This post is written by Katie, about her positioning trip to Taipei to begin five round-trips from Taipei to the southern USA (which will also be covered in the Taipei Mileage Runs series).

After finding out my Dallas to Hong Kong flight was delayed 6 hours, JT was able to call and get me on a 12:39pm flight to Dallas (instead of my original 7am one).

I took a Fasten to the airport around 10am since I couldn’t park on campus this time due to a football game. There was no traffic, so I arrived in just 23 minutes with a $31.91 fare. Mileage accounted for most of my fare, with 20.15 miles costing $22.16 at $1.10 / mile.

It was good that I arrived at the airport at 10:27am, since it took about 40 minutes to check in! Apparently my ticket had never actually ticketed (despite it seeming to on my end). This caused some issues because flights became oversold. In the end, everything worked out okay and despite everything bring re-ticketed I kept my chosen seats.

About an hour before departure I saw my upgrade clear for the flight from Austin to Dallas. I picked up my new boarding pass from the gate agents and kept walking around the airport to get steps.

American plane from Austin to Dallas

The flight to Dallas was short, but the upgrade was nice. I enjoyed a Diet Coke and fig bar on the short hop.

I walked by D23 on the way to the Admiral’s Club.

Chicken noodle soup in the Admiral’s Club.

Once in Dallas, I walked to the D concourse and then walked around for a while in the D concourse. While walking, I saw my plane arrive. I headed up to the Admirals Club to take pictures of the plane and enjoy Flagship First dining. The cranberry apple salad was good as always, as was the chicken noodle soup.

I left the lounge to arrive at the gate shortly before boarding was scheduled to begin. However, when I arrived, I found that boarding had begun so early that the general boarding process had begun.  This would not be problematic, except that I was doing a soft review of this flight for The Points Guy and had hoped to get a few clean shots of my business class seat and cabin.

Water bottle, Kindle, new amenity kit, and old amenity kit in the window-side cubby.

Love the business class seats on American’s 777-300

I landed in Hong Kong at 10:21pm Hong Kong time (8:21am Austin time). A Cathay Pacific agent was waiting to greet me with a sign! Since my flight into Hong Kong was so delayed that it forced me to miss my connection to Taipei and overnight in Hong Kong, she was there to greet me, provide a hotel, and inform me of my new flight the next morning to Taipei. After waiting for a Chinese couple to join us, the agent led us through customs and baggage claim before walking us to the Regal Airport Hotel. Once at the hotel, she helped get me a hotel room (covered by American due to the maintenance delay in Dallas that delayed departure 6 hours).

The room I was assigned at the Regal Airport Hotel could sleep 3 people.

Bathroom amenities at the Regal Airport Hotel

After settling into my room, I walked 5-10 minutes back to the arrivals area to meet JT, who was arriving from Newark on United after mechanical delays. We walked around the departures area for a while to get some steps and try to get JT a boarding pass for his flight to Taipei the next morning before heading back to the hotel for the night.