Stephen's Latest Posts

In the world of points travel, people often get fixated on traveling for free. While this is definitely something to strive for, it is not recommended to use your points if the redemption is impractical or is a poor return…

Airline: Vietnam Airlines (VN) Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Flight #: VN 415 Route: Seoul-Incheon (ICN) > Hanoi (HAN) Date: April 21, 2019 Duration: 4 hr 25 min Cabin & Layout: Vietnam Airlines reverse herringbone business class, 28-seat capacity across 7 rows, 1-2-1…

Airline: Cathay Pacific (CX) Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER Flight #: CX 872 Route: Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Date: April 23, 2019 Duration: 12 hours and 15 minutes Cabin and Layout: Cathay Pacific first class, 6-seat capacity…

EVA Air’s mileage program is known as Infinity MileageLands. These miles aren’t known to be of particularly high value, but they can present decent redemption avenues for niche travelers. While EVA Air isn’t always one of the recommended ways to…

Airline: Vietnam Airlines (VN) Aircraft: Airbus A321 Flight #: VN 592 Route: Noi Bai International Airport (HAN) to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) Date: April 22, 2019 Duration: 2 hours, 5 minutes Cabin and Layout: Vietnam Airlines business class, 16-seat capacity across…

Hainan Airlines is one of the world’s newer airlines. Founded in 1993, it is the world’s largest civilian-run airline in China, and the fourth largest in terms of fleet size. With that being said, Hainan Airlines is also quite unknown…

Saudia, or Saudi Arabian Airlines, is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia. Although they are based in Jeddah, they also operate a few flights out of Riyadh. Their flight network to/from Saudi Arabia is very small, but they are known…

Airline: United Airlines (UA) Aircraft: Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner Flight #: UA 2361 Route: Los Angeles (LAX) to Houston (IAH) Date: April 24, 2019 Duration: 3 hours, 13 minutes Cabin and Layout: United brand-new Polaris, 44-seat capacity across 11 rows, 1-2-1 configuration Seat:…

The SkyTeam Alliance is one of the 3 main airline alliances in the world. The SkyTeam gets little attention compared to Star Alliance and Oneworld, but as you’ll find out in this guide, it’s extremely useful to know the ins…

Whether you’re a working road warrior or a parent who needs to ensure that everyone in the family gets where they need to be, you depend on your vehicle to reach your destination. The same is true when you’re on…

If you’re an award traveler, follow Upgraded Points closely, or are interested in aviation and credit card points, you’ve probably heard of ExpertFlyer. Planning trips with points and miles can be overwhelming, complicated, time-consuming, or all of the above. All…

Airline: Korean Air (KE) Aircraft: Airbus A380 Flight #: KE 12 Route: Los Angeles (LAX) > Seoul-Incheon (ICN) Date: April 11, 2019 Duration: 13 hours, 20 minutes Cabin & Layout: Korean Air first class, 12-seat capacity across 3 rows in a 1-2-1 configuration Seats:…

Weddings can be a wonderful time in your life — but they can also be expensive and complicated. Since a lot of couples pay for some or all of their wedding expenses, using the right card can help you stock…

China Airlines is somewhat of a misnomer because of its name: this airline is actually the flag carrier of Taiwan. Geographically, Taiwan is an island state off of the coast of Southeast China and is technically a Chinese state —…

Air China is one of the flag carriers of China, which is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. Plenty of people travel to China for business, but the tourist market for China is similarly gigantic. China doesn’t get…

Taiwan is a destination that many hold close to their hearts. There are tons of reasons why you would want to visit Taiwan. For many, the food is incredible. Taiwan is a little more spread out than metropolis giants like…

Note: As a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Aeroflot is currently experiencing many restrictions on airspace and may temporarily suspend flights. Aeroflot is Russia’s state-owned national airline, and one of the oldest airlines in the world. Although Russia is not…

UPDATE: Alitalia ceased operations in 2021. It was replaced by ITA Airways. Alitalia has recently been in the news for being an airline ripe for bankruptcy, but we’re here to tell you that Alitalia (now renationalized as ITA (Italia Trasporti…

Air Canada’s frequent flyer program is called Aeroplan, and many an award traveler has used it to book premium cabin tickets on a variety of Star Alliance carriers with points. While many have experience with booking tickets outright, using the…

Shanghai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. With such attention being drawn to China as the up-and-coming economic powerhouse, there’s a lot of potential for increased tourism and business to take place in Shanghai. China Eastern,…

China Southern is known as one of the “Big Three” when it comes to Chinese airlines (along with Air China and China Eastern Airlines). They’re also known for being the only Chinese airline that operates the beloved and recently discontinued…