Fly Gracefully - Weekly Recap: week of May 13

I know I listed this as a recap of the week of May 13, but it actually started before then since I spent a weekend at my destination.  Note, I don't do this regularly and I always make sure the airfare is cheaper to do this and don't expense anything before I would have normally expensed anything.  Always check with your company's travel policies before doing this.

Friday: Flew from CLT to DEN on US Airways (upgraded) and was supposed to connect in DEN to COS for BAcon.  United had other plans for me though.  My flight was delayed 2 hours so I asked to stand-by for the earlier flight, but I was #10 on the standby list with 1 seat available so I decided to get a car and drive.  I was going to need a car eventually this trip and I could get to COS before my original flight even boarded so I hopped in a car and headed to the hotel.  It also helped that I had booked that ticket on my own and it was a one-way ticket so I didn't have to worry about my return ticket getting cancelled.

I stayed at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort.  My room was super comfortable and I enjoyed the bedding as well as the lights in the headboard for easy reading.  WIFI was free and I had no issues with speed, but I did not do a speed test.  It looked like there were other meetings going on as well as a couple weddings.  The staff was genuinely friendly and the breakfast buffet had plenty of options I enjoyed.

Sunday: After the conference ended I headed back to Denver and used a Marriott category 1-4 award night I had from a promotion last year and stayed at the Courtyard downtown.  I've been to Denver before so I didn't explore as much as I normally do on weekend trips, instead I visited a friend I hadn't seen in a while.

Monday: Since Monday is my normal travel day I took a few business calls at the Courtyard and then headed out to my hotel for Monday night, the Hilton Garden Inn Tech Park.  The location was what I expected with many office buildings near by as well as restaurants that cater to that crowd.  I ate lunch at Maria's which was very fast and allowed me to make my subsequent calls.  For dinner I headed to the local tavern.  It was on the restaurant list provided by the hotel, but wasn't one of the starred locations.  Dinner and service were great.

Tuesday:  After the meetings in Denver it was time to head to Des Moines.  I was flying United and I still have Silver status on them and my travel agent had applied my United number instead of my US Airways number.  I checked in still under United and managed to get an exit row, then at the gate I had them swap out for my US Airways number.  I'll have to follow that and make sure it credits properly.  I stayed at the Hampton Inn near DSM.  It was late and I had a lot of work to do so I didn't explore this hotel much.

Wednesday: Drove from Des Moines to Omaha.  I had an afternoon meeting today and by this time I was already exhausted.  I ate dinner at Upstream and got to the hotel at 9 pm and went right to bed at the Hampton Inn.  I actually got upgraded but I think I heard the hotel was full.  I didn't even open my laptop to test the internet I was just so tired at this point.

So: 3 segments credited to US Airways (I'll try for Original Routing Credit for the 4th, but I don't think I'm technically entitled since I chose to not take the flight, but I chose to not take it due to a delay.) 1 award redemption 3 stays at the Hilton family 1 Avis rental

This puts me at: US Airways: 31 PQS/25,000 PQM – Requalified for at least Silver 2014 Delta: 45 MQM/36,000 MQM –  at least Silver 2014 Hilton: 20 stays/29 nights – at least Gold for 2014 Marriott: 38 elite nights – at least Silver for 2014  Avis: 6 rentals – lost First for this year and not sure if I'll get it back.

View From The Wing - DC’s Taxi Commission Sends Me a Nastygram

In response to my post the other day on Washington DC's taxi protection racket cracking down on Uber again, I got a nastygram from the DC Taxicab Commission's public information officer.

Her argument is essentially that they aren't forcing Uber to go out of business here, since they could always just comply with the new rules.

But nowhere has she or anyone else explained the consumer harm that supposedly follows from Uber being allowed to run its business (which is why the much more likely explanation is that the taxi commission is backing entrenched interests, as they've done before — with a string of federal convictions to show for it).

It turns out, of course, that the DC taxi commission's valiant efforts to protect consumers are occurring despite never having actually received a complaint from any consumer.

Ironically, regulators in DC have had the farthest to go to clean up the taxi industry because of the legacy of a deregulated, open-entry system which was the most atrocious in the US. Uber represents just the cutting edge of an attempt to deregulate yet again — with the same disastrous consequences. The city needs to stand up to Uber and its thuggish ways if they are to achieve a modern, integrated, and well-governed cab industry.

They believe that DC has had the farthest to go to clean up the industry because it used to be possible for anyone who could meet safety standards to start a business… rather than because it was about the dirtiest, most crooked agency in local government anywhere in the country?

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Live from your Lounge - Singapore Aircraft Business Class: my top PremierMiles redemption till wedding date.

Not wish I've been swarming in PremierMiles, but I've been allowed to make some good transfers within the last few 18 or so months to achieve the best value out of my PremierMiles. And while I'd encourage you to ultimately participate in this poll where I am racking your brains on how do you boys use your miles, listed here are flight I just stepped off which happens to be perhaps my best redemption of PremierMiles till day.

I spent the past week making your way to the other side for the globe for the Boarding Location Conference, and then, en route back, got a toned tire, and also stopped by in NYC for any bit. On the made use of to Mumbai, I wanted to fly Singapore Airlines on their all business class A340's which unfortunately operate from Newark and La to Singapore daily, partly because these flights can be discontinued in the very last quarter of 2013, as well as the world's two longest routes (#1 and #2) would arrive at an end.

Tickets with these routes routinely retail at about $7, 000 roundtrip, and I was no longer spending that kind of money for the flight. Instead, I looked up my repertoire with the various points/miles I had and made a decision to transfer some PremierMiles so that you can Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, which I'd be capable to redeem for LAX-SIN on the all-business class LAX-SIN journey, and after a layover with Changi, bring me to help Mumbai. It cost myself 76, 500 PremierMiles + $480 with this redemption (cash value: Rs. a pair of, 00, 000 at least). Exactly the same number of miles as it'd cost for 7 one-way tickets on Mumbai-Delhi in economy type (cash value: Rs. 40, 000).

And here is a little glimpse into the fact that was on offer, which will be captured inside of a trip report later on.

Worth it you believe that? I'm going back to help you bouncing around like I have already been doing for the prior 5 hours at Singapore Changi International airport!

One Mile at a Time - A Royal (dis)HHonor: Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to Singapore

IntroductionAloft San Francisco AirportCathay Pacific Lounge San FranciscoCathay Pacific First Class San Francisco to Hong KongCathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to SingaporeSt. Regis SingaporeSingapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge SingaporeSilkAir Business Class Singapore to Koh SamuiConrad Koh SamuiBangkok Airways Economy Class Koh Samui to BangkokLe Meridien BangkokRoyal Jordanian Business Class Bangkok to Hong KongCathay Pacific "The Wing" First Class Lounge Hong KongCathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

We landed at around 6:40AM, and by the time we cleared transit security and found ourselves at The Wing it was 7:10AM, meaning we had less than 20 minutes in the lounge before we needed to head to the gate for our 8AM departure. This was actually my first visit to The Wing since it was renovated, though I'll share most of my impressions of the lounge with my return trip report, where I had a much longer (and more eventful) layover than on the outbound.

Once in The Wing I requested a cabana so I could grab a quick shower. My gosh, these are probably the nicest shower rooms in any airport, and that includes those in the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt.

At around 7:30AM we left the lounge for gate 23, where we'd be departing from. It's only about a five minute walk away, and after flying for so long it was certainly nice to get a bit of movement.

Cathay Pacific 691Hong Kong (HKG) – Singapore (SIN) Sunday, March 24 Depart: 8:00AM Arrive: 11:50AM Duration: 3hr50min Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER Seat: 1D (First Class)

Upon boarding the two first class flight attendants, Karen and Wannaporn, warmly welcomed us and directed us to our seats. Karen was Chinese and Wannaporn was Thai, and both were extremely enthusiastic and friendly, much more so than the last crew.

I quickly settled into 1D and before I could even sit down was offered a beverage by Wannaporn. I ordered a mimosa — I know, I'm totally classless for "watering down" Krug, but I figured that was better than straight champagne the whole flight, given that I had aspirations of doing things in Singapore.

While the first class cabin stayed empty for most of boarding, all six seats were taken by departure time. The captain came on the PA to inform us of our flight time of 3hr11min, which he anticipated would put us into Singapore early.

For our departure we taxied to runway 7R, which took maybe 10-15 minutes. Since it was a daytime flight I was able to watch the nose camera, which certainly makes taxiing a bit more interesting.

On the climb out I played around with the entertainment system, and eventually ended up in the "documentary" section. I watched a show called "The Boy Who Can't Forget," about, well… a boy who remembers everything. It was fascinating/bizarre/odd/awesome/creepy.

To start I had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and Hong Kong style milk tea, which I was so cruelly deprived of for the second half of my flight from San Francisco.

At that point the table was set and breakfast service began. The menu read as follows (and the wine list was the same as on the flight from San Francisco, so you can find that here):

I wasn't very hungry given that this was my second breakfast, so decided to stick to a continental selection. To start I had a fruit plate with fresh squeezed orange juice and a bread basket, which consisted of a muffin, danish, and croissant.

While I had a fairly simple breakfast, I have to say the service was phenomenal. Both Karen and Wannaporn were extremely attentive, friendly, constantly smiling, and always looking to engage in small talk.

And then lastly I watched a show called "The Hollywood Complex," about kids that move to Hollywood in hopes of getting discovered.

We hopped in a taxi to the St. Regis, reasonably well rested given we had traveled almost 10,000 miles, and ready to explore the city for the afternoon.

As far as the flight goes, it was a typical Cathay Pacific flight, which is to say it was excellent. Do three hour flights get any awesomer than this one?

Ghetto IFE - Where was GhettoIFE? The Answers and the Winners….

On my recent trip to Colorado Springs for BAcon, I ran a little competition to give away some lovely "Remove Before Flight" tags.

The next one – I'm surprised no one got.  You really need to pay attention to my trip reports as when I'm in a BA F lounge, it's all I drink allegedly (I drink other things too for the record)

Those who have supplied their details will have their keyrings in the post this weekend. Thanks for playing on Twitter. I'm sure I can rustle up some more goodies in the future!

Greenwich: Prince Harry Can be Blacklisted By St. Regis Accommodations For Defeating Their Polo Organization.

Oh, who can be we kidding? We're confident St. Regis Hotels in addition to their polo team, captained by hunky Nacho Figueras, let Prince Harry and additionally his Sentebale Land Rover group win the match using a final tally of 4-3. Not surprisingly, the hot ginger Dictator Harry even scored that winning goal.

The polo match came about last week included in the Royal Salute Sentebale Polo Cup in the Greenwich Polo Club around Connecticut. The match was the opener on the polo season and it's primary goal has not been to give us graphics of Prince Harry and Nacho together but alternatively to raise awareness together with support for healthcare and education for the children of Lesotho, Cameras.

Several other St. Regis Connoisseurs found cheer the St. Regis team on--which includes Dawn Jones (wife from Tommy Lee Jones)--such as fashion designer Jason Wu, Starwood's SVP Company Management Dave Marr, Greenwich Polo Tavern Co-Founder Peter Brant and additionally Stephanie Seymour, Nacho's wife Delfina Blaquier (pictured above), unit Karolina Kurkova and Olivia Palermo.

Now there's a chance you're wondering why St. Regis is cuckoo for polo (our early thought was because it's just the thing their rich guests have an interest in) but it's more for a tribute to the original owners within the St. Regis Hotel in NYC, the Astor home, who were a fixture for the polo matches on Govenor's Island in the turn of the the twentieth century.

Today, the E. Regis brand, which is section of Starwood Hotels, has been hosting polo matches worldwide within the UK, where they merely held the 6th Yearly St. Regis International Cup to Thailand, South The united states and coming this show up, Mexico City. So yeah, it's still pretty much a factor that guests who can spend the money for St. Regis are into but no less than it gave us pictures of Prince Harry about this Monday morning.

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