Redemption Story- NYC

The first trip I’ve used for myself was a trip to NYC in April April 13 – 17, 2019. This was a semi-last minute trip with my aunt inviting me because she wanted company to watch her daughter perform in Carnegie Hall with her high school. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to visit Manhattan and see my cousin play cello at one of the most famous venues in the world. I also wanted to finally use these points I’ve been accruing.

Flights
Originally book a nonstop one-way SAN-JFK with cash for around $200 each and a return with 20,000 miles each. About a week before our departure the itinerary changes to go SAN-DFW-JFK. I checked and no other nonstop flights were available. The day of the flight we got to the airport early to wake up at the Airspace Lounge and got a notification that the SAN-DFW was going to be delayed by 30mins- sure no problem. 10mins later I get another notification that the flight has been delayed by another 30mins. We walk to the terminal and there was a long line of irritated people asking for updates and refunds. An hour pass and it’s 8:45am now, our flight was supposed to depart at 6:30am, and we get word that all planes from DFW has been grounded. WHAT?!? I checked United, Singapore Air, AA for a replacement flight… no luck finding a flight SAN to JFK or LGA. For a moment I didn’t know what to do and told my aunt to hope for the best. After pacing with other stranded folks I remember EWR was another major airport near Manhattan. I checked Singapore Air for SAN-EWR and sure enough, there was availability. Thankfully I had some SQ miles in my account or else we would’ve shelled out about $300 each. The only downside was the next flight was 2hrs from the, but at least we finally had a flight.

SAN-EWR: 12,500 SQ miles + $5.60 to book a “day of” ticket with United. Total cost was 25k miles and $11.20. I didn’t check the cash price for this flight, so I can’t give an accurate cpp. Considering it was a last minute flight, it’s probably over 1.5cpp.

The flight back I made an airport change to LGA instead of JFK because there was a Centurion Lounge near the American Airlines terminal. We arrived before the “3hr before your flight” rule so the clerk told us we had to wait about 15mins. When we come back to check-in, the clerk thanked me (?!) for being cordial and not making pushing back. I was confused for a quick second, then remembered Amex’s new Centurion Lounge rule nerfing the benefits. I asked her if other folks were angry and she said it was common to make a scene. It’s not that serious guys. Lounge access is cool but don’t take it out on the front desk when Amex limits the benefit! The lounge was chill, cant’ complain about free Old Fashions.

LGA-CLT-SAN: Used 20,000 AA miles + $5.60 to book a flight back. Total cost was 40k miles and $11.20. Total ticket cash price was $640.60, about 1.6cpp.

Hotels

Hilton Garden Inn Central Park South-Midtown West: Didn’t have enough HH points to fully book for the whole trip. So I had to use Points + Cash. Used 182k HH points and pay the remaining $595.68. The room’s cash price was $1,536.29. Factoring in the cash we paid, we managed to have a value of .52cpp. That seems to be in range of a good use of HH points. No pictures of the room.
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TOTAL
Departure Cash Price- ~$300 per person
Points Used- 12.5k SQ + $5.60 per person
CPP- ~2.4cpp

Return Cash Price- ~$250 per person
Points Used- 20k AA + $5.60 per person
CPP- 1cpp

Hilton Cash Price- $1,536.29
Points Used- 182k HH + $595.68
CPP- .52cpp

Picture Summary:
IMAG2367
So. Many. People.