Penang to Portland & Austin: Introduction

• Introduction
• Penang to Singapore on Silkair
• Singapore to Portland on United Airlines
• Portland and review of Hilton Portland
• Portland to Austin; First Bump ever
• Short review of Embassy Suites Austin Town Lake
• Heading back home - Austin to Penang on United Airlines

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This trip report isn't going to be as exciting as the previous trip reports. There would be no exotic destinations or front of the plane experiences to share this time round (except for the unexpected bump to First on Continental). Figured I blog about anyway for those who are still interested or might have to suffer the same fate as me to having to travel from Asia to the US in economy on United Airlines.

I typically to travel 1-2 times a year to the US for work from Penang. This was what got me started on finding ways to use miles, flyertalk, lounges, etc.  When I started having to the US for work, it used to be always on Singapore Airlines (SQ), albeit in economy class. When the recession happened a couple of years back, management bad a huge stink about flying the lowest fare available which they never took back. This threw SQ out of the list on most trips with Cathay Pacific (CX) being the airline recommended by the company appointed travel agent. With my *A Gold status, I refused to travel on CX but chose United for my trips to the US instead so I could still use business class lounges and have priority check-in and boarding.

This 2 weeks trip would take me from Penang to Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas on Silk Air, United and an unexpected flight on Continental.