Tennis (and a whole lot more) in Eastern USA

[kevrosmith]

How did this all start? Well, having been to the Australian Tennis Open in the last couple years, I started to wonder if I might be able to make it to the US Open some time, and then just happened to come across a J Reward seat on a BNE-LAX flight a few weeks before the tennis tournament, and figured I might as well grab it as a JASA and then see what else might work out. A few weeks later, I was able to get a J reward seat released for JFK-LAX-SYD-CNS a couple days after the tennis finals, and that book-ended the trip. It was now time to fill the time in-between.

The Flights
Fri 15-Aug BNE-LAX QF15 B744 10:35-6:40 J
Mon 18-Aug LAX-ORD AA1200 B738 8:50-15:00 F
Tue 26-Aug BUF-JFK DL3317 CRJ9 10:25-11:51 F
Tue 26-Aug JFK-BOS DL426 A319 13:00-14:14 F
Fri 29-Aug BOS-DCA US2119 A319 15:00-16:39 F
Tue 02-Sep DCA-JFK DL3390 CRJ9 12:05-13:25 F
Wed 10-Sep JFK-LAX QF108 B744 18:50-21:50 J
Wed 10-Sep LAX-SYD QF108 B744 23:50-7:35 J
Fri 12-Sep SYD-CNS QF922 B738 10:25-13:35 J

The AA Status Run
Sat 16-Aug LAX-DFW AA2400 B738 0:05-5:05 F
Sat 16-Aug DFW-ORD AA2332 B738 7:40-9:55 F
Sat 16-Aug ORD-MIA AA1044 B738 11:45-15:50 F
Sat 16-Aug MIA-SJU AA1317 B738 17:55-20:35 F
Sun 17-Aug SJU-MIA AA315 B757 6:40-9:20 F
Sun 17-Aug MIA-ORD AA2470 B763 12:00-14:15 F
Sun 17-Aug ORD-DFW AA2341 MD80 15:40-18:10 F
Sun 17-Aug DFW-LAX AA2489 B738 19:20-20:25 F




Unfortunately, I'll have fallen back to WP with QF by then (my year ends 31 July), but these flights will help contribute to my new-year SC balance .

The Accommodation
Travelodge LAX - day use
San Juan Airport Hotel - 1 night
Renaissance LAX - 1 night
Sofitel Chicago Water Tower - 5 nights
Indianapolis Staybridge Suites - 1 night
Buffalo Embassy Suites - 2 nights
Boston Clarendon Square Inn - 3 nights
Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square - 4 nights
New York Hilton Midtown - 8 nights

I'm Platinum with Accor so hoping for some status-love in Chicago and DC. I received Diamond with Best Western through a status-match and have applied for a Hilton Hhonors Status Match (or at least a temporary increase in tier for a Status Challenge) for my stays in Buffalo and New York, so hoping something useful comes through there.

Sporting Events
NFL: Indianapolis Colts v New Orleans Saints pre-season game - Saturday 23 August
Baseball: New York Yankees v Boston Red Sox - Tuesday 2 September - Seats in the Delta Sky360 Suites - it's like an airline lounge at the baseball
Tennis: Men’s and Women’s Semi-finals and Finals (Loge seating) - Friday 5 September to Monday 8 September - tennis tickets and accommodation through Steve Furgal's tours.

Other Highlights
Los Angeles - day trip to Santa Monica (?), In-N-Out Burger run
Chicago – ‘L’ Train tour, various observation decks, architecture boat tour, maybe Wrigley field tour
Buffalo - Niagara Falls, driving from Chicago to Indianapolis to Buffalo.
Boston - Heritage trail
Washington DC – various sites around the National Mall, Segway tour
New York City – New York Subway, Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Centre memorial, et al t.b.d.

I'm thinking to join various walking and/or food tours in various cities to help break the monotony of being a "tourist". I'm not terribly fond of just arriving at a place, taking a photo and moving on, so I'm hoping to be able to work out how to break out of this mould. I'm hoping to catch up with a few people I know in some cities too.

This will be my first trip report, so I'm not yet sure how "live" I'll be able to maintain it, though erkpod certainly does set a high standard, and I can see the benefits of getting suggestions and feedback this way. With this in view, I’d love people to make any suggestions on things to do, places to visit and experiences to be had in these places, seeing I've still got some time to research potential activities. I've been scouring the forum and have already picked up a great many tips, hints and suggestions.

So, stay tuned, help me count down the weeks and days as I finalise my itinerary, and come along for the journey.

 

[RooFlyer]

Will do

 

[amexmerchantsettlement]

Your adventure reminds me of watching the ball go back and forth.

 

[Orca]

Small world... SWMBO and I will be in New York for the US open finals too... Also booked through Steve Furgal tours and staying at Hilton Midtown!!

 

[kevrosmith]

Success: HHonors have approved me for a Diamond fast-track challenge - 21 nights stay in 90 days will give me Diamond until March 31, 2016. In the meantime, they have upgraded my account to Gold, which is what I was aiming for.

 

[RB]

How did this all start?



This will be my first trip report, so I'm not yet sure how "live" I'll be able to maintain it, though erkpod certainly does set a high standard, and I can see the benefits of getting suggestions and feedback this way. With this in view, I’d love people to make any suggestions on things to do, places to visit and experiences to be had in these places, seeing I've still got some time to research potential activities. I've been scouring the forum and have already picked up a great many tips, hints and suggestions.

So, stay tuned, help me count down the weeks and days as I finalise my itinerary, and come along for the journey.

From the experience we had I would highly recommend the Chicago greeter service-you can include your preferences & they will link you up with a like minded greeter

 

[blackcat20]

I'm hoping to do a similar run later this year so I'll be watching with interest.

 

[TomVexille]

Sounds like a fun trip. I'll be looking forward to reading about it. And no pressure to keep it "live"

 

[polardabar]

Jeepers! This will be interesting...

 

[drron]

Even if you are HH diamond don't expect a lot of love at the Hilton Midtown.It is a zoo.
Loved our time at the US open a few years ago.I am sure you will enjoy it.
If spare time in NYC they also have a Greeter service which I can thoroughly recommend-
New York City Walks

 

[kevrosmith]

Even if you are HH diamond don't expect a lot of love at the Hilton Midtown.It is a zoo.
Loved our time at the US open a few years ago.I am sure you will enjoy it.
If spare time in NYC they also have a Greeter service which I can thoroughly recommend-
New York City Walks

Thanks for the heads-up about Hilton Midtown... I've read mixed reviews, so figured I'd attempt to improve the chances stats artificially. I'm also on a group booking, so figure that will deaden the chances of upgrades etc as well.

I'd heard about the Greeter service in Chicago, so thanks for the link. I'll check that out for NYC too.

 

[kevrosmith]

Well, just happened to be scrolling through my EF seat selections and noticed some change of aircraft on my bookings. Noticed on one of the flights my selected seat 1A was blank, so jumped into AA.com and noticed that my seat selection had be changed to the last row of First (6F :evil on the flights where there were aircraft swaps.

So, updated status run:
The AA Status Run
Sat 16-Aug LAX-DFW AA2400 [-]B738[/-] B757 0:05-5:00 F
Sat 16-Aug DFW-ORD AA2332 B738 7:40-9:55 F
Sat 16-Aug ORD-MIA AA1044 B738 11:45-15:50 F
Sat 16-Aug MIA-SJU AA1317 B738 17:55-20:35 F
Sun 17-Aug SJU-MIA AA315 B757 6:40-9:20 F
Sun 17-Aug MIA-ORD AA2470 B763 12:00-14:15 F
Sun 17-Aug ORD-DFW AA2341 MD80 15:40-18:10 F
Sun 17-Aug DFW-LAX AA2489 [-]B738[/-] B757 19:25-20:35 F

I usually monitor flight changes using the My Flights app, but AA doesn't allow this, even though they use Amadeus. Does anyone know of any services/tools where I can monitor for aircraft or seating changes? (Or do I have to do this manually?)

 

[polardabar]

Annoying. I hope it can get fixed.

 

[kevrosmith]

Annoying. I hope it can get fixed.

Yeah, all fine with a few amendments, though I think I was luck that row 1 hadn't been completely filled. Just discovered another change to my DL flights: complete flight number changes and some slight timing changes, and yet I hadn't received any email notifications regarding this at all. Is this typical of airlines in the US? Guess I'm gonna have to keep a closer eye on things in the next few weeks.

 

[Mattg]

Just discovered another change to my DL flights: complete flight number changes and some slight timing changes, and yet I hadn't received any email notifications regarding this at all. Is this typical of airlines in the US? Guess I'm gonna have to keep a closer eye on things in the next few weeks.

I'm afraid I think that is the norm with US Airlines - I had something like 5/6 flights on one itinerary earlier in the year changed (some of those quite significantly) and was never notified - I just happened to notice when I went online a few weeks beforehand to choose my seats... So keep an eye on those flights; I'd probably suggest checking on them a week or two out.(Qantas on the other hand will email you for a schedule change of 5 minutes...)

 

[TomVexille]

Yeah, all fine with a few amendments, though I think I was luck that row 1 hadn't been completely filled. Just discovered another change to my DL flights: complete flight number changes and some slight timing changes, and yet I hadn't received any email notifications regarding this at all. Is this typical of airlines in the US? Guess I'm gonna have to keep a closer eye on things in the next few weeks.

My experiences with UA were that they emailed about any change, and if my flight was potentially going to be delayed.

 

[kevrosmith]

You get to select your meals 30 days out on AA F now, so I've been able to lock in my choices. I guess this overcomes some of the issues that FEBO previously presented when choosing between seat selection and meal availability (if you were at the wrong end of service).

So my choices:




Only 4 weeks to go now.

I've signed up to a Citibank Plus account for the fee-free ATM withdrawals, and this may make me reconsider how much cash I have to initially convert here in Australia as I'll be able to withdraw cash as I need it. Have been tracking the exchange rate for a few weeks now and Amex seem to have the best rate for getting cash, though there's a local currency exchange in CNS that offer fantastic rates too (much better than all the banks), so I may use them again to help support the local economy up here.

I've found in the States that you need a lot of small notes for tips, so will try to cash in a larger note for dollar bills when I arrive. (I find the whole tipping culture very annoying and frustrating - I'd rather just do business with the business owner and prefer them to properly compensate the staff to do the job they're meant to be doing in the first place, but just went along with it last time and expect I'll do the same).

 

[ellen10]

Looking forward to reading about your trip.
Safe travels.

 

[Joel Wills]

have fun bro its not to late to pay for me to come with you

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

I've signed up to a Citibank Plus account for the fee-free ATM withdrawals, and this may make me reconsider how much cash I have to initially convert here in Australia as I'll be able to withdraw cash as I need it. Have been tracking the exchange rate for a few weeks now and Amex seem to have the best rate for getting cash, though there's a local currency exchange in CNS that offer fantastic rates too (much better than all the banks), so I may use them again to help support the local economy up here.

I've found in the States that you need a lot of small notes for tips, so will try to cash in a larger note for dollar bills when I arrive. (I find the whole tipping culture very annoying and frustrating - I'd rather just do business with the business owner and prefer them to properly compensate the staff to do the job they're meant to be doing in the first place, but just went along with it last time and expect I'll do the same).

I've just returned from a month round Europe - from the UK to Russia, and looked at the exchange I got via Citi Plus for paying regular hotel etc purchases and ATMs Vs spot on thas t day.

Briliant. The difference between Citi exchange and spot didn't seem to have much systematics wrt currency or amount used (probably reflecting the fact that the time of their or the corresponding FX rate couldn't be pinned down exactly), but the difference was as little as 20 cents on a $250 purchase (the biggest I made) and usually a bit less than 1%.

Conclusion: Use it like you would an EFTPOS card in Australia; but remember it will take 3 days for new funds to go onto it.


I don't like tipping either, but when you consider how low prices for most things are in the US, even after tax, it makes it easier to do.