percysmith

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm trying it. I spent the requisite $8K and Amex cs says everything's okay and I should get my miles on 4-6 weeks

fallinasleep

Just got an email from DBS Black Amex offering me the chance to buy an unlimited amount of DBS $ at the rate of 48 $ per HK$180, whereby 48 DBS $ equals 1000 Asiamiles. Valid through 31 May

Not as cheap as topping up reward points from Standard Chartered credit card but still cheaper than the alternative of buying directly from Cathay Pacific.

http://www.esdlife.com/soloemail/dbs.../en/index.html

percysmith

fallingasleep - me too. They've got to be kidding me trying to sell miles at $0.18 per mile with the dismal availability of J as is (at least on the route I really need it for - HKG-SYD).

alan945

percy, did you have to wait one full year before applying again?

percysmith

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Alan945 - yes. One year exactly

MilesBuzz

Comparing price/mile for DBS: $18,000 for 100k miles

vs US Airways miles: 50k miles = US$1750 = HK$13,912 (using exchange rate of 7.95 for credit card payment). From time to time, US Airways will have promo like buy 50k free 50k (with the cap at 50k). So effectively, you will be paying the above amount and get 100k miles. Roughly 22% discount from the DBS price but the downside is you can get at most 100k miles at this price. Of course, it's not an apple to apple comparison since you cannot use US Airways miles to reedem CX flights.

vs SPG: maximum only 20k miles to be converted to 25k AM a year = US$700. From time to time, SPG also offers 20% off, so, the effective cost for 25k miles = US$560 = HK$4,452. This will turns out to be about the same with the DBS price.

vs Stan Chart Rewards 360 - you cannot just top up the pts whenever you want. And even if you have let's say 10k pts. You cannot buy 140k pts to reedem 150k pts equivalent to 10k miles. Correct me if I am wrong.

So, at this moment, the DBS offer is quite attractive to me if I need the pts.

percysmith

vs. churning iPhones at Sin Tat:

Each iPhone (16G): $5,088
Miles earned (on DBS Black): 848
Cost: Current bid price @ iTrade shop 1/F F50(A) (http://www.facebook.com/iTradeStore): $5,060. Assume prices fall by $20 more by the time you read this, loss on each iPhone = $48.

So to earn 100K miles I have to trade 118 iPhones = $5,664 loss.
Much better than the $18,000 DBS is asking for

Of course, ordering >$600K iPhones from Apple, taking delivery of 118 iPhones from DHL, wheeling them in to Sin Tat 1/F then walking 600K to the bank isn't for everyone

percysmith

http://www.standardchartered.com.hk/...CB_Rewards.pdf

I had a play around with the SCB redemption site - I can redeem miles not exceeding 200% of the points I have.

As each point is a 15th of a mile, each mile is $0.12. Of course you must go through the SCB redemption website (vs redeeming via MoneyBack terminals) and there's a fixed cost of $300 per redemption.

percysmith

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Continuing on the Autotaxi comment above, I flagged down another Autotaxi after work last night. But this one is a former Autotaxi - the Autotaxi roundel can only be seen inside the cab (overcovered by a Mediapower label on the outside), the moving map display has been torn out, as well as the card terminal. Given HK taxi drivers pinch every penny and then some, and we taxi riders can get better deals using our mobile phones to get 80% taxis, the Autotaxi business model is broken and will shortly go the way of the dodo (or Oasis Airlines).

ChrisLi

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Which makes me feel pretty bad. I have been to shanghai and Taipei o-so-often and majority of taxi at both city supports e-payment (shanghai support octopus alike on every cab, Taipei support all credit cards and their stored value card)

kaka

talking about hk being a world class city, huh? so many places i've been to accept credit card on cabs... except hk.
then again, hk taxi prices are a lot lower(than the true world class cities)...

percysmith

ChrisLi - perhaps I don't live there, but the cabbies in both SH and TPE are much more pleasant to deal with than their HK counterparts.

There seems to be a much greater emphasis on making the ride pleasant for the rider. The cabs are clean and (unlike GZ and SZ cabbies) SH cabbies are very knowledgeable about their city.

Much better than HK's cabbies who always grumble how bad things are with the 80% taxis and number of licences as if they are entitled to it.

This is notwithstanding that I do not speak Taiwanese or Shanghainese, but do speak Mandarin and Canto.

I managed to use my Bankcomm Diamond Unionpay on a TPE cabbie last time I was there. Which was to my surprise, as Visa didn't work. And me and my +1 were really just mucking around - the ride was only TWD120 (the driver tried twice, sharing our laughs when the Unionpay worked).

I also fondly remember the time I managed to drag my niece and nephew into a TPE cab at the Grand Hyatt and asked the cabbie to take me to the Sun Yat-Sen Masoleum. Although the cabbie (who was in a 3-taxi queue) did confirm "It's a very short trip - are you sure?" ("Yes I can't drag these two any more!") the cabbie wheeled me there - two blocks away ("Oh! So it's that low rise we can see right down from the window!").

I remember a HK radio station talk show last week that warned me of agro TPE cabbies but I experienced none of it (I did in TPE T2 tho).

percysmith

I think HK taxis are more expensive than SH or TPE, in HK$ terms?

ChrisLi

TPE cabbie are comparable (still cheaper) to HKG, while PVG is significant cheaper.

Yesterday night got a taxi from Town to TPE, which end up a political and macro economic talk (which the driver put all the blame on China but it's actually globalization .... ) which at some stage I stop talking .... but ya he take my credit card without any issue at then end.

Overall TPE win hands down at any service industry compare to HKG and PVG (if you even bring that to the league that is..)

Connecta

Speaking Mandarin makes a HUGE difference for SHA/PVG cabbies. I've heard of exapts who don't speak any who have been refused any ride, even in the middle of a freezing night.

But yes, agree with you and ChrisLi that TPE cabbies (and virtually everyone else) are so much friendlier. You put out a map and some ppl stop by to help you without asking. That just doesn't happen in HKG and SHA/PVG.

While on TPE - two questions on Fubon AM earning:

1.) Does anyone know how a month is defined for the 20x bonus point offer for Taiwan transactions? Was thinking of a TPE trip anyways. So if everything fits, I would travel e.g. at the end of one to the beginning of the other month to double the cap of 80,000 points per month, depending on whether calender or bill month is applicable. That's a phenomenal HKD 0.6 per AM (HKD 12 / 20)!

2.) Did anyone of you really get the 2x bonus points for paying bills on a weekend as e.g. theworld indicated? In the T&C on bill payment it's only written 1 bonus point per HKD. However, the bonus point program only refers to "retail transactions" without excluding bill payments specifically.

Thanks.