This opens up lots of opportunities for maximizing short, non-stop flights out of or to American Airlines’ and US Airways’ hub cities:

• US Airways hubs: Charlotte-CLT, Philadelphia-PHL, Washington-Reagan-DCA and Phoenix-PHX.
• American Airlines hubs: New York-JFK, Miami-MIA, Dallas-DFW, Chicago-ORD and Los Angeles-LAX

First in this series, we looked at the US Airways hubs and only US Airways flights:  Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, then Philadelphia-PHL, Washington-DCA and Phoenix-PHX. Now, with the merger getting closer and closer to finalizing, I’ve begun mapping the American Airlines hub cities with a combination of AA and US flights. I’ve started with the New York hub at JFK and included flights from other New York area airports including LaGuardia-LGA, Newark-EWR, Westchester County-HPN and Long Island-ISP.

The New York-JFK hub is a substantial hub for American Airlines, with about a dozen international destinations as well as decent number of US cities served.

I have compiled this map to help assist in visualizing and then planning just how far a British Airways Avios will take you on AA/US:

Some great values are:

• As with all of these Avios redemptions, just about any Zone 1 city in green is probably a great value at just 9k Avios roundtrip, especially those destinations to Canada (Montreal-YUL or Toronto-YYZ)
• New York-JFK to Bermuda-BDA for 15k Avios (if you can find availability) is a steal.
• Any of the destinations in the Caribbean end up being a pretty solid deal for just 20k Avios roundtrip: San Juan-SJU, Saint Thomas-STT, Saint Maarten-SXM, St Kitts and Nevis-SKB or Cancun-CUN.
• All of the European cities served by AA out of JFK can be booked for only 40k miles RT, which can be a good deal most of the time, especially compared to Delta or United who charge 50% more miles at 60k RT: Dublin-DUB, Manchester-MAN, London-LHR, Paris-CDG, Madrid-MAD, Barcelona-BCN, Zurich-ZRH, Milan-MXP.

Pros to booking with Avios instead of AA or US miles:

• You can often save thousands of miles if you optimize your route
• British Airways is a transfer partner of American Express and Chase Ultimate rewards so it might be easier to generate points

Cons to booking with Avios instead of AA or US miles:

• The Avios award chart is based on non-stop flights, adding additional segments will increase the cost of an award.
• Booking with Avios isn’t always cheaper. For example, AA’s seasonal saver awards to Europe cost just 40k miles RT, so you’d be better off booking with AA miles because you can take advantage of multiple segments. Another example is that New York to the West Coast is 25k miles with Avios or with American miles, so it’s a wash either way.

Here’s a simple chart with the destinations served:

When you’re ready to book, follow this guide: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios. And, don’t forget that you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways to book flights with Avios.

BOTTOM LINE: Although the addition of US Airways to the Oneworld Alliance only adds ~15-18 flights to American’s New York markets (mostly short, regional destinations), AA+US still has quite a strong route network with many choices to save a lot of points/miles when booking award tickets if you try to use BA Avios. Only 15k miles from New York to Bermuda? Yes, please.

The post American Airlines (+ US Airways) Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of New York-NYC first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

This brand new building houses the Park Hyatt in the first 25 floors

BOOKING

Although Jeffrey always handles hotel bookings, I had absolutely no hope of staying at the new Park Hyatt New York — Jeffrey had told me that he had checked and you couldn’t book it with points just yet. He had called Hyatt Gold Passport and asked about booking with a Points + Cash rate and then applying a Diamond Suite upgrade to the reservation. The phone rep said that since the Hyatt New York is a “special property, they do not participate in the suite upgrade program.” She only offered him a suite upgrade rate of 30,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points + $400 per night — no thanks. But, when he went online a few days later (and right before our trip), they were offering base rooms (Park Deluxe King) for 30,000 points so he booked it!

CHECK-IN

The property is smack-dab in the middle of Midtown and very convenient to subway lines. We were dropped off at the corner of 57th and 7th and had just a 1/2 block stroll over to the hotel.

Right before we got to the hotel, Jeffrey logged into his Hyatt app to confirm the reservation and noted that instead of being listed as 30,000 Hyatt points, the rate was listed at $623.14–this might shed some light on how Hyatt corporate and individual properties transfer points and money. Presumably, the Park Hyatt New York received $623 from Hyatt Gold Passport for our stay?

I’m skipping ahead a bit but this might explain why Jeffrey earned 3,510 points on an award stay (full award stay, not points + cash):

Multiple bellmen were waiting on the sidewalk of the 90-story One57 tower to greet us, although none insisted upon carrying our baggage. Although we considered this to be a perk because we feel much more comfortable managing our own luggage, some Park Hyatt guests may think otherwise. The 90-story tower is humungous, but only the first 25 floors are part of the Park Hyatt. After walking through two sets of double doors (that swing with a touch of one of the bellman’s remote controls), we walked in to find a mini reservation/check-in desk. When we arrived, though, they were having trouble with their iPads and escorted us onto an elevator to the main lobby and main reception area for our check-in. This was fine with as the downstairs lobby was rather informal and to be rushed into checking in at a property like the Park Hyatt New York would have been questionable to me. I picture the business traveler or leisure traveling spending $6,000+ over a five-night stay in the city and being rushed through a check-in and given a key as quickly as possible– I don’t care who you are and whether you’re spending personal money, OPM (other people’s money) or using your Hyatt points, if the property fetches in the $900+/night range, you’re at least implicitly asking for some personal treatment, and that entails a proper, formal check-in upstairs.

Once upstairs, we were given the check-in spiel and told that we’d been upgraded from the base room to a Park Studio Suite — I’ll take it! We were offered the option of a 4pm checkout and graciously accepted as we had a late flight out. As a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member, we were told that we had a $60 per person voucher on our account for breakfast each day. They said this could be taken in the main restaurant, the bar area or by using room service/in-room dining.

Sitting area near the main reception area

Reception Area

The less formal Living Room lounge– adjacent to the more formal Back Room restaurant

More of The Living Room lounge

The hallway leading to our room

ROOM

The receptionist escorted us up to our 9th floor suite, number 907, which overlooked 57th Street with views of Carnegie Hall and views as far down as 6th Avenue. She explained the many great amenities of the room and also mentioned that we could have up to 2 items pressed as part of their complimentary service.

The room begins with a hallway with a huge trunk at the end. Once at the end of the hallway, a turn leads you to the bathroom on the right and the bedroom then sitting area on the left.

Park Studio Suite

Park Studio Suite sitting area

Park Studio Suite

Park Studio Suite bedroom

All of the room was very high tech and highly automated. An iPad Mini was available in the room which housed information about the hotel and also allowed for room service ordering. I used the app to request a bucket of ice and had a knock at the room in about 5 minutes.

Also, the number one perk in my book of any hotel these days is a Nespresso machine:

BATHROOM

The bathroom is large and roomy with a door separating the toilet and another door to the shower. A large bathtub is in the main part of the bathroom next to the sink (with no door separating the tub from the bedroom). The toiletries all fit the natural theme of the room — very natural, olive oil/aloe vera based products.

My favorite part of the bathroom is the nightlight– when you wake up in the middle of the night, there’s a small motion sensor that turns on a very faint light, just enough to see but not enough to even begin to wake you up. It sounds a little unnecessary, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve stumbled around a completely dark hotel bathroom looking for a light switch.  

Jeffrey’s favorite part? The TV in the mirror.

Another cool perk in the Park Hyatt’s bathroom is in the shower. There’s a mirror built into the wall (presumably for shaving your face) and, when the shower is first turned on, it immediately fogs up. But, soon, the defogger activates and the mirror is defogged… what?! The Park Hyatt is on top of the little details.

One last note about the bathroom:  the white tile and bright lighting made the room feel open and spacious. And, unlike other hotel’s bathrooms (like the Andaz Wall Street), I wouldn’t have a problem sharing this room with someone other than my husband. The new trend of showers with no doors in a wide open space is fine except if you’re traveling with your kids or friends– or really anyone where a little bit of privacy goes a long way.

Park Studio Suite bathroom

Park Studio Suite bathroom

Park Studio Suite shower

Park Studio Suite bathtub

SERVICE 

The service at the hotel, unsurprisingly, has been fantastic. Like all other Park Hyatts, the extra mile goes a long way in impressive guests and making a lasting impression. After checking in, we left the hotel for a few hours to explore and returned to a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us. An accompanying note congratulated us on our anniversary and hoped we were having a good time celebrating our special day. Again, the extra mile was notable and much appreciated. Little touches like this make you remember the Park Hyatt’s extra touch when planning a future celebration.

Celebration Champagne (or… prosecco)!

Celebration Prosecco!

THE GYM AND POOL

The pool, on the 25th floor, is a whopping 65 feet long, one of the longest pools in Manhattan hotels. With a wall of windows, the view of Carnegie Hall from the pool is breathtaking.

The gym is larger than I expected, with plenty of options. Although my preferred exercise that weekend was walking around to explore, the spacious gym was a dream.

RESTAURANT

As a Hyatt Diamond member we had breakfast included with the room and could spend up to $60 each. While room service is nice, and available as the Hyatt Diamond breakfast amenity, we didn’t want to miss out on a meal in the main restaurant so we headed down to the Back Room, the Park Hyatt New York’s in house restaurant. The chef, Sebastien Archambault, hails from the Park Hyatt Washington’s famous Blue Duck Tavern–review attached–(a favorite of President Obama). If you think it’s hard to spend $120 for two at a hotel breakfast, think again. I tried the WAGYU SIRLOIN ($48) with crispy poached egg and onion and Jeffrey tried the 57TH STREET FISH PLATTER ($23), complete with smoked salmon and pickled herring. Those entrees paired with a $13 juice each quickly brought us up to our $120 target. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium and was so delicious that it melted in my mouth. Although it was a nice portion, I had no problem finishing the plate – it was the perfect amount of food. Jeffrey’s fish plate was tasty, too, and a nice substitute for the traditional egg breakfast. The smoked salmon was full of flavor and paired perfectly with the fish-roe-topped-cream cheese.

While we were in a slight hurry to get on with our day, our breakfast took about one hour from start to finish. It seemed that most people wanted to sit and enjoy their time in the restaurant rather than rush. Even after we were finished, the waiter mentioned something about relaxing and Jeffrey just asked for the check instead. The extra time wasn’t annoying — rather, we appreciated the unhurried attittude of the waitstaff and would much prefer a slightly longer breakfast than a rushed one. This unhurried breakfast was an interesting carry-through on the belief that Park Hyatt is a destination in and of itself, so no need to hurry out the door for bigger and better experiences.

The Back Room restaurant

The Back Room restaurant

The Back Room’s menu

The Back Room

Wagyu Steak

57th Street Fish Platter

BOTTOM LINE: The Park Hyatt’s luxury, prominent location and cozy suites made our celebratory weekend a trip to remember. I liked our stay so much that I’m trying my best to talk Jeffrey into buying one of the condos in the One57 tower above the Park Hyatt. The only problem so far is the $90 million price tag.

The post Park Hyatt New York Review – New York, NY first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Best Luck Ever.

When we walked in, the front desk attendants were expecting us (“the honeymoon couple”) and seemed genuinely excited to see us. The Lufthansa Lounge is broken up into three levels: the Business Class area of the Lounge is downstairs, right past the check in desk. On the second level, they have the Senator Lounge, which is for Star Gold Members and First Class passengers. Then, the third level is the dining area for First Class passengers only. The friendly front desk attendants whisked us right past the first two levels and escorted us onto the nearby elevator and dropped us off upstairs on the third level, where the spread of serve-yourself-food was tantalizing. Jackpot. And our heads were still spinning.

Business Class area (Level 1)

Level 1

Level 1 food options

Senator Lounge (Level 2)

See the windows upstairs overlooking Business Class? That’s First Class!

Level 2

Level 2 food options

Picture any typical airport lounge and then multiply your expectations by 100. At least. First of all, we were the only people in the First Class area of the lounge, a semi-private dining area with seats for about 20 people. Then, we were seated at a table with a white tablecloth and quickly learned that, at 10pm, we better be ready for a five course meal… to then prepare for our five course meal onboard our flight a few short hours later. Our very own waiter was so friendly and very eager to please. He, too, caught wind that it was our honeymoon and immediately brought us rose champagne to celebrate! #fancy And, the A+++ service continued throughout our entire meal.

Welcome to the First Class area!

Once seated, our waiter came to take our drink orders and offered us a menu. Besides what they offered at the well-stocked buffet, you could also order a small-portion, à la carte dishes by request. Although we weren’t very hungry, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try everything on the buffet and something off the menu, too. It’s probably about this point in the evening that they could tell we were on award tickets and not actually paying for the rest and relaxation that comes with a paid First Class ticket. The good news is that, now, we can tell you that everything, whether you choose the buffet or à la carte or both, is top caliber and certainly does not fit into any description of airport food.

Page 1 of the Menu

Page 2 of the Menu (the a la carte section was ordered directly from the kitchen)

Jeffrey ordered the ROASTED MARINATED PORK LOIN, which came with a goat cheese-rosemary bread pudding. It was excellent and the goat cheese and rosemary paired with the bread pudding texture was exquisite. No disappointments yet.

Pork Loin with Bread Pudding

I went with the WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO with roasted cauliflower, basil and mascarpone – because I can never pass up a mushroom risotto. Although the mushroom flavor was milder than other mushroom risottos I’ve tasted, I really enjoyed it but had to resist filling up on it because I just had to try so many other things!

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Now, for the buffet…

Salad Bar

Meats and freshly cooked vegetables – that’s salmon in mini-frying pans on the far right!

Fresh fruits, New York state cheeses, cold vegetables and cold meats

Dessert Bar

Dessert Bar:  the basil dessert (front left) was weird but tasty… You’re eating pesto flavored cake…?

And then the drinks…

THEN… As if that weren’t enough food to literally feed an army, AND if you just didn’t feel quite satisfied with the dessert options on the buffet, you could order a dessert off of the menu. So, when in Rome, right?

A variety of sorbets ordered from the menu

BOTTOM LINE:  If there’s any possible way that you can find your way into this lounge, it is far and away the very best lounge we’ve ever visited. The exquisite service is matched only by the way-above-average “airport” food.

The post Lufthansa First Class Lounge – New York-JFK Airport first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Booking/Check-in

I had a last minute-ish stay required in New York and it happened to be on opening day of the United Nation General Assembly in Manhattan. As a result, all hotels were fully booked in New York, so the best I could do was Hoboken, New Jersey. I booked a “Cozy Room: King Bed,” and, despite the busy week, I was able to get a pretty good rate. On my way to check-in, I noticed that I had been preassigned to a “Spectacular Room” …I made sure to screenshot it just in case… I came in on the Amtrak train to Penn Station (Amtrak Acela Express First Class: Washington, D.C.-WAS to New York-NYP) and had to make the transfer over to Hoboken. This transfer is a bit of a hassle if you have a lot of luggage, but well worth the savings on a cab. You’ll need to exit Penn Station, walk appx 7 mins east (~2 blocks) and take the PATH train towards Hoboken. The ~15 minute train trip will cost about $2.50 and dead-ends at Hoboken, so it’s hard to miss your stop. From the Hoboken PATH station, the W is about 4 blocks north, an easy 5 minute walk along the Hudson River.

When I arrived at the front desk, I was greeted by some of the best Starwood Platinum recognition possible. The agent was very polite and (arguably) overly enthusiastic. Despite seeing on the SPG app that I had been preassigned to a Spectacular Room, dude-man worked the angle that he was going to **try** to upgrade me. He played on the computer for about 30 secs and confirmed, “I was able to do it, I have upgraded you.” I made sure to play along, because who likes to crush enthusiasm, no matter how unfounded it is? In the end, this resulted in a 2 tier upgrade:

• Cozy Room – 280 ft² – BOOKED
• Wonderful Room – 330 ft²
• Spectacular Room 330 ft² – RECEIVED
• Cool Corner Room – 448 ft²
• Fantastic Suite – 544 ft²
• WOW Suite – 864 ft²
• Extreme WOW Suite – 1,088 ft²

Booked:

• Cozy Non-smoking Room, Smoke-free
• 26 Sq.m/280 Sq.ft• 37 Inch Lcd Tv
• Hoboken View• Free Sweat Access
• W Signature Bed

Received:

• Spectacular, non-smoking: 2 Queen Beds
• Non-smoking, 330 sq ft / 31 m²,
• W Signature Bed, 37 Inch Lcd Tv
• New York City Skyline View, High Floor Room

Location

It’s worth discussing location because many people might be looking at staying here instead of Manhattan to save some money. Going from the W Hoboken to Manhattan is quite cheap and easy using the NJ PATH trains:

So, you’re only looking at about a 19 minute door-to-door trip to make it to 33rd Street: W Hoboken –> Walk 5 mins to Hoboken PATH station –> 14 min train ride to 33rd Street and Avenue of the Americas. Trains run Mon-Sun: 12am–11:59pm · every 10 min

Only a 19-minute trip

The other line from Hoboken to Manhattan is the “Hoboken – World Trade Center” line. This will put you near Wall Street in 15 minutes flat: W Hoboken –> Walk 5 mins to Hoboken PATH station –> 10 min train ride to World Trade Center.  A one-way ticket will cost $2.50 and trains run Mon-Fri: 6am–11pm · every 12 min.

15-minute trip

The Room

I made my way up to the 11th floor and found the room to be much brighter than most W hotels–something that I don’t mind at all.

The W Hoboken has a great design that allows even the rooms that aren’t directly facing Manhattan to have an awesome view of the city:

14 of 16 rooms on each floor have a floor-to-ceiling window that juts out, providing a great view of the Hudson River and Manhattan

If you end up with xx01 or xx18, you’ll have a view off the back of the building overlooking New Jersey–time to start complaining and have them switch you. I didn’t have that issue:

View from the 11th floor room

My room was equipped with 2 Queen beds, which is all that they had available on short notice.  I generally prefer a Queen– those Kings can be too big when traveling solo.

Minibar

Minibar

Half-sized closet/wardrobe

The Bathroom

The bathroom was surprisingly roomy by Manhattan standards, and, let’s be honest, that’s who the Hoboken hotels compete with.

Bathroom looked new: nice and clean

Dead giveaway that it’s either new construction or newly renovated: it’s shower only

Service

Again, service was stellar. I had a short stay, so I didn’t have too many run-ins with the hotel staff. But, the few times I interacted with them, I was impressed. The check-in agent was one of the best I’ve ever had. Also, within a few minutes of arriving to my room, a bellman arrived with a SmartWater, a tray of nuts and a handwritten note:

Lobby/Restaurant/Bar

Bar lounge area

W bar in daylight, lacking a bit of glitz/glamour

Giant landscape of Manhattan in the lobby

Bottom Line

Bottom line: the W Hoboken is a pretty cool hotel at a great value. It’s really not too difficult to get to Manhattan and you’ll save hundreds of $ (or thousands of Starpoints) by staying across the river. And, you wouldn’t have been able to get those amazing views of the city if you’re staying in the middle of it.

The post W Hoboken Hotel Review – Hoboken, New Jersey first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

I needed to get from Washington-WAS to New York-NYP and had already decided I was taking the train. But, instead of a Northeast Regional train (which has appx 1 departure every hour), I wanted to try America’s one and only “high speed” train.

Value and Booking

The Acela Express train isn’t cheap, especially when considering that it’s not so much of a “high-speed train” than an “Express Train”. The Acela will typically save you about 35 minutes when compared to the slower Northeast Regional train, but tickets can cost as much as 80% more (cheapest rates on the Acela are $152 vs $84 for the Northeast Regional–not sure that’s worth 35 minutes on the surface). Now, to be fair, that’s comparing apples to oranges because the cheapest seat on the Northeast Regional is coach and the cheapest on Acela is Business Class. But, if you’re sold on Business Class, Acela might only be $19 more ($186 vs $205)–a 10% premium for the faster service and enhanced train. First Class on Acela becomes downright expensive at around $268 – $375 for a one-way sample trip booked about 1 week out.

Typical fares: Northeast Regional vs Acela Express

To save money, I purchased a Business Class seat on the Acela and used Amtrak points to upgrade to First Class. I’ll have more details on how this works in a future post, but you’re essentially able to upgrade for 2,000 Amtrak points each way (or you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points)–a fantastic use of points.

About the Acela Train

The Acela has 16 departures a day, every hour on the hour from 5am to 8pm. The scheduled trip of the 16 trains ranges from 2 hr 45 mins and 2 hr 50 mins to go from Washington, D.C. to New York.

The cheaper and (slightly) slower route is the Northeast Regional train. A typical weekday sees appx 20 departures with travel time ranging from 3 hr 14 mins to 3 hr 40 mins. Generally, the trains depart once per hour at 2 mins past the hour, right behind the Acela. Prices for a coach seat booked about 1 week out are $84 – $145, depending on the time of day.

Acela route map

So how is it faster, really? A northbound Acela Express only serves 6 stops between Washington and New York: Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Metropark, Newark and New York. A typical Northeast Regional train has 9-10 stops. This is essentially how they shave the 24 – 55 minutes that separate the 2 trains.

Boarding

I made it to the station about 1.5 hours before the scheduled departure and had a few minutes to check out the ClubAcela Lounge at Union Station Washington, D.C. (link to review).

Washington D.C.’s Union Station

Washington D.C.’s Union Station

Promptly at 1:40pm, boarding for the 2pm train was announced. One of the (few) perks of the ClubAclea lounge is that there are doors that go directly to the tracks which, in theory, should allow you to beat the other passengers in the general waiting area to the best seats.

It was a decent little trek down the platform to the First Class Car which is at very end, near the locomotive. An attendant is standing at the door to make sure you’re at the right car.

“Speed Limit 3″…let’s hope this isn’t a trend for Amtrak

Most Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor offer a “Quiet Car”

First Class Car

Finally made it to the First Class car at the end of the station

The good: The configuration of the First Class car was 2×1. A typical Amtrak train is 2×2 so the Acela had more space in the car per person.

The bad: Half of the seats are facing the other way, so you’ve got a good chance of having to sit opposite the direction of travel. For some that’s preferred though, I suppose.

First Class car on Amtrak’s Acela Express

My initial thought was that the car seemed wider than traditional Amtrak cars. Not sure if that’s actually true…probably just my imagination?

In a first for me to see on an Amtrak train, there were large, airplane style overhead bins, enclosed with plenty of room for bags.

View from my seat, nothing but space on this train

It didn’t take me long to locate the most important feature of my ~3 hrs trip: the 2x power plugs at every seat.

Acela has you covered, power plugs galore

And, if pictures of train bathrooms are your thing, I’ve got you covered:

Within a few minutes of pulling out of the station, an announcement came across the PA that a few services would be offered: for those in Business Class, cafe service or cart service with light snacks coming through aisles and a full at-seat meal service for First Class.

Acela First Class Meal Service

One of the perks of riding in First Class is the at-seat meal service. In this day and age, this is rare for a relatively short trip. Most airline First Class cabins only serve a meal on flights greater than 3.5 hours long. And Amtrak takes their dining on Acela very seriously:

“At-Seat Meal: Exclusive to First Class Passengers. Our rotating at-seat menu service enables Acela Express First Class passengers to enjoy greater dining selections while traveling. A number of the entrees offered on the menu will be prepared using the sous vide method, which seals in taste and maintains the nutritional value of the food. Amtrak has been using this method very successfully since 1995 in the dining cars of its long distance trains.” Amtrak.com

Shortly after takeoff, err… departure, menus were distributed and the car attendant took orders. This was my first taste (pun intended) of the quality of the service that Amtrak offers and I was impressed. All of the spirits are top shelf: Knob Creek, Ketel One, Bombay Sapphire etc… And, any airline/train/airport that offers a quality beer like Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is pretty much perfect in my book:

I ended up settling on one of the drinks in the cocktails section and discovered a drink that is very old but brand new to me and I love: Rob Roy. For those that are uninitiated, it’s basically a man’s version of a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned (sans the sugar). It is said to be created in 1894 by a bartender at the Waldorf Astoria New York:

• 45ml Scotch whisky
• 25ml Sweet vermouth
• Dash Angostura bitters

The actual food menu sounded quite good too:

Within a few minutes of my order, I had my first course, a drink and the snack: “Tom Douglas Rub with Love Train Snacks.” It was basically a snack mix with sesame crackers, nuts, pretzels and some seasoned crackers, too. A rather small, appetizer-sized portion.

For the main course, I ordered the THAI CHICKEN: “Grilled breast of chicken and edamame beans in a coconut curry sauce with shiitake mushrooms, served over soba noodles.” It was quite good when compared to a traditional restaurant. In fact, it also knocks economy class airplane food out of the water. But, domestic airline First Class vs Amtrak Acela First Class? Again, Amtrak is the clear winner. The food was much better. The chicken was moist and the sauce was amply flavorful with a good coconut curry taste (although no spice).

For dessert, they were serving a SUMMERBERRY PARFAIT: a good layered ice cream with raspberry. I might have downed every bite, so what?

The meal service was expeditious, which is just what you want when you’ve got a rather short trip. We departed Union Station right at  2pm, I ordered and had food by 2:20pm and was totally done by 2:45pm.

After the meal service, I gave myself a quick tour of the rest of the train:

Unlike some Amtrak trains, the Acela has passenger friendly ways to pass between cars

The cafe car/bar car, I caught it at an unusually empty time: this place was packed most of the trip

After a comfortable and relaxing trip, we arrived New York’s Penn Station appx 5 mins late–not bad at all!

BOTTOM LINE: The Acela Express was a fun and worthwhile trip to experience. Is it worth it for frequent travel? Probably not:  you’re not saving that much time. But, I would consider buying a Business Class ticket and then upgrading to First Class for 2k points a great value and worth doing again. The Acela Express at-seat dining was delicious and was genuinely a far superior service than the airlines.

The post Amtrak Acela Express First Class: Washington, D.C.-WAS to New York-NYP first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

While the snow has stopped, it sounds like the damage has been done and the frigid temperatures are here to stay. Our suggestion for the weekend? A weekend trip to hit the ski slopes now that they’ve all been coated with feet and feet of fresh powder! Here are the ski slopes that were best affected by the winter weather:

West Virginia fared exceptionally well in this lineup (that’s the first–and last– time I’ll ever say that WV fared well at something). Take a look at the map, at least 3 resorts are less than a 3 hr drive from the Baltimore/DC area. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and even New York are also within 2-3 hours drive of a resort.

• Timberline Four Seasons – West Virginia – 7″+ past 3 days
• Snowshoe Mountain Resort – West Virginia – 18″+ past 3 days
• Canaan Valley Resort – West Virginia – 12″+ past 3 days
• Wisp Resort – Maryland – 10″+ past 3 days
• Kissing Bridge – New York – 9″+ past 3 days
• Sugar Mountain – North Carolina – 8″+ past 3 days
• Beech Mountain – North Carolina – 7″+ past 3 days
• Bryce Resort – Virginia – 8″+ past 3 days
• Whitetail Resort – Pennsylvania – 7″+ past 3 days
• Roundtop Mountain Resort – Pennsylvania – 8″+ past 3 days
• Get latest data and conditions of other resorts here: http://www.onthesnow.com/skireport.html

BOTTOM LINE: Get out this weekend and hit the slopes! I just wouldn’t suggest drinking the water if you find yourself in WV:

The post Weekend Pick: The Best Way to Escape the Winter Storm first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

You’ll need to present some credentials to make it past the doors to the luxury that lies beyond. Here are the ways to get into the Lounge:

• Access included with First Class tickets on the “high-speed” Acela train or those traveling in sleeper cars
• Those with Select Plus/Executive status (top level Amtrak Guest Rewards status)
• Members of United Club
• Use a ClubAcela single day pass (you can redeem 5k points to get a 5-pack of passes)

You’ll notice that ClubAcela passes cannot be purchased. If you don’t have any of the credentials listed above, your best bet at getting in is to find a way to redeem points for the 5 pack of passes (ex: transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Amtrak).

Front desk and entrance area

My first impression was that the lounge is very dated feeling. Apart from the 2-3 flat panel TVs that were slapped on the wall, it looks like nothing has changed in this place in the past 2 decades. In fact, I felt as if I were transported the set of a taping of Boy Meets World in the 1990s.

Looking for the sensation of time travel? Amtrak will take you there!

Just like most airline lounges, no outside food or  drinks are allowed in because “light snacks” are provided. Those “light snacks,” you ask? It’ll be your choice of either mini-packs of Goldfish or mini-packs of pretzels.

Amtrak seems to have a Costco membership, too

If you’re looking for the bar with complimentary drinks, you’ll be looking for a while. On par with the awesome food spread is a beverage corner that couldn’t even compete with the worst of office building break rooms. There’s a choice  of serve-yourself fountain drinks, water or coffee. The one plus is that the coffee machine made espresso drinks and wasn’t half bad. So far, that’s one point for Amtrak.

What do you guys have on draft…?

OK, enough ranting about the horrible Amtrak lounge. The good: it’s a quiet place to sit and relax while waiting for your train. The outside terminal really is loud and full of hustle and bustle (moreso than an airport), so it’s nice to be able to retreat to a semi-private area.

But really, how can this compete with the airlines’ lounges? Amtrak makes most of its money in the Northeast corridor and specifically on the Acela routes (Washington-New York-Boston) by catering to high-margin business travelers. The competing form of travel is air travel. While there are a range of pros and cons to each form of travel (train claims to be quicker door-to-door, no pesky TSA to deal with etc…), how can Amtrak think it’s competing if its lounge, which all of its best customers have access to on every trip, is so much worse than a Delta SkyClub or United Club? I would think they could make just a few changes to the overall travel experience and have people choosing train travel over air more and more.

BOTTOM LINE: ClubAcela is kind of depressing and rather pathetic. The food and beverage options are extremely limited. While it’s a decent place to wait for your train in peace and quiet, there’s a reason it’s empty–it’s not a place you’d want to hang out for too long.

The post Amtrak Acela First Class: ClubAcela Lounge at Union Station Washington, D.C. first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Our 24,606 mile trip will take us to 10 countries (including connections) over 16 days:

Part 1 -New York

We’ll fly from Charleston-JFK to New York-JFK  on Delta…

…and spend 1 night in the city to get our fill of the Christmas spirit.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Part 2 – Bali, Indonesia

Our award ticket starts in New York as we fly out of New York-LGA and, appx 33 hours later, land in Denpasar, Indonesia-DPS, better know as Bali.

The trek begins with an Air Canada flight from New York-LGA to Montreal, Canada-YUL. We’ll then connect to Air Canada’s Montreal-YUL to Paris-CDG.

After a short hop from Paris-CDG to Frankfurt-FRA on Lufthansa, we’ll be ready for the longest flight of the trip: 10 hrs 10 mins from Frankfurt-FRA to Bangkok-BKK on Thai Airways’ Airbus A380 in “Royal Silk” class:

 I’m sure the A380 will leave us spoiled for our next flight…on Thai Airways’ from Bangkok-BKK to Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia-DPS.

We’ll stay the next 3 nights exploring Bali, Indonesia.

Part 3 – Ubud, Indonesia

Once we’ve had our fill of the beach, we’ll take a 1 hour drive into the mountains of Indonesia and spend 2 nights in Ubud.

Part 4 – Jakarta

Next up: the bustling metropolis of Jakarta, 10 million people strong. We’ll say goodbye to Bali and hop a 1 hr 45 min flight from Denpasar-DPS to Jakarta-CGK.

Part 5 – A short stop in Singapore

We’ve got a pretty short 1.5 hr flight from Jakarta-CGK to Singapore-SIN on Singapore Air.

Our 8 hr layover, while it is pretty short, should give us at least a few hours to check out Singapore:

Yes, this is a real thing…way to be outdone, America

Part 6 – The Maldives

We’re still finalizing where we’re staying, but 2 things are sure: SEA PLANE and  OVER THE WATER BUNGALOW!

Part 7 – Montreal

After a few nights in the Maldives, we start the trek back to North America.

The first leg will take us from Male, Maldives-MLE to Istanbul-IST on Turkish Air.

We’ll connect on another Turkish Air flight from Istanbul-IST to Zurich-ZRH and then pick up our second-to-last flight on SWISS from Zurich-ZRH to Montreal-YUL.

We end the journey with a one night stay in Montreal.

The post Honeymoon Countdown: 4 Days to Go! first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

How to book it (just GRU to JFK):

Routing options: Non-stop, via DTW or via ATL

1. Check http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ using its calendar of low fares to see all availability. Make sure to set to “Business class or higher” and Currency as “USD”:
2. There’s tons of availability ($898-$903) in Oct/Nov/Dec 2013 and into Jan/Feb/Mar 2014. Find a few dates that might work, jot down flight times, numbers etc…
   

   Sao Paulo-GRU to New York-JFK/LGA Availability

   

   Sao Paulo-GRU to New York-JFK/LGA Availability

3. Head to Delta.com, enter the exact dates in a search and select your desired flights. The price quoted on ITA Software Matrix should pop up.
4. Proceed through booking

How to book it (from NYC to Sao Paulo w/ 2x roundtrips):

If you’re not based in Sao Paulo-GRU then maybe you could use this fare to book 2x roundtrips from the US to Brazil, with 50% of the route being in Business Class?

1. Check http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ using its calendar of low fares to see all availability. Make sure to set to “Business class or higher” and Currency as “USD” and this time set length of stay much longer, to say 70-75 days.
2. You should see some decent choices, take this for example:
3. Head to Delta.com, enter the exact dates in a search and select your desired flights. The price quoted on ITA Software Matrix should pop up.
4. Proceed through booking

So this will basically take care of your middle 2 segments but you’ll still need to book:

• New York –> Sao Paulo (search for cheapest economy fare)
• Sao Paulo –> New York (Delta Business Class of $898)
• New York –> Sao Paulo (Delta Business Class of $898)
• Sao Paulo –> New York (search for cheapest economy fare)

I head back to http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and this time search the reverse route for any New York area airport to any Sao Paulo airport in economy and use exact dates (since I already have the flights home booked):

I find a fare of $1,126 in economy on Avianca.

This allows me to take 2x trips from NYC-Sao Paulo for a total of $2,024, with half of the legs in Business class!

>Drop us a line on Twitter (@weekend_blitz) or reply to this post if we can help.

Since we’re all about weekend trips, here is a good example:

• Trip 1: From Thur., Jan 30 to Mon., Feb. 3rd, 2014. Gives you 1/2 day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday to explore Sao Paulo before returning to frigid NYC.
• Trip 2: Leaving about 3 months later from Thur., May 8 to Mon., May 12, giving you appx 4 days in Brazil–not a bad long weekend!
• Grand total of $2,149 for 1 person on two trips.

Featured image source: http://tourguide.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Sao-Paulo-fly-to-Barcelona.jpg

The post Blitz Deal: Sao Paulo-GRU to New York for $898 in Business Class first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Longest non-stop domestic flight

The winner: St. Denis, Reunion-RUN to Paris-CDG operated by Air Austral covering 5,809 miles in 11h 10mins on a B777. This is same ISO code to same ISO code, so quite technically it’s the longest non-stop domestic flight in the world.

In addition to the CDG-RUN route, Air France, Air Caraibes and Corsair International operate flights from Paris-ORY to Reunion-RUN, which is just 7 miles shorter than the CDG-RUN route for a total of 5,802 miles.

Runner up: USA coming in for a strong second with New York-JFK to Honolulu-HNL at 4,983 miles in 10 hours and 50 minutes. Operated by Hawaiian Airlines on an Airbus A330.

UPDATE 8/10: Added AMS-BON route, thanks Scottbee/Boffin.
Worth noting: A 3rd place medal goes to the Amsterdam-AMS – Bonaire-BON route flown by Arkefly’s 767-300 for 4,844 miles, scheduled flight time is 11h 0 mins.

And…either France had a much larger Empire that I realized or they’ve just maintained control of the territories longer than say Portugal or Great Britain and can therefore be qualified as domestic. Either way, with these two flights below, France’s total has jumped to 3 of the longest domestic flights in the world.
– Paris-ORY – Cayenne, French Guinea-CAY (ISO Country: FRANCE) – 9h 15m flight – 4,401 miles. Flown by Air Caraibes & Air France from ORY.
– Paris-ORY – Fort-de-France, Martinique-FDF (ISO Country: FRANCE) – 8h 50m flight – 4,259 miles. Flown by Air France, Corsair International and Air Caraibes from ORY.

Longest non-stop domestic flight within contiguous country

Update 8/10: PlymSpotter points out that:
– The longest domestic flight in Russia is actually AER-KHV at 4,287 miles
– Moscow-VKO – PKC is actually a few miles longer than the DME-PKC route.
– DME-UUS is 10 miles longer than SVO-UUS.
– Updates have been made below.

Winner: Khabarovsk, Russia-KHV to Adler, Russia-ADL clocking in at 4,287 miles is flown on a Transaero B767-200 in 9h 30 mins. Interestingly, the Transaero website says that they fly the route in 4,271 miles making them either guilty of a typo or they’re fricken magicians.

Runner(s) up: Just about all Moscow airports (VKO, DME and SVO) fly direct to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport-PKC (I mean is that really necessary, Russia?), super impressive that these flights don’t pass over borders or water:

Moscow-VKO – PKC =  4,228 miles on a Transaero 767-300.
Moscow-DME – PKC =  4,224 miles. The flight takes 8h 40mins on Transaero’s B777-300.
Moscow-SVO – PKC = 4,203 miles. This flight takes just 8h 05mins on Aeroflot’s B777-300ER (Rossiya Airlines sells tickets as well).

Runner-up Bronze medal to: The second third longest domestic flight is from Sakhalin, Russia-UUS to Moscow-SVO Moscow-DME for a distance of 4,140 miles 4,150 miles. Aeroflot’s Airbus A330 makes the trip in 8h 50 mins. Transaero’s B777-300 makes the trip in 9h 0 mins.

For comparison: The longest non-stop flight in the contiguous 48-states is Miami-MIA to Seattle-SEA on American Airlines at 2,724 miles in 6 hours 40 minutes. So, yes, if there’s one thing Russia is still better than us at, it’s being fricken enormous–really giving Texas a run for its money.

Longest domestic flight with stop

The winner: Paris-CDG to Papeete-PPT with a stop in Los Angeles-LAX. The cool thing? LAX couldn’t be anymore perfectly in route: the total distance with a stop at LAX of 9,765 miles — exactly matching the total distance if it could be flown directly. The flight is operated by both Air France (on a B777) and Air Tahiti Nui (Airbus A340) and takes a total of 22h 30mins: 12 hours from CDG-LAX, a 2 hour stop and a final 8h 30 mins on the LAX-PPT leg.

Now should this officially count? Ehh, French Polynesia is just a territory but…Francois Hollande is the president. They do use their own currency, though. Either way, it’s on this list and pretty cool that you can fly CDG-LAX-PPT all on the same Flight #, without ever having to deplane (I think), although I’m sure you would at least want to!

Runner-up: Houston-IAH to Guam-GUM with a connection in Honolulu-HNL. Flight #201 is operated by United Airlines and is technically 7,705 miles, though you could argue that only the direct distance of 7,446 miles should be counted. The total westbound trip takes 17h 1min: IAH-HNL in 8h 12mins, a 1hr 4 min stop and a 7hr 45 min flight from HNL-GUM.

Same debate applies with Guam as did Papeete, should it be included? Well Obama is the President, they have a governor and they use the US $ as their only currency. Sounds like ‘Merica to me.

Fricken coolest domestic flight?

Winner: RAF Brize Norton, UK-BZZ to RAF Mount Pleasant Airport-MPN (Stanley, Falklands) would come in at 7,840 miles if flown direct but since they have to stop for refueling in Ascension Island-ASI the total is 8,096 miles.

But what’s so cool about this flight? The British Ministry of Defence (sic–as with most words in the Queen’s version of English) arranges the flights and sells only between 10-30 seats per flight to civilians. It used to be flown entirely on Royal Air Force (RAF) equipment, but now is contracted out to different charter companies. They fly a few times a week and sell seats that aren’t needed for British Military personnel. Don’t expect any deals, though:  the flights will run you about £2,222 roundtrip ($3,450!). More info available here.

The post Top 10: Longest Domestic Flights in the World first appeared on Weekend Blitz.