Complimentary Upgrades for Alaska 100Ks: Adding Up the Score

Since we spent some money and sat in airplane seats for great lengths of time in 2022 to reach 100,000 miles on Alaska Airlines and MVP Gold 100K status, we’re definitely keeping an eye on complimentary upgrades.

Early morning at BLI

On this most recent quick trip BLI-SEA-PHX-ABQ and back, we flew outbound on a Thursday. We were upgraded on the BLI-SEA leg, and we anticipate more of those in the future, as AS has retired its Dash Q400 prop jets and is now flying the more comfortable Embraer E175s, complete with a First Class section, on its shorter routes.

SEA-PHX we didn’t do any better than Exit Row 17, but the flight attendant offered us complimentary alcohol and snack boxes.

We still had a view.

PHX-ABQ on AA it was interesting to see our names at the top of the upgrade list. Brian was upgraded but we decided to sit together in the 2 x 2 configuration in Y on the CRJ 700 for the short flight.

Returning Saturday we were both upgraded on all three legs. That means out of a total of 6 flights for each of us, or 12 legs in total, we were upgraded (or offered upgrades) for 9/12 or 75%. Not bad.

Approaching BLI with a National Weather Service wind warning in effect proved to be among the bumpiest we’ve ever experienced, but the actual touchdown was smooth. Kudos to our Alaska / Horizon pilots.

Albuquerque Asian Eats: Neo Szechuan Makes Our List

We’ve enjoyed a number of Albuquerque Asian restaurants over the years at least as far back as 2010, mainly recommended by Kathy’s brother Tom, who is always seeking out opportunities to dine on Chinese and Thai dishes as a change from the more common southwest fare.  

We enjoyed our first visit to Neo Szechuan just a few months ago, and decided to return, especially since we’d found a couple of Chile Ristros to take home with us at a store just a few blocks away.

And so we traveled from one spicy spot to another.

It's spelled Nio on its sign but Neo everywhere else.

 

The little restaurant was more crowded on a Friday night than it had been on our first visit, and we were fortunate to have arrived early. We ordered steamed dumplings as an appetizer and then shared a spicy chicken and an eggplant hot pot, both high on the list of dishes recommended in reviews.

Both were delicious, although at the upper edge of our spicy Szechuan scale. Kathy’s brothers would probably have asked for more chile flakes.

The service was a little slow, obviously due to the large takeout business they were doing, but friendly.

We can now doubly recommend this little joint, whether Neo or Nio, as definitely worth a stop.

American Heathrow: Transferring Terminals at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (PHX)

We made a quick trip to Albuquerque last week, and the optimum itinerary for us was through PHX, transferring there between Alaska and American.

We haven’t flown into PHX in many years, but didn’t give it much thought until we noticed we had to change between Terminal 3 (Alaska) and Terminal 4 (American). Our reliable TripIt told us the transfer between terminals would take us about 45 minutes. We smiled at that “typo,” but it turned out TripIt was right. Fortunately we had a couple of hours between flights both outbound and returning.

The original terminals numbered 1 and 2 were retired and the airport authorities continued to name these terminals 3 and 4 to “avoid confusion.” The airport website offers little in the way of instructions to transfer between terminals.

Terminal 4 is much larger than terminal 3. In 2021 PHX was the 8th busiest airport in the US and the 11th busiest in the world.

The signage is less than adequate in our opinion and on our return trip we even asked one of the airport volunteers to point us in the right direction. 

It was obvious from his practiced reply that he’d explained the route to a lot of passengers. At one point passengers had to take shuttle buses between terminals, but the airport’s Sky Train, an automated system that originally ran to parking lots, was extended to run between terminals nearly 10 years ago. Interestingly, the track stretches to 100 feet (30 meters) above a taxiway so as to clear 747s and A380s.

Once we found the right direction we found it to be several minutes walking to get to the train, several minutes on the train, and then several more minutes of walking. 

 

We saw two of these signs but never figured out their purpose.

Why, with all of the desert land surrounding Phoenix, there wasn’t airport development that was more convenient for the actual passengers is shrouded in mystery (and perhaps even politics).

There’s one final catch. Transferring terminals requires passengers to go outside security, so it’s necessary to go through a TSA checkpoint again. Fortunately the lines weren’t too crowded.

We’d been hoping to use Brian’s new Alaska Lounge membership to access an American Airlines Admirals Club. However, on the outbound trip by the time we found our gate we realized it would be another 10-minute walk to access the nearest club, and on the return trip we learned there was no OneWorld club of any kind in the smaller Terminal 3. Instead, we shared a table in a crowded restaurant with a very nice couple from Minneapolis, Tom and Debbie, who were on their way back to be introduced to a newborn granddaughter. Talking about grandchildren brightened our somewhat grumpy mood.

To sum up, we would fly this route again if the price were right, and if the current departure and arrival times remain more convenient than Alaska’s SEA-ABQ non-stop flights, but we wouldn’t go out of our way, despite the extra air miles and segments. 

Even in Chicago and Los Angeles we can transfer airside by train (ORD) or walking through connecting tunnels (LAX), so we add PHX to our list of the cumbersome airports to make landside pre-security transfers, along with New York JFK and London Heathrow LHR.

Other than that, it's a modern and attractive airport.

In the Weeds with the Airline Contract of Carriage

Just before Christmas we were returning from our ambitious mileage-earning flight to Bangkok.

Once back in New York, we discovered that Alaska had preemptively canceled the long first leg of our JFK-SEA-BLI flight in the middle of the night, due to predicted bad weather, and rerouted us the following day to SEA. An agent mistakenly left off the BLI leg. By the time we got through on the phone, there were no open SEA-BLI flights until after Christmas.

Given the weather, we decided to get to the West Coast as soon as possible and got ourselves rerouted to Seattle via San Diego, with a short overnight stay in San Diego.

For those who don't know the geography, the road distance via I-5 between SEA and BLI is just over 100 miles and anywhere from 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours, depending on conditions. Shuttles take longer. 

We fortunately got a ride home from SEA December 23 with son David, and made it to our family Christmas celebration at our house.

An Alaska phone rep recently did grant us each a customer service voucher while politely telling us there was no refund due. She was right. We learned in the Alaska Airlines Contract of Carriage that SEA and BLI are on a list of 10 co-terminal airports, and that "Alaska will make no refund if transportation is provided from the point of Schedule Irregularity to the ticketed destination or Stopover airport, or a co-terminal as determined by Alaska." 

Examples of co-terminal airports include, but are not limited to:

1. Burbank/BUR, Long Beach/LGB, Los Angeles/LAX, Ontario/ONT, Orange County/SNA
   
2. Orange County/SNA, San Diego/SAN
   
3. Houston Bush/IAH, Houston Hobby/HOU
   
4. Palm Springs/PSP, Ontario/ONT
   
5. Oakland/OAK, San Francisco/SFO, San Jose/SJC
   
6. Washington-Reagan/DCA, Washington-Dulles/IAD, Baltimore/BWI
   
7. Newark/EWR, New York/JFK, New York/LGA
   
8. Seattle/SEA, Bellingham/BLI
   
9. Bellingham/BLI, Vancouver/YVR
   
10. Seattle/SEA, Everett Paine Field/PAE

In other words, we can pay to fly the 90-some miles from SEA to BLI but, as long as Alaska gets us as far as SEA, they’re off the hook.

Ironically, we spend the sometimes significant additional amount to fly out of Bellingham (BLI) when we think we may be facing bad road conditions. That loophole somewhat defeats the purpose.

Even after several years of flying AS, we're still learning the ropes, and this list was news to us. Ever since airline deregulation occurred, overall a great financial benefit for customers like us, the carriers have had pretty well free rein to make up their own rules.

Your favored airline’s Contract of Carriage is probably worth studying.

Oh, The Places We've Gone

 “You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! 

It seems timely, now that we've started traveling again, to revisit a post we used to update annually, in which we documented for our own amusement the number of countries we've visited. We have to reach back to December 2017 for our most recent example.  Here's what we wrote then:

We once ran into a couple on a cruise who were strangely proud of having visited 130 "countries" and realized we never wanted to be "those people." It's more common (and a more difficult question) to be asked about our favorite region, country, or city. Still, people do ask us "How Many?" from time to time.

For sovereign countries we base our list on this website, which counts 195 sovereign states in the world. As of January 2023, we've visited 78 of them:

Antigua

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Bahamas

Barbados

Belgium

Belize 

Brazil

Cambodia

Canada

Cape Verde
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark

Dominica (January 2023)

Dominican Republic
Egypt
Estonia

Fiji
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Holy See (Vatican City)
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Korea (North) - DMZ tour only
Korea (South)
Lesotho
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Panama
Peru
Poland
Portugal

Qatar (December 2022)
Russia
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Senegal (plane refueling at Dakar - did not formally enter)
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
Swaziland

Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Vietnam
Zimbabwe 

 

Based on the Travelers' Century Club, which currently lists a generous total of 330 countries and territories, we've visited a total of 106 as of January 2023. Wanna count 'em?

Pacific Ocean (6/40)
Australia

Fiji Islands
French Polynesia (Tahiti,Tuamotu, Austral, Gambier)
Hawaiian Islands
New Zealand
Tasmania

North America (4/6)

Alaska
Canada
Mexico
U.S. (continental)

Central America (5/7)
Belize (British Honduras)
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Honduras
Panama
 

South America (6/14)
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia

Peru
Uruguay
 

Caribbean (16/31)
Antigua & Deps. (Barbuda, Redonda)
Bahamas
Barbados
Cayman Islands

Dominica (January 2023)
Dominican Republic
Jamaica
Leeward Islands, French (St. Martin)
Puerto Rico
St. Barts
St. Kitts
St. Lucia
St. Maarten (formerly Netherlands Antilles)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Virgin Islands, U.S. (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas)
Virgin Islands, British (Tortola, etc.)
 

Atlantic Ocean (6/14)
Azores Islands
Bermuda
Canary Islands
Cape Verde Islands
Iceland
Madeira
 

Europe and Mediterranean (39/68)
Austria
Belgium
Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Minorca)

Corsica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany

Gibraltar
Greece

Greek Aegean Islands (Patmos)

Greek Ionian Islands (Corfu, etc.)
Hungary
Ireland (Eire)
Ireland, Northern (Ulster)
Italy

Liechtenstein 

Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Sicily
Scotland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey in Europe (Istanbul)
Vatican City
Wales

 

Antarctica (0/7)

None

Africa (7/55)
Egypt in Africa
Lesotho
Morocco
Senegal (plane refueling at Dakar)
South Africa
Swaziland
Zimbabwe

 
Middle East (2/21)

Qatar (December 2022)
United Arab Emirates
 

Indian Ocean (1/15)
The Maldives   

 

Asia (14/52) 

Cambodia 

China, People's Rep. 

Hong Kong 

India 

Japan 

Korea, North (DMZ tour only) 

Korea, South 

Malaysia 

Singapore 

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)  

Taiwan 

Thailand 

Turkey in Asia 

Vietnam

 

As we've often written, who's counting? Well, we are, but only once a year or less. The US and Canadian immigration officers who recently checked our passports as part of our Nexus and Global Entry renewal interviews did appear both impressed and amused by our list.

We'll add one small footnote. Our crazy flying schedule in December 2022 enabled us to re-qualify for Alaska Airlines MVP Gold 100K for 2023. Our ongoing hotel status includes Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, and IHG Platinum, so we have the basic tools to travel in some style for awhile yet. Our upgraded Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle to Bellingham flight this past weekend offers a good example.

It's annoying that we're still so tired after traveling in relative luxury.

 

 

Caribbean Sunset from a Riviera Balcony

Going, going, gone…

Scenes Seen at Sea on Riviera

Despite several of us coping with colds, we’ve been enjoying a laid-back Caribbean cruise on Oceania’s Riviera, fresh from drydock.

Greg, second from left, enjoyed the Asian cooking class presented by Julia Child’s former long-term executive assistant.

Tom and Ellyn admired the fleet of large yachts nearby when  we anchored off St. Barts.

We watched a late afternoon sky as we sailed away from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We had the dock at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, all to ourselves until the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, pulled up alongside us, dwarfing Riviera.

Here they are side by side in a photo taken by another passenger.

It presents quite a contrast to the decrepit vessel dredging off our port balcony.

It was a treat to see our favorite barista, Massimo, again. We’ve sailed with him at least three or four times and savor his double-shot Cappuccinos every morning. What a way to start the day!

And there’s always the food, like this elegantly simple presentation of Carpaccio in Toscana.

As always, despite a few glitches there’s no shortage of excellent cuisine aboard Oceania’s ships.

Caribbean Cruising on Riviera

The others boarded Miami’s Cruise Terminal J at 11 am and took nearly 90 minutes to actually get on board the ship. The only time left for us was 2 pm, and we were aboard in about 15 minutes, still in time to meet up and enjoy a bite of lunch in the Terrace Café. Lesson learned.

Oceania’s Riviera has just returned from an extensive dry dock refurbishment and it shows. The new colors are much lighter and to us very pleasing.

Most staterooms have a new larger shower without the tub and separate shower. Oceania has retained a fee of the old style arrangement for those few, Kathy among them, who desire a bathtub, and we snagged one.

It was a beautiful night as we sailed out of Miami.

With Kathy’s brothers along, the talk is of food even more than usual, and Oceania is a great line for foodies.

Oceania’s two larger (1200 passenger) ships have four specialty restaurants in addition to the Grand Dining Room and the Terrace Café buffet. They include Toscana (Italian), Polo (steak house), Red Ginger (Asian fusion), and Jacques (French). While there’s no extra charge for those, each stateroom is entitled only up to one visit to each inncruises up to 23 days long.

On shorter cruises such as this 10-day Caribbean trip, it’s usually harder to pick up extra nights. We did manage Polo on the first night, but it was a challenge.

The excsrgot was a new presentation, not our favorite but still tasty.

Kathy and Brian split an excellent Porterhouse.

The lobster was adequate but not sensational, according to Greg. It’s a long way from Maine to Miami.

Our second night there wasn’t a specialty reservation to be had, and we dined at the Terrace Café out on the back deck on an eclectic combination of pizza, sushi, spiny lobster and steak.

Last night we had a reservation in Toscana and enjoyed a superb meal with great service. Most of us started with their great version of Beef Carpaccio.

From there onward we chose everything from Osso Buco to veal chops.

Today we docked at Basseterre, St. Kits after two windy but pleasant sea days.

Those bright Caribbean colors are beckoning us, but Kathy is still fighting a cold and we two won’t be venturing far. Enjoying the 80F / 27C weather will be our main objective today.

Miami Dining and Whining

There are rarely any sure fire ways to secure a free hotel room upgrade, at least for Hilton Diamond members. We were reminded of that yesterday at the Miami Hilton.

Tom, a Hilton Gold elite, had checked in early online. We’d warned him we’d had greater upgrade success waiting to check in at the hotel.

Tom’s and Ellyn’s room, a corner room up on the 19th floor, was ready when we arrived. 

Greg’s perfectly adequate 3rd floor room was also ready. Ours was not. That’s a hopeful sign. It had to be something special, maybe a too-floor view or even a Junior suite.

We walked over to a pizza joint for a late lunch and returned to find no room even at 4 pm. We were finally assigned a room at 6:00 pm, and found ourselves in a 10th-floor room next to a clanking elevator.

By the way, ask us what we think of these high-tech lifts.

Not much…

Kathy’s Hilton Diamond profile does not include “Close to Elevator” and we trudged yet again downstairs to request a different room. The employee obliged and also gave us a $50 voucher for our trouble. Hmmph!

We’re well aware that Hilton is now pushing paid upgradesto its elite members. Color us less than impressed.

We caught an Uber to dinner at the highly rated Peruvian restaurant, CVI.CHE 105.

https://www.ceviche105.com/site/

It’s a large and noisy establishment that was very busy on a post-holiday Monday night.

Our attractive young Peruvian waitress charmed us into a round of expensive specialty drinks. We stuck with Pisco Sours, a Peruvian classic.

Ceviche, of course, and various waitress’s-surprise dishes ensued, most of which were very tasty.

The final bill was just over a hundred bucks ahead. Was it worth it? Yes it was, notwithstanding the sizzle and salesmanship efforts  of our lovely Lima lassie.