Aloft Phoenix Airport

Hotel Details
Hotel: Aloft Phoenix Airport 
Dates: October 9-10, 2015
Rate Paid: 3,000 SPG points/night
Regular Cost: $133/night
Redemption: 4.4 cents/SPG point

Our Friday afternoon flight would arrive in Phoenix around 8PM in the evening. So we thought it would be smarter to save our $ (or SPG points rather) and stay the first night at a cheaper airport hotel.

Then we'd get up early the following morning and head over to the Westin around 10AM knowing our room wouldn't be ready to check into yet.

Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and we landed at PHX Airport an hour late. Instead of landing at 7PM Pacific time (which is 10PM Eastern), we arrived at 8PM PT (11PM ET), which meant my almost 4 year old body was dead tired.

Fortunately, our hotel was 5 minutes away, and we had a free shuttle. As soon as we touched ground, my father called the Aloft and requested the shuttle for pickup. They said it would take 15-18 minutes, so we were smart to have called it early (as soon as we stepped off the flight). By the time we walked through the airport, it was just a few minutes of waiting on the Courtesy Shuttle curb stop.

Check in was easy at 8:30PM, and we were given a standard room on the 5th floor. A bit hungry, my father stopped by the wxyz bar and ordered some buffalo wings and a beer to take up to our room.

Sleep was wonderful with the blackout shades and the temperature control AC in the room. I think my father hoped that I would sleep in my own bed, but I took the opportunity to snuggle with my dear mother, leaving my father alone in the other bed. We tried to watch the Mets-Dodgers game, but it was pretty late for us, and we all passed out by 9:30PM PT.

Since we were still on East Coast time, my father woke up around 4:30AM PT per his usual. I then woke up about 30 minutes later (per my usual). After about an hour of washing up and getting dressed, we woke up our mother who was still sound asleep (per her usual). As a complete family, we made our way down to breakfast around 7AM.

Since we had Platinum status with Starwood, we were supposed to get complimentary continental breakfast if we chose that welcome gift (vs. 250 SPG points). Since the points were worth at most $7-10, we opted for 2 breakfast vouchers from the "kitchen" downstairs.

The voucher gave each holder a "Bundle It" combo which included a hot breakfast sandwich, a fruit and a drink. Retail cost was $10 each, so it was a no brainer to snag two vouchers instead of 250 SPG points.

Drinks were supposed to be a soda or a juice, but they were pretty lax about getting any drink of our choice. I opted for the chocolate milk (which was actually a protein shake).

Also, for being a SPG Platinum, my father was given another coupon for a "premium coffee" each morning. This was a cappuccino or espresso from the machine (shown below) as an alternative to the complimentary regular coffee offered to all guests.

So while not an amazing breakfast spread, a free meal is always going to be well received by my father. Especially perfect since it was just enough to tide us over before our all day swimming fest at the Westin Kierland.

Uber Hack to the Airport

As we've written before, my family and I have been big fans of UberX, but only when we're not in Manhattan.

Inside the city, we find hailing a cab to be much quicker than waiting for a driver to circle the block. However, my parents would use it often to get to/from the airport because UberX had a flat rate of $65 to JFK and/or EWR.

But that changed this week (October 6th), when they moved back to the traditional variable pricing based on distance and time.

So now, when we estimate the fare using the UberX NYC website, the ride from our Manhattan apartment to Newark Liberty Airport now runs $71-81!!! That's the same price as the Carmel / Dial 7 cars that we used to use.

But interestingly enough, much of that cost comes from the distance between our apartment to New Jersey. After that point, the ride would be just $39-51, shaving about $30 (37%-42%) off the full price.

So by just hopping the PATH train from our apartment for $2.75/adult and coming up in Jersey City, we'd save about $25 in airport transportation costs each way.

But as you savvy LCD readers may know, the PATH doesn't end in Jersey City, but actually continues all the way to Newark Penn Station (just 5 miles away from Newark Airport).

So as long we my family is OK with staying on the train (and transferring at Journal Square), then we can pick up an UberX at Newark Penn Station which would only cost about $10 total. That'd save another $30-40!  So for our family of 3, instead of paying $81, we'd only be about $16 out of pocket ($2.75 per adult for the Path Train ride and $10 for the UberX).

We also looked at taking the AirTran Express from Newark Penn Station to the Airport, but that would run $8.50/adult, so more expensive for a family traveling together than just grabbing the UberX.

Our PATH/Uber travel time door to door took about an hour. So not as quick as taking a car service (30 min), but worth it for my family to save $55-65 which we'd rather spend in Phoenix this weekend.

Columbus Day Weekend Trip

Flight #114 - United Airlines 1929 
Newark (EWR) – Phoenix (PHX)
Friday, October 9, 2015
Depart: 4:30PM / Arrive: 6:58PM
Duration: 5hr 28min
Aircraft: Boeing 737 
Seat: 15D, 15E and 15F (Economy) 
Earned: 2,133 miles
Lifetime Miles: 212,705 miles

After a long 3 month hiatus, we're flying again. Since our last trip to Israel in June, it's been a summer full of road trips (Seasame Place, North Fork, Sunflower Farms and Niagara Falls).

This long weekend, however, we're back to TSA screenings, boarding gates and seatback trays. Recall, my father used Google Flights to find a destination that met a few criteria: (a) enough miles to qualify for United Silver status through Feb 2017 and (b) a reasonable price.

So later this week, we'll be on our way to Phoenix...well Scottsdale to be more precise. There we're doing nothing but relaxing. After all, we already visited the area almost 2 years ago as my last flight as an official lap child:

• Our stay at The Phoenician Resort (Part 1, 2 and 3)
• Seeing the sights - Taliesin West Frank Lloyd Wright  
• Touring the area looking for Vanilla Reload cards

So this time around, we're not leaving the resort at all.

In fact, we're skipping the car rental and just taking an UberX from the Airport. Per the Uber Phoenix website, it estimates the ride will take about 30 minutes and cost about $25-33.

Actually, it will be $20-27 after our 20% rebate from CapitalOne. Even after our return ride on Monday, it will still be much cheaper than the cost to rent a car for 3 days just to have it sit in the parking lot while we park ourselves in an inner tube all weekend.

Suite Night Awards - 2015

We've been fortunate enough to have Starwood SPG Platinum status for the past few years by reaching 50 nights each year. Along with that, we receive 10 Suite Night Awards (SNAs) that we can use to express preference for when we really want those upgrades to suites.

A quick recap of how the SNAs work. For each night of your reservation, you apply 1 SNA. You need to have enough SNAs to cover your entire reservation. Then you click on the types of suites you'd be willing to accept for the award.

It doesn't guarantee you the suite, but just lets Starwood (corporate) know that you're willing to use your SNAs to express preference that you really want an upgrade here (versus other stays where it's less compelling). For example, we'd much rather get a suite upgrade for our 5-night family vacation at the Westin Costa Navarino resort where we'll spend most of our time on the property. And we're pretty indifferent about upgrades for a 1-night stay at the Sheraton Salt Lake City when it's just my father on a work trip.

Then 5 days before your check-in date, the computer at Starwoods (corporate) will search the available room inventory. If there are suites available for sale, then the computer will upgrade you into that suite.

The reason that's important is because it takes the complimentary upgrade decision out of the hands of the hotel front desk - where inconsistent staff training can play be a bigger factor than it should. Candidly, that individual hotel property may not even want to upgrade you (even when suites are clearly available), but Starwood (corporate) does, because that elite benefit fosters stronger brand loyalty to the overall system.

We've had great luck using these SNAs over the past few years, most recently Le Meridien Philadelphia (Dec 2014), Hotel Grande Bretagne (July 2014), St Regis Grande Rome (July 2014), W New Orleans (May 2014), W Vieques (Dec 2013) and Westin Memphis (Oct 2013).

So far in 2015, we haven't applied any SNAs to our bookings as most of them were cheap one night stays at Four Points or Aloft hotels where having extra space isn't as beneficial.

But this upcoming Columbus Day weekend trip to Scottsdale, Arizona will be a true vacation. We plan on doing nothing but relaxing on the property and enjoying the lazy river in 93 degree desert heat.

We were very happy that 5 nights out, we received the "Your Room Has Been Upgraded" email, moving us from a standard 426 sq ft Traditional Room...

...to a massive 854 sq ft Parlor King suite with a separate livingroom and a private balcony. That suite would have cost about $594+/night had we booked it directly with cash.

We still had a bunch of SNAs that were set to expire on December 31, 2015, so we applied them on some upcoming reservations at the Westin Chicago Northwest (Halloween) and the Equinox Resort in Vermont (Christmas). Hopefully those will clear as well and we can enjoy some extra space for those holiday trips. Well done, Starwood. A+ for you.

FICO Credit Score Check

As you know, my parents have been quite active with the credit cards over the past several years earning a ton of frequent flyer miles, hotel points and even cash back.

Though in the past 12 months, however, they've stopped applying for new cards and have focused on retention offers instead. Why? So that their credit history will be clear of any "hard inquires" as they prepare for the day we become home mortgage owners.

Plus, many of the banks have been getting more restrictive with card applications so it's unclear if they'd get approved for new card anyway with all the active accounts (about 25 across both my parents).

Many of my parents' friends have inquired about this game they play and always ask if our FICO credit score is impacted in anyway.

The answer is Absolutely! But not in the direction you'd think. Remember what factors into the FICO scores.

1. Payment History (35%)
2. Debt Ratio (30%)
3. Credit History (15%)
4. New Credit (10%)
5. Types of Credit (10%)

Because (a) the Debt Ratio is such an important factor and (b) we don't spend more because we have extra credit cards, the more Available Credit you have, the better.

The scores range up to 900, but if you have anything over 740, then you're getting the best rates for a car loan or mortgage, so it doesn't matter how much over 740 you are.

Pre-K Class

As you may know, I've been going to daycare preschool for the past two years. During my time here, I'd learn about sharing, colors and the alphabet.

But finally, they're teaching us something I'm really interested in! Life to date, over 210,500 miles flown and counting!

Bon Voyage, Grandma!

Japan Airlines #5
New York (JFK) – Tokyo (NRT)
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Depart: 1:15PM / Arrive: 4:25PM (+1 Day)
Duration: 14hr 10min
Aircraft: Boeing 777 
Seat: 2K (First) 
Miles Flown: 6,745 miles 
Cost: 62,500 AA Miles + $19 cash

Well, my dear grandmother's 65th birthday trip is now officially underway. She just called to tell us she boarded her Japan Airlines flight and was seated in her first class suite.

Even though my parents have been gaming the credit card points/miles for our fair share of business class flights, my grandmother is the very first person in my entire family to ever fly in First. Of course, we'd never be able to pay cash for a luxury experience like this one - this ticket retails for $9-12k!

But with the magic of American Airline AAdvantage miles, it cost us just $19 cash out of pocket. Plus, since we had the Citi AA Mastercard, we get back 10% of our miles (6,250 miles), so net cost was just 56,250 AA miles.

Japan Airlines has one of the suites where there are barrier walls to offer travelers some extra privacy.  With the 1-2-1 layout in the First Class cabin, everyone has aisle access, but my father seated her by the window and away from the galley in Seat 2K for some extra privacy and a view.

The First Class Cabin on the JAL Boeing 777 only has 8 seats total, so she will get plenty of attention from the well trained flight attendants too.

Safe travels, grandma! I'll be sure to write you letters!