Lol, never in a million years I would have guessed someone will point this out!
The only rule we have is no shoes inside the house. We do have a bunch of slippers we take from Hyatts and Fairmonts and Conrads and some friends use them. But I think I went on a cleaning spree and tossed a bunch of them out…to create space for new ones lol.
Most friends are Thai and they take hygiene extremely seriously so no worries there. Also, with wife retired she has taken house cleaning to levels never imagined before lol.

Thinking to go for the Schwab Amex Platinum one more time but now on my phone. If turned down again, I may shoot for an Amex Business Gold to see if I get it or how close to the 200k SUB offer Amex will give me. Keep poking Amex hoping one day it will let me back in!

>>>>>>>>If you found a way to effectively use AA miles, do that because ya never know when another opportunity might roll around…could be years. And then more years.

Great point, been trying to use them for years indeed! And I was shocked when F came up to BKK…still can’t believe it actually.

Your ordeal with AA is very familiar, last few times out of DTW AA totally screwed it up. So I am VERY wary of trusting them they will get me to DFW on time. And the main reason I got the 5.41 am flight to allow me enough time lol. But I don’t trust them. And, you know, DFW weather issues there so common.

Oh, I found out more about the ANA equipment changes. The fight will now be operated by Air Japan…and ANA says, and I quote: “All scheduled flights operated by Air Japan on behalf of ANA will continue to operate in accordance with ANA’s aircraft and service standards”.

So, hmmm, I am in between two tough choices. First world problems, I think I can manage. But for now, I am going to keep both reservations open. Because I do expect AA to mess with it, like canceling the flight to DFW lol.

I do remember those tickets to Fiji. I think wife shut me down because we had just flown back from somewhere else. Or it was tickets to Cyprus with Alitalia with that pure rep that dealt with all of us weirdos. His name was Antonio or something….oh good times. And how much times have changed!

UA miles are far more valuable than AA miles. If you found a way to effectively use AA miles, do that because ya never know when another opportunity might roll around…could be years. And then more years.
That said, I booked an international F award on AA last year. They put me in coach. I am not kidding. Initial segment was delayed, and apparently AA then decided to let their non-revs use the TransAtl & European connection seats. Got (in time) to the gate for the second segment: “Oops! That’s no longer available.” OK, then put me in biz. “Oops! That’s no longer available either.” I was fuming, but had to speak at a funeral the next day, so was stuck and took it. I was fuming far more when I saw later that AA did not compensate me and effectively charged me by not even returning the appropriate number of miles to my account. They refused to budge despite my repeated written protests. So there’s that.
In 2005, I scored one of the $51 trips to Fiji. So hey, in the grand scheme of things, maybe it all evens out. In the meantime, I wish you every success getting that F ride, Buzz.

Wife is having a blast and I am laboring here to keep this ship afloat.

Leaving for Bangkok in 3 weeks, maybe it is time to step away and reassess everything.

Anyway, wife’s retirement party was a great success, will post a few pics in next blog post and on IG…when I get around to it.

Thank you so much for your kinds words. You have no idea how gestures like this have kept my blog baby going for so long. I think the World has definitely helped in preserving what makes this country special. In spite of the constant repeated hits it has been taking from within!

So, I just booked another award for 110,000 AA miles to fly:

DTW-DFW AA First
DFW-HND AA First on Boeing 777-300ER
HND-BKK JAL Business on Boeing 787-9

Long layover in Haneda which is fine.

I also kept for now my United Business award for 100k UA miles:

DTW-ORD UA First
ORD-HND UA Polaris on 787-10 Dreamliner
HND-BKK ANA but may have been changed to Japan Air??

Any feedback? I think I am going to cancel the United award. Or is AA First inferior to UA Polaris? Got a weird email from ANA indicating a change in the carrier for that flight to BKK but seat did not change. Not sure what is going with that leg but I think it is now operated by a “Japan Air” airline, very confusing. As all ANA communications are.

I happened to be available as soon as I got the PointsYeah email alert.

And yet, highly “esteemed” blogs in Boarding Area, like that mega crap site Eye of the Tiger/Flyer, or something, you know, the former Delta Points, my “Rene” who sold it years ago apparently but somehow still finds time to “write” there, if you can call that writing. Anyway, that site probably makes more money from ads and page views than mime, which is, well, incredibly deflating you guys. And it just posted:

“Carnival Cruise Passenger Scratches Her Feet, Eats Pizza”.

And I am crying while I look at what I post here…

I am taking the weekend off. Later today we have almost 40 people in our house for my wife’s retirement party. I am starting to lose count how many retirement parties she has held, I am jealous lol. One day…

@ Carl: Yeah, there is always one less actual comment that makes it here. It is from an aggregator site that has my link up as soon as I publish it. I think I have marked it as “spam” so it never gets shown here but it somehow still counts in the counter. Not that it makes any difference in the page views my site has, not sure how I can stop it.

@ NickPFD: Thanks for the travel trip report from Minnesota. You want to take over doing trip reports here, I can give you my blog’s credit card revenue 🙂 I still can’t believe you have not visited Michigan!