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Over the last several weeks I’ve been lining up, albeit quite loosely, a trip for my fiancee and I to Asia ( hence the ANA first class posts). Yesterday, I wrote about my success getting an ANA to THAI ticket in first class booked using email. Score..right? Yes, of course, but here’s the thing. I have one ticket, we leave within a week, and I’m completely gambling that ANA and Thai will release more first class seats. Because…I don’t have one. She does.
While some airlines, (Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines ) release seats according a relatively predictable schedule, neither ANA nor Thai exhibit the same such structure within this timeframe. Sure, if I were booking tickets next June I’d, more than likely, see 2 ANA first class seats available. But, I’m not, and close-in, ANA doesn’t reliably release with any sort of consistent pattern. Thai, more so than ANA, seems to release a ton of space the closer it gets, and with a far higher liklihood will fill the cabin up with award seats. I’m not as worried about them releasing as I am the exact flight on the exact day on ANA to pair up with my fiancee.
Here’s the other thing. More than likely I won’t be able to book it myself because I’m looking to book with LifeMiles as well, and for whatever reason, space is getting messed up out of LA. While it’s a bit stressful, it’s also super fun. If you’ve followed this ANA debacle at all, then you’ll probably recall that we had 2 seats in First out of Houston. Oh…those were the days. The problem is a sudden conflict arose and we couldn’t use those flights, and within 3 weeks of travel the trip was torn apart.
I have alerts set and as soon as it opens I’m going to hop on it. Worst case…I’ll fly business, or even ( gasp ) route via another city that has first on the long haul, so I can review it, and then meet up with her in Tokyo before continuing on down to Bangkok. There are a few cities on the same day that have F space available, but it’d be nice to experience it all together. And as I said, worst case I’d fly in biz and she’d go first, but it’d be really nice to experience it all together. These aren’t real problems obviously, but who doesn’t want to fly the best for the least miles and most value?
The real anxiety…I’m waiting to book every single other part of the trip until the first leg, which is in less than a week, is locked down. We have 2 hotel nights booked, that’s it. It’s between 2 and 3 weeks long. It will be an absolute monsoon season of booking once that piece falls into place. Oh, and we can’t really delay leaving because we’re meeting up with friends part way through the trip. And, we need to be back by a certain time. I’ve often left on trips without any way of getting home, but this is different.
Anyways…am I crazy, or would you do something similar? Here’s the ANA cabin right now…fingers crossed!!!
All this…for this cubicle. And Krug.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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