Going To London Via Asia And Australia And Asia?

This year I’ve set the goal of reviewing as many new airline products as possible, and I’m quite proud of my progress towards that goal so far.

I’ve already reviewed Finnair business class and Air India first class, which are airlines I’ve been wanting to sample for a long time.

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Finnair business class

I’ll shortly be reviewing Hainan Airlines business class, which I’m excited about, since they’re a Skytrax five star airline (whatever that means nowadays).

Hainan business class

And shortly after that I’ll be reviewing Oman Air, Iberia, LAN, and Air France business class, all of which I’m excited about as well.

Oman Air business class

Well, pretty soon I need to get to London for an Adele concert (I redeemed Starpoints for a ticket in SPG’s suite), and am trying to get creative with a routing there.

SPG Suite at the O2 Arena London

Sure, I could fly American business class, as award space is wide open. Sure I could fly Lufthansa first class, as I’m sure space will open within 15 days. But I’m trying to think a bit outside the box.

I’ve long wanted to try Garuda Indonesia’s first class product, which is also rather tough to book on miles. A few weeks ago I wrote about a pretty good first class fare they had available between Australia and London.

Photo courtesy my friend @kellydaoud

While London is my intended destination, stopping in Australia enroute isn’t exactly convenient. At the same time, I’d rather take advantage of the fare when I have a reason to be in London, rather than flying between Australia and London and then having to position on both ends as well.

So how would I get to Sydney? Well, China Eastern has business class award space from San Francisco to Shanghai to Sydney. San Francisco to Shanghai is operated by one of their new 777-300ERs, featuring reverse herringbone business class seats and Wi-Fi. And the connecting flight on an A330 also seems to offer reverse herringbone seats, which is awesome. I didn’t actually realize China Eastern has reverse herringbone seats on their A330, as it seems to be a recent development. I could book that ticket for 80,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way.

So… should I go to London via Asia and Australia and Asia, or is that absolutely crazy? Or is the answer to both of those questions yes?