After the highlight which was Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, it was time to leave Canada. Our next stop was Tokyo but unfortunately the flight out of LAX is pretty early at 10am. Hence, a night’s stay in LAX cannot be avoided. One thing I dislike about airports in USA is that there are no hotels connected to the airport. This make transit in USA rather tedious as one has to take another transport from the airport to the hotel.
This is probably the highlight of our 2017 trip. As the travel period was in peak season, I paid CAD $999 (before tax) per night for my Fairmont Gold room! If I were to travel a month before, the room is as low as CAD $599 (before tax). How big difference a month made! I was deciding if I should go for the Fairmont Gold room, in the end I decided to take the plunge. What benefits will Fairmont Gold get u with the additional CAD $200?
For those planning to stay here, do book in advance. Your chances of getting a room via 3rd party booking website (e.g. Expedia) for bonus miles earning may be low.
Banff which is situated about 2 hours away from Calgary is a small town within Banff National Park. It is a small town with most of the hotels and lodges situated along the main street which is Banff Avenue. Banff Aspen Lodge is one of these lodges. Like most hotels in Banff (with the exception of Banff Spring Hotel), it is a low rise building (4 storeys, including basement). As it is situated near the town centre, it is within walking distance to many restaurants and an IGA supermarket is nearby along Elk Street. Further down Banff Avenue, you will reach the central park. The Bow River Trail and the Bow Falls Trail are situated on either side of the banks of Bow River.
This is another contribution by CHC who recently made a trip to South Africa utilizing the new Airbus A350-900 in Business Class.
Not to be confused with the luxurious St. Regis Hotels (which is part of Starwood chain), this is a standalone boutique hotel in Downtown Vancouver. The main draw for this hotel is the location. It is just next to the Granville station and just a stone throw away, Canada Place station (metro line to Vancouver International Airport and Glen-MacArthur outlet mall). There are also many bus stops nearby (you have a few direct buses to Granville Market from Granville Street). The hotel has many eateries nearby and also Canada Place, Robson Street and Chinatown are all within walking distance. There is a big Nordstorm nearby and many other shopping centres too.
After completing my reviews of my flights, it is time to write on the hotels. The first will be Delta Hotels by Marriott which is situated in Downtown Montreal. Delta Hotels is a Canada-based hotel chain founded in 1962. It was taken over by Marriott since 2015 and hence you can get Marriott points for your stay in Delta. This hotel is conveniently situated between 2 metro (Place des Arts and McGill) giving you access to various parts of Montreal. It is also within reasonable walking distance to the Latin Quarter, Chinatown and even Mount Royal Park. As for eateries (and shopping complex), Complexe Desjardins and Eaton Centre are nearby. A short walk down will bring you to Rue Peel, which is where the tourism office is situated in (you can get your Montreal Passport here, and many day trip agencies are located here too).
SQ 631 and Haneda ANA Business Lounge
The last leg of my flight was actually a break up of my original booking. Although no stopovers are allowed for a one way award saver ticket, there is an unwritten rule where you can top up USD $100 for a stopover. Is the $100 worth it? Here is the math for it:
LAX-SIN is 88,000 miles (+ USD $37.63) via NRT
LAX-NRT is 85,000 miles (+ USD $23.60)
NRT-SIN is 43,000 miles (+ JPY 2610)
It is quite clear cut that for additional $100 USD, it will save you 40,000 miles (which is almost an additional J ticket from Singapore to Japan!)
The tough part however, is the availability of flight and getting the right person on the other side of the phone that is willing to do it for you. Don’t be disheartened if you get rejected on your first call (they may tell you that stopover is strictly not allowed on saver ticket). Keep trying!
LAX used to be the other route operated on Airbus A380-800 besides JFK. Things changed as of October 2016 when it was downgraded to a 77WR with a second service to LAX added (SQ7 and SQ8, at the expense of SQ15 and SQ16). SQ11/12 operates via Narita and SQ7/8 operates via Incheon. While getting Suites on SQ11/12 was not easy, it wasn’t tough either. Since the change, it is almost impossible to get even one seat on First Class, let alone 2 (especially you have no status on Krisflyer)! With only 4 seats, getting 1 will definitely be tough. Business Class on the other hand, was still doable.
I was initially due to fly SQ7 via Incheon and onwards to Male. I decided to change my itinerary and switched over to SQ11 with a Tokyo stopover. SQ7 previously cost me about USD $370 per person while SQ11 cost me SGD $145. In total, I paid 68,000 miles (+ another $290) for my flight, which would cost otherwise 93,500 miles if I am not willing to pay USD $100 for the stopover. Currently, you pay 88,000 miles but you only pay $23.60 for tax! Flight timing has also changed, SQ11 previously leaves LAX in the evening, arriving Narita at 730pm and Singapore at 330am! With the change, SQ11 departs at 10am, arrives Narita at 130pm and Singapore at 9pm. This new timing is more palatable for those arriving in both Narita and Singapore for sure.
I initially planned to do this flight in Business as the price difference between Y and J was minimal ($300+ vs $400+). However, price for Tango dropped significantly and I bought the tickets at $191 (excluding seat selection and baggage fee) while the price of Business Class remained at about $460. One month before travel, I tried my luck with a bid of $120 USD per person for upgrade but as expected the bid failed. I wasn’t too hard up for the upgrade especially after my experience on AC 307 (this flight was operated on Airbus A319). It has the exact hard product as the A320 (which wasn’t great).
This would be my first time in Air Transat (and also my first Economy Class for this trip). I had a few options flying into Calgary (for my trip to Banff and Lake Louise) and Air Transat was the cheapest (at about $165 per person including seat selection and one piece of luggage). The drawback is the departure time at 915am. For a domestic flight, this wasn’t too bad. I left my hotel from Downtown Vancouver at 730am and we reached the airport at about 755am. After checking in and going through security check, we reach the gate at about 830am (which was almost time for boarding). I could have used my Priority Pass card for access to Plaza Premium Lounge. After a full breakfast and the time in hand, I decided not to utilize it.
That Time Of The Year! 