The final splurge
Jan. 31st, 2005 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikeknSaturday was our last day in town. We were packed and ready to check out pretty early in the morning, but our flight wasn't until 4 PM.
We had check in at the player's club on Friday to see what we might have earned during our stay. I didn't expect much since the only thing we did that would earn points were play some slots. We got free NY-NY t-shirts (expected) and a free breakfast voucher (not expected), so we used it to have breakfast at the America restaurant again. After breakfast it was back to the room to gather our stuff and check out. We arranged things so we would only need to check one bag on the plane and it would only contain laundry, and shoes.
It was raining again, and we never did get to ride the Manhattan Express roller coaster - they never reopened it while we were there. Next time we won't wait.
Amy wanted another shot at blackjack, so we went back to the Luxor. I poked around here and there, played a few slots and just killed time while she played. When it was time to go we headed back down the strip, gassed up the rental car and drove over to the airport.
When we went to check in the suitcase, we were told that it was over weight, and would cost an additional $50. Since our only other option was to track down a second suitcase and repack everything, I said screw it and paid the fee. We made it through security and to our terminal with plenty of time to spare. I asked the desk how full the flight was since I was worried about finding space for all our carry on baggage. Found out that the coach section was completely packed, but there were three first class seats available - but it was $150 each to upgrade. Amy and I thought about it a little bit, remembering it's a five hour plane ride and decided we take the final splurge and upgrade. On a whim I asked them to check my frequent flyer miles - I used to fly America West a lot to visit a client in Phoenix. Turns out I had 14,000 miles and could use 10,000 to pay for one of the upgrades. So they upgraded our seats, and I paid for one while they waited to talk to the frequent flyer folks. Ran into a slight snag since the desk person had already upgraded my seat, and the frequent flyer folks couldn't deduct the points without being able to upgrade me themselves. The desk person offered to down grade me so they could upgrade me, but in the end they just let it go so I got a free first class upgrade without spending any points. If we take into account the $50 baggage charge, we still saved $100 over what we were willing to spend.
The flight back in first class was great - got to see the movie for free, got feed for free and had plenty of room for our bags. We arrived back in Philadelphia a bit after midnight and were on the way home a little after 1 AM. It was a snowing lightly and we passed several accidents along the way, but we made it home safe and sound - greeted at the door by two of the cats (Mughi was napping upstairs).
We had check in at the player's club on Friday to see what we might have earned during our stay. I didn't expect much since the only thing we did that would earn points were play some slots. We got free NY-NY t-shirts (expected) and a free breakfast voucher (not expected), so we used it to have breakfast at the America restaurant again. After breakfast it was back to the room to gather our stuff and check out. We arranged things so we would only need to check one bag on the plane and it would only contain laundry, and shoes.
It was raining again, and we never did get to ride the Manhattan Express roller coaster - they never reopened it while we were there. Next time we won't wait.
Amy wanted another shot at blackjack, so we went back to the Luxor. I poked around here and there, played a few slots and just killed time while she played. When it was time to go we headed back down the strip, gassed up the rental car and drove over to the airport.
When we went to check in the suitcase, we were told that it was over weight, and would cost an additional $50. Since our only other option was to track down a second suitcase and repack everything, I said screw it and paid the fee. We made it through security and to our terminal with plenty of time to spare. I asked the desk how full the flight was since I was worried about finding space for all our carry on baggage. Found out that the coach section was completely packed, but there were three first class seats available - but it was $150 each to upgrade. Amy and I thought about it a little bit, remembering it's a five hour plane ride and decided we take the final splurge and upgrade. On a whim I asked them to check my frequent flyer miles - I used to fly America West a lot to visit a client in Phoenix. Turns out I had 14,000 miles and could use 10,000 to pay for one of the upgrades. So they upgraded our seats, and I paid for one while they waited to talk to the frequent flyer folks. Ran into a slight snag since the desk person had already upgraded my seat, and the frequent flyer folks couldn't deduct the points without being able to upgrade me themselves. The desk person offered to down grade me so they could upgrade me, but in the end they just let it go so I got a free first class upgrade without spending any points. If we take into account the $50 baggage charge, we still saved $100 over what we were willing to spend.
The flight back in first class was great - got to see the movie for free, got feed for free and had plenty of room for our bags. We arrived back in Philadelphia a bit after midnight and were on the way home a little after 1 AM. It was a snowing lightly and we passed several accidents along the way, but we made it home safe and sound - greeted at the door by two of the cats (Mughi was napping upstairs).
