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Susan and I we had just over 750,000 AA miles we could use. Since we would not be able to take our originally planned Maldives trip we decided to use as many AA miles on vacations during the next year and try to harvest as much value as we could.
The Setup: Unforeseen Events
Introduction: Planning for Thailand
Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge SFO
Review: Cathay Pacific International First Class – San Francisco To Hong Kong
Review: The Pier, Hong Kong International Airport
Review: Dragonair International Business Class – Hong Kong To Phuket
Review: Anantara Layan Phuket Resort – Deluxe Seaview Suite
Boat Transfer & Check-in: The Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa
Review: Santhiya Koh Yao Yai – Ocean View Pool Villa Suite
Review: Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort
Day Trip: National Marine Park – Koh Hong Archipelago
Final Thoughts & Monkey Business – Santhiya Koh Yao Yai
Review: Thai Royal Orchid Lounge – Phuket
Review: Lux Pay In Lounge – Phuket
Review: Dragonair International Business Class – Phuket To Hong Kong
Review: Regal Airport Hotel – Superior Room
Review: Cathay Pacific International First Class – Hong Kong To Chicago
Review: American Airlines Flagship Lounge – Chicago
Review: American Airlines Domestic First Class – Chicago To San Francisco
On this trip there were a few things we wanted to accomplish.
- Fly Cathay Pacific international first class through Hong Kong.
- Plan and book last minute flights.
- Go to Thailand.
We both have never flown in Cathay Pacific first class, and with AA’s impending devaluation it made sense to try that product. Because Cathay Pacific would only release first class seats a couple weeks to a few days before travel, we would need to book last minute flights.
Our trip
Ben Schlappig (aka Lucky) at One Mile At A Time frequently preaches this approach, and in the past I’ve never been gutsy enough to do it. I’ve been a point’s enthusiast for a number of years now, and we I was finally confident enough to try a last minute award. Suzy has had a desire to visit Thailand for a couple years, and now we were going.
All three items were mutually inclusive and so this would be our trip. An AA redemption for USA-Asia Region 2 would run 67,500 miles per way per person, or 270,000 miles for the entire trip.
Miles used
After a lot of discussion and research Suzy decided on the Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa in the Koh Yao Island region of Thailand. Santhiya Resorts and Spas is a privately owned business that has two resort locations; the Koh Yao Yai and the Koh Phangan.
The Koh Yao Yai resort looked beautiful and had plenty of availability for the second half of January and first half of February. To get there we would need to travel to Phuket Thailand and then travel by speed boat to the island and resort.
Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa
Our discussion lead to a choice between 2 room types, the “Grand Deluxe Ocean View” or the “Ocean View Pool Villa Suite”, both came with king beds and included breakfast for two. The Grand Deluxe was a 775sqft room that was a part of a large multi-room structure. Nightly rates were going for $245 per night.
The Villa was a standalone structure with 1,645sqft of space and a private pool. Rates were $469 for the Villa. Susan’s inclination was to go $245 Grand Deluxe room but I reasoned that an additional $224 per night included a private pool and villa. For the marginal cost this seemed like a no brainer, and with a little coaxing Suzy agreed.
Ocean View Pool Villa Suite
I have diamond status with Hyatt and Suzy and I try to stay with Hyatt’s for the diamond benefits. But the Hyatt in Phuket was not available for the dates we wanted and it really wasn’t the location we were looking for. Over the years I have used Hotels.com, our other Hotels rewards program, for non-Hyatt stays.
They have their own program that includes a free night for every 10 stays and they usually have a more than ample selection of properties available. For our six nights at the Santhiya Koh Yao Yai we booked at Hotel.com and received 6 nights’ credit for our stay.
Room costs
Room description
I had been studying Cathay Pacific flights for the previous couple months and noticed 2 seats in first class were doable, but you really needed to watch for them. I also noticed that there was always some business class available, and that was our fall back plan. In order to go to Phuket with Cathy Pacific the route looked like this: North America-HKG-HKT. North America gateway airports include, LAX, SFO, YVR, ORD, BOS, JFK and EWR. We favored the west coast for a gateway because our origination is SMF, but were open to the east coast if necessary.
The best way to search for Cathay Pacific inventory is on British Airways Avio’s search engine. About a month before our travel window opened up I started watching for 2 first class seats going to HKG, fully expecting to only get a 4 to 2-day window of availability and notice before we left. Surprising, 2 seats came up for SFO-HKG 2 weeks before we wanted to go. Perfect.
Also connecting within 7 hours of arriving into Hong Kong was a Dragon Air flight traveling HKG-HKT with business class availability. Dragon Air is a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific. Think Cathay Pacific light for local flights in Asia. Our flight itinerary ended up looking like this: SFO-HKG Cathay Pacific First Class, 7 hours’ layover in HKG, HKG-HKT Dragon Air Business Class. Cost 135,000 AA miles, $69.80 in taxes and $150.00 close in booking fee (ouch).
Close in booking fee hurts
The HKG-HKT Dragon Air flight put us into Phuket late in the afternoon and we were not going to be able to make the last boat ride out to the resort. So we looked for a room in Phuket. Again the Hyatt Phuket did not have availability. For our one night stay we settled on the Anantara Layan Phuket Resort for $268.00 per night.
This was a great rate for the Anantara Layan, and we were able to apply a Hotels.com credit of $215 against the $268 rate. Including $50 in taxes, our cost was $103.00 for the night. We would watch for a return Cathy Pacific first class redemption on the way home later, and that included from Thailand if necessary. The trip was set.
Costs for Anantara Layan Phuket Resort
Room description
