Questions and Answers

Hello!

We’ll be taking a special trip to Asia in March 2017 and I’d love some help ranking the most spectacular or most aspirational flight options.

My shortlist includes:

Emirates A380 in F
Singapore A380 in F
Singapore B777-300ER in F
Cathay Pacific B777 in F
Korean A380 in F
Korean B747-8i in F

I was also considering Japan Airlines, ANA, and Asiana, but the above seemed the most exciting and special after some research.

How would you rank my list? Would you include Japan Airlines, ANA, or Asiana ahead of any of the ones in my list?

The only one I’ve already flown is Emirates A380 in F but I’m really excited to share that with my husband, so it’s definitely still on my list.

Thanks very much for your help — this is going to be a special trip for us and I want to get it right!

If you could share your reasons and also any knowledge of relative availability of awards (I probably can’t bear to wait to the last minute), I’d be grateful. We’ll need 2 seats, which I know makes it even harder.

All the best,
Todd

[USER=128]@SeattleTodd[/USER]

Might I ask where in Asia you are going? Not all airlines fly everywhere, or have already found all the products that fly/connect where you are going?

Are you just looking for the best product on board or does ground services and lounges matter to you?

What kind of miles/points are you planning to use for this?

If you need 2 F seats and are not willing to wait you best bet is to reserve the award as soon as the booking open up around a year in advance.

[QUOTE=”No Name, post: 12529, member: 268″][USER=128]@SeattleTodd[/USER]

Might I ask where in Asia you are going? Not all airlines fly everywhere, or have already found all the products that fly/connect where you are going?

Are you just looking for the best product on board or does ground services and lounges matter to you?

What kind of miles/points are you planning to use for this?

If you need 2 F seats and are not willing to wait you best bet is to reserve the award as soon as the booking open up around a year in advance.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your message. I’ve already done the research to know that all of the airlines I mentioned have routes and schedules that will work for us, and we have all the miles/points we could need for any of those options through Alaska, American, Chase, Citi, and AmEx.

Lounge and ground services do matter, but I think the on board experience matters the most.

We’ll be flying from Seattle and positioning to LAX, SFO, or YVR to have access to the best products those airlines offer. For example, we’ll take the Emirates A380 from LAX or SFO, Singapore A380 from LAX to NRT, Singapore B777 from SFO to HKG, Cathay B777 from LAX, SFO, or YVR to HKG, Korean A380 from LAX or Korean B747-8i from SFO.

We’re taking a cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong, but want to visit Bangkok, Hanoi, and Siem Reap on our own beforehand. I’m less worried about those inter-Asia connections and have been thinking of the big trans-Pacific flights separately from the inter-Asia travel.

Our dates will be pretty well locked because of the cruise, which is partly why I don’t think we can bear to not get things locked down far in advance — or at least hold reasonable reservations and be willing to redeposit/change as it gets closer.

I am planning to be ready once booking opens which is why I’m asking these questions now, having done all the rest of my routing/schedule research.

My instinct says we’ll want to take Emirates in one direction and one of the Singapore options in the other direction, but I can’t wait to hear what you and others think.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

If you can do Emirates with your spouse, do that!

Otherwise I think I prefer Cathay to Singapore (a very personal preference), but you really can’t go wrong with any of those carriers.

[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 12546, member: 7″]If you can do Emirates with your spouse, do that!

Otherwise I think I prefer Cathay to Singapore (a very personal preference), but you really can’t go wrong with any of those carriers.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Tiffany. Would you mind sharing any more details? Why do you prefer Cathay to Singapore? Isn’t it (much?) harder to get 2 tix in advance on Cathay than on Singapore? Would you put ANA, JAL, or Asiana ahead of any of the others in my list?

Thanks very much — really want to make this as special as possible and try to go after the best options. Very happy to book 2 one-way tickets to experience different carriers unless you think Emirates both ways is best. 🙂

[USER=128]@SeattleTodd[/USER] — Well, the SQ A380 is nice, but I don’t prefer the 77W. The hard product is weak, and the soft is inconsistent.

But yes, SQ is much easier to get, as Cathay is only releasing one F seat to/from North America as a matter of policy. I haven’t done ANA F lately, but JAL’s new product is tremendous.

Truly, I think they’re all great, so I would go with the best routing/schedule/etc. One thing I’ve learned about my husband is that my efforts to make something as “perfect” as possible isn’t always as appreciated as a more direct or convenient option would be.

[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 12559, member: 7″][USER=128]@SeattleTodd[/USER] — Well, the SQ A380 is nice, but I don’t prefer the 77W. The hard product is weak, and the soft is inconsistent.

But yes, SQ is much easier to get, as Cathay is only releasing one F seat to/from North America as a matter of policy. I haven’t done ANA F lately, but JAL’s new product is tremendous.

Truly, I think they’re all great, so I would go with the best routing/schedule/etc. One thing I’ve learned about my husband is that my efforts to make something as “perfect” as possible isn’t always as appreciated as a more direct or convenient option would be.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Tiffany. Do you feel the same way about SQ *new* first class on the 777-300ER? With things like Book the Chef and high-end drinks and bedding, I was surprised you don’t think more highly of the product. But I’ve never flown them, so I’m literally just surprised — not challenging you! 🙂

Well, I haven’t flown the new 777 yet. And I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was bashing SQ — they have a great product!

But so much of it is dependent upon the “performance” of the crews. A lackluster crew can really sour a SQ flight, whereas a mediocre crew on CX isn’t as impactful, if that makes any sense? So I tend to gravitate towards a consistent experience, rather than one that could be amazing, or could be meh.

But that’s just me, and I really don’t think there’s a bad choice on your list 🙂

[QUOTE=”No Name, post: 12529, member: 268″][USER=128]@SeattleTodd[/USER]

Might I ask where in Asia you are going? Not all airlines fly everywhere, or have already found all the products that fly/connect where you are going?

Are you just looking for the best product on board or does ground services and lounges matter to you?

What kind of miles/points are you planning to use for this?

If you need 2 F seats and are not willing to wait you best bet is to reserve the award as soon as the booking open up around a year in advance.[/QUOTE]

Hello [USER=268]@No Name[/USER] — I’d still love to hear your thoughts — I posted the information you requested.

Thanks!
Todd

Hello Todd.

Sorry I did not replay. Started writing a replay yesterday, but then a lightning strike nearby left me without power or internet connection and before I could finish writing when it was safe to turn thing back on Tiffany had already replied.

Basically I agree with Tiffany with regards to CX and Emirates as safe options which is one of the reasons I did not replay.

What I would do was use Alaska miles since March 2017 will be too late with regards to the the AA devaluation. If you were traveling earlier and had AA miles this would be a perfect route to burn them on.

Route out on CX from the West Coast to HKG with a stopover before going to SIN.

Would do the HAN, REP and BKK tour during the stopover, this would save you miles since US-HKG-SIN is now one award.

I know you said that your are less worried about the inter-Asia connections, but if I can make some suggestions?

Take CX sub Dragonair (Might be Cathay Dragon by the time you travel) HKG-HAN on a BA avios reward, ends up as the lowest Tier so 9K Avios each.

Bit more uncertain about going to REP from either HAN or BKK or wait until getting to SIN, there is Cambodia Angkor Air that fly direct from both HAN and BKK. Vietnam Airlines seems to be involved.
[URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia_Angkor_Air[/URL]
But I would still be a bit uncertain about flying on a Cambodian carrier.

Vietnam Airlines fly direct HAN-REP several times a day. And Bangkok Airways (which Lucky has reviewed I think) fly multiple daily from BKK, but sadly only Y on this route.
[URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok_Airways[/URL]
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2013/05/19/a-royal-dishhonor-bangkok-airways-economy-class-koh-samui-to-bangkok/[/URL]

Finally there is SQ sub Silkair that fly to REP twice daily from SIN, very pricey for a regional J flight so definitively use miles here if you take it.

The route HAN-BKK is operate by both QR and TG on widebodies, QR on their B77W (same product used on flights to the US) or TG with regional A330 and B787 in 2-2-2 setup

QR would be 9K Avios each, that said there seems to heavy competition on this route so paid J is $250-300 one-way so buying a ticket might be a good option

On BKK-HKG there is again heavy competition and even multiple F product flying with Emirates and TG at around $700 one-way each, personally I would say that the only way to go would be TG F since this will give you access to the TG F lounge in BKK.

So my ideal outbound so to speak would look something like this CX US-HKG, Stopover, Dragonair HKG-HAN, QR or TG HAN-BKK, TG BKK-HKG, CX HKG-SIN, Silkair SIN-REP R/T.

On the return I would take Emirates.

Don’t think Korean uses their A380 or B748 on their F flights to HKG otherwise taking a detour true ICN would have been an option and given you 2 long Emirates

If you want to try some more F products, have the miles to burn and your partner is up for it SQ fly both their A380 and B77W HKG-SIN. Then take a short flight on the same award to KUL on Silkair and this should get you access to the F lounge in SIN.

And before you say why don’t you do this instead of CX HKG-SIN on the outbound, well from some dummy bookings I made the flights SIN-REP leave quite early in the day so would leave little time to try out the F lounge in SIN.

Problem with flying Emirates out of KUL or SIN is that they both are short red-eyes.

You could of course solve this by taking another flight and while it’s not on your list JAL does fly a B77W CGK-NRT with an F cabin, not sure if this is their only F inside Asia these days.
Review by Lucky here;
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/02/review-japan-airlines-first-class-777-300er-jakarta-to-tokyo-narita/[/URL]

And KUL-CGK could be done on the KLM B772 5 freedom route, paid cost about $250.

Or you could always take the SQ 5 freedom route to Tokyo so that you try out both the B77W and the A380.

From Tokyo you would now have 2 long Emirates flight to look forward to for the same cost in miles as the shorter flight from HKG.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER]
How would luggage work on 2 different awards CX US-HKG on AS miles and HKG-HAN on Avios, could it be checked true or would he have to pick it up and check it in again in HKG?

With a same day ticket on DragonAir he should get access to the F lounge HKG correct?

You should be able to interline luggage, and lounge access should be good as well! YMMV with the agent checking the bags though…

Ben’s take: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/02/08/asia-first-class-miles/[/URL]

“Beb”, aka “Ben” :p

LOL–thanks for catching that 😳