2015 Travel Year In Review

Well, it's the last day of 2015, and we've had another amazing year. Click here for the 2014 recap.

Since my father's an Asian math nerd, according to his excel spreadsheet, I have:

1. Flown approximately 33,825 miles this year (vs. 51,422 last year)
2. Taken 23 flight segments (vs. 26 last year) with only 2 longer than 8 hours
3. Flown out of 14 airports (vs. 16 last year)
4. On 2 different airlines (vs. 6 last year)
5. Traveled to 4 foreign countries (vs. 6 last year)
6. Earned United Silver status

The biggest takeaways were that we really decided to stay "local" this year oftentimes driving instead of flying. Further, unlike 2013 and 2014, we only left the country a few times in 2015. Once was a spring break to Cancun. Then we had our annual trip to visit extended family Israel (stopping in Belgium on the way home). The other was our early Christmas trip to Costa Rica a few weeks ago.

On the hotel side, we have:

1. Stayed 52 nights in hotels this year
2. Across 20 different cities
3. In 14 unique hotel brands

Our most frequent brand was Westin (18 nights across Orlando, suburban Chicago, Cancun, Kansas City and Scottsdale). We re-qualified for Starwood Platinum status, and matched to Hyatt Diamond and Hilton Diamond statuses for 2016. And we didn't realize until just now that this year we went to see baseball games at the stadiums for each of the World Series teams, the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets.

 So as we close out the year, here's a photo snapshot of our favorite lapchild adventures this year.

Why We Save Our Boarding Passes

My father is a big nerd. It's not enough we fly around every chance we get, but he also scans, saves and logs each boarding pass we get on every flight segment. Why? "Just in case," he says.

Well, this time, it came in handy.

On June 27, 2015, we boarded our first flight on Brussels Airlines, departing Tel Aviv for Brussels. As a Star Alliance partner airline for United, we were able to add our United MileagePlus frequent flyer numbers and earn credit for the flight. However, as my father overlooked the fare class, we would only receive 50% credit for the 2,022 miles flown between TLV-BRU.

Usually, mileage credit for partner airlines will post within a few days after you arrive. However, after 2 weeks (July 13), we didn't see anything post, so my father went onto United's website to request partner mileage credit.

He input all the information requested, including the Airline, Ticket Number, Passenger Name, Flight Number, Fare Class, Departure/Arrival Airports, Date and Seat Assignment. United emailed a confirmation and said they would revert back 2 weeks later.

July 27 came and went and still no United credit. So my father called this time to the United MileagePlus Service Center. Apparently, Brussels Airlines rejected our request for mileage credit.

The United representative confirmed she saw the same booking info that my father did as well as the United.com webpage confirming the 50% mileage credit for Brussels Airlines flights booked in Fare Class T.

The United phone agent requested my father submit another form the MileagePlus Contact page. So he did, plus he printed a PDF of United's mileage earning page so he had a record (in case it changed) and submitted that PDF as well as copies of the boarding passes and the receipt.

Submitted: 7/29/2015 12:43:59 PM
Remote Host: XX.XXX.XX.236
User Agent: AppleMAC-Safari
Signed In: Yes

Message:
I have flown on a flight on Brussels Airlines on 27 June 2015 and did not receive credit (either RDM or PQM).

I should receive 50% credit for both the redeemable miles and 50% credit for United premier qualifying miles.

I have attached copies of (a) my boarding passes, (b) my confirmation receipt and (c) a copy of the Brussels Airlines page from United.com
[ Attachment 1 Type: application/pdf Name: Fly with Brussels Airlines _ United Airlines.pdf]
[ Attachment 2 Type: application/pdf Name: 150627 - TLV-BRU.pdf]
[ Attachment 3 Type: application/pdf Name: eTicket Itinerary and Receipt for Confirmation CNNH66.pdf]

Then on August 3, we received an email from United (bolding mine).

We’re always glad to hear from Premier Gold members like you. Thanks for writing. Your request for flight credit was rejected by the Star Alliance member carrier.  We have sent a request to them for verification and authorization.  It may take up to 14 business days for this discrepancy to be corrected so that we can credit your and your family's MileagePlus accounts.  Please monitor your accounts during this time and if you do not see the posting after that time, please contact the MileagePlus Service Center or reply to this e-mail and we will investigate further.Thank you for your patience during this processing delay.
We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.
Regards, [name redacted]
MileagePlus 

So my father called United again to inquire what was going on. United assured him that this time, they were submitting a dispute (vs. a request), and that it would be resolved in our favor in due time. We just had to be patient. We'll see what happens in the next 3 weeks.

But this annoying experience just turned us off on Brussels Airlines. While Belgium is indeed beautiful, we're going to fly through Zurich (Swiss Air) or Munich (Lufthansa) next time we transit through Europe on our way to Israel.

[UPDATE 8/6/2015 - The missing miles posted today.]

Beware of Fare Classes

I guess we all make mistakes. After going through a complicated analysis to find the perfect Phoenix flight itinerary to allow me to get my first United Silver elite status, it turns out I'll still miss out.

The other month, we flew back from Israel via Europe. We booked a connecting flight because it saved us a lot of money, but we had the choice of stopping in either (a) Brussels, Belgium or (b) Zurich, Switzerland.

We had already been to Zurich before (also on a 1 day stopover), so my father thought it would be fun to visit a different city together, even if it was for a short over night stopover. Plus there was a very convenient Starwood Sheraton hotel connected to the Brussels Airport.

However, not all flights earn miles equally.  Since we were flying on Brussels Airlines in Fare Class T (a deep discount economy fare), it only earned us 50% Elite Qualifying Miles with United Airlines.

So that 2,022 mile Brussels Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Brussels only earned us 1,011 EQM. That really threw off our calculations!

Had we chosen to stop in Zurich instead, however, we would have flown Swiss Air and their T Fare Class would have earned the full 100% mileage credit!

That meant that because we innocently chose Brussels over Zurich, both my mother and I will fall short of the 25,000 EQM we need for United Silver elite status.

Brussels Train

We left our hotel around 9PM after dropping off our bags in our room and went back across the street to the airport to catch the train into the city center.

The ground floor was Level 3, so we took the escalators down to Level -1 where the train station was located.

My father knew the ticket kiosks wouldn't work with the credit cards he had in his wallet. Fortunately, the ticket counters were open and accepted our credit cards.

For €8.50/adult, we had tickets for the next train. Children ride for free (as they should). The bar code on the ticket was required to scan through the gates to head down to the platforms.

The train was waiting at the platform a few minutes before the scheduled 9:13 departure time.

As you can see, it may not be completely obvious which train you should take, so you're best off doing research on their website in advance (or just asking someone).

We boarded early and found the car to be almost completely empty. The seats were set up as 4 person sections, each with a small table. Much better than the E train taking you from JFK Airport into Manhattan! Also note: we were wise to keep our tickets with us after boarding, because eventually someone came around to check them.

The Songer Girls going into the city for a Saturday night out.

After 20 minutes and 2 stops later, we were pulling into Central Station and heading to the famous Brussels Grand Place.

Flying Brussels Airlines

Our flight to Brussels was supposed to depart Tel Aviv at 3:55PM on Saturday. Knowing how long security lines can take at Ben Gurion Airport, we arrived a bit after 1PM to make sure we had enough time to clear 3 sets of security.

As it turned out, we only needed about 45 minutes to check in, so we decided to spend some more time with my grandfather who drove us to the airport from Haifa.

Our flight ended up being unofficially delayed as we didn't board until 3:40PM, well after the 3:05PM posted on the boarding pass.

Nevertheless, we took our seats when boarded started and came prepared for a 5 hour flight without meal service, in-flight entertainment units, Wifi or electrical power outlets. We took our seats in the Economy section in Row 13. This airline had the European style "slim" seats that were perfectly comfortable, though meant we didn't have personal entertainment systems in the seat backs.

The rows weren't that close together according to my father, but that might be more attributable to his abnormally short legs rather than thoughtful spacing by the airline.

I, on the other hand, wasn't so concerned about legroom. Upon boarding, I was immediately given a nice little kid's welcome package by the flight attendant. Plus, my grandfather also bought me a Disney Princess coloring/sticker book. What a great way to keep me well-behaved!

Some "surprises" on board during the flight itself.

The Good: everyone getting a surprise dinner. Chicken, cous-cous and steamed vegetables.

The Bad: the overhead monitors never showed any entertainment - just the route map.

The Ugly: a fully grown 36 year old father playing 5 hours of Bubble Witch on his iPad.

Since we didn't board on time, it was 8:40PM by the time we landed - about an hour after we were originally scheduled to land. That meant one hour less for my family to spend in the city that night before the last train back to the airport. But on the positive side, we were able to quickly clear customs and check into our hotel within 15 minutes of landing. Not too bad!

Planning for a Brussels Layover

By the time most of you are reading this, we have likely departed Tel Aviv on our return flight home. To save some money, we decided to take a connection, stopping in Brussels, Belgium for the night before getting on our 10AM Sunday flight back to Newark.

Because of how the westbound flights are scheduled, we'll have to overnight in Belgium, so we booked the Sheraton Brussels Airport hotel for $104 Saturday night. Given the hotel was just "39 steps" from the airport and providing complimentary breakfast for being SPG Platinums (valued at about $30 USD), this hotel choice was a no-brainer.

It also meant that we might be able to sneak in a few hours visiting downtown Brussels, but a lot would depend on if our flight would arrive on time (7:45PM) and if we could clear customs and check our bags at the hotel quickly enough.

Fortunately, there's a train from the airport into central Brussels (Gare de Bruxelles-Central) that took less than 30 minutes and costs €8.50 ($9.50 USD) each way for adults. Kids under 12 years old are free. Cash and major credit cards are accepted.

TripAdvisor has some guidance for travelers:

"Make sure you have a ticket that includes the Diabolo supplement, that is required for all journeys to/from the airport. 

A train to all 3 main Brussels stations (Nord/Noord, Central/Centraal and Midi/Zuid) runs from the airport station located at the -1 level of the terminal. When you get out of the arrival hall, take the lift or escalator on your right to go down, and you’re there. 

 Tickets can be bought at the counter in the train station hall. In case they are closed, a ticket can be bought from vending machines (they only accept Maestro cards). If boarding a train without a ticket, it can be bought on board, but notify the attendant when getting on the train, to avoid paying a fine. You can also order tickets online (but if not a Belgian citizen, they must be printed out) at www.nmbs.be"

Assuming we're able to buy tickets from the counter (we don't have Maestro cards), we'll walk 5 minutes from Gare de Bruxelles-Central to the Grande Place (main square), which looks beautiful at night.

The challenge will be finding a nearby place to eat that with mussels (even though they're out of season) that isn't a complete tourist rip off - think annoying vendors flaunting plastic laminated menus available in multiple languages.

Based on some research, the best place to go is Chez Leon near the Grande Place, which is a well recommended restaurant on many of the travel websites. But if it's crowded on a Saturday night, we're not sure if we'll have time to wait for a table, given the trains back to the Airport stop running at 11:25PM.

A taxi to the airport will cost about €50 ($56 USD). So clearly getting that last train is the best option unless we're really enjoying our time in Brussels. We'll just play it by ear. [Update: It seems like UberPop is available in Brussels and will cost just €16-21 one way to the Airport. We love Uber outside of NYC.]

Worst case scenario, I'm sure we can find a place that sells late night Belgian fries or waffles.