Around The World In 80 Hours: Introduction

ok, i think it's safe to say you can skip all the other parts and just post directly about your hello kitty flights! 😉

"The ticket cost 90,000 US Airways Dividend Miles, plus $122.60 in taxes."

Wait, was TPE to LAX free? I think I'm missing something, sorry. In my defense that happens a lot... 🙂

@ TravelinWilly -- Sorry, why would TPE-LAX be free? That's the cost for the full "round the world" trip.

13 hours in Paris, 19 in Tokyo and seven in Taipei...

@Lucky - See, I'm exhibit A for "Why multitasking during a month-end makes for lazy reading." I didn't realize that the TPE-LAX etc. portion was the "return" from the N. Asia outbound.

Ignore all future comments of mine until after the first of November, please.

Back to work for me.

Hey Lucky,

How do you search on ITA for hello kitty routes?

Thanks!

@ Poptarts -- There's no way to search it on ITA, but this website lists all the Hello Kitty routes:
http://evakitty.evaair.com/en/

Can you book the route in separate days? Like staying 2 days in Paris then 2 days in Beijing?

I'm still missing the attraction to a plane decorated like Hello Kitty

@ Jay -- In addition to the destination you're allowed one stopover OR one open jaw over 24 hours. So you could stop in one city other than the destination (like Paris or Beijing) for two days, but then you couldn't have an open jaw.

Can you elaborate as to why you didn't include SEA to ORD?

@ Scott -- Unfortunately I couldn't find any award availability for that segment.

I think I saw you with your lady friend in Taipei at the EVA lounge. I think I was also behind you and your friend on the escalator way down from the 2nd floor towards the gates.

Planning to put together my review of TPE-SFO in their EVA Royal Laurel class, but after being spoilt in CX First Class from SFO-HKG, it's a tough spot for EVA! It's my first two international award flights ever!

Thought the EVA Infinity lounge in TPE was their earnest attempt at mimicking Virgin's own nightclub-like lounges that didn't quite make it.

Have you ever thought about entering your name in the Guinness World Records?
I doubt there is anybody out there who has ever done this !

Lucky, could you help to compare the seat width and comfort between US Envoy and EVA air? EVA air is tight for me.

Sorry, still not grasping how/why US Air did not insist this should really be an around-the-world booking. I get the 90k business award US-Europe-North Asia. Got it. Are you not charged for ATW just because of the open jaw at the end?

Agree Jorge and not get paid heavily for this is beyond my ken. There is a programme that's been around for a time called "Outlook" and many variants and OS systems. These programs allow me to route through PPT or HNL back to Oz for lunch or dinner and over night and continue on. Visa versa to Europe. This takes planing and schedulung. When you have to do ATW trips west is best, travel with the sun and in daylight, no wonder you were shot on this routing.

@ JH -- I'll cover that in more detail in the individual installments. Generally I found the EVA seat to be more comfortable than the US seat, so if you found the EVA seat to be too tight I'd stay away from the US Envoy Suite.

@ Greg -- Because this is a roundtrip to North Asia, routed one way via the Atlantic and one way via the Pacific. Aeroplan, United, US Airways all allow this on a roundtrip award between those regions, so it's nothing out of the ordinary.

@Greg - I shared your confusion yesterday (Scroll up), until I figured it out. It certainly wasn't explicit.

Hello Lucky - Does it matter if you have the stop-over/open jaw on the way to Asia or on the return? For example would IAH-SJC-NRT-ZRH (open jaw) BRU-JFK-IAH be a valid routing for this type of award?

Thanks
KG

Also since Star Alliance doesn't seem to have a strong presence at JFK, could I take the last segment from EWR-IAH instead, or does this count as another open jaw?

Thanks
KG

@ KG -- So technically your open jaw has to be at your turnaround point, which in this case is Asia. So technically the open jaw should be either in the US or in Asia. In practice that's not always enforced though.

JFK/EWR are considered co-terminal for these purposes, so that should be fine.

Hi Lucky,

How many stop-overs can I have for open jaw ticket on an US Airways award from the US to Asia via Europe? For example, would this routing:JFK-VIE(stopover)-CDG-PEK-TEI(stopover)-LAX a valid one for the 90K business award?

@ Andrew -- You can have either one stopover OR one open jaw, though not both. So you can either stop in Vienna enroute to your final destination OR fly out of New York and return to Los Angeles. But you can't do both per the rules.

Thanks Lucky. I thought you have a stop-over in Tokyo (from the trip that you wrote in this article) but it looks like you stayed in Toyko less than 24 hrs so that is considered a layover right?

@ Andrew -- Tokyo was considered the destination. I didn't have a stopover.

ANA 787 Business SJC-NRT!