Questions and Answers

Hey aviation geeks,

in a couple of weeks I will start what I guess will be a trip I won’t be able to do again very soon. Together with a good friend I will travel on a Saturday early morning from different places in Germany to LHR. After a 7 hour layover we will fly Saturday afternoon on Etihad A380 First Class from LHR to AUH. There we will have a 21 hour layover before we will again board an Etihad A380 in First Class to Melbourne. We will stay the night in Melbourne and continue our trip next morning flying on Cathay Pacific Business Class to BKK via HKG with a 4 hour layover. We will arrive at BKK at around 10pm and we will stay the night in Bangkok. Our next flight on Qatar Airways A380 Business Class leaves BKK at 9am to Doha, where we will have a 2 1/2 hour layover before we board our last flight back home to Berlin.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want to get the most out of this trip and are therefore asking you to share your thoughts, ideas and insider tips on what we should do during our trip. E.g. which lounge should we visit and are there not that obvious ways to enjoy a truly unique and amazing experience that you know about and are willing to share?

So far I have the following things to do and also some questions on my list:

– EY lounge at LHR
(are there any First Class offers like spa treatments? I remember reading that EY reduced their spectrum of freebies)

– EY arrival lounge in AUH

– EY First Class Lounge in AUH
There are not many reviews out yet. Do you have any hints? Any must do ground experiences?

– chauffeur service in Melbourne
As we will stay in a hotel at the airport, my idea was to order the chauffeur service a couple of hours after our arrival to first check in and then be driven into the city. Possible or not?

– which lounges will we have access to in Melbourne?

– which lounges will we have access in HKG and in which sequence do you rank them?

– do you have any suggestions for an outstanding roof top bar in Bangkok with good selection of drinks and a relaxed atmosphere?

– which lounges do we have access to at BKK?

– any onboard gimmicks that are not offered proactively by the crew on any of my flights?

– As we are not able to use the chauffeur service in AUH, I had another idea. My friend and I are arriving in different terminals (4&5) in LHR and I was thinking of booking the Etihad chauffeur service to pick me up at terminal 5, drive to terminal 2 to pick up my friend and then driving to terminal 4. Do you know if this would be possible?

To many questions I guess, however, I would be very happy if you would answer one or the other 😉

Cheers
Thenewone

There are already some reviews of the new EY F lounge at AUH, on here and other boarding area sites as well as The Points Guy and Upgrd.com. I would check those out.

With a 21 hour layover in AUH though I hope youre getting a hotel night instead of staying in the hotel. If you booked LHR-AUH and AUH-MEL as separate awards, youre eligible for their chauffeur service to and from your hotel.

Not sure youre idea for EY Chauffeur in MEL would work since its an outstation.

All of Cathay’s J lounges at HKG are very good and Lucky’s been to several. Have you read his reviews?

I’m not sure you can book the EY chauffeur for LHR this way. Try calling EY and ask about it. If they can do it, they can set it up for you right away.