My $26,000 plane ticket

Seven continents in 8 years is a tall order to fill.  With North America obviously under my belt and Europe in the rear view, Asia is the next destination to cross off of the list.  By the end of July I’ll be able to do just that.  With 5 continents left to choose from, you may be wondering ‘why Asia?’ To that I reply it’s not only about having enough points to travel but also, and arguably more importantly, about stretching those points as far as they can take you.  In order to get the most out of the points you earn, you have to change the way you think about them.

Your points are an asset. If you’re new to this hobby you might be anxious to use your freshly earned credit card sign-up bonus to book a roundtrip to visit Mickey & Co in Orlando. Before you do this, think strategically and think big! Why spend 20,000-30,000 points on a $250 domestic flight when you can leverage those points to do so much more and travel so much farther?

  The motivation for my trip to Asia was to try out Cathay Pacific Airline’s first-class product.  Cathay consistently ranks in the top 3 for its first-class service and I’ve never travelled first-class.  If I’m spending a mega load of points to travel first-class, I’m certainly not flying a measly six hours to Europe or Los Angeles.  I want the longest direct flight on that product.  In the case of Cathay Pacific Airlines it happens to be a 16-hour flight from New York to Hong Kong.  The first class cabin consists of six luxury suites with seats that recline 180 degrees into lie-flat beds complete with duvets, pillows and an amenity kit including pajamas. Buying a first-class Cathay seat without points (to accommodate my travel dates) would cost a cool $26,195 (or $52,390 for the two seats I’ve reserved).  The cost of airfare, alone, blows my Paris trip (referenced in the 3/26/13 post) out of the water in terms of return on investment (ROI).

If I’m flying all the way to Hong Kong I might as well see other countries while I’m there.  Fortunately, the Cathay flight continues on to Phuket, Thailand. I figured why not, as long as I had the chance to stop in either Bangkok or Shanghai en route to Phuket. The decision could have been made by the flip of a coin but I just happened to read a NY Times article on 46 places to Go in 2013. With Bangkok landing slot #33 the case was closed.

The itinerary was set- Hong Kong, Bangkok, Hua Hin and Phuket in 14 nights.  Before I could worry about choosing hotels, I needed to accumulate the required 270,000 points for the two round-trip tickets.   How I obtained those points without ever flying  Cathay Pacific will be the topic of my next post.