SnowSand2020

Review: Emirates EK317 A380 First Class Osaka to Dubai

After the lack-lustre experience in the lounge we got to the gate a few minutes before boarding, it was the usual A380 gate chaos with people everywhere. The gate had a fantastic view of our A380 waiting on the tarmac, something about the shape and size of A380's is just

SnowSand2020

Review: Osaka Kansai JAL Sakura Lounge

We ended up with more time in Osaka Kansai international airport than I initially thought we would have thanks to a very helpful check-in agent in Sapporo who insisted that she could check our luggage all the way through to Dubai, despite our domestic Sapporo to Osaka JAL ticket being

SnowSand2020

Review: Niseko Village Hilton

We have visited Niseko several times before, but always with a large group of friends and hence we have always rented a house when there. This time it was just the two of us, so we looked for hotel options instead. Niseko is becoming quite a popular skiing destination, and

SnowSand2020

Review: ANA NH880 787 Business Class Sydney to Tokyo

I booked this flight with 50,000 Lifemiles that were purchased during a Lifemiles promotion at ~1.3c per mile (USD), so all up the flight cost ~$1,100 AUD including taxes, which I thought was a pretty good deal. I have never flown ANA internationally before and haven't flown

SnowSand2020

Review: New Sydney AMEX Lounge

We arrived at Sydney airport and made our way to the check in counter. Check in went smoothly, thankfully I had the details of our flight departing Japan as apparently Japan require you to prove you have a booked flight departing the country if you are entering on a one-way

SnowSand2020

Snow, Sand and Refundable Bookings

It's no secret that I have a habit of booking holiday's around Miles & Points, and this trip is no different. We were keen to kick the new year off with a holiday and get away before things got too busy. However, we couldn't decide what we wanted to do and

REVIEW: Sydney Airport Skyteam Lounge

I haven't previously had a chance to check out the Skyteam lounge at Sydney Airport, as I rarely fly Skyteam airlines, so I was interested to see what it was like. I made my way through the terminal towards gate 24, where the lounge is located. Plaza Premium runs the

News

American Express Opens New Sydney Lounge

American Express now offer a network of lounges around the world that card holders have access to prior to flights irrespective of what carrier or class they are flying. The Sydney lounge was opened in late 2014 and was a great addition to the lounges available at Sydney Airport. But

Europe2018

Review: Etihad EY454 A380 Apartments Abu Dhabi to Sydney

After a quick break in the Abu Dhabi first-class lounge, We made our way to the gate and began boarding EY454 to Sydney. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the lounge, but you can see my previous review here. I have now written about Etihad Apartments a few times

Tips

Why You Shouldn't Use Points For an Upgrade

One of the most common things I tell people about using miles & points is that using points to upgrade from Economy to Business is always terrible value! It seems that many years ago, one of the best uses for airline miles & points was to use them to get that elusive

News

Fly Emirates First Class Free by Buying 36 Bottles of Red Wine

Yesterday I posted about a deal Qantas Epiqure has on offer at the moment that gives you 20,000 bonus points when you purchase a half-case of red wine. I was chatting with a friend, and they commented that it was expensive wine and asked why you would buy it?

News

Qantas Epiqure Offering 20,000 Bonus Points

I have written about Qantas Epiqure a few times before, it is a great way to top up Qantas points if you are a few short for your next trip. Epiqure often offers bonuses of up to 10,000 points per case of wine and sometimes even 15,000 points.

Europe2018

Review: Etihad EY32 A380 Apartments Paris to Abu Dhabi

I firmly believe that Etihad Apartments is one of the best uses of Velocity points and to date it has been our favourite way to fly so we were looking forward to coming home on the EY A380. As mentioned in my intro post to this Trip Report, this flight

Europe2018

Review: Etihad First/Business Lounge Paris Airport

Our flight was scheduled to depart from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 10:35 am, so we got to the airport around 8 am. Check-in was a breeze with a dedicated desk for first-class passengers. After making our way through security and border control, we popped out in the

Europe2018

Review: Drawing Hotel Paris

During the Paris part of our trip, we ended up staying at a great little hotel called 'The Drawing' in the 1st Arrondissement. My original plan was to stay at the Hilton and try our luck on an upgrade again, but the rates were crazy, the cheapest room started at

News

Lifemiles 145% Promo on Purchased Miles

Lifemiles just launched a new promotion for the next few weeks offering miles purchases with up to a 145% bonus up until the 2nd of October. The current promotion is 2 for 1 miles plus an additional bonus that is tiered depending on how many miles you purchase. What is

News

Updating Ghost Blog at 30,000ft

I was recently on a Virgin flight home, and our flight got put into a holding pattern over Sydney due to weather. The captain informed us that our updated landing time was now pushed out by an hour. By this time, I had finished watching the movie that I had

Europe2018

Travel: Exploring Paris

We took the high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris, which was a 3.5-hour journey. I really can't speak highly enough of the high-speed rail network in Europe. It is by far the most convenient way to get around and much more comfortable than flying. As I bought the tickets

News

The Blog is Back Online!

Apologies to any regular readers, the blog has been down for several months now thanks to my web host going out of business and simply turning everything off :( But even before this, there was a distinct lack of updates, and I apologise for that! When I started this blog two

Tips

Why Points+Pay is Almost Always a Bad Idea

Few things pain me as much as hearing in casual conversation with someone that they have used hard earned airline miles on a Points+Pay ticket. The conversation is an eventual rollercoaster, it usually starts with hearing they used miles & points to book a flight which always gets me excited

Europe2018

Review: Hilton Amsterdam

The Hilton Amsterdam is an interesting hotel with quite a history, best known for the John Lennon and Yoko 1969 'bed-in for peace'. The Hotel even has a dedicated John and Yoko suite. This hotel probably wouldn't have been my first pick of places in Amsterdam, but it was reasonably

Europe2018

Travel: Exploring Amsterdam

Initially, we choose to visit Amsterdam simply because there was plenty of Emirates availability to Amsterdam and we didn't have high expectations of the city. Well, we were pleasantly surprised! We were only in Amsterdam for five days, but overall we were blown away by how beautiful the city was.

Europe2018

Review: Emirates A380 First Class Dubai to Amsterdam

After a lacklustre experience in the concourse B First Class lounge, I was eager to get aboard again and settle into the comfortable Emirates First Class Suite. We made our way to gate lounge 32 and proceed to board our A380. As we were at concourse B we boarded via

Europe2018

Review: Emirates Concourse B First Class Lounge Dubai

We landed at what seemed to be the furthest possible gate in the terminal and started our walk to transfer and to find the lounge. We were flying out of gate B32 so just kept following signs to concourse B. We finally arrived at the escalators up to the Business

Europe2018

Review: Emirates 777 First Class Hong Kong to Dubai

This was a flight of many firsts, my first time trying Emirates First Class, my first time flying a three class 777 and my first time being the only passengers in the First Class cabin. I think I have mentioned a few times now, but I had high hopes for