Two of my favorite places in the world are Hong Kong and Bali. It had been well over a year since I’ve spent any amount of time in Hong Kong, and it had been several years since I’ve visited Bali. While I’m all for visiting new places, sometimes it’s nice to return to places which…
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Whoa, so how many trip reports has it been without Lufthansa first?! Lucky, you feeling okay there? I'm getting worried 😛
Anyway, looove these trip reports. Keep 'em coming, and thanks for all the hard work!
Did you get Cathay's reverse herringbone business class or was it their regional again?
You are moderating and censoring comments now?? Wow, can't wait to blow up ft with that
@lucky: Love your blog and especially your trip reports. One request though, would you mind reviewing uncommon airlines like Royal Jordanian, Kuwait Air, Egypt Air, Air India etc.?
"For one, it would allow me to show Ford some of my favorite places in the world, including Hong Kong and Bali, both places I haven’t been before." - You mean HE hasn't been to those places before, right?
Awesome, a new trip report!
I was charged taxes and fees of $27.80 plus a fare of $6 for a Cathay First award from JFK-CAN... is there a reason as to why, since you were charged $5.60? I was also charged for a US Int'l Departure Tax and a US Pas Facility charge. I have 2 more of the same awards ticketed, albeit in Business but the taxes were all the same so I didnt think much of it. Did I make an error somewhere along the way?
Thanks!
Awesome RTW trip! Don't lose your voice based on the trolls and hyper-sensitive commenters who lose their sh*t if you say something remotely non-PC or make fun of their favorite airline. I noticed your final BA review did not reference the disgruntled appearance as in your original "worst FA ever" post. I will take Lucky uncut.
@ Alvin -- Managed to get a reverse herringbone seat from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. 🙂
@ David W -- I believe it depends on where you're terminating travel as well. You shouldn't be charged any US customs fees when departing the US as far as I know, as that's charged when arriving instead.
"While I’m all for visiting new places, sometimes it’s nice to return to places which feel like home". It's your life and blog, but for someone who is living on hotels full-time for over a year, you haven't published any significant new place or air company. There was very good content, as usual, but it was more of the same variation.
How about reviewing the gay bars in Hong Kong and Bali?
And don't tell me you never went or turned on grinder 🙂
Ben, we've been waiting your old trip reports for months. Tell us once for all if there is any chance to read the Iceland, Portugal etc. trip reports! I think a lot of people would like to know if you lost all the pictures and files about those trips.
Don't get me wrong, it's a nice post indeed but the problem is the same I've mentioned before. You tend to fly AA, BA, CX, QR, EK and EY. I just want you to know that we've seen plenty of trip report about these products. Now we would love to see other airlines that you have flown less often or you haven't flown at all.
Nice post, have a great Sunday!
"Don’t lose your voice based on the trolls and hyper-sensitive commenters who lose their sh*t if you say something remotely non-PC or make fun of their favorite airline"
Girl, try removing your head out of a certain someone's anus, and you might see that it didn't quite go down that way...
@DavidW For over a year, Cathay has been charging a small fee for any flight departing HK. Since it is a fee, not a tax, AA codes it as a fare which triggers additional taxes. https://saverocity.com/miles4more/whats-going-hong-kong/
"For this flight I first locked in the Abu Dhabi to New York flight, which would be operated by the Etihad A380."
Would love to know how you did that... You must own some magic stones or something.
Seriously you hope the damn readers will buy anything you say, right?
@ Tyler - What's so shocking about blogs being moderated by their owners? As for FT being a bastion of free speech, comments posted there also must meet the moderators' standards or they are removed even after posting.
@PM
Lucky has review Royal Jordanian in the past, don't think he will do it again anytime soon.
Just to give you a hint after the RJ flight the purser said that the Captain was planning to retire because he was scared to fly again. Think Lucky said he was writing his will or last message on a napkin or something like that, been a while don't remember the details 100% except it was bad flight.
@Cristiano - I think you can give up waiting as that ship has long sunk. Now all we have to look forward to reading is Ford this and Ford that.
Cool, how did you book Ford's way home? Was it in Y or was it on another F product?
@ Al - Come on, the man is in love.
At the risk of the shitstorm of fanboyz screeching "hater" "homophobe" etc for daring to pick nits with their Dios of all things...
"since they [AA] realize that the flight within the Middle East is really “only” business class."
Methinks this is just a function of the alignment of OneWorld tariffs whereby (wooooo your new favorite word [hater/homophobe how dare I do that?]) the shortish connex and/or inter-regional segment is "upgraded" to whatever exists as the "top" cabin [hater/homophobe how dare I do that]).
Multiple examples but most relevant to me are the Central America biz fares to pretty much anywhere on the west coast of the US -- in the "old" days, I could add MIA-JFK and fly Flagship" F on JFK-LAX/SFO, albeit on the ancient (and missed) 762s. Similarly in daze gone by, I could connect to F on the 772 MIA-LAX.
Fast forward and I can still connect to F on 2-class transcons but only biz on 3-class transcons. Looking at paid fares for many regions, it appears to me (hat... oh never mind!) most fares on OW carriers are similarly aligned.
so do you set up all these awards online yourself or do you call aa to make the award reservations?
do you have the whole itinerary reserved when you leave on the first flight and set up the next leg right before taking it?
how do you find out about allowed layovers?
i am interested in the cathay pacific first class to thailand but would not mind making stops if i can get it all on one award ticket.
Ben, I love your blog, but I have to raise the issue again that this was not Ford's first trip to Asia. The UAE and Oman are in Asia. If this were a cooking blog or something, I would let it slide, but come on man, this is a travel blog, geography is important. This can all be remedied by adding a simple "East" in front of Asia (or Eastern, or East and Southeast, or Asia outside of the Middle East, or something).
@ray: "i am interested in the cathay pacific first class to thailand but would not mind making stops if i can get it all on one award ticket."
AAdvantage awards do NOT allow stopovers (well, no more than 23h59m on int'l awards).
Redeem on Alaska and you can have a stopover even on a one-way award. Just beware the short segment (HKG-BKK) will most likely be in business class as CX only has one or two flights on that sector with a first class cabin.
Wondering how Ford got home. How do the simple folk fly.
Also.
I heard a rumor you once flew TAP in business. Is this true. I'd love to hear about it.
Please ask Ford to write a trip report on his trip from Bali to LAX. It would be interesting to see a report by Ford that isn't a rehash of Lucky's opinions.
I'm always exited to read your trip reviews, both flights and the hotels. And be more exited to review Bali, one of my hometown.
I read your Aman reviews several times and was wondering if you will try and review Bali Bvlgari hotel sometime.
Anyway, I'm looking forward for this trip reviews!
Any words of advice on talking AA into giving me back the 250,000 miles I had that expired recently?? Don't ask - I know it was stupid to let them slip away, but I live in an area of the world where AA is the least convenient airline. I can buy back 115,000 for $600, but really don't think miles should expire (the money I gave them didn't expire!) Yeah, I did learn a lesson... but perhaps someone knows the magic words to get the miles back.
@ Stvr - Can't imagine how lazy are these days. Simple search brings: https://onemileatatime.com/tap-portugal-a330-business-class-miami-lisbon/
~200k for the above itinerary? The same itinerary(in the same class) can be had for 20k less by using a few tricks
Is OMAT now a car blog? It is Ford here, Ford there. OMG!!! If this is turning into a car blog at least talk about a Porsche or a Ferrari but not about Ford.
@Alvin That's not a trip report. I was being sarcastic. I could call you obtuse, but that would descend into name-calling.
"While I’ll have a full trip report soon (I’m a couple of reports behind, so it will be a couple of weeks), I figured I’d share my initial thoughts."
@Alvin.
The TAP flight is the TATL beginning of Portugal and Iceland trip from last year that Lucky have not published.
@smithee smith, call AA and ask them about a miles reinstatement challenge - I don't recall how much it is for larger amounts (250K, yikes!) but it was pretty easy since it just required flying on AA or spending money with a partner.
@ Stvr - "I’d love to hear about it."
That differs from "I'd love to see the report". I referred you to what you asked for.
Hey Lucky! I'm a bit of late comer to this report. Would you mind making the links to the different sections of this report live? Thanks!