- Introduction: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile
- Review: American Airlines First Class – DFW to Santiago – 777-200
- Review: Grand Hyatt Santiago – Executive Suite with Terrace – the Shakespeare Suite
- Enjoying some of the must do’s of Chile
- Review: American Airlines First Class – Santiago to DFW – 777-200
- Conclusion: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile
We planned this trip about a month ago (perhaps even less), when we realized that my wife wouldn’t re-qualify for American Airlines Executive Platinum (EXP) status on work travel alone. It wasn’t a question of not planning, it was more a change of requirements.
Perhaps irrationally, I chase status—of course, with American AAdvantage’s changes, that may change at some point, but, I already have trips planned in early 2016. My wife, on the other hand, has leveraged her status in different ways, and it has made her work travel more comfortable. When she asked me to find a way for her to re-qualify, without it costing an arm and a leg, I gladly obliged.
The result, was burning some vouchers I had laying around, and then correlating her flight, with a mileage award for myself – since I didn’t have enough vouchers to cover both of us. She’ll re-qualify via Elite Qualifying Points, much the same as my strategy, which wasn’t the original plan, but, with American’s current promotion for 2x EQPs for discounted business class, the math worked out.
So that’s all the backstory, where’d we go, what’d we do, and how’d we get there?
We did a quick weekend trip to Santiago, Chile, flying American Airlines’ First Class. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Santiago, and generally laid low, but had the added bonus of happening to run into some friends.
