The Long Way From Abu Dhabi To Doha: Introduction

"12/27 AA57 London to Miami departing 9:45AM arriving 2:40PM [First]
12/27 AA56 Miami to London departing 7:10PM arriving 8:40AM (+1 day) [First]

Cost: ~$1,500 paid ticket"

Why did you do this? Just because it was "cheap"?

How did you positioned in London?

Some of those prices were quite a bit less than what I would expect. I ought to poke around more.

Looking forward to reading this report! Always interested in future destinations!

@ Bruno -- Because the miles I earned from taking it were more than the cost of the ticket, and it got me an extra couple of year end systemwide upgrades to use in 2015. 🙂

@ Carlos -- You mean Toulouse? I had booked Singapore Airlines from JFK to FRA, and then Lufthansa from FRA to TLS.

@ M Simons -- I love Cairo and Colombo so much for a reason. 😉

@lucky You missed the flights to/from Colombo on this trip right?

Thanks for sharing the cost so clearly. Thats a lot of flying and a lot of points/cash, even if it all might have been a good deal in some way.

Thanks for including the costs, but I hope you know there are a lot of loyal readers who know (because you shared every misstep in real time) who will remember that you didn't actually take all those flights.

@ Frump -- Correct. 🙂

@ Nemme -- Of course, I'd hope so. 😉 As I said, just sharing what I booked.

This itinerary looks incredible, I'm looking forward to the trip report.

Btw, did you fly on the 'new' club Europe seats with the reduced pitch?

@ Sunil -- Sure did! Definitely preferred the old product.

12/29 BA822 London to Copenhagen departing 6:30PM arriving 9:25PM [Business]
01/02 BA819 Copenhagen to London departing 6:05PM arriving 7:15PM [Business]
Cost: 18,000 British Airways Avios

I know you often take a lot of crap for only flying biz+first, but wasn't this just "intra-europe" style biz class (middle seat blocked)? Do you really think it's worth paying double the miles on a < 2 hour flight?

Looking forward to the detailed reports 🙂

Oops, your HNL-LAX and LAX-LHR segments are both 1/7... 🙂

@Kurt

Going out on a limb her, but could it have something to do with express security access?

@ Kurt -- Personally I do, yes. I value Avios at maybe ~1.2 cents each, so that's like ~$50 each way for an upgrade. For me that's worth it for an empty middle seat, better service, food, drinks, etc. But I realize everyone values miles differently.

@ J -- Good catch. Fixed, thanks!

hey Lucky. I was curious when did you book the first class ticket from MIA-LON? That seems a great price. Was their a special?

Hi lucky,

I was wondering if the prices are right? 1500 dollars london to miami return? How do you get these fares? Thanks

Amit

@ Farhan -- See this post for all the details:
https://onemileatatime.com/first-trip-2015-international-first-class-1500/

@ Amit -- Yep, see this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/first-trip-2015-international-first-class-1500/

Lucky, can you include other fees like the departing London fee next to the mileage cost? It helps to see the total cost of the segments you're taking. (And there are TONS of them here)

@ Ken -- I wasn't originating in the UK so there was no UK APD. In all cases taxes were under $100 per ticket.

I am super pumped to read this! I'm hoping you got a couple of photos of the new Etihad business class when you flew in the First Apartment. Would love to see how they turned out

Ok, I'm confused. It looks like about half your flights are departing London on different paid tickets. Why don't those trigger the departure fee?

12/26 EY267 Colombo to Abu Dhabi departing 4:35AM arriving 7:55AM [Business]
12/27 EY11 Abu Dhabi to London departing 2:35AM arriving 6:35AM [First]
Cost: ~$2,500 paid ticket

How did you get it so cheap?

@ RS -- Some markets just have cheaper fares than others:
https://onemileatatime.com/cheap-first-class-fares-colombo-sri-lanka/

@ Ken -- The intra-Europe awards are Reward Flight Savers, so the UK APD isn't charged. The paid tickets already have the APD factored in.

I can't wait for your report about Cairo Airport VIP Service, since I reserved their services to transfer from an incoming international flight to a domestic flight last July. They never showed up to meet me! Glad I didn't prepay.

"Not so glam, sometimes!" When I read that I thought, uh yeah, it is glamorous. Then I read the list/dates of the flights. I don't think I could have done the LHR>MIA turn MIA>LHR...doesn't sound glam. Thanks for the miles/prices info and thanks for taking all of us along for the ride.

I hope you continue on with your travel-based life and can tweak it so that it approaches your desired ideal. You are a fantastic writer and your posts are not only informative they're inspiring! I enjoy your daily entries but also find that when I search for travel-related information you almost always have some older entry that has just what I'm looking for and it provides more detail than any others. I also appreciate that you are honest about the things that don't work out so well.

Wow! How did you get from London to Honolulu round-trip in first for 1500$?

@ Daniel -- There was a fare sale at the time:
https://onemileatatime.com/first-trip-2015-international-first-class-1500/

Lucky, I enjoy your trip reports as much as anyone. What I would love to see is a little more diversity. I feel like you have covered every possible Emirates, Qatar, Dubai/ME3 related airline/route there is, as well as Cathay Pacific to death. Would love to see some more stuff to South America, maybe Africa, Oceana, etc. I know you've done them, but they are just more rare. Thanks!

Hi Lucky,
Really enjoy your trip reports. Do you use any particular search engine to find these discounted/promotional fares?
Thanks for the advice.

Lucky, can you show the process you use to find the best price for your flights because the cost/miles used are surprisingly low.