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Lie Flat seats. High Speed Trains. 5 star hotels. We did it for a few hundred bucks.
When you can use points to fly in comfort…the world suddenly becomes within reach. Even for a weekend. This is the main reason I started the #weekendwarrior series: To illustrate what is possible, within reach, and inspire YOU to Go and See. The. World.
Stop making excuses of too little time, money, and the like. You don’t need weeks of vacation to see a wonder of the world, 1000s of dollars to spend, you just need to be smart. Use my site, or (cough, cough) others, and expand your experience. If I can do it, so can you. I got an amazing amount of positive feedback after my weekend to Tokyo trip, and so…I did it again. This time my best friend and I jetted off to Shanghai for a few nights, and then routed back via Hong Kong.
The Planning
I wrote an longer post geared entirely towards the planning, but a quick overview goes like this. AA was offering cheap flights to Shanghai, roughly $330 a piece. At the time I was Executive Platinum and applied 2 System Wide Upgrades to our tickets which cleared a couple days in advance of flying. We knew we’d use points to stay the majority of the nights. Ultimately, we ended up paying for just one night at the Intercontinental Shanghai. All of the others were paid with points or free night certificates we had from holding credit cards.
In order to get back from Shanghai, I really wanted to be able to fly in first with Dave. We’d done it before from Tokyo on Japan First, and had an absolute blast. I had a bevy of Alaska miles and Dave was sitting pretty with Amex points – this brought Cathay to mind. As luck would have it, I searched via BA and found 1 seat in First back from Hong Kong, and also found a connecting flight from Shanghai. Since Alaska is the most restrictive, I used my points to lock it up. We were fortunate that another seat released and Dave transferred points from Amex to Asia miles to lock his seat down.
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The Flights:
Chicago to Shanghai
We flew AA Business Class on the 787-8 from Chicago to Shanghai in the mini cabin after my SWUs cleared. This set us back $330 ( I used Amex Points to book mine, roughly 20k). The reason I opted for this approach was how Amex flight ultimately code when credited to Alaska: I earned a mile for every mile flown.
We flew from Shanghai to Hong Kong on Cathay Dragon First
Hong Kong to Chicago in Cathay First
Points used:
- Chicago to Shanghai = $330
- Shanghai to Hong Kong to Chicago
- 70k Alaska + $86
- 130k Asia miles transferred from American Express
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The Hotels:
Shanghai
Originally we had planned to stay at the Intercontinental for 2 nights, and the Andaz for 1. I had a BOGO from Ambassador status, but it failed to arrive prior to departure. We flipped the nights around and stayed the first two at the Andaz, and the final night at the Intercontinental.
Hong Kong
The Intercontinental Hong Kong is unbelievably well located and perfect for a one night stay especially when your credit card gives you a free night anywhere in the world. We used one. It was glorious
Overall:
- Andaz
- night one = Hyatt Credit Card Award Night
- night two = 15k points
- Intercontinental Ruijin
- Paid rate of roughly $200
- Intercontinental Hong Kong
- Annual Night
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The Sites:
The Result
We left Friday, came back on Wednesday, and had an unbelievable weekend. You’re gone for such a short amount of time that you never adjust to the new time zone. In fact, because it’s so exciting, our adrenaline just pushed us through. And who wouldn’t be absolutely stoked to grab a drink on top of the world at Ozone in the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. B to the YAH!
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Wanna read more: Here’s all the reviews
- Planning the Trip
- American Airlines Flagship Lounge ORD Chicago
- American Airlines Business Class 787-8 ORD to PVG
- What it’s like taking the Maglev into the Shanghai
- Andaz Shanghai
- Intercontinental Shanghai
- How I flew Cathay Dragon with Alaska Miles
- Cathay Pacific Lounge Shanghai
- Cathay Dragon First Class PVG to HKG
- Intercontinental Hong Kong
- Cathay Pacific The Wing
- Cathay Pacific The Pier
- Cathay Pacific First Class HKG to ORD
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
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 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, 2027.
- $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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