Monthly Archives: September 2011

Montreal to Denver

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Chris

I arrived at the airport with enough time to visit the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in the US-side of Montreal Airport. In addition to seating, the lounge had a small snack area and self-serve bar. Our charter aircraft was … Continue reading →

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Nearly Useless Rankings

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Chris

A ranking of North American airlines’ award availability was produced and is discussed at the Frequent Flier blog. There are a few issues with assessing award availability.  The inclusion of Southwest and Jetblue, airlines whose frequent flier programs fix award … Continue reading →

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Chicago to Montreal

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Chris

For the trip from Chicago to Montreal to Denver, StarMegaDo3 was on a chartered Continental 737.  Continental assigned us its 737 in its retrolivery: My legroom on this flight gave me a reminder to be thankful for my exit rows, … Continue reading →

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Kahului to Chicago

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Chris

I didn’t return straight to New York from Kahului.  Instead, I ventured to Chicago via San Francisco and Las Vegas to pick up the start of StarMegaDo3.  My upgrades to First Class cleared for OGG-SFO-LAS-ORD, making the redeye from Kahului … Continue reading →

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The Party is Over

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Chris

I applied for and was approved for an Amex PRG card in August.  After getting my card, I activated it and then called in to apply code 6661.  On that day, the agent informed me that I was eligible, the … Continue reading →

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The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Chris

From my six Starwood stays during the earlier promotion, I had two free resort nights that I used for my stay at the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas, a Category 6 Starwood hotel that normally retails for a minimum of … Continue reading →

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Civil Liberties Have Had Better Days

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Chris

“The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower The USA Today reports “at least five…flights were disrupted Sunday because of security concerns.”  … Continue reading →

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Honolulu to Kahului

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Chris

For my hop from Honolulu to Kahului, I was an a United-marketed codeshare operated by Hawaiian Airlines.  HNL is an open airport:   Hawaiian uses Boeing 717’s for its inter-island flights.  They feature a first class as well, but for … Continue reading →

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Honolulu

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Chris

To reach Honolulu, I flew on United 421 from Newark to Honolulu with a stop in San Francisco to change planes from an A320 to a Boeing 777.  Since United’s domestic non-p.s. first class is rather uniform, I’ll omit the … Continue reading →

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Trip Report: SFO-EWR-HNL-OGG-SFO-LAS-ORD-YUL-DEN-LAX-JFK

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Chris

I attended StarMegaDo3 last week.  To position myself for the start of its North American portion in Chicago, I trekked from from New York via Honolulu and Kahului.  Plotted with gcmap, my routing looks like:  

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