand Prix was quite nice as well. I’ll call it a win, and hope also that this trip report helps others do something crazy, like booking a trip less than 12 hours before you’re on a plane!

Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Chicago – First Class – 777-300ER

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We briefly stopped in the Wing lounge again, but really not long enough to do more than visit the restroom and have a beverage. Soon it was time to board, so we made our way to the gate. It turned out that we were among the last folks to board in First Class, which had 5 of 6 seats taken.

Cathay Pacific First Class is 3 across, 1A and 2A have the aisle to themselves, where as the other 4 seats share the port side aisle. This worked out well for my wife and I, seated in the second row. It turned out that there were some avid mile and point folks in the first row, that I chatted with briefly before departure. It’s always nice to run into others who share our hobby.

The cabin itself does not have overhead compartments, rather, the seat has a closet to fit a standard sized rollerboard in, my Briggs and Riley Transcend fit snuggly, but still fit.

The seat itself is quite wide, I’d wager a guess that it is very similar in width to Singapore’s First Class seat, although I liked the way that Cathay responded to this width when in a seated position – they had an arm rest that came down. This was much better, in my opinion than a simple pillow.

Before long, our flight attendant Toshi introduced himself, and offered a glass of Krug and some amuse bouche. We gladly enjoyed our Krug while boarding finished up.

I dare say between the 5 of us in First, at least 2 bottles were enjoyed, maybe more.

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Soon after, Toshi brought by our amenity kits and pajamas.

Cathay Pacific includes all of your “sleep wear” in one convenient bag, including pajamas, slippers, and eye shades.

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I was quite impressed with the pajamas and found that they even wash well (and thus have become staple for home lounge wear – great when UPS comes for a pick-up!) In them, one looks like either a monk, a samurai, or a North Korean Dictator that shall remain nameless.

We ended up departing late, I think because they needed to find a cell phone and offload some bags. Such is life, we were more than happy to enjoy the great service for just that much longer.

Eventually we did depart, and very quickly we were provided menus for lunch. My wife and I both chose to eat soon after departure, which included a small array of options.

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I opted to try some Caviar (which amount to a few bites), however my wife had enjoyed it so much, that she traded plates with me, alleviating me of the guilt of not finishing it.

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Then I moved on to the soup, which I felt was good, just not as creamy as I would’ve liked.

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After I finished my soup, came perhaps the single largest steak I’ve ever had onboard a plane. This thing looked huge! If I were to guess, I’d say it was 16-18 ounces, or at least that’s what it felt like. It was good, and came with a peppercorn sauce and a béarnaise sauce. I don’t think I was able to eat even half of it. It was accompanied by sweet and roasted potatoes, and some other garnishes.

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By this time, I was getting full, so I skipped on desert, save for some Hong Kong Milk Tea, which proved to be not the best idea, as we encountered some pretty substantial turbulence. Nothing to be afraid of, but it was enough to topple my water glass, which may have been a first for me.

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Though I skipped on desert my wife ended up having some.

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As the turbulence didn’t seem to be subsiding, I decided that I would seize the opportunity, and asked the crew to make up the bed. I’ve commented many times, that I typically sleep better with a bit of rocking and rolling.

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I’m sorry to say that I ended up sleeping far too long, I think I woke up just over an hour out, which allowed for enough time to change and eat, but, I would’ve liked to have been able to finish my movie.

For my pre-arrival meal, I chose breakfast, while my wife (my smarter, and better half) chose afternoon tea. I wish I had chosen that as well!

I started off with a small fruit dish and toast:

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This was followed by cereal (I had a ton of cereal this trip)

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And then I had some bacon, a sausage and a couple of hard boiled eggs.

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It was nothing awe-inspiring, but more than sufficient for me.

My wife on the other hand enjoyed afternoon tea, leaving me quite jealous.

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Conclusion

Cathay Pacific First Class had been my “White Whale” for many years, never having had the chance to fly Cathay Pacific First. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve flown a ton of great first class products (Like Emirates, Korean Air, Etihad, ANA, Thai, Lufthansa, Qantas, and the list goes on), and some very good business products (Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Swiss, and others), but Cathay had still evaded me.

Now that I’ve finally had the chance to fly Cathay, I have to say, I am impressed. Cathay runs a solid operation, maintains a very comfortable hard product, and the soft product is wonderful as well. Would I fly them again? Without a doubt.

Review: Cathay Pacific Singapore to Hong Kong – Business Class – A330

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We were among the final group to board, partially because we had enjoyed walking around Singapore’s Changi airport, that much. We were seated in the mini-cabin behind the galley and behind Door 2L, in 19D and G. This was a different seat for us, as it was a bulkhead seat.

I found the seat to be rather comfortable (as you can see me already reclining), however, I’m not terribly sure I’d prefer this seat if I were on a long haul flight, as it is not very private. It does however feel much roomier.

We were provided menus and pre-departure beverages (this time just water and juice) as boarding finished up.

Soon we were taxiing to the runway, and then on our way to Hong Kong on a quick 3 hour and 20 minute flight.

As we taxied, the crew turned on the In Flight Entertainment (IFE), unfortunately, as I quickly found out, for the second time in as many flights, my Cathay Pacific provided headphones were not 100% functional. I settled for one ear of sound until we got above 10,000 feet, and asked one of the crew for a new pair as they were walking about the aisle, they were back with a replacement before I could unplug the old ones.

Just as an aside, as I was able to watch nearly 7 episodes of Game of Thrones on my two regional Cathay Pacific flights, it would be much better, if they turned the IFE on at the gate, and kept it functioning until arriving at the destination’s gate.

We were in the air for roughly 10 minutes before the crew appeared in the aisles with a 3 course breakfast. First fruit and bread:

Then cereal, yogurt, or muesli:

Finally, the main course, which was either an egg dish, Chinese dim sum, or congee. My wife and I both chose the egg dish, not something to write home about though:

After breakfast, which finished about 2 hours out of Singapore, I settled in for some more Game of Thrones and broke out my Microsoft Surface to do some writing. I also enjoyed a cup of Hong Kong Milk Tea…. I feel like I can never get enough of that stuff, it’s just a very well rounded flavor.

Conclusion

The flight from Singapore to Hong Kong is only a 3 hour and 20 minute flight, give or take, so it’s not really enough time to get a good rest, but, you can certainly try, or just watch a bunch of TV (aka Game of Thrones), I will say, I felt the bulkhead seat to be much roomier, but, also had concerns crew walked out of the galley, since the seat is just so open. This is a small thing, but a thing, nonetheless.

Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Singapore – Business Class – A330

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We boarded as part of the first group, and even though we boarded via Door 1L, we passed Door 2L to find our seats, 21D and G. The mini-cabin on the Cathay Pacific A330 felt quieter, with a reasonable amount of privacy, aside from the occasional Premium Economy interlopers.

The seat is the same type as the one on the Cathay Pacific 777-300ER, however tighter, obviously because the A330 is a more narrow aircraft. None-the-less, it is still comfortable.

We were provided menus and pre-departure beverages as boarding finished up.

Soon we were taxiing to the runway, and then on our way to Singapore.

As we taxied, the crew turned on the In Flight Entertainment (IFE), unfortunately, as I quickly found out, my Cathay Pacific provided headphones were not 100% functional. I settled for one ear of sound until we got above 10,000 feet, and asked one of the crew for a new pair as they were walking about the aisle, they were back with a replacement before I could unplug the old ones.

Another 10 or so minutes went by before the crew appeared in the aisles with a 3 course breakfast, first fruit and bread:

Then cereal, yogurt, or muesli. Finally, the main course, which was either an egg dish, Chinese dim sum, or congee. My wife chose the egg dish, and I chose the Chinese dim sum:

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After breakfast, which finished about 2 hours out of Singapore, I settled in for some more Game of Thrones and broke out my Microsoft Surface to do some writing.

Conclusion

The flight from Hong Kong to Singapore is only a 3 hour and 40 minute flight, give or take, so it’s not really enough time to get a good rest, but, you can certainly take in a movie, have a nice meal, and maybe even get some work done. That was the path I chose… with a short nap too, because, well, the seat is just that comfortable.

Review: Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge – Hong Kong

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We had a couple hour layover, arriving into Hong Kong around 5am local time. We passed through transit security, and made our way to business class “The Wing” lounge, which is on the same level as the gates, only to be told that we would be more comfortable going to the first class area, which required a bit of backtracking and a short escalator ride up. We were quite happy to have taken their advice:

We made it to the first class area of “The Wing” to be welcomed, and took a look around.

First there was the Champagne Bar:

There’s a small business center, with a couple of iMacs and a printer as you continue walking into the lounge.

Then a larger seating area, with a reasonably sized bar:

Walking to the left of the bar, there are restrooms, then a small dining area, with either buffet or a la carte options.

We had a light meal in the dining area, then moved to the bar area for a more comfortable seat, to check e-mail and twitter. The staff were quite attentive, offering frequent refills.

I will note, that a portion of the lounge is closed for renovation. Another note, is that like many of the lounges in Hong Kong, this is an open air lounge, with direct view down to the gate area (its over gates 1-3, roughly).

Before long, it was time for a brief walk to gate 18, for our flight to Singapore..

 

Review: Cathay Pacific Boston to Hong Kong – Business Class – 777-300ER

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  • Introduction: A Last Minute Singapore F1 Weekend
  • Review: British Airways Terraces Lounge – Boston Logan Airport
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Boston to Hong Kong – Business Class – 777-300ER
  • Review: Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge – Hong Kong International Airport
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Singapore – Business Class – A330
  • Review: W Singapore – Sentosa Cove
  • Exploring Sentosa Island
  • Review: Marriott Singapore Tang Plaza
  • Wandering Singapore before and after the Singapore Formula 1 Night Grand Prix
  • Review: Skyview Lounge – Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Singapore to Hong Kong – Business Class – A330
  • Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Chicago – First Class – 777-300ER
  • Conclusion: Last Minute Singapore F1 Weekend

We boarded through door 2L, and turned right (I know, I don’t do this much), I crossed the galley and headed to 24G, my wife took the short cut to 24D.

The seats are very similar to American Airlines’ 777-300ER business seat. I jokingly describe this seat as akin to sliding into an X-Wing Fighter cockpit (at least it certainly looks similar). But the seat overall is pretty comfortable in the right positions, but while there are some sweetspots, there are also some uh, sour spots, especially for side sleepers.

Soon enough, we were offered pre-departure beverages.We pushed back reasonably on time, and after a slight delay due to incoming flights, we were in the air.

Shortly after we made it to 10,000 feet, the flight attendants came through the cabin delivering amenity kits.

Soon after that, Cris, the cabin manager, stopped by to let us know that they loaded the wrong menus, but that we’d have choices displayed on the trolley in just a few short moments. The choices as I recall, was a light meal of a salad and asparagus soup, or beef, or a fish dish.

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After eating, and finishing up watching Tomorrowland, I got a good 5+ sleep, then woke up to have a snack of noodles, with a mimosa and some Hong Kong Milk Tea.

I finished the flight off with a fruit dish, and a chicken noodle dish, that I can’t recall the name of.

In Flight Entertainment (IFE)

As I mentioned earlier in the report, I had the chance to watch a number of movies, as well as part of an episode of the Game of Thrones. I found the provided headphones which, are Cathay Pacific Specials (since I cannot determine the manufacturer) were sufficient but not amazing. As far as the movies:

  • Tomorrowland – well worth the watch.
  • Mad Max – Kind’ve a blast from the past, good if you its your thing, or, if you can’t find something better to watch.
  • Pitch Perfect 2 – A feel good movie with great melodies. Even if you’re not interested in the story, its certainly a nice movie to close your eyes to.

As far as Game of Thrones, watching a few episodes, it became quite apparent that I’ve missed many episodes, and as a result, really only followed about half of the storylines.

Conclusion

Overall, the flight was quite refreshing, having not made a long haul flight for more than two months. I found the crew to be wonderfully attentive, and overall, very good.

Is Cathay Pacific Selectively blocking American Airlines?

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I have a few minutes of downtime this evening after my daily search for reselling products, and have been having travel withdrawal of late, so I pulled up my trusty British Airways search tool and looked for some flights, pursuing my great white whale – Cathay Pacific First Class. Suffice it to say, I was quite surprised when I saw the following availability:

BA Taken 530pm

Next, I checked ExpertFlyer, just to be sure:

EF Taken 730pm

As you can see the flight CX 841 shows F4, A4 available. A friend checked Qantas and saw 2 first class awards as well.

So, I called the American Executive Platinum line and fed the flight to an agent. The first agent couldn’t find any space. The second could find 1 seat available on CX841 and CX831 (as you can see in the first BA graphic), the third could see the same thing. So, I figured it best to book the single seat and see if another seat goes into inventory. Once the 1 seat was on hold, I went back to the BA search tool and found this:

BA Taken 730pm

Oddly ExpertFlyer wasn’t showing any change, but, since BA was showing, I called again – twice. Both times only saw 1 seat availability for CX841.

Nearly a month ago Lucky asked the question: Is Cathay Pacific about to cut off first class awards for partner airlines?

Now, I’m out of time tonight, and honestly, after 5 calls, its no longer fun. So I ask: Have you noticed inconsistencies with CX availability? Further, could Cathay be selectively blocking American Airlines, since American does have a history of “selling” miles?

 

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