Hotel review: The Mira Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong on Easter Sunday in 2011 on Dragonair! It was a great flight, as you can read about it in my previous review. From Hong Kong, I will proceed to Singapore to attend a meeting. The flight with Cathay Pacific was scheduled at noon of the next day. So, finally, I was in Hong Kong, the pearl of the Orient, the jewel of Asia, for the very first time. I had...

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United Airlines open house: Family Day 2011

Earlier this month, I mentioned that I would attend the 6th annual United Family Day Open House in San Francisco. It turns out to be a great event!  United and Continental parked four planes, one A320 in new United livery, another United A320 retro-jet, a Continental Boeing 737-900ER retro-jet and a Boeing 777-200 in the tulip livery. They also had a Boeing 747-400...

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ANA to introduce “Inspiration of Japan” on San Francisco - Narita (Tokyo) route

This Tuesday, I attended the ANA "Inspiration of Japan" open house at San Jose City Hall, also known as, The Rotunda. "Inspiration of Japan" Open House The event was aimed to showcase ANA's new cabin products, named "Inspiration of Japan". This new service brand is based on three concepts "Innovative", "Original" and "Modern Japan" and will be launched on San Francisco...

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Shanghai to Hong Kong in Dragonair's economy class

Flight: KA 859 (CX 6737) Route: SHA - HKG Aircraft: Airbus Industrie 330 Date: Apr. 24, 2011 Class of service: Economy Fare: Q Check-in at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Terminal 1. It was a flight scheduled at noon. I arrived at the terminal well in advance and received a NotiFly SMS while waiting in the line. It's Cathay Pacific's flight notification service....

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e-Miles now a partner of United MileagePlus and Continental OnePass

I just got an email today from MileagePlus Partners. It offers me to sign up with e-miles, a survey website that rewards airline miles, and receive 200 miles as sign-up bonus. For me, 200 miles is nothing. But if you have a MileagePlus account with some residue miles and you have not been flying for awhile. I recommend you respond to this offer. Getting 200 miles will extend the expiration date for your mileage balance. And, if you don't find answering a few survey a week annoying or time-consuming, it's one way to accrue frequent flyer miles...

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Free $25 American Express Shop Small gift card from FedEx

I have a Fedex account but rarely use it for shipping. I received an email yesterday from the company saying they are offering free $25 American Express Shop Small gift card on November 1st through 11:59 p.m. ET on November 7, 2011 or while supplies last, whichever is sooner. Limit 1 per person/email address; limit 2 per household. It seems that to register for this offer, one has to like the Facebook page of Fedex first. I have not found any information about this offer in their fan page yet. A thread in Flyertalk.com is discussing...

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Enter Southwest Airines' Providence 15th Anniversary Sweepstakes

The last sweepstakes offer of the day. According to Southwest Airlines, they are celebrating 15 years of their service at T.F. Green Airport. This sweepstakes offer includes: Two Roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines to Orlando, Florida. 2-nights hotel accommodations with breakfast at Omni Championsgate in Orlando Click through this link to enter this sweepstakes...

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United "A Million Reasons to Go to Las Vegas" Sweepstakes

Here's another sweepstakes offer from United.  According to their website: Grand prize winner will receive 250,000 MileagePlus award miles and a 3-night Las Vegas vacation package, including a first-class flight and hotel stay 2 winners will receive 100,000 MileagePlus award miles and a 3-night flight and hotel Las Vegas vacation 2 winners will receive 100,000 MileagePlus award miles 5 winners will receive 70,000 MileagePlus award miles  I just did it. Why wait? Do it now! To join the sweepstakes, register now through this link...

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Enter to win United Cruises' 1,000,000 mile sweepstakes

This doesn't seem to be a targeted promotion.  Though I generally don't believe in those sweepstakes, I still join them each and every time. The recent Cathay Pacific $100 ORD-HKG sweepstakes in July had been one of them. I didn't win but in their Terms and Conditions, Cathay Pacific wrote that they will publish a list of all the sweepstakes winner. However, I cannot find any such list anywhere on their website. Maybe you can help me? Anyways, don't take those sweepstakes too seriously, but they are worth trying. For those who have...

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This weekend: United Family Day Open House 2011 and San Francisco Fleet Week

This weekend I'll be attending the 6th annual United Family Day Open House at United Airlines Maintenance Center in San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The event will be held on Sunday, October 9th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. I was very fortunate to be able to snatch a ticket when registration opened up on September 21. I am so excited, as it is the first time I am going to attend such a cool event! According to an announcement made by the organizer earlier on Flyertalk.com, there will be lots of activities and exhibits, including a display...

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Trip planning: Hong Kong and Singapore on Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, The Mira Hong Kong and Mandarin Orchard

I returned from Singapore via Hong Kong on May 1st, 2011. My experience with Cathay Pacific and its affiliate, Dragonair, was hit-and-miss, but I love Hong Kong and Singapore a lot, especially both their outstanding airports. Since Singapore Airlines is always pricey, and low-cost carriers sells fast, chances are I may fly with Cathay Pacific again. This trip was not meant to be frugal because I was there to attend a meeting, which lasted for a week, and I already saved some money for this trip. By the time I was about to plan this itinerary,...

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Is this the end of free checking?

Bank of America has recently announced that a 5 dollar monthly fee will be charged for their debit card holders when they make purchase(s). In the wakes of new federal regulations that are now pushing the financial institutions to find ways to compensate for loss, Chase, US Bank and Wells Fargo have also announced their plans or are testing to impose a monthly fee on their debit cards. Ron Lieber and Ann Carrns of The New York Times wrote in their Your Money column on September 30, 2011 that "Citibank did not plan to add monthly debit card...

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