LOT, Ethiopian, Swiss, and Lufthansa, Here We Come!

Published: June 28, 2014

One of the greatest long standing award chart values has been US Airways’ 90,000 mile roundtrip business class award between the US and North Asia. I especially loved this award back when US Airways belonged to the Star Alliance, given how many great Star Alliance business class products there are.

Last year alone I flew three of these types of awards using US Airways miles:

Before US Airways transitioned from Star Alliance to oneworld I decided to book one last 90,000 mile business class award to North Asia on the Star Alliance, and it’s a good thing I did, because shortly thereafter they devalued that award redemption and increased the cost to 110,000 miles.

US-Airways-Award-101

This trip wasn’t so much designed to try the best Star Alliance products, but rather to sample some of the “missing” ones I hadn’t yet flown. So this time around I’ll be flying from New York to Beijing via Warsaw and Zurich, returning via Addis Ababa and Frankfurt (because, well, who wouldn’t… right?).

Originally the segment from Beijing to Addis Ababa was scheduled to be operated by a 777, while the segment from Addis Ababa to Frankfurt was scheduled to be operated by a 787. However, unfortunately they downgraded the aircraft from Addis Ababa to Frankfurt to a 767, which was kind of disappointing. Then again, a disappointing flight for me usually leads to an entertaining trip report for you guys, if history is any indicator.

Now it looks like they’ve also changed the aircraft type from Beijing to Addis Ababa from a 777 to a 787. So I guess that’s a good thing?

My gosh, Ethiopian sure does love last minute equipment swaps! As long as they don’t substitute either segment to a Q400, I think we’ll be fine.

This big trip will be kicking off today, so suffice to say it will be a whirlwind week!

While I’ll be writing trip reports about all my flights, you can follow along “live” through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook:

I’m traveling with my friend Andrew (who’s also one of the funniest people I know), and he has promised to post entertaining Tweets, so feel free to follow him on Twitter at @adb36. If it’s half as funny as his Facebook feed, you’re in for a treat.

Anyway, if anyone has any specific requests or tips for maximizing our Cloud Nine Ethiopian Airlines experience, I’d love to hear ’em!

Safe travels, everyone!

More discussion »

Conversations (17)

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Comment as a member

Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.

Loading comments…

Recent Comments

The latest from the OMAAT community.

Andie Guest

June 29, 2014, 1:53 pm

ET does change planes a lot, I got to fly the 787 at the very last minute from ADD to NBO. Hopefully the A/C will be functioning and none of your fellow passengers will faint. So you won't have to wait 2 hours in a metal sauna at the gate....I doubt you will check baggage so you won't have to worry about waiting 2.5 hours for them to figure out how to open the cargo hold after landing..... my one and only Dreamliner experience was an epic nightmare, I really hope to read that you had a better experience on ET's 787 than I. Don't expect anyone to get in any sort of line in Addis or respect boarding calls for only Business Class passengers. Once boarding is called, passengers en masse try to board. The stewardess/stewards are usually really pleasant and kind especially in business class. They know to refill your glass before it is empty in my experience. Get a Macchiato in the airport probably outside the lounge at the cafe. If you are facing the tarmac in ADD the duty free shop all the way in back left hand corner sometimes sells Ethiopian coffee beans including Tomoca. You won't regret the purchase if it is Tomoca. Tomoca has some of the best coffee ever had in my life at their cafes in Addis.

‼ 0

Mike Guest

June 29, 2014, 11:20 am

Can't wait to follow you. I'm taking my mom to JNB and flying SkyTeam one-way and Alliance on the way back and was thinking of ET. May even stay a night or two in ADD. So the more info on ET and ADD the better! Thanks and i LOVE following your trips!

Wolfgang Guest

June 29, 2014, 8:02 am

Awesome! I have to go to SYD for work soon, playing with ITA found a J fare FRA-DEL-SYD (going 787 all the way) for Euro 2556 for January 2015, which I thought is a very good price, might give it a try.

tp New Member

June 29, 2014, 3:23 am

I flew on an Ethiopian Q400 domestically in April. Talk about a last minute booking. My friends and I were throwing wads of cash in dollars and Euros at Ethiopian Airlines half an hour before take-off trying to get on that flight (we had flights out of ADD on TK later that night). Then, we sat on the tarmac for awhile because of the wind conditions, and ultimately, our bags were unloaded so we could take off. Both flights were incredibly windy, but at least they were quite short.

June 28, 2014, 9:36 pm

Very much looking forward to your trip report! Any plans to try out the new AC 787 or Air India, since they'll be part of Star Alliance soon?

LOT, Ethiopian, Swiss, and Lufthansa, Here We Come!

Support OMAAT

Save posts to read later