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How to fly Lie-Flat Business Class to Japan on Points

The Worst-Kept Secret in Award Travel - Lie flat business to Japan. Flights between the Continental United States and Asia are long, 10-12 hours is common. Fortunately, there are ways to make the flight a lot more bearable. International business and first class seats are not the slightly larger leather seats that you walk past on your flight between Denver and Spokane, they turn into a bed, yes, fully lie flat. You get better food, complimentary drinks including champagne, and in most cases, airport lounge access that even includes showers.  It takes planning, flexibility, and luck to make it happen on a budget. Trust me, it's worth it, but it might ruin you. The business class meal on JAL is fabulous. Even the old style business class seat is great on the Japan Airlines 777. This is one of those redemptions that is getting harder and harder. You either need to be mega flexible, or have the right type of points, but with some patience, planning, and a touch of luck, it's possi...
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The Basics of Hotel Awards (MEGA POST)

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Hotel Awards, a Topical Look at Most of Them Booking hotels using points is an art. Focus too much on the fewest points for a retail value, chasing CPP (cents per point) and you can get yourself stuck in a suboptimal location on vacation. Or if you do it right, can give yourself an unforgettable experience many tens of stories above an amazing city or in a beautiful resort next to the ocean. You can also save a hundred bucks here and there on your road trips. We have used our points and certificates for all of the above. The Major Chains: IHG Hyatt Go to Top Hilton Marriott Wyndham Choice Hotels IHG - Intercontinental Hotels Group  "I don't know man, that seems like a lot of points" Go to Top (Credit Cards - Chase Mastercard:  Public Link  |  Referral Link  -- As of writing this post, they are the same, but sometimes one is better than the other ) The standard welcome offe...
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How-to: Barebones trip to Japan on Points

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  Warning: This post advocates the use of multiple credit cards. Credit cards can be dangerous and expensive if you spend money that you don't have. If you think you might spend money you don't have, stop reading. All of my advice assumes that at minimum, you set up and verify that autopay works for the full statement balance before the due date! If a $15 bowl of seafood and rice can't convince you to make the trip, I'm not sure what to tell you. So you want to go to Japan, but you're not looking for a comfortable flight or fancy hotels, you just want to get there and eat your way around Tokyo. Let's see what we can do with two credit card bonuses and a bank account bonus. First you're gonna want to do your homework for the flights by seeing what's available from your home airport, scroll to the bottom of this post for how I do it from my home airport of GEG, in this example I'm using Delta. The Accounts Card 1: American Express Delta Gold  - (Referr...
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