Rookie Travel Tips Friday

July 8, 2011 - Shannon

Rookie Travel Tips Friday!

Sadly, no one submitted any tips last week so no winner this week.

Last Friday we covered the basics of the alliance programs.

This week we will focus on the Oneworld Alliance program.

The Oneworld global alliance program includes the following member airlines: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Mexicana, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines. Kingfisher Airlines (India), and soon to join will be Germany’s Airberlin.

Countries Served:150

Lounges Available:550

Destination access:750+

The Basics on using frequent flier miles with Oneworld:

As I covered last Friday, you do not have to join the Oneworld program, if you are a member of one of the member airline programs you are already a part of Oneworld. You can use your frequent flier miles from any member alliance program to book award tickets that have connecting flights on any member airline (as one ticket). But you cannot actually transfer points between member programs. Pick one alliance member program to bank all of your miles into. When you book your flight on any alliance member, be sure to give them the frequent flier number of the alliance program you wish your points to be deposited into. The miles on any eligible flight will be deposited into that member program account, and qualifying flights will count towards advancing or keeping your tier status (more on that below). Most of us bank our Oneworld miles with American Airlines and/or British Airways. Following that great 100,000 mile BA card, many of you should have a nice chunk of British Airways miles to use. Note to all: I find that the best thing to do when you’re trying to book an award ticket with multiple destinations is to call and speak directly with an agent.
Within the member alliances, all Oneworld airlines offer award flights on other Oneworld member airlines. Can you upgrade using points? The answer taken directly from the Oneworld website was:

“Most of our member airlines allow customers of their frequent flyer programme to upgrade on their own flights. However, presently none of our member airlines offer upgrade awards on flights operated by other oneworld members.” – http://www.oneworld.com/

???? What ????

To clarify, I called American Airlines. The deal is that when you’re booking an award ticket, whatever class you book that ticket in, AA will search for the same class/cabin for all alliance flights on that ticket. Purchased tickets are another story. If you purchase a ticket with AA, you can use points to upgrade on any AA flight. Only two of the Oneworld member airlines allow you to use AA points towards upgrades on purchased tickets. It goes as follows: On British Airways, if you want to use your AA points to upgrade, you must already be in a World Perks Cabin to upgrade. The other alliance member that allows the upgrade using points is lberia, but you must have purchased a “fully refundable ticket.” So the best option is just to book an upgraded award ticket all the way.

Status Basics on Oneworld:

Oneworld has created a set of membership tiers to reflect status: Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby. When you’re flying on Oneworld, you will continue to receive the privileges of your tier status no matter which member airline you are flying on.

The benefits Breakdown:

Emerald — First Class Priority Check In, Business Class Priority Check In, Priority Standby and Wait- Listing, Pre-reserved preferential seating, boarding at convenience, and access with one guest to all First Class and Business Class lounges regardless of class of travel.

Sapphire: Business Class Priority Check In, Priority Standby and Wait-Listing, Pre-reserved preferential seating, boarding at convenience, and access with one guest to all Business Class lounges regardless of class of travel.

Ruby: Business Class Priority Check In, Priority Standby and Wait-Listing, and Pre-reserved preferential seating.

Each alliance program’s member status is reflected a bit differently in these Oneworld tier status levels.

Most common for our readers is the American Airlines Advantage Program. Executive Platinum status on AA is equal to Emerald on Oneworld, Platinum status is equal to Sapphire, and Gold status is equal to Ruby.

The British Airways Executive Club is as follows: Gold status is equal to Emerald on Oneworld and Silver status is equal to Sapphire.

Using OneWorld
The Oneworld website offers a ton of tools for booking and planning travel and it is a great place to plan and book an “around the world trip.” The Around the world fares tool offers a ton of planning help and detailed information about how to take a trip around the globe on one big award ticket. Rick and The Bug have done this a couple of times. I can’t wait to do my first ATW trip!

The website also offer an Interactive Network Map to aid travel planning.

I’m just starting to learn how to use alliances to my benefit as a traveler, and I’m really excited about planning some trips that will take me overseas to multiple destinations on ONE award ticket. I hope learning these details provides you with the hope that you, too, can see far-away exotic places — for FREE!

- Shannon, The Rookie

More of Stefan’s China Trip Tips for Rick:

by Stefan Krasowski
Note we are back in the USA but I wanted you to see the end of Stefan’s recommended 10 day itinerary. He did a great job for all of us.
Day 9: On your last full day, follow your fancy for some disparate choices or any stops that were missed.

In the north of downtown is Yufo Si, the Jade Buddha Temple (line 7, Changshou Rd). More seriously religious and elegant than Jing’an Temple and Longhua Temple, it is bustling and has good vegetarian restaurants inside the temple and nearby. Chinese vegetarian dishes strive to emulate the taste of meat dishes. See if you are fooled!
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/shanghai/sights/religious-spiritual/jade-buddha-temple%20

In the southwest of downtown, at the end of the French Concession, there is a major traffic intersection surrounded by huge shopping centers called Xujiahui (Metro Line 1). A few blocks to the north are the elegant brick buildings of Jiaotong University’s original campus, one of China’s top universities. The malls to the south of the intersection are choc-a-bloc with electronics (negotiate at these stands). To the south of the intersection (west side) is the Xujiahui (St. Ignatius) Cathedral, where my wife and I used to meet on dates in our student days. The long-broken stained glass windows are being replaced by a Chinese nun in Chinese paper-cut style, which is, supposedly, the first cathedral stained-glass windows in the world made by a woman. Across the road to the east is the Old Station Restaurant, formerly the nunnery. In the backyard are two historic rail cars available for dining, one the personal car of Sun Yat-Sen’s wife Song Qing Ling. There are also tons of restaurants in the Grand Gateway (Gang Hui) Shopping Mall, the northwest corner of the intersection. A particular favorite is Charme for modern Cantonese, if you didn’t try it around People’s Square.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/shanghai/sights/religious-spiritual/st-ignatius-cathedral

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/dining/shanghai/has/old-station-restaurant/

http://www.chinatravel.net/china-attractions/grand-gateway-shopping-mall/introduction-1348.html%20

If you didn’t get enough of the knock-off markets in Beijing, Shanghai’s grand old one, Xiangyang, has been demolished. But where one tree was felled, two saplings grew up. One is along Nanjing Rd, west of People’s Square, in the office tower just west of the elevated road over Chengdu Rd (right in the middle of the Metro Line 2, People’s Square and Nanjing West Rd stops, but a long walk from both).

http://www.chinatravel.net/china-attractions/Nanjing-Lu-Fake-Market-Fenshine-Fashion-Accesories-Plaza/introduction-1336.html

The other fakes market is way out in Pudong, Yatai Xinyang Fashion and Gift Market, in the warren of hallways at the Science & Technology Museum stop on Metro Line 2.
http://www.chinatravel.net/china-attractions/yatai-xinyang-fashion-and-gift-market/introduction-1359.html

And if gifts for teenage girls are your thing, the similarly sprawling warren underground at the People’s Square metro stop (multiple lines) should be your target.

Day 10: departure. I hope you had a great trip!

Your international departure will almost certainly be from Pudong Airport, which is quite far, especially in rush hour. Whether you leave early in the morning or late at night, budget an hour to an hour and a half to get there, depending how far away your hotel is. If you don’t have elite status, check-in and immigration can get overloaded in economy because the counters are understaffed by contractors who are not always good at problem-solving. Being a little late sometimes avoids huge lines.

Our thanks to Stefan from the RapidTravelChai.com blog for his tips and suggestions that we’ve shared here. He gave us an invaluable guideline to make our first trip a huge success.

jcmitchell21

In your honor, I am doing my first churn day coming up in a week or two. I have never done one before. I am trying for SW(maybe), HA BOA, HA BOH, AS, CO, HH Citi, HH Surpass, AA Biz. Sound good or would you recommend any others? I already have your favorite card, and want to use my Chase app for CO before it's gone.

Also, is there a consolidated place that lists different bank's generally accepted credit app rules? (Like no more than 2 for Citi in 60 days)
Scott

I might be in the minority here, but I find it mildly offensive that you mention that you're glad you were able to experience the poverty of rural China because it makes you further appreciate how great your life is. I seem to recall similar statements from you on previous trip reports, as well.

Maybe I'm just unnecessarily sensitive.
SkinsFan0521

So, are you trying to say that the next two offers are for SPG & United? I'm not sure that I'm right about either, but I think that's your favorite card and airline.

I just got my SPG card a week or so ago, so hopefully they'll "bump the bonus" for me if that's the case!
David

@Scott – He didn't say he was glad that they were IN poverty – He's saying that he's glad he SAW it, b/c it made him even more grateful for the blessings that he has. I don't think anyone (with a heart) wishes poverty or poor circumstances on anyone. Seeing extreme poverty breaks my heart – always… It also makes you realize how blessed you truly are. Most people under the "poverty line" in America are WEALTHY compared to worldly standards.
ArizonaGuy

@Scott: I agree that Ingy's particular wording comes off as offensive but I truly doubt that any offense is intended.

What tends to bother me most about a lot of the primary bloggers we all follow is that there is often a lack of cultural immersion and understanding despite traversing the globe regularly. I'm sometimes shocked at the ignorant observations made – as if no prior knowledge was acquired before setting foot in someone else's country.

But in this case I fully applaud Ingy and his family going outside of their comfort zone at least to some degree. It's far more rewarding than repetitive trips of little more than biz class flight to chain hotel to biz class flight. After all, there are plenty of people who wouldn't dare travel anywhere near an eastern style / Turkish toilet! I felt the same way when reading Gleff's trip report to India. He blogged that his foodie travels and the leftover food his guide gave away to people on the street conflicted him and gave him pause for reflection. I'm satisfied when people simply stop and think about the having-nothings of this world (and consider doing something about it if so moved, though it need not be blogged about.) It's when we don't appreciate what we have and overlook the less fortunate that cause problems.

Also, from what I can tell Ingy's son is quite an adventurous, out-of-comfort-zone traveler. That alone is reason enough for Ingy to be proud of him and I think he should emulate his son a bit more – while still retaining the frugal travel affordability as much as possible.
scwam

I don't agree with China's city dweller's lifestyle being less than western standard of living. It depends greatly on what cities you are going to. I've seen quite a bit of nice living conditions that exceed the average of ours. Maybe not so in space, but more modern. I don't know why my previous comment was not approved but I still believe that a bar in a bank would be difficult to find here. Beijing is kind of the drab looking city that is just the capital and doesn't really show the positive affects of their economic growth. Shenzen or Dalian if more indictive of this.
FrugalTravelGuy

Scwam sorry about deleting your previous post. The publish and delete keys are too close together. I did not mean to delete it.

and I certainly did not mean to offend anyone with my comments about the poverty I saw, but quite honestly I wasn't impressed with Xian either
Anonymous

Different things works on different part of the worlds. Here are some of my tips for tourists to eastern countries. Ingy is "the world's expert on flying free" but not expert tourist on world travel.

Now a days, you can get most of the same amenities in China/India and other eastern countries if you stay in sizable cities.Every big cities, you will have hilton/crown plaza/hyatt and similar category local hotels. They all have western style toilets. For some reason, Western travelers tend to become stingy as soon as they go to developed countries. They want to spend less and get more. There is a reason some of the hotels are cheap. Same way, use the standard taxi services (ask hotel) and not the rickshaw/train etc. If you are willing to pay about $30 per day, you can get taxi with driver for whole day. People travel in local train/rickshaw (which are there so poorest person can travel ) and then they complaint about poverty/crowd/cleanliness. In US, you don't travel in Greyhound if you are visiting places. Same way, eat out at decent restaurants and even some of the familiar chains like Pizza Hut. There is a reason street food is cheap.

Like to write more but main tips to give u idea,
Solomon Neuhardt

I was denied this card because I have a tax lien on my credit report I was unaware of. Bizarre bc I was just approved for the Chase Sapphire.
Charles Clarke

@Scott – Remember that Rick is a 3 star (or higher) hotel type of guy. I read his remarks as he is more appreciative of what he has for seeing what others have. Hmm, re-reading your comment, that is pretty much what you said….why are you offended that he's more appreciative of what he has after seeing others having less? Though he can be offensive at times, I don't think he was, much less trying, to be offensive here.

I agree with ArizonaGuy that there was some stepping outside of comfort zones, though Andrew seems to have wide zones, and learning happening here. Heck, I learned I don't want to go to China in the middle of the summer!

@scwam – Apparently you value "modern" over space. Given a certain value of "modern", I prefer space over ultra-modern. One thing I appreciate about the U.S. is that we can value different things and it is okay. In fact, it helps capitalism happen. You trade what you value less for what you value more while I do the same.
Scott

My offense — and once again, it's mild at best — comes from the wording of Rick's statment:

"Until we see how the rest of the world lives, we cannot be truly grateful for all we have. I am a grateful American and glad to be home."

My (exaggerated for effect) interpretation of this is:

"Travelling to impoverished destinations is essential, since it allows me to feel better about myself."

I agree with other commenters that this certainly wasn't intended to offend, and maybe I'm the only one who took it the wrong way.

As always, I love your blog, and much more frequently have positive comments!
john

Where can I get Gleff's trip report to India? Can anyone provide the link? Thanks!
Charles Clarke

@Scott – IF read that way, I'd pity Rick and hope he'd find better ways to feel better about himself. Still not sure of the, even mild, offense.

It'd make for an interesting tourist advertisement. Send it to mailing lists of those suffering from depression, low self esteem, etc. "Come visit our country and see how we live. You'll feel a lot better about your own life." Though you'd have to be careful to not spend too much of the tourist dollars improving the lives of the natives or you'd lose out on the tourist dollars. Hmmm… (For the humor impaired – this was said tongue in cheek.)

Thanks for the different view though.
FrugalTravelGuy

Just too many off the wall comments about my views on seeing rural China. Of course I feel bad for them and I am constantly making donations to kiva to help those in undeveloped countries. But to infer I am glad to see suffering to make self feel better is way out of line.

Butif you see those things and are not grateful for all you have been given in life, now that I feel sorry for.

Move on

Rookie Travel Tips Friday

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