Hawaii Deal: As Good as You Said it Was

I read with interest your story on the Northwest Airlines WorldVacations First Class offer to Hawaii (Oct. 2006 FCF), as I was about to ticket in early December using our travel agency. I immediately called Northwest WorldVacations and verified all you wrote. My wife and I got round-trip First Class confirmed air from Seattle to Hawaii, two nights at the Hilton Waikoloa Kona (with an upgrade to oceanfront/concierge level for $52.50 per person per night through Hilton Honors Elite), and a rental car for three days, all for $858 per person. That’s more than $750 per person savings. Plus, I received a 2,500-mile booking bonus with NWA vacations, 125% NWA bonus mileage for being a Premium Elite member, and a class-of-service bonus. Added to that was the NWA Visa bonus for the billing; my wife received her tier bonuses as well. We stayed an additional four nights elsewhere on our own, so we had a whole week’s adventure. Thanks so much for your work: We were singing your praises on our flight over. – Steve Klein, Yelm, WA

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Credit Card for Taxes?

I manage a commercial property on which local property taxes are $60K per half-year. The city allows payment with a credit card for a 2.5% fee. Would doing this be akin to buying miles and worthwhile, or a waste? I have the Starwood Amex card, and American and United affinity cards. My neighbor subscribes to your newsletter also. At a party last night he told me that they were going to South Africa using miles bought from Mexicana. Saved a ton. Finally, does purchasing miles do anything for getting elite status? – Scott Peterson, Middlebury, CT

The 2.5% fee translates to a cost of about 2.5¢ a mile, which is slightly less than what many airlines charge. If you don’t ever seem to have enough miles to meet your travel plans, then I’d say go for it, especially if you can pay with your Starwood card, which brings the cost down to 2¢ per mile after the 25% transfer bonus—a real bargain. But check the terms of your other affinity credit cards if you go that route before paying, because some airline cards limit the number of miles you can earn per year if you don’t have a certain level of elite status. I don’t know of any mileage-purchase program that credits elite status accounts, but spending with the right credit card can be a fast track (see FCF Aug. 2006, page 3). – Matthew

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British Airways Fading Fast

You keep asserting that BA Business Class seats are quite good. Two years ago we flew from Dubai to London on BA in Business Class—the cabins configured so some passengers sit “backwards.” We had flown Business on Cathay Pacific from Los Angeles to Bangkok on the first leg of the trip and found the seats heavenly for sleeping. We thought the BA seats, while roomy, were extremely hard and uncomfortable as a bed. Since then I’ve not spoken to anyone who feels the seats are conducive to sleeping. What up?! – Nancy Mulvihill, Levittown, NY

I flew BA last month and was disappointed, too. The experience was not nearly as good as the flights I had after the carrier launched its new Business Class seats back in 2000. Why? Mainly because so many other carriers have upgraded their Business Class seats. (Without the Cathay experience, you might not have found BA’s seats so bad. In-flight comfort is relative.) Moreover, after flying Virgin’s Upper Class I find the narrowness of BA’s seats at the shoulders hard to bear. On the plus side, BA still offers one of the very few seats that reclines to flat, which is why it still receives so much high praise. But it desperately needs the recently announced $200,000,000 Business Class seat upgrade to continue being among the best. – Matthew

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A Brief Window to China

Continental is offering very low fares on this route, around $2,500 round-trip for Business Class New York/Newark-Beijing. I was able to book a trip to Beijing from Greensboro for $2,692 per person round-trip during Feb., which is odd given that Feb. 18 is Chinese New Year. – James Hadley, Greensboro, NC

Nice find! After doing some digging I found the fare, which is only available outbound Feb. 11-22, with return travel required Feb. 18-March 1. I also discovered that it’s available to Hong Kong starting at $2,288 round-trip Business Class from New York and $2,538 from Houston. – Matthew