Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Introduction

Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks

More from this series:

• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Introduction
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: United First Class Tampa to Washington to Los Angeles, United Red Carpet Club Washington Dulles, Lufthansa Senator Lounge Washington Dulles
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Holiday Inn Express Los Angeles Airport
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: reLAX Lounge LAX
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Star Alliance Lounge Los Angeles, Singapore Airlines Business Class Los Angeles to Tokyo to Singapore, ANA Business Class Lounge Tokyo
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge Terminal 3, a Day at Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore Airlines Business Class Singapore to Kuala Lumpur
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: InterContinental Kuala Lumpur
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Exploring Kuala Lumpur
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Plaza Premium Lounge Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lankan Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Singapore
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Marina Bay Sands Singapore
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Exploring Singapore
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Qantas First Class Lounge Singapore, Qantas A380 First Class Singapore to Sydney
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Holiday Inn Sydney Airport
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Exploring Sydney
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Qantas Business Class Lounge Sydney, Qantas Business Class Sydney to Melbourne
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Park Hyatt Melbourne
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Exploring Melbourne
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Qantas First Class Lounge Melbourne
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Qantas A380 First Class Melbourne to Singapore
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Qantas A380 First Class Singapore to London
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: British Airways First Class Lounge London, British Airways Club Europe London to Vienna
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Le Meridien Vienna
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Exploring Vienna
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Austrian Business Class Lounge Vienna, British Midland Business Class Vienna to London, Great British Lounge London
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Star Alliance Lounge London, Air New Zealand Business Premier London to Los Angeles
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Andaz West Hollywood
• Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Conclusion

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Please note: The introduction is largely a repost of this post from April

My trip planning started off innocently enough last December. As I posted last year on December 3, Singapore Airlines had just announced that they would be replacing the Boeing 747 with the Airbus 380 on the Los Angeles to Tokyo to Singapore route. There was a bit of lag in updating the system, so for a couple of days there was the opportunity to book business class on Singapore Airlines on the Airbus 380, which is otherwise blocked for partner award redemption. I’ve had the opportunity to fly Singapore’s new business class on the 777 in the past, and it really is just about on par with most other airlines’ first class products.

I made the booking speculatively using my United miles, since I could always cancel closer to departure if I changed my mind. Once I had that reservation ticketed I decided to “maximize” it. I added the segments from Tampa to Washington to Los Angeles to the itinerary, and then considered where in Asia I wanted to go. One of the few major Asian cities I’ve yet to visit is Kuala Lumpur, so I decided to add on a segment from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, again on Singapore Airlines in business class. I’ve always been fascinated by the city, so this seemed about as good of an opportunity as any to visit.

I left the trip alone for a couple of months, as I really wasn’t sure where I wanted to go from there. I figured I’d maybe book a Cathay Pacific first class award back to the States, even though I’ve flown them several times before.

One afternoon while on the phone with a fellow FF-nut friend, I mentioned that I wanted to try a couple more A380s, and he suggested I look at Qantas A380 award space between Asia and Australia. I had a bit of a “yeah right” response, since anyone that has looked at award space for Qantas from the US knows how stingy they are, so I wasn’t expecting them to be any better between Asia and Australia.

Sure enough I plugged in my preferred date, and what do you know, there’s a first class award seat on the Airbus 380 from Singapore to Sydney. Holy cow! While I had been to Sydney before, I hadn’t been to Melbourne, so I decided to book Singapore to Sydney, have a 23 hour layover in Sydney, and then fly Sydney to Melbourne in Qantas business class. The award cost me 45,000 American AAdvantage miles.

I was feeling awfully spontaneous at this point, since I still hadn’t decided where I wanted to go from Melbourne. I was thinking of doing Air New Zealand back to the US, though examined all of my options carefully. After playing around with just about all the options out there, I noticed that Qantas had A380 first class award space from Melbourne to London via Singapore for a few days after I arrived, allowing me to see the city. For the geographically challenged among us (myself included), that’s a 22 hour one way journey. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, so immediately put the ticket on a five day courtesy hold with American for 80,000 AAdvantage miles.

I thought this one out strategically. For those of you not familiar with UK air passenger taxes, the UK charges a nearly $200USD tax for those departing the UK on a longhaul flight in a premium cabin. However, that tax isn’t charged if you’re just connecting in the UK.

So over the next couple of days I examined my options for getting back to the States, and eventually stumbled upon Air New Zealand Business Premier award space on their brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. I didn’t want to continue on straight away after a nearly 24 hour flight from Melbourne, so figured I’d spend a night in Europe between those flights. The obvious choice was to spend the night in London, but like I said, I would have been charged the $200USD tax if I did that.

So instead I decided I’d visit Vienna. I added a segment to my OneWorld award on British Airways from London to Vienna after I arrived from Melbourne, and then added a segment from Vienna to London on British Midland the following morning before continuing to Los Angeles. Two more flights, two more products to test, a new city, and $200 saved. I booked the British Midland/Air New Zealand award through British Midland Diamond Club, where the one way business class award cost me 33,750 miles.

The hotel planning process was equally complicated, though I’ll explain the booking process with the individual hotel installments.

In the end my routing looked like this:

The irony in all of this is that due to the Japan earthquake, Singapore Airlines actually downgraded my Los Angeles to Tokyo to Singapore flight from an Airbus 380 to a Boeing 777-300ER. Fortunately even that plane features their new business class and I managed to snag the best business class seat aboard, so I wasn’t too bummed about it, especially given the other products I’d be able to try during the trip.

This’ll be a long one, probably the longest ever, so grab an adult diaper and extra pair of glasses, as you’ll need ’em.