Expert Interview (3) — Eric: The Sky’s the Limit

Sometimes we work so hard to rack up points and miles, pinching pennies for every last bit of cash back, that we forget the real joy is not how many “free” miles and points we earn, but how far they can take us. I have always believed that only by flying across mountains and seas, walking rough roads, seeing the wider world, and talking with all kinds of people can you truly broaden your horizons and come to know your real self. Today, we’re featuring Eric, who has the richest flying and travel experience of anyone I know.

About Eric

I used to be based in Beijing, and now I’m based in Colorado. I first got into low-cost carriers in Asia and had basically covered most of Southeast Asia that way. Later, because of business travel, I started flying more routes to Europe and the U.S., and gradually learned more about airline alliances and award redemptions. So far I’ve been to more than 30 countries. That’s at least some experience, though it’s still nothing compared with the true pros. I average around 200,000 kilometers of flying a year, know visa requirements for many countries fairly well, and also have a basic understanding of the major international routes operated by airlines around the world.

Some of my flight routes

When did you start getting into frequent flying? What did flying mean to you at the time?

What really got me into the frequent-flyer world was the desire to travel. Around 2009, because I was based in Beijing and didn’t get much annual leave, I wanted to visit countries that were closer by. Back then, Qyer was especially popular, so I started browsing and gathering information there, and that was also my first exposure to the concept of low-cost carriers. AirAsia launched the Tianjin–Kuala Lumpur route, and because of the financial crisis, fuel surcharges were very low. I followed one of AirAsia’s “unique” big sales and bought a round-trip ticket from Tianjin to Kuala Lumpur for RMB 600. At the time it felt unbelievable, but after the trip I realized it really was possible, and I started paying attention to low-cost carriers from then on. (Traditional airlines’ international fares were outrageously expensive back then.) One benefit of being based in Beijing was that more and more low-cost carriers started flying there, including Cebu Pacific and Jetstar (which was later canceled because of weak demand). Because of that, I was able to buy cheap tickets like RMB 400 round-trip Beijing–Manila, RMB 600 round-trip Beijing–Singapore, RMB 700 round-trip Beijing–Vietnam, RMB 900 round-trip Beijing–Phuket, RMB 1,000 round-trip Beijing–Bali, and so on. As a result, every long weekend had me planning ahead nonstop. My original motivation was simple: I loved travel and I loved the challenge of making it happen.

What was your most unforgettable flight? Can you tell us about it in detail?

My most unforgettable—and most exhausting—trip was a journey to the U.S. in 2011. I searched for a long time, and tickets were all ridiculously expensive. The cheapest round-trip fare seemed to be more than RMB 7,000, which honestly wasn’t terrible, but I kept thinking about how to get the best possible deal, so I cast a wide net. Eventually I found that an Air China round-trip from Hong Kong to LAX was only a little over RMB 4,700, with a connection in Beijing. That meant that on the return I could simply get off in Beijing and skip the last segment. If I got lucky, I might even get a tax refund for that final leg.

As for how I made it to Hong Kong, I used 15,000 Air China miles to redeem a ticket from Beijing to Shenzhen (because getting to Hong Kong required 28,000 miles, and I didn’t have that many at the time). I arrived in Shenzhen at 2 a.m., while my Hong Kong flight was departing at 8 a.m., so I had six hours to make my way from Shenzhen Airport to Hong Kong Airport. Since it was the middle of the night, all the buses had stopped running, and the Luohu border crossing was closed. The only option was Huanggang, which operates 24 hours a day. So this was the itinerary I put together for myself: take a bus from Shenzhen Airport to the stop closest to Huanggang, take a taxi to the border crossing, ride a small shuttle across Huanggang (the distance between Mainland China and Hong Kong immigration was around 2–3 kilometers, which was truly a pain), then take a bus from the Hong Kong side of Huanggang to downtown Hong Kong, and from there take an airport bus to Hong Kong Airport. The whole ordeal took four full hours. I got to Hong Kong Airport at 6 a.m.—and unfortunately, the Air China flight had been canceled...

Because I knew Cathay Pacific and Air China were partners, I asked Air China to switch me onto a Cathay flight. After another hour of wrangling, it was sorted out. Once I got to Beijing, I had only one hour to connect to the Beijing–LAX flight. Since it counted as an international transfer, I didn’t need to clear immigration or deal with my luggage again, and that was the only reason it was even possible to make the flight. In the end, I made it without disaster. Sitting on the plane, I couldn’t help thinking: saving money really isn’t easy... When you’re young, you can put yourself through this kind of ordeal. When you’re older, probably not.

What does flying mean to you now?

At first, flying meant broadening my horizons. Then, as I gradually became a Gold member with multiple airlines (though I’ve always mainly focused on Star Alliance, and most of my other airline Gold statuses came through status matches), flying started to feel a little like “helping me look cool while taking me places.” I also had a PP card and a DragonPass card, both perks from Chinese credit cards, so when I traveled with friends and family I could bring quite a few people into airport VIP lounges. That gave me a small but undeniable sense of satisfaction.

Later, after I changed jobs and started traveling frequently for work all over the world, one-way journeys of more than 24 hours, including layovers, became common. Sometimes I’d have layovers lasting 8–9 hours. Even though it often felt exhausting, every new place I had never been to still filled me with anticipation and excitement, and that’s why I’ve continued to love flying.

Some of my elite airline membership cards

What differences do you see between Asian airlines and those in Europe and the U.S.?

Generally speaking, Asia’s traditional full-service airlines are much better than their European and American counterparts. There are many standout carriers, including Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, ANA, Korean Air, and others, all of which I’d recommend. The service is good. (One issue with Cathay is that some flight attendants look down on Mainland Chinese passengers, which is pretty awful; people who speak Cantonese may have a better experience.) The vast majority of airline VIP lounges in Asia offer hot food, and often a wide variety of it—far better than what you get in Europe and especially from U.S. airlines. The gap is huge, especially considering how terrible airline food in the U.S. can be, and how U.S. domestic flights often provide no meal service at all.

Among European and American airlines, the ones really worth mentioning are mostly Europe-based, such as Turkish Airlines and SAS. The U.S. airlines are basically all weak by comparison—at least in terms of service and food. Turkish Airlines really is excellent: both the service and the meals are generally very satisfying. Its free city tour or free hotel for connections within 24 hours seems almost unique in the world. Europe is also geographically compact, and many low-cost carriers fill the gaps for intra-Europe travel, with fares so cheap that you often don’t need to consider traditional airlines at all, such as Easy Jet, Ryanair, and others.

Relatively strong Asian airlines like Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, ANA, and Korean Air are also somewhat limited by geography. Cathay usually requires a connection in Hong Kong, and Singapore Airlines requires a connection in Singapore. That often adds a lot of time, and for people whose hometowns are in northern China, it can feel like heading in the opposite direction before getting where you actually want to go.

Compared with the Big Three U.S. airlines (AA, UA, Delta), one weakness of China’s Big Three airlines (Air China, China Southern, and China Eastern) is that their hub networks are less diverse, so there are often fewer options for connecting itineraries. Of course, one reason is that China’s major air routes are concentrated in the eastern part of the country, while the west is far less populated. A second weakness is ticketing flexibility: compared with U.S. airlines, China’s Big Three lag far behind, especially on award tickets. There are no stopovers, no open jaws, and in many cases not even certain connections are allowed, which takes a lot of the fun out of being a frequent flyer. On top of that, their miserly behavior when it comes to partner-award redemptions within the same alliance—making seats nearly impossible to book—has made them universally unpopular.

What do you think is the biggest joy of getting good at frequent-flyer and mileage programs? And what is the biggest challenge?

One of the joys

You discover that award miles can be used creatively to build tickets and visit more countries and regions. For example, before 2014, you could use 20,000 UA miles for an itinerary from China to Japan via Korea, with a stopover in Guam and then a connection to Saipan. That was an incredibly fun way to travel. Even after the devaluation, it only costs 30,000 miles, which is still not bad. Just the miles from opening a co-branded Chase UA credit card would be enough.

Here is the flight path: Beijing–Tokyo (open-jaw), then connect the middle segment with a low-cost carrier, Sapporo–Guam (stopover)–Saipan (transit)–Seoul (transit)–Beijing. For the Seoul transit, you can choose a flight back to Beijing within 24 hours, which lets you spend a day in Seoul; there are plenty of flights every day.

The itinerary below is one I just searched out as a sample. It is a little different from the routing above—Beijing–Seoul (transit)–Osaka (open-jaw), Sapporo–Guam–Tokyo (transit)–Beijing—but overall it is very similar. This would cost only 30,000 miles + $48.2 in taxes and fees, which is an amazing deal. Once you have the basic ticketed itinerary in place, you can call customer service within 24 hours and ask them to modify it so that each stop is maximized for time. Of course, you need to research in advance and confirm that the flights you want actually have award space.

Fun Part #2:

Once you have elite frequent-flyer status, the occasional upgrade and special perks—such as baggage benefits, priority services, VIP treatment, and so on—can bring little surprises and a real sense of satisfaction.

The biggest challenge

The biggest challenge is that once you book or redeem a very complicated ticket, if anything goes wrong along the way—cancellation, delay, or poor communication between the ticketing carrier and the operating carrier—it can become a huge headache. The only real solution is to spend time reading forums, learning from problems other flyers have already encountered and how they solved them, and gradually building your own experience. Don’t panic; there is usually a way to fix it.

Here is one example from my own experience. Once, when I was flying from Macau to Manila, Philippine Airlines check-in staff refused to issue my boarding pass because I did not have a printed copy of my return ticket. My return ticket was on my phone, and I showed it to the counter agent, but they still said NO. I then asked around at Macau Airport and found out there was neither a print shop nor a business center. Just when I was panicking, I saw someone at the Xiamen Airlines ticket office across the way. I went over, explained the situation politely, and they helped me print it out. By then it was already check-in time, so it really felt like I had escaped at the last second. The world has plenty of “bad guys” (for example, Philippine Airlines—though to be fair, this was also their check-in policy), but there are also people willing to help. The key is not to panic.

What attracts you to US credit cards? How are cards here different from cards in China?

The rewards on US credit cards are extremely generous, and that is the biggest reason so many people keep applying for more and more cards. Compared with credit cards in mainland China, US cards often come with signup bonuses of 50,000 or even 100,000 miles/points, which is just too tempting to resist. Airline miles like UA, AA, ANA, AC, BA, and so on are already quite valuable, and in China they are hard to accumulate. In the US, that is simply not much of a problem. Credit card signup bonuses and MS returns make this hobby incredibly addictive.

Chinese credit cards do not have the same critical factor of credit scores, so it is often possible to get many cards within a short period of time. Overseas promotions from different commercial banks in China also come out constantly. For example, Agricultural Bank of China had 10% cashback on overseas spending last year, and Bank of Communications often runs 10x points promotions abroad—those deals are fantastic. Back then, using Agricultural Bank of China’s 10% overseas cashback to “feed the birds” was amazing :））））. After the relevant restrictions on card networks were loosened, UnionPay’s dominant position may face serious challenges. To defend that position, the benefits on a UnionPay Platinum card can be dazzling: the huge annual UnionPay Day promotion on June 2, everyday RMB 1 airport transfers, hotel stay-two-get-one-free offers, and more are all very attractive.

Compared with US cards, domestic Chinese cards lag far behind on everyday spending rewards, and there is also a huge gap in signup bonuses. But once there is a good promotion, Chinese cards can often outperform even the best US cards.

What are your plans for upcoming credit card applications?

Next I’m waiting for the 140,000 signup bonus on the Chase Ritz, with the obvious goal being a big Marriott package :）））. Other than that, I do not have too many needs right now, but I really envy the Chase INK cards. That cursed 5-card policy means I will not be able to get Ink for the next couple of years.

What advice do you have for beginners getting into frequent-flyer programs and mileage redemptions?

Frequent-flyer programs are like clothes: choose the one that fits you best. At the same time, do not spread yourself too thin. For beginners, take things one step at a time. In particular, when it comes to transferable credit card points, it is best not to try to do all three major ecosystems—UR, MR, and Thank You—at once. Focus on one, and use another as a supplement if needed. For award travel, first you need to understand each airline’s award chart, stopover and open-jaw rules, whether fuel surcharges are collected, whether award tickets are readily available, and so on. Then, whenever you have time, read more forum posts and learn from other people’s real-world booking experience.

Do you have any suggestions for this site?

Openness, persistence, and unique site-specific content are all important for attracting traffic. In addition to staying consistent, sometimes integrating some commercial content can help a site last longer. Around 2010, there were two very similar sites in China: E Travel and Ai Lianjia. E Travel did all kinds of rebates and sold insurance very successfully, while Ai Lianjia has already disappeared. Sometimes offline events can also help bring a community together and build more momentum.