Elegant, Opulent, Grand, Colorful and Detailed.

These are all traits that describe the Ritz Carlton in Kuala Lumpur.

I stayed at the Ritz Carlton for a night and here's what I found:

Check in

As soon as our car arrived, the door-man helped us out of the car. He took the luggage to a holding area as I checked in. At the check in desk, there were three employees that had all welcomed me with a smile. After asking for an upgrade, I was given the executive room. This room was said to be bigger than a normal room.

This is the third part of a multi-post Anatomy of an Award series about American Airlines Explorer Awards, which are ideal for around-the-world trips, trips with multiple destinations, and other “trick” itineraries. Previously: Planning

My client's first stop was Asia, but it didn't much matter whether the first city was Seoul, Tokyo, or Hong Kong. He had a specific summer date in mind to start his month-long trip, but he had flexibility to begin a few days later if award space required.

Barclay's issues a Virgin America Visa Signature card that I've written about before because of Virgin's incredible award chart.

For many people, the most aggravating travel fees are out-of-pocket fees charged on frequent-flyer-mile award tickets. At least that's my impression from reading the comments on this New York Times article I was quoted in. Huge government taxes and fuel surcharges can make what should be a free ticket cost hundreds of dollars per person. People were furious about paying $600 for a "free" economy ticket.

And why wouldn't they be? Most people think award miles get you a free ticket like they used to.

This is a bit of a companion to American Airlines Explorer Awards: The Rules. That has my best guess on the rules; this explains why it's only my best guess. If you just want to book Explorer Awards, none of this information is helpful, and you should skip this post.

This is the second part of a multi-post Anatomy of an Award series about American Airlines Explorer Awards, which are ideal for around-the-world trips, trips with multiple destinations, and other "trick" itineraries. Previously: The Rules

A client contacted the Award Booking Service wanting to book an around the world trip with American Airlines miles.

This is the first part of a multi-post Anatomy of an Award series about American Airlines Explorer Awards, which are ideal for around-the-world trips, trips with multiple destinations, and other "trick" itineraries.

American Airlines Explorer Awards are an incredible value with three main uses:

around-the-world (RTW) trips
trips with many destinations in one region
combining multiple trips within one year onto one Explorer Award

When I say "incredible value," I mean 150,000 miles to go around the world with ten stops in business class.

Singapore Airlines is probably one of the best airlines in the world.

I've had the privilege to fly Singapore Airlines almost 2-4 times a year since I was born. I was even one of the first "children" to fly the nonstop LAX-SIN flight which was then dubbed as the A345 Leadership. Although I always flew in Economy, in the next few days, I'll be flying Singapore's Suites product from Singapore-Los Angeles. I've dreamed of this day since I first knew what the First Class product looked like.

I am giving away two Express Arrival Cards for entry into Australia and one Express Departure Card.

An Express Arrival Card gives you priority access to passport checks on international arrivals in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

If you've answered "No" to the customs declaration form, you will also get priority Customs access.

An Express Departure Card

The offers for the cards listed in this post have expired. Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses.

The merger of American Airlines and US Airways, announced today, is no news in the near term, fantastic news in the medium term, and bad news in the long term for me and similarly situated frequent flyer mile hackers.

No News in the Near Term

Your US Airways Dividend Miles are still there.