BOOKING

We booked this flight using United MileagePlus Miles. We spent a total of 90,000 miles each for the Business Class award, including:

• Lufthansa Business Class Charlotte-CLT to Munich-MUC
• Lufthansa Business Class Munich-MUC to Delhi-DEL
• Air India Business Class Delhi-DEL to Colombo-CMB
• United Economy Class Charleston-CHS to Newark-EWR

We purposely switched our flights around to have the opportunity to fly Lufthansa’s first A350 since it was a bit of a novelty and was still basically brand new.

CHECK-IN

Although most of the check-in was performed in Charlotte-CLT the day before, the gate agent was checking visas before boarding and marking boarding passes to help speed up the process later.

Boarding and visa check prior to boarding

LH D-AIXA waiting at the gate

BOARDING

Boarding was, as I’m sure we’ll be used to soon once in India, disorganized and very pushy. Quite crazy that people are in such a hurry to get on a plane that isn’t going to leave anyone behind.

Instead of breaking the boarding up by class or zone, they had priority boarding of wheelchairs and babies. But, that’s all the announcements they seemed to make as business class travelers just sort of started going through. Then, people were jumping lines; it was confusing and we didn’t know what to do next. Plus, while the priority boarders were still waiting on the elevator to take them downstairs, the business class travelers were streaming past them to get to the stairs….beating the priority boarders onto the plane. A bit odd…especially since this was Lufthansa.

Business Class boarding area, the calm before the storm of pushy people

Once past the gates, the jet bridge had 2 boarding doors, one for Economy and another for just Business Class (well also for First but the A350 is 3 cabin, not 4).

Rounding the corner, we found the bright, new and clean cabin:

Right after boarding we were offered a welcome drink:

SEAT

We quickly got situated into seats 5A and 5C.

The seats on this A350 are nothing new; it’s the same exact Business Class seat you’ll find on their A330s, A340s, A380s, 747-8s, etc.

It is, by all means, a great product, but it is quickly getting outdated as many other airlines have already switched to an all-aisle access Business Class cabin– that is to say: 1 x 2 x 1 as a seating configuration. Lufthansa, by contrast, has installed their standard (and relatively new) 2 x 2 x 2 seating configuration on this brand new plane.

Here’s the seating chart from Lufthansa’s A350s:

The Business class section (split up by a galley and lavatories) has 8 rows x 6 seats for a total of 48 seats.

And, here’s the seating chart for a bunch of other airlines that have received the A350; all of their cabins feature the 1-2-1 configuration:

One small complaint was that there was not a huge amount of storage space. Despite this, there was plenty of foot room for a bit of storage and it’s really hard to complain at all about having lie flat seats when traveling at 515 mph at 34,000 ft in the air.

Other features of the seat:

• Small cubby by side of seat that houses headphones
• 2x power plugs, one for each seat, by feet
• Small cubby with bottle of water and amenity kit by the floor
• Above that: a small place to hold menus, magazines etc.

Time for take off!

Beautiful day at MUC

IFE

While it might just be my imagination, the one thing that did seem upgraded from their standard Business Class seating was the IFE.

Having just taken a flight on a Lufthansa A333 the prior day, the A350 monitor seemed to be substantially bigger and of better quality. Also, the screen was a touch screen that was also able to be controlled by a handheld remote; this is a step up from the A333 aircraft. The screen also adjusted to help with the viewing angle depending on if you’re sitting upright, reclined or somewhere in between.

The movie selection was good, not great, but had plenty of Oscar-nominated new releases to help pass the time.

The TV show choices, however, were pretty bad.

A350

Here are a few A350 specific features:

Cameras

While I realized it’s no longer a complete novelty since it’s been around on the A380 for nearly a decade, I still just can’t get enough of watching the cameras that Airbus is installing on their aircraft these days.

Cabin pressure/humidity

Also, this might be totally my imagination, but I remember thinking to myself near the end of the flight how un-tired I felt despite having already been traveling for 24 hours. I have to think that this was partly due to the lower altitude pressurization settings (I’ve read that the cabins are set to 5-6,000 ft vs closer to 8,000 for a traditional airliner). And partly to the humidity that is being introduced to the cabin to prevent the air from being too dry.

Cabin noise

Upon takeoff, a flight attendant made mention of the reduced cabin noise of the A350. I have to say that I didn’t notice too much of a difference but maybe that’s the goal since you tend not to notice the absence of noise.

Cabin width

The A350s are said to have a wider cabin than other similarly sized aircraft; I think this is all margin, however, since the extra width allows them to squeeze in one extra row of seating in Economy to make it a 3-3-3 configuration. So, in reality, I think the extra width is really only around 18-24 inches max.

Time to enjoy the scenery on this great new aircraft:

Here’s a map of our route:

I thought it was pretty interesting that we totally avoided flying over Afghanistan:

Despite it being a bit out of the way from the most direct route:

MEAL SERVICE

Not long after takeoff, we were served a hot towel along with a cocktail and roasted almonds.

After the snack, we had a choice for appetizers and main courses. For an appetizer, I tried the “Smoked Filet of Trout, Cucumber Mustard Seed Salad and Lime Creme Fraiche.”

McCown had the “Chicken Breast scented with Thyme, Gazpacho Salad, roasted Artichoke and Basil Oil.” It was fresh, roasted chicken served cold. The basil oil tasted a bit like pesto and the dish was very refreshing.

For the main course, I had the “Grilled Corn-fed Poularde with Ginger Chicken Jus, Ratatouille and Pearl Barley Risotto.” Again, it had a great flavor and was very fresh tasting.

McCown went with the Indian option and tried the “Paneer Tikka Lababdar” which was an “Indian Cream Cheese cooked in a savory Bell Pepper, Onion and Tomato Sauce, Ragout of white and yellow Lentils cooked in Tomato and Onion Fond, steamed Indian Basmati Rice sautéed with Cumin, green and black Cardamom.” It was a great, spicy meal.

About 1.5 hours before touchdown, they came around to take drink and dinner orders.

We both had the Indian meal. Served all on 1 tray with appetizer, main and dessert. So, you could basically choose the Western or Indian track. The dish consisted of a few items:

• “Shakarkandi Chaat: Sweet Potato Salad marinated with Lemon Juice, Chaat Masala enhanced by Feta Cheese and Pomegranate Seeds garnished with Arugula Salad”
• “Avial: Stewed Carrots, Potatoes, Beans, Pumpkin and Eggplant cooked in a creamy sauce of Yogurt, Coconut and Curry Leaves, Ragout of green Moong Lentils and fresh Spinach prepared with Tomatoes and Ginger, steamed Indian Basmati Rice sautéed with Cumin, white Lentils and Cashew Nuts flavored with Tamarind and brown Mustard Gains”
• “Steamed Yogurt with Vanilla accompanied by Mango Coulis”

The cubed sweet potatoes with feta and pomegranate seeds on top was one of the highlights. The yogurt, on the other hand, was a bit strong and I didn’t find it very good as it had a bitter taste.

We learned that there was a Nespresso machine onboard capable of producing delicious espresso, so we took full advantage. Oddly enough, though, lattes/cappuccinos weren’t possible, so we just ordered a side of milk. I guess they just don’t have a good way to properly steam or heat the milk to call it a cappuccino.

SERVICE

Service was great. From what we could see, there were all German flight attendants with one who could speak fluent Hindi on board. All pretty attentive and fast. Friendly but definitely not overly friendly.

AMENITY KIT

The amenity kit was a bright blue color and made by Jil Sander Navy. While it was fine, it certainly wasn’t too nice and definitely not anything that I’ll be keeping and using in the future like Thai or EVA Air Rimowa or Delta Tumi kits.

We landed about 12:30 am Delhi time, about 20 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. This was due to airport congestion and caused us to circle for a bit before being granted landing permission:

We were excited to see the “Welcome to India” signs:

BOTTOM LINE: We were thrilled to have been some of the first people ever to fly Lufthansa’s first Airbus A350. The cabin was fantastic and service was great, as well.

The post Lufthansa A350 Business Class – Munich-MUC to Delhi-DEL LH 762 first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Frankfurt Airport is one of the three mega-hubs in Europe, with more than 52 million passengers/year, 60% of which are Lufthansa travelers (that’s about 100,000 Lufthansa travelers per day!).

Given the above stats, it’s not surprising that they’re a bit stingy with access to the true First Class lounge. In fact, here is the short list of ways you can gain entry:

1. Passengers with a same day Lufthansa or Swiss First Class tickets

For those traveling on other Star Alliance airlines, even in First Class, you’ll get the secondary treatment and have to go to the Senator Lounge. Even though we weren’t technically traveling on a “same day” Lufthansa First Class ticket, we managed to be a bit pushy and get in anyway. At the lounge reception desk, we passed over our Thai Airways First Class tickets for the flight departing in a few hours. She scanned them and said, “so sorry, but this lounge is for Lufthansa First Class passengers only, you’ll have to go down the hall to the Senator lounge for partner flights.” I explained that we had arrived on Lufthansa First Class and we were simply connecting in Frankfurt-FRA and handed her our boarding passes from the prior day. Upon scanning them she said that, because the tickets we not from the same day, we wouldn’t be allowed in. I further explained that, due to the weather in New York, we were “forced” to depart a day early and also had a forced overnight layover in Frankfurt and that we should have actually arrived on a same day Lufthansa flight. She acted as if we were the first ones she’d ever encountered in this predicament. After chatting with her colleague, she apologized profusely for the mix up and led us in.

It was a rather large lounge with an average amount of people– definitely not over-crowded like many lounges we’ve visited. There were many options of where to sit:  close-quartered comfortable chairs, a business area, plush leather chairs to give individual travelers their own spaces.

Of course, we headed straight for the food area. Whereas many other lounges have food buffets and then you can sit wherever you want, this lounge has a distinct food area, where the buffet and tables are clustered together and there’s not much eating going on in other areas of the lounge.

Lots of delicious foods were on display:  all sorts of cheeses, meats, truffled ravioli, Thai beef dishes, etc. These international varieties were all on the buffet; there was a special order menu, too. All of this was free, so the name of the game here (at least for us) is to sample as much as you can.

And, did I mention that there was a real real Jamon Iberico machine on display, alongside all the meats. It really made the meat selection seem a bit fresher… and mostly added to the decor and fun vibe, giving the food area a little more character.

While I sampled the buffet, Jeffrey ordered the VEAL CARPACCIO with FOIE GRAS off of the special order menu.

Veal Carpaccio with Foie Gras

The food was delicious, plenty varied and had a great presentation, but, truthfully, this Lufthansa Lounge’s food just didn’t compare to the Lufthansa First Lounge at JFK. The service was impeccable at JFK and just seemed a bit more “first class” than at the Frankfurt lounge, which seemed just like a typical restaurant service.

Then, there was a dessert bar with all sorts and types of dessert:  cakes, pies, pastries, things I didn’t recognize. You name it, it was offered here in this decadent selection. This food area really had an international flair — in case you were missing home (wherever that may be, to an extent), a familiar food was available.

I still haven’t mentioned one of the most intriguing aspects of the food area:  the water bar. Yes, a water bar. How elite is that? Bottled water from around the world…if you just can’t accept the taste of other…water. #FWP all the way.

Huge selections of fancy waters from all over the world

Although we weren’t there long enough to do a true sampling, there was also a massage area if you had some extra time to kill.

Now, it’s time for your typical bathroom photos… no big deal. The best part is clearly the marbled shower (it’ll make you forget you in an airport), or maybe it’s the marbled tub? Toss up.

Lastly, tucked away in the huge lounge is also a Cigar Lounge… a lounge within a lounge. Luckily, they make sure all the doors are tightly closed so no smoke leaks out!

BOTTOM LINE (McCown):  Maybe it was the smaller, more intimate setting at JFK’s Lufthansa First lounge or maybe it was just the adrenaline rush from just beginning our trip, but I’d say the JFK Lufthansa Lounge is hands-down better than the Frankfurt Lounge — from service to food choices — but the Frankfurt Lounge is still top-notch and offers more selections of food — and water — than most other lounges I’ve been lucky enough to visit.

BOTTOM LINE (Jeffrey): I completely disagree with McCown’s assessment and can say that the Lufthansa First Class lounge in Frankfurt-FRA was much better than the New York-JFK lounge. I mean with a full Cigar Lounge, water bar (how over the top “first world” is that?) and a jamon iberico machine, how can you go wrong? The JFK lounge might have felt a bit more personal given that they might only deal with a few dozen First Class passengers a day, but the over-the-top amenities in Frankfurt more than make up for the less personal touch.

The post Lufthansa First Class Lounge Review – Frankfurt-FRA Terminal B first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

When we got to the Delta check-in counter, I said we were flying to JFK and the agent asked me if that was our final destination, I sort of paused ehh, well…. yes, yes it is. “Well, actually it’s Frankfurt, but we’re connecting onto Lufthansa, so I doubt we’d be able to check all the way to Frankfurt.” He seemed very optimistic that it could be done, while I remained skeptical. Why would Delta (a SkyTeam member) have an interline baggage agreement with Lufthansa (a Star Alliance member)? After a minute or 2 of searching on the computer, he confirmed that he was printing our baggage tickets all the way to Frankfurt, perfect! This made our lives much easier and worry of connection time and hassle all but vanished.

Fortunately, upon arriving JFK, we were only 1 terminal over–a short 5-10 minute walk.

CHECK-IN

We sped up to the Lufthansa check-in areas, which, at this point, were all virtually. Nonetheless, we scurried up to the First Class check-in area, red carpets and all!

We handed the friendly agent our passports and she got to work and then handed me my boarding pass (First Class) and hesitated while handing McCown hers, clearly marked Business Class, immediately sensing there was a problem. I told her that this was all a very last minute change from just a few hours ago that United had arranged and both tickets were supposed to be First Class. She tried and tried and, once she appeared stumped, went to talk to her supervisor. Her supervisor called us around to her counter and explained that United had booked one of the tickets in First and the other in Business. She pulled up the computer to show that there were no more award inventory seats in First Class. We were both shocked and frustrated but knew that it wasn’t her fault. She called United phone support to ask for someone to explain to me what had happened and how and to further relay that Lufthansa didn’t do this. Completely dejected, realizing we had hit a final wall, we left the counter with the promise that she “would continue to check into it” and at some point I muttered to McCown something about “sorry for the bad start to the honeymoon” and the Lufthansa agent’s ears perked up a bit as we walked off.

After clearing security, we headed into the Lufthansa First Class lounge: Lufthansa First Class Lounge – New York-JFK Airport

We were immediately hit with a wave of reassuring news:  upon check-in to the lounge, the front desk agent said, “oh you guys must be the honeymoon couple.” This implied that the lady we spoke with pre-security had a reason to call and talk about us. She said she needed to hold our boarding passes while she worked on them and sent us on our way to the First Class lounge level on the third floor.

About mid-way into our meal she met us upstairs to deliver 2, count ’em TWO, First Class boarding passes! We couldn’t believe it!

BOARDING

Trying to enjoy the First Class lounge a little too long, we scurried up to the boarding gate as some of the last First and Business class passengers.

Eww….Economy Class passengers

“First Class Boarding,” now that’s more like it!

Our aircraft for the ~7 hours trip was a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400. Lufthansa operates a huge number of B747s, exactly 32 to be exact (19 B747-400s and 13 B747-8Is). On the 747, the First Class is nestled in the nose of the top deck, with Business and Economy on the main level. We had seats 84 H & C and, to put it into perspective, the value of the tickets, if purchased appx 5 hours before takeoff = $11k one-way…!

Quick glimpse of the Business Class cabin as we made our way to the upper deck stairs

Geez, they make you take the stairs to get up here? How about an elevator next time, Lufthansa

THE SEAT – LUFTHANSA FIRST CLASS

Found it! Seat (and bed!) 84C

There’s a huge seat with leather arms, recliner and foot raise. Large TV and a very nice-sized bed next to the chair.

A staggering statistic is that Lufthansa operates the upper deck of the Boeing 747s with just 8 seats total, one of the fewest of the worldwide airline industry. Most carriers operate a Business Class cabin with at least 16 seats, but some have configured their 747s with economy up top. To put this all into perspective, Air France has Economy 60 seats in their upper deck vs 8 seats for Lufthansa–this means that, in just the space McCown and I are taking up, they could fit 15 Economy seats!

Soon, we were presented with a rose in the flower holder and offered a glass of champagne and cashews.

Not having done any research for the flight (remember, we booked it just hours before takeoff), I still couldn’t get over the fact that we had a seat and a bed! Compared to United, Air France or Thai Airways premium cabins, Lufthansa was very elegant, sleek, minimalist feeling and also quite classy. Additionally, the cabin and seat looked and felt very new; I suspect that it had been recently updated.

While rummaging though every nook and cranny of the seat, a few things struck me:  there seemed to be an infinite number of compartments to store things and this was the 1st premium cabin I have been in to offer authentic Bose noise-canceling headphones.

Real life Bose noise-canceling headphones, take that Dr. Dre!

Still getting settled in, the lead chef/sommelier came back with both flight attendants that were dedicated to our cabin to present the menus and wine list. So, yes, we essentially had 3 full-time attendants between 8 people.

At this point, the captain came on over the PA system around 10:30pm (our scheduled departure was 10:20pm) to announce that 2 extra bags had been checked onto the plane and their owners had decided not to board the flight. So, for safety reasons, the ground crew would be forced to remove all bags, check for the perpetrators and load them back on, “it will take at least 10-15 mins”.

All I heard? “Yada, yada, yada enjoy an extra 15+ mins of sipping champagne in First Class.”

By 10:53pm, the operation was complete, all doors were secured and we pushed back from the gate. There was a bit of wait as we taxied to the runway and waited our turn in the queue but had a wheels-up time of 11:13pm–appx 1 hour after our scheduled departure.

ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

The good: Bose noise-canceling headphones:  amazing touch! Large LCD screens (maybe 15″?)

The bad: Movie/TV selection is pathetic, there were ~7 categories of movies with ~10 selections each and ALL are horrible…Sleepy Hollow, really? That’s one of Johnny Depp’s worst…! The appx 15” LCD screen (the old 4:3 format, not widescreen) was controlled by a seat remote, not touch, and the quality was far from HD.

MEAL SERVICE

Within 30 minutes, we had reached a safe altitude and the meal service began. The FA came around and asked for our initial order, “cocktail 1st.” I asked for a beer and she suggested a “Maibock” and returned with the Braufactum Darkon, a quite light and refreshing black beer.

At this time, we were also served a light appetizer:  cucumber with smoked salmon and caviar.

At 11:57pm, we put in our main course orders and were told that, if we wanted breakfast, to let her know so that she could wake us appx 1 hr 20 mins before arrival.

12:06am: our tables were set.

Set table with selection of bread, salt/pep grinder, butter and EVOO. Again, all very elegant/sleek

At 12:19am, the cart with starters came around, you could order as many as you wished.

I ordered the “Caviar with the traditional garnishes” and the “Seared beef tataki with papaya salad and roasted peanuts.”

Similarly, McCown also chose the caviar for the first appetizer and then the “Citrus cured scallops.”

I asked for all for the garnishes with the caviar including egg whites, egg yolks, sour cream, onions and lime. It was all great tasting. The beef was also great, served chilled and cooked perfectly rare.

About 20 minutes later, it was “dinner time,” despite having eaten dinner at numerous times previously in the night. Upon ordering the “Butter poached Lobster with Butternut Squash and Fingerling Potato,” I confirmed with the FA that I was getting an authentic German meal, she laughed and replied, “Of course, Germany is especially known for it’s lobster.”

The lobster was tough but at least that much I had expected. Despite this, it was a good dish and was cooked in a Thai sauce that was surprisingly spicy with mushrooms, potatoes, cabbage and carrots. I’d give it a B+.

McCown went with the “Pumpkin Stew with Ginger Chicken.” The broth was clear with chunks of pumpkin, chicken and brussel sprouts. It was good and warm, nothing exceptional and not really worth finishing since we’d already had plenty to eat.

We had to skip dessert due to being completely stuffed and I was still clinging to the hope that I might be able to catch a few hours of sleep despite being completely overwhelmed with things to play with, take pictures of, etc… By about 1 a.m. (7 a.m. Frankfurt time!), our tables were cleared and stowed and it was finally time to turn in to bed:

Must. Not. Stay. Awake. Watching. Movies. All. Night.

Finally somewhere around 1:30am (7:30am Frankfurt), I was out for the “night”.

A very short 3 hours later, at 4:23am (10:23am Frankfurt) I was awakened by a tap on the feet, putting an abrupt end to the best sleep I’ve ever had on an airplane. But, alas, I refuse to turn down a meal in a First Class cabin.

Mysteriously hungry, I ordered the “American Breakfast“: Coffee or Tea, Orange Juice, Fresh Fruit and Farmer’s Frittata and, within 20 mins of the screeching halt of my glorious slumber, breakfast was served:

The result? Airplane bacon might be the best thing invented since, well, bacon. It was shockingly good, maybe even better at 30,000 feet. The Farmer’s Frittata was also good, it was just too much food, too soon after dinner.

The best part of breakfast (and one of the most impressive parts of the whole flight) was the quality of the cappuccino. An actual real life cappuccino, not instant coffee– I guess they have an espresso machine in the gallery (or maybe just a Nespresso machine?). Either way, it was just what the doctor ordered after too little sleep.

And then, as all good things tend to do, our over zealous pilots had to up and land the plane in Frankfurt, immediately bringing our awesome experience to an end. We touched down at 5:42am EST (11:42am Frankfurt time). Despite our late departure, we had managed to touch down appx 20 minutes in advance of our scheduled arrival time.

GROUND SERVICE

Upon landing, we didn’t taxi to a gate but instead just a remote deplaning location on the tarmac. The pilots came over the PA mentioning something about there being a risk for ice at the airport and that the larger aircraft were prohibited from taxiing further due to risk of skidding and crashing into the terminal.

Nasty weather out there at Frankfurt-FRA

Thai Airways Airbus A380, the same flight we’ll be taking the very next day!

We gathered our belongings and took a few last pictures before deplaning:

At the bottom of the stairs we discovered two Mercedes vans waiting for the First Class cabin– this is the “Limousine service” that Lufthansa offers as a ground service at their German hubs.

We were quickly whisked away to customs and were pleasantly surprised to find exactly 0 people in line ahead of us. This speed and efficiency was futile, however, because we had to wait for over an hour for our bags to be delivered to the carousel, presumably a delay that can be blamed on the abnormal deplaning location. The Frankfurt ground crew had a much greater distance to transport the baggage than normal.

SERVICE

The service was impeccable–a rose was placed at each chair & we were served champagne immediately. And, this was possibly the best first class cabin we’ve experienced (but was it because we weren’t expecting it?).

The post Lufthansa Boeing 747 First Class – New York JFK to Frankfurt FRA (LH 405) first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Best Luck Ever.

When we walked in, the front desk attendants were expecting us (“the honeymoon couple”) and seemed genuinely excited to see us. The Lufthansa Lounge is broken up into three levels: the Business Class area of the Lounge is downstairs, right past the check in desk. On the second level, they have the Senator Lounge, which is for Star Gold Members and First Class passengers. Then, the third level is the dining area for First Class passengers only. The friendly front desk attendants whisked us right past the first two levels and escorted us onto the nearby elevator and dropped us off upstairs on the third level, where the spread of serve-yourself-food was tantalizing. Jackpot. And our heads were still spinning.

Business Class area (Level 1)

Level 1

Level 1 food options

Senator Lounge (Level 2)

See the windows upstairs overlooking Business Class? That’s First Class!

Level 2

Level 2 food options

Picture any typical airport lounge and then multiply your expectations by 100. At least. First of all, we were the only people in the First Class area of the lounge, a semi-private dining area with seats for about 20 people. Then, we were seated at a table with a white tablecloth and quickly learned that, at 10pm, we better be ready for a five course meal… to then prepare for our five course meal onboard our flight a few short hours later. Our very own waiter was so friendly and very eager to please. He, too, caught wind that it was our honeymoon and immediately brought us rose champagne to celebrate! #fancy And, the A+++ service continued throughout our entire meal.

Welcome to the First Class area!

Once seated, our waiter came to take our drink orders and offered us a menu. Besides what they offered at the well-stocked buffet, you could also order a small-portion, à la carte dishes by request. Although we weren’t very hungry, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try everything on the buffet and something off the menu, too. It’s probably about this point in the evening that they could tell we were on award tickets and not actually paying for the rest and relaxation that comes with a paid First Class ticket. The good news is that, now, we can tell you that everything, whether you choose the buffet or à la carte or both, is top caliber and certainly does not fit into any description of airport food.

Page 1 of the Menu

Page 2 of the Menu (the a la carte section was ordered directly from the kitchen)

Jeffrey ordered the ROASTED MARINATED PORK LOIN, which came with a goat cheese-rosemary bread pudding. It was excellent and the goat cheese and rosemary paired with the bread pudding texture was exquisite. No disappointments yet.

Pork Loin with Bread Pudding

I went with the WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO with roasted cauliflower, basil and mascarpone – because I can never pass up a mushroom risotto. Although the mushroom flavor was milder than other mushroom risottos I’ve tasted, I really enjoyed it but had to resist filling up on it because I just had to try so many other things!

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Now, for the buffet…

Salad Bar

Meats and freshly cooked vegetables – that’s salmon in mini-frying pans on the far right!

Fresh fruits, New York state cheeses, cold vegetables and cold meats

Dessert Bar

Dessert Bar:  the basil dessert (front left) was weird but tasty… You’re eating pesto flavored cake…?

And then the drinks…

THEN… As if that weren’t enough food to literally feed an army, AND if you just didn’t feel quite satisfied with the dessert options on the buffet, you could order a dessert off of the menu. So, when in Rome, right?

A variety of sorbets ordered from the menu

BOTTOM LINE:  If there’s any possible way that you can find your way into this lounge, it is far and away the very best lounge we’ve ever visited. The exquisite service is matched only by the way-above-average “airport” food.

The post Lufthansa First Class Lounge – New York-JFK Airport first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

• New York, LaGuardia-LGA to Montreal-YUL — nothing special here
• Montreal-YUL to Paris-CDG — made sure this was a newly renovated Boeing 777-300ER Executive First Class cabin
  

So, when I got a call just a few hours before our departure from Charleston-CHS to New York-JFK that our flight for the next day from LGA –> YUL had already been canceled (nearly 24 hours in advance), I knew we had a problem. A winter storm was bearing down on the New York area and the first wave of preemptive cancellations had already taken place, which is typically a harbinger for huge amounts of cancelations.

When I called the Air Canada rep back (based in Florida?), he said he found us a flight from New York-LGA –> Ottawa-YOW at the same time on Saturday and then would put us on an Air Canada flight from Ottawa-YOW –> Frankfurt-FRA. At the time, this sounded great:  we could skip the hassle of the Paris-CDG –> Frankfurt-FRA leg. But then, remembering that I had picked our flights very specifically to get the newest cabins, I asked if the aircraft was the same as the original Montreal-YUL –> Paris-CDG route and he sort of brushed away the question and said, “sure, they’re both Exec First cabins.” After I agreed to the change, I check SeatGuru.com to find that the Ottawa-YOW –> Frankfurt-FRA flight was on a Boeing 767, an older plane with an older, non-renovated Executive First cabin. This was disappointing because, again, I picked the Air Canada flights based on being in a newly renovated Boeing 777-300ER Executive First cabin. And, to top it off, how could we be sure that the LGA-YOW flight wouldn’t be canceled? It seemed smarter and better to just avoid NYC all together on Saturday.

Because we had a separate, paid flight booked on Delta for later that day from Charleston-CHS to New York-JFK from 4:30pm to 6:30pm, I jumped on FlightAware to search same-day routes from JFK-FRA. There are many flights from JFK-FRA but, because we booked with United miles, I had to narrow down to Star Alliance partners and found a departure around 9pm on a Lufthansa Boeing 747 non-stop to FRA–this might be our answer!

Star Alliance from New York-JFK to Frankfurt-FRA actually has a surprising large number of options, including one of Singapore Airlines’ Fifth Freedom routes on an A380

I’ll go ahead and point out that booking flights in Lufthansa First Class with United miles is very difficult. And, as such, is one of the most coveted award redemptions out there. When you catch a glimpse of their First Class cabin (complete with it’s own standalone bed), you’ll see why everyone wants to fly in Lufthansa First:

Lufthansa releases very few award seats in its business class cabin and even fewer in first class. For example, looking for a sample booking 5-7 months out shows absolutely 0 seats available in business or first:

However, if I check for flights departing within 4-48 hours, I find much better availability:

This clearly makes it hard to plan for; most people are not able to book their travel plans for same-day or next-day departures but instead plan many months in advance. So, if you’re looking to book flights in Lufthansa First Class, the trick here becomes to book your award trip like normal but so that the Lufthansa flights are easily able to be swapped in. For example, if you’re traveling to Frankfurt-FRA in a few months, you could book one of the many United flights from Newark-EWR to secure your seats in the premium cabin. Then, a few days before departure, start checking the United website to see if any of the flights from JFK-FRA on Lufthansa opened up. If you see seats available, you can attempt to call United to change them. They’ll be much more likely to help and waive the fee if there has been a schedule change, which, over the course of a few months, is pretty much inevitable. But, just call them and explain your situation and see what they can do.

I called United, realizing my chances to change the flights this dramatically might be tough. After 15 mins on hold and a few reps, I found a person that could actually get things done! I explained that our flights from New York to Montreal had been canceled and that we thought it best to leave a day early because of the storm, and she said, “sure, we can do that!” Then she said, “before we ticket, let me make sure we can’t do any better for you,” and did research with me on hold for about 30 mins. She checked in periodically to ask questions, but, after exploring a few different options, it was decided that the JFK-FRA route would be best and she ticketed it. At this point, I had spent the past 2+ hours on the phone trying to get flights changed and was borderline going to be late for our flight. I hung up and spent about 10 minutes to finish packing before speeding to the airport.

Green: Our original, circuitous itinerary: LGA-YUL-CDG-FRA. Red: Our newly improved direct route from JFK-FRA

In a bittersweet moment, I had to call Hyatt to cancel our reservation for the night at the Andaz 5th Avenue since we wouldn’t be visiting New York anymore. But, I also had to jump on Hyatt and Starwood to see where I could book an award night in Frankfurt, Germany! We would now have a full 24-hours to explore the German city. Again, it was somewhat disappointing to not be able to visit New York, but the fact that we’d be able to explore a new city and also fly on a Lufthansa Boeing 747 in First Class seemed like a win-win trade. Not to mention that this would be a much better shot at actually arriving to Bali on time because we’d avoid the bad weather in NYC.

Next stop: our Lufthansa flight out of New York.

The post Finagling our way into Lufthansa First Class with VERY last minute changes first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Here’s our second installment in the Ultimate Honeymoon series and another easy pick:  French Polynesia.

Way out there in the middle of the Pacific

French Polynesia might be the most desired pick for a honeymoon or romantic getaway:

1. These names speak for themselves:  Bora Bora, Tahiti, Moorea, Papeete.
2. It boasts the world-renown, over-the-water bungalows that more and more resorts are now copying.
   Gallery of images from the web:
   

   
   

3. You could split your time between beaches and exploring tropical rain-forests, but it might be hard to pry you away from that pristine beach.
   
4. Did I mention the over-the-water bungalows?!

How to Get There:

Pay for Airfare

French Polynesia has one major airport that you’ll likely be using to access the islands: Papeete-PPT International Airport — and flights are expensive. The only direct flight from the US to Papeete flies from Los Angeles-LAX. You can find seats on the non-stop LAX – PPT for around $1500 R-T economy in Winter 2013. Throw in a few connections and travel from the East Coast, and you’re looking at around $1,900 to $2,400 in economy for the rest of us.

Use United miles

If you have at least 70k United miles, you can book a roundtrip ticket from North America to French Polynesia in Economy. Booking in Business will cost you 120k miles and isn’t really worth the difference. If you’re willing and able to pay the extra miles for Business, you’re best off paying the full 150k miles it takes to book a roundtrip ticket in the First Class cabin.  But, when taking into consideration you’re booking for two people, 150k miles might already be a stretch, so 300k for First might be simply out of reach.

Benefits of using United miles to consider when researching:

Like Delta, United allows you to have 1 stopover and 1 open jaw for free! Given that you’ll be so close to Australia/New Zealand, they make excellent and very easy choices for a stop-over. A stop-over in one of the Asian hubs would also be a good choice.

Day 1: Fly US – Sydney — this will be part of your stopover
Day 2-4: Explore Sydney
Day 5: Continuing on from your stop-over in Sydney-SYD, fly SYD – Christchurch-CHC
Day 5-7: Explore around New Zealand, buy a cheap ticket from Christchurch-CHC to Auckland-AKL
Day 7-11: Use open jaw on award to fly direct from Auckland-AKL to Papeete-PPT — hang out in French Polynesia for a few days.
Day 12: Starting your return portion, fly from Papeete-PPT back to US, routing via Auckland-AKL again

This example itinerary makes use of the stopover (in Sydney-SYD) and then the open jaw (flying into Christchurch-CHC and then out of Auckland-AKL). This is how you can really maximize your United miles when award booking.

Using United miles on Air New Zealand Aircraft

I’m leading with Air New Zealand because if you want to get to Papeete, Tahiti it is the only way you’ll get there. Again, the only Star Alliance partner that flies to Papeete-PPT is Air New Zealand, with departures from Auckland-AKL. Since that’s your only choice, we’ll really need to research how to best get you to Auckland-AKL so that you may continue onward to Papeete.

US cities to Auckland-AKL on Air New Zealand:

• Los Angeles-LAX –> Very tight award availability, econ only (?)
• San Francisco-SFO –> Very tight award availability, econ only (?)
• Honolulu-HNL –> Very tight award availability, some Business class
• Vancouver-YVR –> Very tight award availability, econ only (?)

It’s also worth noting, for the sake of planning your stop-over, that Air New Zealand flies into Auckland-AKL from these cities as well:

• Shanghai-PVG –> 2-class cabin 767-300, Business is available
  
  

  PVG-AKL

  

  AKL-PVG

• Hong Kong-HKG –> No Dec/Jan availability + econ only
• Osaka-KIX –> Slim to no availability
• Tokyo-NRT –> Slim Dec/Jan availability + econ only
  

  NRT-AKL

  

  AKL-NRT

• Denpasar (Bali)-DPS –> Slim to no availability
• Perth-PER –> Decent availability
  

  AKL-PER

  

  PER-AKL

• Cairns-CNS –> Slim to no availability
• Adelaide-ADL –> Decent availability
  

  ADL-AKL

• Melbourne-MEL –> Slim to no availability
  

  MEL-AKL

  

  AKL-MEL

• Sunshine Coast-MCY –> Slim to no availability
• Brisbane-BNE –> Slim to no availability
• Gold Coast-OOL –> Slim to no availability
• Sydney-SYD –> Good availability + 5x flights/day to choose from
  

  SYD-AKL

  

  AKL-SYD

  

Now, as I said above, the weakest link will be the Auckland-AKL to Papeete-PPT flight. Availability is slim and booking in Business is virtually impossible!

 –> How to book your flights

Unlike Delta.com, the United website is actually very good and should make searching for availability a breeze. As a result, I would start your search by simply inputting your desired dates as a one-way search and see what pops up. You’ll want to search as a one-way to start with because booking the stop-over and open jaw can get slightly tricky and it’s helpful to have already found your award space to start with.

Select the “One Way” search, make sure to enter the actual size of your party keeping in mind that if you enter “6” you likely won’t find a single award available (with large groups you’ll probably have to split up) and “Award Travel”

Taking a 4-month sampling, I’m already finding much, much better availability than Delta offers.

If you’re booking a simple round-trip, you can use the search as-is on the United site. If, however, you’re interested in taking advantage of the stopover/open jaw, you’ll want to search for your flights with the one-way tool, find your dates and insure availability and then enter the exact dates and routes in the “multiple destinations” search:

Select your predetermined flights and then cross your fingers that everything prices out correctly:

Success! Just as expected, my itinerary comes out to 65k miles/person in Economy.

Your next step is to ticket it if you have enough miles in your account — or, it gives you an option to hold the reservation until midnight the following day.

This can be a very useful feature if you’re still trying to tweak your award, so I would almost encourage not having enough United miles in your account so you have the option to reserve–it just gives you a little extra flexibility. You’ll then need to call in and have the award ticketed once you transfer the miles to your account.

Using United miles on United Aircraft

The only Star Alliance partner that flies to Papeete-PPT is Air New Zealand, with departures from Auckland-AKL. Since that’s your only choice we’ll really need to research how to best get you to Auckland-AKL so that you may continue onward to Papeete.

You best bet getting to the area using United miles is flying into Sydney-SYD from:

• Los Angeles-LAX
• San Francisco-SFO

If you can’t find award space to Sydney-SYD, you can also fly United aircraft from the following US cities to Asia:

• Tokyo-NRT –> Chicago-ORD, Denver-DEN, Honolulu-HNL, Houston-IAH, Los Angeles-LAX, Newark-EWR, San Francisco-SFO, Seattle-SEA, Washington-Dulles-IAD
• Shanghai-PVG –> Chicago-ORD, Los Angeles-LAX, Newark-EWR, San Francisco-SFO
• Seoul-ICN –> Chicago-ORD, San Francisco-SFO, Tokyo-NRT
• Beijing-PEK –> Chicago-ORD, Newark-EWR, San Francisco-SFO, Washington-IAD
• Osaka-KIX –> San Francisco-SFO
• Taipei-TPE –> San Francisco-SFO

It’s also worth noting, for the sake of planning your stop-over, that United flies into Tokyo-NRT from these other cities as well:

• Guam-GUM
• Hong Kong-HKG
• Seoul-ICN
• Singapore-SIN

Using United miles on Thai Airways

Pros: Thai has an excellent reputation for service, especially in its First Class cabin.

Cons: Bankok-BKK is far out of the way from flying US-Papeete

Thai Airways has a very impressive route network throughout Europe, giving you dozens of great stop-over/open jaw choices if you choose to stop in Europe when going to/from Bangkok-BKK, but only one route choice from the U.S.

In fact, the only U.S. city that Thai flies to is Los Angeles-LAX — but it requires a stop in Seoul-ICN:

Makes sense that they stop though: Seoul-ICN couldn’t be more perfectly enroute to Bangkok-BKK. With the stop, it’s 8,271 miles. Without it? 8,270 miles, just a 1 mile difference.

So, if you’re flying Thai, you’ll either be headed West and taking the flight above or taking a Star Alliance partner flight (United, US Air, Lufthansa etc..) to connect you to one of these Thai Airways cities:

European cities to Bangkok-BKK on Thai Airways:

• Brussels-BRU (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Copenhagen-CPH (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First and VERY LITTLE availability in Business)
• London-LHR (2x flights daily aboard 3-class cabin on B747)
• Paris-CDG (3-class cabin on A380!)
• Madrid-MAD (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Munich-MUC
• Frankfurt-FRA (2x flights daily on 3-class cabin on A380! and on 3-class cabin B747)
• Rome-FCO (3-class cabin on A340-600)
• Milan-MXP
• Moscow-DME
• Stockholm-ARN
• Zurich-ZRH (3-class cabin on A340-600)

From Bangkok-BKK, you’ll have a few options to get to the South Pacific region:

• Perth-PER –> 2-class cabin A330, excellent availability Econ & Business
  
  

  PER-BKK

  

  BKK-PER

• Melbourne-MEL  –> 2x flights/day on 2-class cabin B777-200, excellent availability Econ & Business
  

  MEL-BKK

  

  BKK-MEL

• Sydney-SYD –> 2x flights/day on 3-class cabin B747, excellent availability Econ & Business
  

  BKK-SYD

  

  SYD-BKK

• Brisbane-BNE –> 2-class cabin B777-300, excellent availability Econ & Business
  

  BKK-BNE

  

  BNE-BKK

• Auckland-AKL –> Very slim availability in Econ only on B777-200
  

  AKL-BKK

  

  BKK-AKL

From one of the cities listed above, you then need to make you way to Auckland-AKL then Papeete-PPT on Air New Zealand (see above).

Most (if not all) of these routes will have Thai’s Royal First cabin and, if you’ve already planned to splurge on the First Class award, I would highly recommend making sure you get to try it. Here’s a gallery from our flight from London-LHR to Bangkok-BKK in Royal First:

The other huge advantage you have in using United/Star Alliance miles to travel around Thailand is that Thai Airways flies to just about every city in Thailand, again leaving you with huge opportunities for stop-overs/open jaws.

A great option is the one we used on our trip:  we took the London-LHR to Bangkok-BKK route on the way in and then took the non-stop Thai Airways Phuket-HKT to Hong Kong-HKG route on the way home.

Using United miles on Asiana Airways:

Pros: Great First Class, even new First Class Suite is bookable, big route network gives you the option of routing via Europe as well

Cons: Routing via Europe likely only available from Eastern U.S., planning a stopover in Seoul could be risky with North Korea situation (?)

Asiana Airways, headquartered in Seoul-ICN, has a great reputation for their superb quality First Class cabin and service. If you’re interested in flying on Asiana, you’ll most likely fly from the US to Seoul-ICN over the Pacific from one of these cites:

• Chicago-ORD on Boeing 777-200ER = New First Class Suites
• Honolulu-HNL
• Los Angeles-LAX on Boeing 747-400 = Older First Class Cabin
• New York-JFK on Boeing 777-200ER = New First Class Suites (starting July 22)
• San Francisco-SFO
• Seattle-SEA

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ord-icn,hnl-icn,lax-icn,jfk-icn,sfo-icn,sea-icn-syd,c:green,syd-akl-ppt

If you can’t find what you need availability-wise leaving from the US, you can also take United/US/Lufthansa/Swiss from the US to Europe and then fly Asiana from one of the cities listed below to Seoul-ICN:

• Paris-CDG
• Frankfurt-FRA
• London-LHR

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=cdg-icn,fra-icn,lhr-icn-syd,c:green,syd-akl-ppt

Note: You can probably pull off flying from the East Coast to Bangkok-BKK via Europe and Seoul-ICN, but there’s a good chance it won’t be allowable when flying from the West Coast. You’ll likely violate the MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage) rules for a United award ticket.

Once in Seoul-ICN, the only route choice on Asiana is Seoul-ICN to Sydney-SYD:

SYD-ICN on Asiana

ICN-SYD

See above Air New Zealand post on getting from Sydney-SYD to Auckland-AKL to Papeete-PPT.

Asiana First Class in Boeing 747-400

Asiana First Class in Boeing 747-400

Asiana First Class in Boeing 747-400

I mean, look how comfortable this dude looks.

I would personally try to shoot for their First Class suite that will begin flying JFK-ICN on July 22, 2013:

Using United miles on ANA – All Nippon Airways

Pros: Get to fly on Boeing 787 Dreamliner (they have 17); Tokyo-NRT is an easy and usually desirable stopover 

Cons: Might have to fly on Boeing 787 Dreamliner (they have 17)

U.S. cities with routes to Tokyo-NRT (and a few to Tokyo-HND) on ANA, complete guide with current aircraft and routes:

• Chicago-ORD (careful, switches between new/old 777-300ER)
• Honolulu-HNL (both to Tokyo-NRT & Tokyo-HND, on old 767-300ER)
• Los Angles-LAX (To Tokyo-NRT on new 777-300ER with First Class, to Tokyo-HND on old 777-200ER)
• New York-JFK (careful, switches between new/old 777-3ooER)
• San Francisco-SFO (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• San Jose-SJC (route suspended until Aug 2013)
• Seattle-SEA (on old 777-300ER)
• Washington-IAD (on old 777-300ER)

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ord-nrt,hnl-nrt,lax-nrt,sfo-nrt,sjc-nrt,sea-nrt,iad-nrt-pvg,c:green,pvg-akl-ppt

If routing to Tokyo-NRT via Europe on ANA, like Asiana, you’ll have to fly a different carrier from the US to Europe:

• London-LHR to Tokyo-NRT (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• Paris-CDG to Tokyo-NRT (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• Frankfurt-FRA to Tokyo-NRT (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• Munich-MUC to Tokyo-NRT (on old 777-300ER)

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=lhr-nrt,cdg-nrt,fra-nrt,muc-nrt-pvg,c:green,pvg-akl-ppt

The easiest way to get from Tokyo-NRT/HND to Papeete is to fly ANA to Shanghai-PVG and then take the direct flight on Air New Zealand to Auckland-AKL.

ANA offers a First Class cabin on their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and, although not a full-on “Suite,” the “First Class Square” gives a huge amount of privacy and looks very nice:

ANA’s new Business is a Staggered Business that, again, has a good deal of privacy:

New Business Class on 777-300ER

New Business Class on 777-300ER

Using United miles on Air China

Pros: Air China has tons of availability in all classes; you can easily book in Economy, Business and First; a stop-over in Beijing would be easy

Cons: A stop-over in China will cost $130+ for a US citizen to get a VISA no matter the length of stay; their Business Class appears to be nothing special; many of the other carriers covered would offer a better experience

Routes you can fly from the US to Beijing-PEK on Air China:

• Houston-IAH (begins July 2013) on 777-300ER –> 3-class cabin, can only find availability in Business
  
  

  IAH-PEK

• Los Angeles-LAX –> 2x flights daily on new 777-300ER
• New York-JFK –> on 777-300ER, slim availability in Business/First
• San Francisco-SFO –> on Boeing 747-400 (old?)

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=sfo-pek,lax-pek,iah-pek,jfk-pek,c:green,pek-akl-ppt

You should be able to find good availability on Air China from any of the US cities they serve:

Then, to get to Papeete-PPT, you can then choose to fly from Beijing-PEK to:

• Melbourne-MEL –> Air China A330 2-class cabin, decent availability
  
  

  Air China PVG-MEL

  

  Air China MEL-PVG

• Sydney-SYD –> Air China A330 2-class cabin, good availability
  
  

  SYD-PEK Air China

  

  PEK-SYD Air China

From Sydney-SYD or Melbourne-MEL, you’ll have to continue on to Auckland-AKL then Papeete-PPT. See above Air New Zealand section for full details.

Air China Business Class:

Air China Business Class on new 777-300ER

Air China Business Class on new 777-300ER

Air China Business Class on new 777-300ER

Air China First Class:

Air China First Class on new 777-300ER, almost like a suite

Air China First Class on new 777-300ER, almost like a suite

Air China First Class on new 777-300ER, almost like a suite

Using United miles on Air Canada:

Pros: Direct flights from N. America to 5 different Asian cities (giving you awesome flexibility); “Business Class” as shown on United is actually Air Canada’s “Executive First Suites”

Cons: Finding award space from your US city to Canada might be the weak link

Your best bet from Canada is to secure a seat on their routes to Sydney-SYD departing from:

• Toronto-YYZ –> Sydney-SYD –> slim to no award availability
• Vancouver-YVR –> Sydney-SYD –> very little availability on 2-class B777-200LR, Economy only
  

  Air Canada YVR-SYD

  

  Air Canada SYD-YVR

Air Canada is a lot like United or Delta in the sense that they have multiple hubs giving you better choices for direct flights to the same cities. Your options from Canada to Asia over the Pacific include flying via:

• Beijing-PEK from Toronto-YYZ (new Boeing 777-300ER with First Suites) and Vancouver-YVR (older Boeing 767-300)
• Tokyo-NRT from Calgary-YYC, Vancouver-YVR and Toronto-YYZ
• Hong Kong-HKG from Toronto-YYZ and Vancouver-YVR (new Boeing 777-300ER with First Suites)
• Shanghai-PVG from Toronto-YYZ and Vancouver-YVR
• Seoul-ICN from from Toronto-YYZ (new Boeing 777-300ER with First Suites) and Vancouver-YVR (older Boeing 767-300)

Executive First Suites (aka Business Class) on *updated* Boeing 777-300ER

Air Canada installed some signature cabin lighting on new 777-300ER, pretty…sexy?

This gives you the flexibility of stopping over in a number of Asian cities and then continuing on to Papeete-PPT using:

• Beijing-PEK  –> Melbourne-MEL –> Air China A330 2-class cabin, decent availability
• Beijing-PEK –> Sydney-SYD –> Air China A330 2-class cabin, good availability
• Tokyo-NRT –> Shanghai-PVG on ANA and then PVG –> Auckland-AKL on Air New Zealand
• Hong Kong-HKG –> Auckland-AKL on Air New Zealand, 2-class cabin on B777-200 limited availability in Econ only
• Shanghai-PVG  –> Auckland-AKL on Air New Zealand
• Seoul-ICN –> Sydney-SYD direct on Asiana Airlines

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=pek-mel-akl-ppt,pek-syd-akl-ppt,nrt-pvg-akl-ppt,pvg-akl-ppt,icn-syd-akl-ppt,hkg-akl-ppt

Air Canada’s main hub at Toronto hits by far the most European cities, but be sure to check some Montreal-YUL, Vancouver-YVR and Calgary-YYC for additional award space:

• Copenhagen-CPH
• Frankfurt-FRA <– Montreal-YUL & Calgary-YYC too
• Geneva-GVA <– Montreal-YUL too
• Istanbul-IST
• London-LHR <– Montreal-YUL & Vancouver-YVR too
• Paris-CDG <– Montreal-YUL too
• Tel Aviv-TLV
• Zurich-ZRH
• Barcelona-BCN
• Dublin-DUB
• Madrid-MAD
• Rome-FCO <– Montreal-YUL too
• Brussels-BRU <– Montreal-YUL only

Your stopover & open-jaw opportunities are limitless as you can fly from the following cities onward to Bangkok-BKK on Thai (choices with First Class in bold):

• Brussels-BRU –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Dublin-DUB –> No direct flight
• London-LHR –> Direct on Thai Airways (2x flights daily aboard 3-class cabin on B747)
• Madrid-MAD –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Barcelona-BCN –> No direct flight
• Geneva-GVA –> No direct flight
• Zurich-ZRH –> Direct on Thai Airways (3-class cabin on A340-600) and SWISS (only bookable up to Business on A340-300)
• Frankfurt-FRA –> Direct on Thai Airways (2x flights daily on 3-class cabin on A380! and on 3-class cabin B747) and Lufthansa (only bookable up to Business on B747-400)
• Paris-CDG –> Direct on Thai Airways (3-class cabin on A380!)
• Copenhagen-CPG –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First and VERY LITTLE availability in Business) and SAS Scandinavian Airlines Systems (2-class cabin A340-300, VERY LITTLE availability at all)
• Istanbul-IST –> Direct on Turkish Airlines (2x flights daily aboard 2-class cabin A340-300/A330)
• Tel Aviv-TLV –>  No direct flight
• Rome-FCO –> Direct on Thai Airways (3-class cabin on A340-600)

Cities with 3-class cabins in purple

Also, check above for Asiana flights to Seoul-ICN and ANA flights flights to Tokyo-NRT.

Using United miles on SWISS Airlines:

Pros: Solid Business Class; stop-over opportunity in Zurich

Cons: Can’t redeem United miles for First Class on Swiss

SWISS Airlines flies from their hub in Zurich-ZRH to the following US cities:

• Boston-BOS
• Chicago-ORD
• Los Angeles-LAX
• Miami-MIA
• Newark-EWR
• New York-JFK
• San Francisco-SFO

From Zurich, you can continue on towards Papeete-PPT by flying from Zurich-ZRH to:

• Beijing-PEK –> Good availability on 3-class A330-300, only Econ & Business bookable
  
  

  SWISS PEK-ZRH

  

  SWISS ZRH-PRK

• Shanghai-PVG –> Great availability on 3-class A340-300 in Econ & Business, First not bookable
  

  SWISS ZRH-PVG

  

  SWISS PVG-ZRH

• Tokyo-NRT –> Great availability on 3-class A340-300 in Econ & Business, First not bookable
• Singapore-SIN –> Decent availability in Econ & Business, First not bookable. 2x flights/day on 3-class A340-300 & A380-800!
• Bangkok-BKK –> Slim to no availability on SWISS, better off flying Thai on this route

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=bos-zrh,ord-zrh,lax-zrh,mia-zrh,ewr-zrh,jfk-zrh,sfo-zrh,pek-zrh,pvg-zrh,nrt-zrh,sin-zrh,bkk-zrh

From what I can tell, it’s virtually impossible to redeem your United miles for a seat in SWISS’ First Class cabin, so you’ll have to be content with their Business Class product which fortunately looks above par:

Using United miles on Lufthansa:

Pros: Huge number of flights from U.S. cities to Frankfurt/Munich; can fly the new Airbus A380 on certain routes; can do a stop-over in Frankfurt/Munich

Cons: You can’t book First Class with United miles, however Business Class is bookable and a pretty solid-looking product

Lufthansa serves the following U.S. cities from their hubs in Frankfurt-FRA & Munich-MUC (make sure to check all desirable choices for your flights to Germany while keeping in mind that most flights to Asia leave from Frankfurt-FRA):

• Atlanta-ATL only to Frankfurt-FRA
  
• Boston-BOS to Munich-MUC & Frankfurt-FRA
• Charlotte-CLT only to Munich-MUC
• Chicago-ORD to Munich-MUC & Frankfurt-FRA
• Dallas-DFW only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Denver-DEN only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Detroit-DTW only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Houston-IAH only to Frankfurt-FRA –> Airbus A380 route
• Los Angeles-LAX to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA –> Boeing 747-800 route
• Miami-MIA only to Frankfurt-FRA –> Boeing 747-800 route
• Newark-EWR to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA
• New York-JFK to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA –> Airbus A380 route
• Orland-MCO only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Philadelphia-PHL only to Frankfurt-FRA
• San Francisco-SFO to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA  –> Airbus A380 route
• Seattle-SEA only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Washington-IAD to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA –> Boeing 747-800 route
  

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=atl-fra,bos-fra,ord-fra,dfw-fra,den-fra,dtw-fra,iah-fra,lax-fra,mia-fra,ewr-fra,jfk-fra,mco-fra,phl-fra,sfo-fra,sea-fra,iad-fra,c:green,bos-muc,clt-muc,ord-muc,lax-muc,ewr-muc,jfk-muc,sfo-muc,iad-muc,ppt

Then, to continue on to Asia, you’ll fly from Frankfurt-FRA or Munich-MUC to:

• Beijing-PEK from FRA/MUC –> 3x/day between Lufthansa & Air China, excellent availability in Econ & Business, 0 in First
• Nanjing-NKG from FRA only –> Slim availability on 2-class A340-300, Business only
• Qingdao-TAO  from FRA only 
• Shanghai-PVG from FRA/MUC –>2x/day between Lufthansa & Air China, excellent availability in Econ & Business, 0 in First. On Lufthansa A380-800!
• Shenyang-SHE from FRA only –> Slim availability on 2-class A340-300, Business only
• Hong Kong-HKG from FRA/MUC –> on 2-class B747-8, good Econ availability, none in Business
• Tokyo-NRT from FRA/MUC –> Good Econ availability, none in Business
• Osaka-KIX from FRA only –> On 3-class cabin B747-400, good availability in Business & Econ, 0 in First
• Nagoya-NGO from FRA only
• Singapore-SIN from FRA/MUC
• Seoul-ICN from FRA/MUC
• Busan-PUS from MUC only
• Bangkok-BKK from FRA only

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=pek-fra,nkg-fra,tao-fra,pvg-fra,she-fra,hkg-fra,nrt-fra,kix-fra,ngo-fra,sin-fra,icn-fra,bkk-fra,c:green,pek-muc,pvg-muc,hkg-muc,nrt-muc,sin-muc,icn-muc,pus-muc,akl,ppt

It goes without saying that a Frankfurt/Munich stop-over and/or open jaw would be a perfect choice when flying Lufthansa.

Finding limited Business Class space from LAX-FRA and, like SWISS above, not a single First Class seat. Lufthansa Business Class:

Lufthansa Business cabin on Boeing 747-800

Lufthansa Business cabin on Boeing 747-800

Using United miles on Egypt Air:

Pros: Looking for an exotic, adventurous stopover? How about Cairo, Egypt?!

Cons: Cairo might not be the most stable place on this large planet of ours.

Egypt Air flies one route from the US to Egypt: New York-JFK to Cairo-CAI:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=jfk-cai,pek-cai,can-cai,nrt-cai,kix-cai,bkk-cai,dxb-cai,auh-cai,c:green,akl,ppt

You’ll have to find partner space to take you from Beijing-PEK, Bangkok-BKK etc. to Auckland-AKL then onward to Papeete-PPT.

EgyptAir operates Boeing 777-300 between these cities, which only offers up to a Business Class (full trip report here), not First, although it looks quite nice (much better than Delta!):

Business Class on EgyptAir Boeing 777-300

Business Class on EgyptAir Boeing 777-300

Business Class on EgyptAir Boeing 777-300

Using United miles on Ethiopian Airlines:

Pros: If you thought Cairo, Egypt was an exotic stopover, then you’ll just love Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!; they fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on a rotating basis (schedule here)

Cons: Seems to be hard/impossible to book Business Class with United miles and, even if you could, their Business Class looks pretty crappy on most of their aircrafts.

Ethiopian Air flies a direct flight from Washington-IAD to Addis Ababa-ADD on their Boeing 767-300:

But, unfortunately, it looks like you won’t be able to book any of their Business Class space on the IAD-ADD leg:

To continue on towards Auckland-AKL, you’ll have to fly Ethiopian to:

• Beijing-PEK
• Bangkok-BKK
• Dubai-DXB
• Mumbai-BOM

The Addis Ababa-ADD to Bangkok-BKK leg does show availability in Business, however:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=add-pek,add-bkk,dxb-add,bom-add,akl,ppt

Don’t get too excited, though, since their Business Class product looks pretty terrible (which probably explains why they don’t have any pictures on their website):

Ethiopian Airlines Business Class on Boeing 767-300

Ethiopian Airlines Business Class on Boeing 767-300

Unless you’re lucky enough to fly one of the few updated Boeing 777-200LR planes in Business:

Updated Business Class on Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 777-200LR

Updated Business Class on Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 777-200LR

Using United miles on Singapore Airlines:

Pros: Singapore Airlines has some of the nicest premium cabins in the world (see “Cons”)

Cons: Singapore Airlines has tightened their availability for United awards to the point that it’s virtually impossible to book Business, First or First Suites now (there are a few exceptions as noted below).

Singapore Airlines flies from the following US cities to Singapore-SIN, but nearly every flight requires a refueling stop given the distance:

• Newark-EWR non-stop
  
• New York-JFK w/ a stop in Frankfurt-FRA
• Houston-IAH w/ a stop in Moscow-DME
• Los Angeles-LAX w/ a stop in Tokyo-NRT
• San Francisco-SFO w/ a stop in Seoul-ICN/Hong Kong-HKG

Other options if you’re just wanting to try out Singapore Airline’s world renowned service:

• Manchester-MAN
• London-LHR
• Amsterdam-AMS
• Paris-CDG
• Copenhagen-CPH
• Frankfurt-FRA
• Zurich-ZRH
• Munich-MUC
• Milan-MXP
• Moscow-DME
• Barcelona-BCN
• Rome-FCO — some availability in Business Class
• Istanbul-IST
• Cairo-CAI — a lot of availability in Business Class

Getting from Singapore-SIN to Papeete-PPT can be accomplished  by flying one of the following routes:

• SIN to Christchurch-CHC, then CHC-AKL on Air New Zealand –> Availability in Business class B777-200
• SIN to Sydney-SYD, then SYD-AKL on Air New Zealand –> On A380
• SIN to Bangkok-BKK, then BKK-AKL on Thai Airways
• SIN to Tokyo-NRT, then NRT-AKL on Air New Zealand
• SIN to Shanghai-PVG, then PVG-AKL on Air New Zealand

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=sin-chc,sin-syd,sin-bkk,sin-nrt,sin-pvg,c:green,chc-akl,syd-akl,bkk-akl,nrt-akl,pvg-akl-ppt

The non-stop Newark-EWR to Singapore-SIN route is an all Business Class aircraft, meaning the airplane has 100 Business Class seats and no Economy seat and it’s currently the world’s longest flight!–pretty cool, right?:

Cabin of SQ 21 from EWR-SIN

The bad news? They’re canceling the flight in Nov 2013 and it’s currently impossible to book a seat on it using United miles (AMEX points –> KrisFlyer miles is a different story and will be covered in a future post).

Here’s an example of Singapore’s availability from Paris-CDG to Singapore-SIN:

There’s availability almost everyday in Sep/Oct 2013 but in Economy only; on the plus side, it’s on Singapore’s Airbus A380.

They do, however, release more Business/First award space on their regional flights:

Using United miles on Brussels Airlines flights:

Pros: Pretty good looking Business Class seat

Cons: Very few options to get from the U.S. to Brussels

Brussels Airlines isn’t a very strong option for getting from the US to Asia/Oceania. In fact, they only offer the following choices from their Brussels-BRU hub:

• New York-JFK
• Washington-IAD

You’ll then have to use another carrier like Thai Airways to get you the majority of the way to Bangkok-BKK or another hub that can send you down to Auckland-AKL.

Another not-so-great thing is that Brussels Airlines operates a two-cabin Airbus A330-300 with Business and Economy on their JFK and IAD routes:

But they have been recently updated:

Looks very similar to Lufthansa’s Business Class

Whereas you could fly United’s Boeing 777-200 in Global First:

Using United miles on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System):

Pros: Can easily arrange a stop-over or open-jaw in Scandinavia

Cons: SAS only has 2-class cabin from US to Scandinavia

SAS flies to following routes to/from the U.S.:

• Newark-EWR–> Copenhagen-CPH (2-class A340-300), Oslo-OSL (2-class A330), Stockholm-ARN (2-class A330-300)
• San Francisco-SFO–> Copenhagen-CPH (slim to no availability)
• Chicago-ORD–> Stockholm-ARN (2-class A330-300), Copenhagen-CPH (2-class A340-300)
• Washington-IAD–> Copenhagen-CPH (2-class A340-300)

Options from Scandinavia to Oceania include:

• Copenhagen-CPG –> Direct on SAS (2-class cabin A340-300) and Thai Airways (2-class cabin B777-300, little Business availability but plenty in Economy)
• Stockholm-ARN –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B777-300)
• Oslo-OSL –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B777-200, little Business availability but plenty in Economy)
• –> Beijing-PEK direct on SAS
• –> Shanghai-PVG direct on SAS

You’ll have to fly either Thai Airways or Air New Zealand to continue onward to Auckland-AKL

The post Ultimate Honeymoon: French Polynesia with United miles first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Why Thailand?

(this first part is a repeat if you’ve already read the Thailand with Delta Skymiles post)

Ok, so I picked an easy one for our 1^st installment: Thailand.

Thailand can be an awesome honeymoon pick for a few reasons:

1. It is home to some of the most exotic beaches and landscape in the world.
   Gallery from our trip in 2011:
   
2. You can split your time between beaches and exploring bustling Bangkok or Chiang Mai in the interior. You’ll get a good mix of beach, city and tranquil mountains.
   Gallery from our trip in 2011:
   
3. Situated in central Asia, it’s easy to  use United miles and do a stopover in just about anywhere (United miles are very flexible).
4. Bangkok is a relatively cheap hub to fly into/out of.

How to Get There:

Pay for Airfare

From the East Coast, this will ding you for around $1,300 to $1,700 in Economy, but who wants to fly Economy–especially if you’re on a honeymoon?! Departing from the West Coast should shave a few hundred off those figures.

Use Delta Skymiles (outlined here)

Use United miles

If you have at least 65k United miles, you can book a roundtrip ticket from North America to Thailand in Economy. Booking in Business will cost you 120k miles and isn’t really worth the difference. If you’re willing and able to pay the extra miles for Business, you’re best off paying the full 140k miles it takes to book a roundtrip ticket in the First Class cabin.  But, when taking into consideration you’re booking for two people, 140k miles might already be a stretch, so 280k for Business might be simply out of reach.

Benefits of using United miles to consider when researching:

Like Delta, United allows you to have 1 stopover and 1 open jaw for free! And, given that Thai Airways is a member of the Star Alliance, you’ll certainly take advantage of this on a visit to Thailand with United miles. This means your final itinerary could look something like (which is the same route we flew a few months ago):

Day 1: Fly US – London-LHR – Bangkok-BKK
Day 2-4: Explore Bangkok
Day 5: Purchase cheap flight to Krabi Beach, Thailand
Day 5-7: Enjoy resorts in Krabi, take boat trip to Phi Phi Islands
Day 7-8: Rent car and drive from Krabi to Khoa Lak and/or Phuket
Day 9: Use open jaw on award to fly direct from Phuket-HKT to Hong Kong-HKG
Day 9-11: Explore Hong Kong
Day 12: Fly from Hong Kong-HKG back to US, using your stopover

This example itinerary makes use of the stopover (in Hong Kong-HKG) and then the open jaw (flying into Bangkok-BKK and then out of Phuket-HKT). This is how you can really maximize your United miles when award booking.

Also import to note: With United, it’s both easy and allowed to route to Bangkok-BKK via Asia or via Europe (at least from the East coast). It’s actually shocking that it’s almost equidistant. Washington-IAD to Bankgok-BKK via London-LHR is 9,635 miles whereas Washington to Bangkok via Tokyo-NRT is 9,642 miles, just a 7 mile difference! How’s that for “exactly on the other side of the world!”

Using United miles on United Aircraft

Very similar to Delta, the only city that United flies into Bangkok-BKK from is Tokyo-NRT.  So, if you’re looking to get to Bangkok strictly on United aircraft, you absolutely can, but your options will be limited.

US cities to Tokyo-NRT on United:

• Chicago-ORD
• Denver-DEN
• Honolulu-HNL
• Houston-IAH
• Los Angeles-LAX
• Newark-EWR
• San Francisco-SFO
• Seattle-SEA
• Washington-Dulles-IAD

It’s also worth noting, for the sake of planning your stopover, that United flies into Tokyo-NRT from these other cities as well:

• Guam-GUM
• Hong Kong-HKG
• Seoul-ICN
• Singapore-SIN

–> How to book your flights

Unlike Delta.com, the United website is actually very good and should make searching for availability a breeze. As a result, I would start your search by simply inputting your desired dates as a one-way search and see what pops up. You’ll want to search as a one-way to start with because booking the stopover and open jaw can get slightly tricky and it’s helpful to have already found your award space to start with.

Select the “One Way” search, make sure to enter the actual size of your party keeping in mind that if you enter “6” you likely won’t find a single award available–with large groups you’ll probably have to split up, and “Award Travel”

Taking a 4-month sampling, I’m already finding much, much better availability than Delta offers:

Right off the bat, I find a low-level Economy that prices at 32.5k miles for the one-way award using the CHS-IAD-NRT-BKK routing:

If you’re booking a simple round-trip, you can use the search as is on the United site. If, however, you’re interested in taking advantage of the stopover/open jaw, you’ll want to search for your flights with the one-way tool, find your dates and insure availability and then enter the exact dates and routes in the “multiple destinations” search:

Select your predetermined flights and then cross your fingers that everything prices out correctly:

Success! Just as expected, my itinerary comes out to 65k miles/person in Economy.

Your next step is to ticket it if you have enough miles in your account or it gives you an option to hold the reservation until midnight the following day.

This can be a very useful feature if you’re still trying to tweak your award, so I would almost encourage not having enough United miles in your account so you have the option to reserve–it just gives you a little extra flexibility. You’ll then need to call in and have the award ticketed once your transfer the miles to your account.

Using United miles on Thai Airways

If you aim is to get to Thailand and you’re using United miles, then you’re very fortunate in that Thai Airways–the national airline of the South Pacific country–is a Star Alliance member. Thai has an excellent reputation for service, especially in its First Class cabin.

Thai Airways has a very impressive route network throughout Europe, giving you dozens of great stop over/open jaw choices if you choose to stop in Europe when going to/from Thailand, but only one route choice from the U.S.

In fact, the only U.S. city that Thai flies to is Los Angeles-LAX — but it requires a stop in Seoul-ICN:

Makes sense that they stop though: Seoul-ICN couldn’t be more perfectly enroute to Bangkok-BKK. With the stop, it’s 8,271 miles. Without it? 8,270 miles, just a 1 mile difference.

So, if you’re flying Thai, you’ll either be headed West and take the flight above or taking a Star Alliance partner flight (United, US Air, Lufthansa etc..) to connect you to one of these Thai Airways cities:

European cities to Bangkok-BKK on Thai Airways

• Brussels-BRU (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Copenhagen-CPH (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First and VERY LITTLE availability in Business)
• London-LHR (2x flights daily aboard 3-class cabin on B747)
• Paris-CDG (3-class cabin on A380!)
• Madrid-MAD (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Munich-MUC
• Frankfurt-FRA (2x flights daily on 3-class cabin on A380! and on 3-class cabin B747)
• Rome-FCO (3-class cabin on A340-600)
• Milan-MXP
• Moscow-DME
• Stockholm-ARN
• Zurich-ZRH (3-class cabin on A340-600)

Most (if not all) of these routes will have Thai’s Royal First cabin and, if you’ve already planned to splurge on the First Class award, I would highly recommend making sure you get to try it. Here’s a gallery from our flight from London-LHR to Bangkok-BKK in Royal First:

The other huge advantage you have in using United/Star Alliance miles to travel around Thailand is that Thai Airways flies to just about every city in Thailand, again leaving you with huge opportunities for stopovers/open jaws.

The top tourist destinations include Bangkok-BKK to (in order of popularity?):

• Phuket-HKT
• Chiang Mai-CNX
• Krabi-KBV
• Ko Samui-USM
• Chiang Rai-CEI
• Surat Thani-URT

A great option is the one we used on our trip:  we took the London-LHR to Bangkok-BKK route on the way in and then took the non-stop Thai Airways Phuket-HKT to Hong Kong-HKG route on the way home.

Using United miles on Asiana Airways:

Pros: Great First Class, even new First Class Suite is bookable, routes directly to Phuket-HKT or Bangkok-BKK, have the option of routing via Europe as well

Cons: Routing via Europe likely only available from Eastern U.S., planning a stopover in Seoul could be risky with North Korea situation

Asiana Airways, headquartered in Seoul-ICN, has a great reputation for their superb quality First Class cabin and service. If you’re interested in flying on Asiana, you’ll most likely fly from the US to Seoul-ICN over the Pacific from one of these cites:

• Chicago-ORD on Boeing 777-200ER = New First Class Suites
• Honolulu-HNL
• Los Angeles-LAX on Boeing 747-400 = Older First Class Cabin
• New York-JFK on Boeing 777-200ER = New First Class Suites (starting July 22)
• San Francisco-SFO
• Seattle-SEA

If you can’t find what you need availability-wise leaving from the US, you can also take United/US/Lufthansa/Swiss from the US to Europe and then fly Asiana from one of the cities listed below to Seoul-ICN:

• Paris-CDG
• Frankfurt-FRA
• London-LHR

Note: You can probably pull off flying from the East Coast to Bangkok-BKK via Europe and Seoul-ICN, but there’s a good chance it won’t be allowable when flying from the West Coast. You’ll likely violate the MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage) rules for a United award ticket.

Once in Seoul-ICN, you’ll be able to fly directly to either Bangkok-BKK:

At least 3 direct flights daily, your choice from Thai Airways or Asiana. The aircraft only offers Economy and Business Class, no First Class on this route.

Or directly from Seoul-ICN to Phuket-HKT:

At least 2 direct flights daily, your choice from Thai Airways or Asiana. The aircraft only offers Economy and Business Class, no First Class on this route.

Asiana First Class in Boeing 747-400

Asiana First Class in Boeing 747-400

Asiana First Class in Boeing 747-400

I mean, look how comfortable this dude looks.

I would personally try to shoot for their First Class suite that will begin flying JFK-ICN on July 22, 2013:

Using United miles on ANA – All Nippon Airways:

Pros: Get to fly on Boeing 787 Dreamliner (they have 17), if stopping over in Tokyo-NRT you have many choices for the Bangkok-BKK connection

Cons: Might have to fly on Boeing 787 Dreamliner (they have 17)

U.S. cities with routes to Tokyo-NRT (and a few to Tokyo-HND) on ANA, complete guide with current aircraft and routes:

• Chicago-ORD (careful, switches between new/old 777-300ER)
• Honolulu-HNL (both to Tokyo-NRT & Tokyo-HND, on old 767-300ER)
• Los Angles-LAX (To Tokyo-NRT on new 777-300ER with First Class, to Tokyo-HND on old 777-200ER)
• New York-JFK (careful, switches between new/old 777-3ooER)
• San Francisco-SFO (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• San Jose-SJC (route suspended until Aug 2013)
• Seattle-SEA (on old 777-300ER)
• Washington-IAD (on old 777-300ER)

If routing to Tokyo-NRT via Europe on ANA, like Asiana, you’ll have to fly a different carrier from the US to Europe:

• London-LHR to Tokyo-NRT (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• Paris-CDG to Tokyo-NRT (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• Frankfurt-FRA to Tokyo-NRT (on new 777-300ER with First Class)
• Munich-MUC to Tokyo-NRT (on old 777-300ER)

Once in Tokyo-NRT, you’ll have an insane number of choices to get to Bangkok-BKK including United, Thai, ANA and Air Japan. It’s important to note that United is the only carrier to offer a First Class cabin (it’s their Fifth Freedom route that is a continuation from their flights from the U.S.):

Example of award availability from Tokyo to Bangkok

ANA offers a First Class cabin on their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and, although not a full-on “Suite,” the “First Class Square” gives a huge amount of privacy and looks very nice:

ANA’s new Business is a Staggered Business that, again, has a good deal of privacy:

New Business Class on 777-300ER

New Business Class on 777-300ER

Using United miles on Air China

Pros: Air China has tons of availability in all classes, you can easily book in Economy, Business and First, a stopover in Beijing would be easy

Cons: A stopover in China will cost $130+ for a US citizen to get a VISA no matter the length of stay, their Business Class appears to be nothing special, many of the other carriers covered would offer a better experience

Routes you can fly from the US to Beijing-PEK on Air China:

• Houston-IAH (begins July 2013) on 777-300ER
• Los Angeles-LAX –> 2x flights daily on new 777-300ER
• New York-JFK –> on 777-300ER, slim availability in Business/First
• San Francisco-SFO –> on Boeing 747-400 (old?)

You should be able to find plenty of availability on Air China from any of the US cities they serve:

Then, to get to Thailand, you can then choose to fly to either:

• Bangkok-BKK (4x flights per day, 2 Thai & 2 Air China)
• Phuket-HKT (little availability)

Air China Business Class:

Air China Business Class on new 777-300ER

Air China Business Class on new 777-300ER

Air China Business Class on new 777-300ER

Air China First Class:

Air China First Class on new 777-300ER, almost like a suite

Air China First Class on new 777-300ER, almost like a suite

Air China First Class on new 777-300ER, almost like a suite

Using United miles on Air Canada:

Pros: Direct flights from N. America to 5 different Asian cities (giving you awesome flexibility) + those Asian cities have great availability to Bangkok-BKK or Phuket-HKT, “Business Class” as shown on United is actually Air Canada’s “Executive First Suites”

Cons: Finding award space from your US city to Canada might be the weak link

Air Canada is a lot like a United or Delta in the sense that they have multiple hubs giving you better choices for direct flights to the same cities. Your options from Canada to Bangkok-BKK over the Pacific include flying via:

• Beijing-PEK from Toronto-YYZ (new Boeing 777-300ER with First Suites) and Vancouver-YVR (older Boeing 767-300)
• Tokyo-NRT from Calgary-YYC, Vancouver-YVR and Toronto-YYZ
• Hong Kong-HKG from Toronto-YYZ and Vancouver-YVR (new Boeing 777-300ER with First Suites)
• Shanghai-PVG from Toronto-YYZ and Vancouver-YVR
• Seoul-ICN from from Toronto-YYZ (new Boeing 777-300ER with First Suites) and Vancouver-YVR (older Boeing 767-300)

Executive First Suites (aka Business Class) on *updated* Boeing 777-300ER

Air Canada installed some signature cabin lighting on new 777-300ER, pretty…sexy?

This gives you the flexibility of stopping over in a number of Asian cities and then continuing on to Thailand using:

• Beijing-PEK  –> Bangkok-BKK direct on Air China and Thai Airways (4x daily)
• Beijing-PEK –> Phuket-HKT direct on Air China (only 3x per week)
• Tokyo-NRT –> Bangkok-BKK direct on United, ANA (All Nippon Airways) or Thai Airways
• Hong Kong-HKG –> Bangkok-BKK direct on Thai Airways (5x daily) w/ First Class
• Shanghai-PVG  –> Bangkok-BKK direct on Thai Airways (2x daily)
• Seoul-ICN –> Bangkok-BKK direct on Asiana Airlines and Thai Airways (3x daily)
• Seoul-ICN –> Phuket-HKT direct on Asiana Airlines and Thai Airways (2x daily)

Air Canada’s main hub at Toronto hits by far the most European cities, but be sure to check some Montreal-YUL, Vancouver-YVR and Calgary-YYC for additional award space:

• Copenhagen-CPH
• Frankfurt-FRA <– Montreal-YUL & Calgary-YYC too
• Geneva-GVA <– Montreal-YUL too
• Istanbul-IST
• London-LHR <– Montreal-YUL & Vancouver-YVR too
• Paris-CDG <– Montreal-YUL too
• Tel Aviv-TLV
• Zurich-ZRH
• Barcelona-BCN
• Dublin-DUB
• Madrid-MAD
• Rome-FCO <– Montreal-YUL too
• Brussels-BRU <– Montreal-YUL only

Your stopover & open-jaw opportunities are limitless as you can fly from the following cities onward to Bangkok-BKK (choices with First Class in bold):

• Brussels-BRU –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Dublin-DUB –> No direct flight
• London-LHR –> Direct on Thai Airways (2x flights daily aboard 3-class cabin on B747)
• Madrid-MAD –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First)
• Barcelona-BCN –> No direct flight
• Geneva-GVA –> No direct flight
• Zurich-ZRH –> Direct on Thai Airways (3-class cabin on A340-600) and SWISS (only bookable up to Business on A340-300)
• Frankfurt-FRA –> Direct on Thai Airways (2x flights daily on 3-class cabin on A380! and on 3-class cabin B747) and Lufthansa (only bookable up to Business on B747-400)
• Paris-CDG –> Direct on Thai Airways (3-class cabin on A380!)
• Copenhagen-CPG –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B 777-300, no First and VERY LITTLE availability in Business) and SAS Scandinavian Airlines Systems (2-class cabin A340-300, VERY LITTLE availability at all)
• Istanbul-IST –> Direct on Turkish Airlines (2x flights daily aboard 2-class cabin A340-300/A330)
• Tel Aviv-TLV –>  No direct flight
• Rome-FCO –> Direct on Thai Airways (3-class cabin on A340-600)

Cities with 3-class cabins in purple

Using United miles on SWISS Airlines:

Pros: Solid Business Class, stopover opportunity in Zurich

Cons: Can’t redeem United miles for First Class on Swiss

SWISS Airlines flies from their hub in Zurich-ZRH to the following US cities:

• Boston-BOS
• Chicago-ORD
• Los Angeles-LAX
• Miami-MIA
• Newark-EWR
• New York-JFK
• San Francisco-SFO

From what I can tell, it’s virtually impossible to redeem your United miles for a seat in SWISS’ First Class cabin, so you’ll have to be content with their Business Class product which fortunately looks above par:

Using United miles on Lufthansa:

Pros: Huge number of flights from U.S. cities to Frankfurt/Munich, can fly the new Airbus A380 on certain routes, can do a stopover in Frankfurt/Munich

Cons: You can’t book First Class with United miles, however Business Class is bookable and a pretty solid-looking product

Lufthansa serves the following U.S. cities from their hubs in Frankfurt-FRA & Munich-MUC (make sure to check all desirable choices for your flights to Germany while keeping in mind that the only flight to Bangkok-BKK leaves from Frankfurt-FRA):

• Atlanta-ATL only to Frankfurt-FRA
  
• Boston-BOS to Munich-MUC & Frankfurt-FRA
• Charlotte-CLT only to Munich-MUC
• Chicago-ORD to Munich-MUC & Frankfurt-FRA
• Dallas-DFW only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Denver-DEN only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Detroit-DTW only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Houston-IAH only to Frankfurt-FRA –> Airbus A380 route
• Los Angeles-LAX to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA –> Boeing 747-800 route
• Miami-MIA only to Frankfurt-FRA –> Boeing 747-800 route
• Newark-EWR to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA
• New York-JFK to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA –> Airbus A380 route
• Orland-MCO only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Philadelphia-PHL only to Frankfurt-FRA
• San Francisco-SFO to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA  –> Airbus A380 route
• Seattle-SEA only to Frankfurt-FRA
• Washington-IAD to Munich-MUC  & Frankfurt-FRA –> Boeing 747-800 route

It goes without saying that a Frankfurt/Munich stopover and/or open jaw would be a perfect choice when flying Lufthansa.

Finding limited Business Class space from LAX-FRA and, like SWISS above, not a single First Class seat. Lufthansa Business Class:

Lufthansa Business cabin on Boeing 747-800

Lufthansa Business cabin on Boeing 747-800

Using United miles on Egypt Air:

Pros: Looking for an exotic, adventurous stopover? How about Cairo, Egypt?!

Cons: Cairo might not be the most stable place on this large planet of ours.

Egypt Air flies one route from the US to Egypt: New York-JFK to Cairo-CAI:

It actually turns out to be one of the more direct routes from the US to Bangkok via the Atlantic and it’s bookable in Economy/Business:

EgyptAir operates Boeing 777-300 between these cities, which only offers up to a Business Class (full trip report here), not First, although it looks quite nice (much better than Delta!):

Business Class on EgyptAir Boeing 777-300

Business Class on EgyptAir Boeing 777-300

Business Class on EgyptAir Boeing 777-300

Using United miles on Ethiopian Airlines:

Pros: If you thought Cairo, Egypt was an exotic stopover, then you’ll just love Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!, they fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on a rotating basis (schedule here)

Cons: Seems to be hard/impossible to book Business Class with United miles and, even if you could, their Business Class looks pretty crappy on most of their aircrafts.

Ethiopian Air flies a direct flight from Washington-IAD to Addis Ababa-ADD on their Boeing 767-300:

Bu, unfortunately, it looks like you won’t be able to book any of their Business Class space on the IAD-ADD leg:

The Addis Ababa-ADD to Bangkok-BKK leg does show availability in Business, however:

Don’t get too excited, though, since their Business Class product looks pretty terrible (which probably explains why they don’t have any pictures on their website):

Ethiopian Airlines Business Class on Boeing 767-300

Ethiopian Airlines Business Class on Boeing 767-300

Unless you’re lucky enough to fly one of the few updated Boeing 777-200LR planes in Business:

Updated Business Class on Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 777-200LR

Updated Business Class on Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 777-200LR

Using United miles on Singapore Airlines:

Pros: Singapore Airlines has some of the nicest premium cabins in the world (see “Cons”)

Cons: Singapore Airlines has tightened their availability for United awards to the point that it’s virtually impossible to book Business, First or First Suites now (there are a few exceptions as noted below).

Singapore Airlines flies from the following US cities to Singapore-SIN, but nearly every flight requires a refueling stop given the distance:

• Newark-EWR non-stop
  
• New York-JFK w/ a stop in Frankfurt-FRA
• Houston-IAH w/ a stop in Moscow-DME
• Los Angeles-LAX w/ a stop in Tokyo-NRT
• San Francisco-SFO w/ a stop in Seoul-ICN/Hong Kong-HKG

Other options if you’re just wanting to try out Singapore Airline’s world renowned service:

• Manchester-MAN
• London-LHR
• Amsterdam-AMS
• Paris-CDG
• Copenhagen-CPH
• Frankfurt-FRA
• Zurich-ZRH
• Munich-MUC
• Milan-MXP
• Moscow-DME
• Barcelona-BCN
• Rome-FCO — some availability in Business Class
• Istanbul-IST
• Cairo-CAI — a lot of availability in Business Class

The non-stop Newark-EWR to Singapore-SIN route is an all Business Class aircraft, meaning the airplane has 100 Business Class seats and no Economy seat and it’s currently the world’s longest flight!–pretty cool, right?:

Cabin of SQ 21 from EWR-SIN

The bad news? They’re canceling the flight in Nov 2013 and it’s currently impossible to book a seat on it using United miles (AMEX points –> KrisFlyer miles is a different story and will be covered in a future post).

Here’s an example of Singapore’s availability from Paris-CDG to Singapore-SIN:

There’s availability almost everyday in Sep/Oct 2013 but in Economy only, on the plus side it’s on Singapore’s Airbus A380.

They do, however, release more Business/First award space on their regional flights:

Using United miles on Brussels Airlines flights:

Pros: Pretty good looking Business Class seat

Cons: Very few options to get from the U.S. to Brussels

Brussels Airlines isn’t a very strong option for getting from the US to Thailand, in fact they only offer the following choices from their Brussels-BRU hub:

• New York-JFK
• Washington-IAD

You’ll then have to use another carrier like Thai Airways to get you the majority of the way to Bangkok-BKK.

Another not so great thing is that Brussels Airlines operates a two-cabin Airbus A330-300 with Business and Economy on their JFK and IAD routes:

But they have been recently updated:

Looks very similar to Lufthansa’s Business Class

Whereas you could fly United’s Boeing 777-200 in Global First:

Using United miles on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System):

Pros: Can easily arrange a stopover or open-jaw in Scandinavia

Cons: SAS only has 2-class cabin from US to Scandinavia

SAS flies to following routes to/from the U.S.:

• Newark-EWR–> Copenhagen-CPH (2-class A340-300), Oslo-OSL (2-class A330), Stockholm-ARN (2-class A330-300)
• San Francisco-SFO–> Copenhagen-CPH (slim to no availability)
• Chicago-ORD–> Stockholm-ARN (2-class A330-300), Copenhagen-CPH (2-class A340-300)
• Washington-IAD–> Copenhagen-CPH (2-class A340-300)

Options from Scandinavia to Bangkok-BKK include:

• Copenhagen-CPG –> Direct on SAS (2-class cabin A340-300) and Thai Airways (2-class cabin B777-300, little Business availability but plenty in Economy)
• Stockholm-ARN –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B777-300)
• Oslo-OSL –> Direct on Thai Airways (2-class cabin B777-200, little Business availability but plenty in Economy)

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