I Love Credit Cards and Japan!

[babyready]

Oh, I am so glad to have found this thread since I am planning a trip for my family of six to Tokyo this summer. We are stopping in Hawaii for a few days on the way. All flights were purchased with points.

We are dividing our time between Tokyo and Kyoto. We will be staying at Hilton Tokyo Bay (great for Disney, not great for Tokyo but we got a pretty great deal so we are sticking with it the entire time in Tokyo). We have booked two regular rooms instead of going for the suite. It worked out to be fewer points and having two bathrooms will be nice.

DH and I are both gold status. Will we get free breakfast even if we are staying in the regular park view room? Am considering going for an Aspire, so one of us might be diamond by then but trying to figure out the breakfast situation.

Also, does breakfast open fairly early? Is there time to stop and eat before heading to the parks for rope drop?

Do those of you with the Aspire find the resort and flight credits easy to use?

So many questions! Thanks for your help!

 

[wanderlust7]

Oh, I am so glad to have found this thread since I am planning a trip for my family of six to Tokyo this summer. We are stopping in Hawaii for a few days on the way. All flights were purchased with points.

We are dividing our time between Tokyo and Kyoto. We will be staying at Hilton Tokyo Bay (great for Disney, not great for Tokyo but we got a pretty great deal so we are sticking with it the entire time in Tokyo). We have booked two regular rooms instead of going for the suite. It worked out to be fewer points and having two bathrooms will be nice.

DH and I are both gold status. Will we get free breakfast even if we are staying in the regular park view room? Am considering going for an Aspire, so one of us might be diamond by then but trying to figure out the breakfast situation.

Also, does breakfast open fairly early? Is there time to stop and eat before heading to the parks for rope drop?

Do those of you with the Aspire find the resort and flight credits easy to use?

So many questions! Thanks for your help!

You'll get breakfast for 2 as Gold. Hopefully you booked one room in your name and one in your DH's? Diamond will also get you lounge access.

If you get lucky, they may throw in breakfast for your 2 extra people. We were 4 in a room as Diamond and at check-in they gave us breakfast for 4 saying it was to make up for not being able to upgrade us. We would have gone to the lounge for breakfast otherwise.

Whether the resort credit is easy to use depends on our travel plans. Sometimes it fits perfectly and other times I have to make a point to use it. You can use it at the Hilton Tokyo Bay if you end up with any incidentals.

Flight credits are easy using loopholes. United and Southwest are fairly easy. Though it's worked for some time, things can change, so always check the latest data points on Flyertalk. I just google United (or whatever airline you're interested in) Amex Flyertalk to find the relevant thread.

The Aspire is great. You'll get a free night certificate a couple months after applying. Unlike every other hotel card where you have to wait for the first anniversary. If you only wanted to keep it a year, now is a good time to triple dip the airline credit on one annual fee, but you'll need to do it soon.

 

[babyready]

You'll get breakfast for 2 as Gold. Hopefully you booked one room in your name and one in your DH's? Diamond will also get you lounge access.

If you get lucky, they may throw in breakfast for your 2 extra people. We were 4 in a room as Diamond and at check-in they gave us breakfast for 4 saying it was to make up for not being able to upgrade us. We would have gone to the lounge for breakfast otherwise.

Whether the resort credit is easy to use depends on our travel plans. Sometimes it fits perfectly and other times I have to make a point to use it. You can use it at the Hilton Tokyo Bay if you end up with any incidentals.

Flight credits are easy using loopholes. United and Southwest are fairly easy. Though it's worked for some time, things can change, so always check the latest data points on Flyertalk. I just google United (or whatever airline you're interested in) Amex Flyertalk to find the relevant thread.

The Aspire is great. You'll get a free night certificate a couple months after applying. Unlike every other hotel card where you have to wait for the first anniversary. If you only wanted to keep it a year, now is a good time to triple dip the airline credit on one annual fee, but you'll need to do it soon.

Thank you so much for your response! Super helpful!

You definitely helped talk me into the Aspire. And then DH and I BOTH got a pop-up when I went to apply! So bummed about that! Could have really used diamond status this year!

DH and I do each have our room booked separately, so it sounds like we will get mostly free breakfast, if not entirely. Not too bad!

 

[wanderlust7]

Thank you so much for your response! Super helpful!

You definitely helped talk me into the Aspire. And then DH and I BOTH got a pop-up when I went to apply! So bummed about that! Could have really used diamond status this year!

DH and I do each have our room booked separately, so it sounds like we will get mostly free breakfast, if not entirely. Not too bad!

Sorry to hear about the pop-up. It seems common for the Aspire. Did you try with a referral link? Sometimes not using one can get past the pop-up.

 

[djmeredith]

Need opinions please. We arrive Sunday, May 26 around noon (to the hotel) and staying 3 nts. I want to do 2 nts at DLH in a Beauty and the Beast room and then move to Toy Story for 1 night. I am thinking about splurging for the 1 nt vacation package for our first night (which would cover our partial day in Tokyo Sea and full day in TDL). The reason for doing so would be to ensure we have a few priority passes that first day since we will be arriving to the park late that day. It appears to be about $400ish more.

We are there a week before FS opens, so I am thinking it will either be emptier than usual or crazier busy than usual.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Need opinions please. We arrive Sunday, May 26 around noon (to the hotel) and staying 3 nts. I want to do 2 nts at DLH in a Beauty and the Beast room and then move to Toy Story for 1 night. I am thinking about splurging for the 1 nt vacation package for our first night (which would cover our partial day in Tokyo Sea and full day in TDL). The reason for doing so would be to ensure we have a few priority passes that first day since we will be arriving to the park late that day. It appears to be about $400ish more.

We are there a week before FS opens, so I am thinking it will either be emptier than usual or crazier busy than usual.

I think probably the same as usual, though I've never been so can't say! But I would expect usual crowds, then massive crowds once FS opens. 4 nights is nice, we'll be doing the same as we get in about 5 pm on arrival day. Though maybe we'll just go explore the different hotels instead of doing parks on arrival night.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Reposting this here in case some don't follow the CC thread:

Booked our flights to Japan on JAL through AA, Biz class for this November. I was up late last night because at 1 AM, AA releases their schedule and we were waiting to grab our return flight from Japan on JAL this November. And success! Thank goodness because we did the same the night before and someone snatched the only two Biz class seats left to anywhere in the US before we could finish the booking. If we didn't get it last night we would have to postpone the trip because wouldn't be able to push out our return anymore. So now we'll be in Japan one more day instead of having a day to relax and do laundry at home before returning to work--I'll take it!

We'll be doing the week before Thanksgiving plus the week of Thanksgiving. SAN->NRT heading there, then HND->ORD back. Then we'll use SW+CP to for the repositioning flights once that schedule opens up. So excited, will be our first time! And paying so little in taxes by booking through AA is such a nice bonus that makes the staying up late worth it.

Tips in case others will be trying to book a hard-to-get award flight on AA or one of their travel partners through AA: You have to be fast! Check on BA to see which US airports still have Biz class availability so you're ready to pounce on the right route instead of spending time checking them all. Then, if looking for two seats, be sure to have the second person saved on AA as a frequent travel companion. And be sure to have a payment method set. That way, when booking, you just select the person's name instead of typing-in their information and all you have to do is click continue and pay the taxes, then done.

Now if you need three seats, sometimes you can do one person in First Class and two in Biz. More than three seats, good luck!

 

[djmeredith]

NVM, I found the info I was looking for.