When I arrived in SFO, without even thinking it has become so rote, I headed right for the domestic United Club. Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks and looked down at my boarding pass. It did say "first class" and traditionally first class p.s. passengers were entitled access to United's International First lounges (now called "Global First Lounge") before their departing flight. So I walked over to the lounge, a respectable hike through Terminal 3, down the corridor to the International ...

When does a first class downgrade equal a first class upgrade? Read on to find out.

Sunday, I was scheduled to fly from Burbank to New York JFK via San Francisco. "Premium Service" transcon flights feature three-cabins of service with international business and first class seating, but are not eligible for a complimentary upgrades, so I used one of my regional premier upgrades (RPUs) to upgrade the 5hr flight from San Francisco to New York. As an added bonus, the Burbank-San Francisco ...

I mentioned last week that I had to take a last-minute year-end mileage run from LA to Boston on December 30th in order to secure the 5K miles necessary to push me over the 150K EQM mark.

The trip itself was fine—no sleep, but a productive redeye from Los Angeles to Houston. A quick stop in the United Club at Houston to grab a newspaper and a cup of tea as well as watch the sunrise. Then, breakfast and a nap on what turned out to be a quick flight to Boston. Five hours of work ...

A quick update on my perpetual struggle of choosing between the value of Megabus or the comfort and convenience of Amtrak to get between Philadelphia and Washington.

Yesterday, I found I needed to get to Washington as soon as possible. I was hoping for a $51 Amtrak fare (thinking Megabus would be about $20).

Nope. Amtrak was $86 for Northeast Regional and Megabus was $5. Onboard Megabus, the internet didn't work, the bus left late and arrived even later, but what the heck—with my new iPhone tethered to my laptop I can stay quite productive.

So I'm going to keep score in 2013—Megabus jumps to an early 1-0 lead over Amtrak. May the best man win.

Quite frankly, I have no idea how Turkish Airlines makes any money. The carrier constantly runs fares sales to destinations around the world, including to a number of U.S. cities, at price levels that bely rationality and prevailing market conditions. But you won't see me complaining.

Of particular interest is a fare posted yesterday from Washington Dulles to Istanbul at a cost of only $399 including taxes. This is not missing a YQ (fuel surcharge) or some sort of glitch—this is ...

Somewhere between the Stone Age and the Twilight Zone sits the Air France Flying Blue North American call center. Ontario, Canada? Please…It pains me to even recall this story, but it will be instructive. Here's the quick summary—don't ever redeem points with Air France/KLM Flying Blue for award travel that includes Africa. Period.

A client's son was originating out of Lilongwe, Malawi for a Christmas trip to Berlin. Kenya Airways and KLM are both part of the Flying Blue ...

Per Ben, sign up for the American Express Platinum Card and receive 100,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $3,000 in three months.

UPDATE: Noon ET -- deal is dead. Congrats to all got in on it.

Most American Express sign-up offers are only for 25,000 miles after spending $2,000, so this is an exceptionally good offer via creditcards.com. 100K AMEX points can you get far--a business class r/t to Europe through Aeroplan (Star ...

When planning my Balkan adventure over the summer, I saw that Macedonia spilled out into northern Greece and there happened to be a Hyatt Regency near the airport in the city of Thessaloniki, where I could catch a non-stop flight back to Frankfurt on Aegean. Why not, I thought. Hyatt room rates were reasonable and I surmised it would be a good place to rest for a few days after a week of roughing it in a cluster of countries where western hotels were few ...

If you missed it, Part I and Part II

New York was fine. We did about half of what I wanted to accomplish, but my friend did find a new pair of UGG boots for about 40% less than she would pay in Germany.  Who needs Broadway when you have shoes?

Now it was Sunday afternoon, time to go to Washington. But the weather wasn't cooperating. A soupy morning of light rain and dense clouds meant United Express flight cancellations, including a flight to Washington National and a ...

Check out Part I here.

Decisions, decisions. New York via Chicago or a non-stop flight to Washington and skip New York? I had a room booked for two nights at the Millenium Hilton that could not be cancelled, but that was not my concern. Rather, I wanted to show her New York City--a Broadway show, skating at Rockefeller Center, the top of the Empire State Building, a UN Tour--all those wonderful touristy things that people pay far too much for.

So I chose New ...

While it pains me to even tell you this story, I trust you can enjoy a chuckle at my expense (maybe one day I will too…) and avoid a very carless mistake.

A couple weeks ago, I had a very special friend visit from Germany. It was her first time to the USA and I had a full itinerary planned for her 8-day trip to include New York City, Washington, and Los Angeles.

We made our plans relatively last minute and she indicated a willingness to fly standby in order to save ...

Let’s face it: there are not enough days of the year for me to review every hotel in London. Does that mean, however, that I cannot authoritatively recommend one even while others have yet to be reviewed? Certainly not, and this review will serve to introduce you to the Andaz Liverpool Street hotel in London, a Hyatt property and my new favorite hotel in London.

I knew my parents were coming to London and I had to find a way to get to my ...

In my world of frequent airline travel, now ongoing for nearly decade, it becomes easy to forget that most do not travel and many of those who do make only one or two holiday trips per year. Nevertheless, my sympathies for travel horror stories are limited. We do not live in the golden age of aviation and in exchange for our dirt-cheap airfare in the USA, we have come to expect delays and hiccups that rarely make a trip 100% smooth.

But when faced with adversity—a delayed or ...

Each year I tell myself that I will be traveling less than the previous year, though inevitably I end up traveling more. So I won't do that this year, though my travel plans for 2013 are not as ambitious.

Much of where I go and what I do will depend upon what I decide to do with my time. I must admit I'm drawn to focusing full time on Award Expert and Live and Let's Fly, but there is that law degree that I'd like to put to good use. The thing is, I've become accustomed to working for ...

2012 has been an incredible year, filled with exotic travel and great adventure, though you'd hardly know it if you're a regular reader of Live and Let's Fly. Award Expert really hindered my blogging this year and as I look back on what I've done versus what I've written about the last 12 months, I shake my head in disappointment.

So consider this month-by-month review below a preview of what is to come on Live and Let's Fly. From Easter Island to Havana, from Reykjavik to Kabul, from ...

Come December 31st, now just two days away, the bmi Diamond Club will shut its doors for most of the world. If you've neglected transferring any destination miles from your bmi account to your British Airways Executive Club account, it is now or never. Same with a status match.

After numerous e-mails and even a couple snail-mail letters from bmi, I finally got around to transferring my remaining 379 miles and requesting a status match last week. It did not take long to do, though I ...

I truly was looking forward to a week at home between the holidays. No travel, just catching up on a number of projects I have neglected, including Live and Let's Fly. Then I noticed I ended the year with 145K United Airlines Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs). Immediately, I shook my head for not planning better (one of my few trips on American Airlines could have been on United instead…) but immediately resolved to take one more trip to get those last 5K miles. Surpassing the 150K ...

Every savvy points aficionado has a love-hate relationship with US Airways Dividend Miles. After all, with essentially no routing rules, a very attractive award chart, and an abundance of cheap miles made available through perpetual 100% bonus offers,  you need never pay more than $2,000 for a business class ticket to Europe or Asia (or both…).

Yet all is not well in the world of US Airways. All signs point to an imminent award chart devaluation and the program offers no ...

Christmas is upon us and I realize that I have been conspicuously absent this month. An odd day to resurface, perhaps, but as you pause today to spend time with family and friends or at least enjoy a day off from work, I want to share a recent anecdote from my trip to Afghanistan.

Imagine a place in which it is unfashionable to live on the hill. With no running water, no electricity, and no paved roads, bringing fresh water up from a distant well is taxing—it can take the whole ...