Welcome to my next trip report series, covering the recent round the world review trip that I took. This was a super fun journey, as I not only tried one of the most anticipated new business class experiences out there, but also got to fly two new (for me) first class products. In total, I flew nine segments, and covered just under 25,000 miles.
In this series you can expect flight reviews of Delta’s 737 first class, Delta’s A319 first class, Lufthansa’s A350 business class, EgyptAir’s A320 business class, Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class, Kuwait Airways’ 777 first class, Thai Airways’ 777 first class, United’s 777 business class, and more. There will also be reviews of several lounges, plus reviews of a couple of hotels.
In this post I’ll outline all the basics of the trip, and then I’ll publish the entire trip report series in the coming days and weeks.
Why I took this trip
This was a pure review trip, plain and simple. That’s to say that I took this trip exclusively to be able to review certain premium airline products, all while being away from home for as little time as possible. In total, I was gone from home for about five days, which isn’t too bad, given how much distance I covered.
This trip was planned at the last minute, for a specific reason. Lufthansa recently introduced its new Allegris business class, which has been a long time in the making, and is the most delayed introduction we’ve ever seen of a new premium product. When I saw that the inaugural Vancouver to Munich flight with the new Allegris cabins had business class award availability, I couldn’t help but book.
Since I was leaving home anyway, I figured I should “squeeze” as much out of this trip as possible, in terms of reviewing products that have been on my list. So I turned this into a round the world journey, including trying a couple of first class experiences that have been on my radar for quite some time (along with some new business class products).
The airlines I flew on this trip
I booked this itinerary as six separate tickets, so let me share the details of the tickets in the chronological order that I traveled.
To kick off the trip, I had to position to Vancouver (since that’s where my Lufthansa Allegris flight was departing from). I was booking at the last minute, and the best premium cabin deal was with Delta, allowing me to review Delta’s 737 and Delta’s A319. So I booked the following in first class for $762:
5/01 DL1565 Miami to Minneapolis departing 6:00AM arriving 8:51AM
5/01 DL2489 Minneapolis to Vancouver departing 10:05AM arriving 11:56AM
For the next portion of the trip, I decided to fly from Vancouver to Cairo via Munich, flying Lufthansa’s A350 Allegris business class and EgyptAir’s A320neo business class. I booked the following in business class for 90,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $88.24 in taxes and fees:
5/01 LH477 Vancouver to Munich departing 6:50PM arriving 1:30PM (+1 day)
5/02 MS788 Munich to Cairo departing 3:55PM arriving 8:40PM
The reason I decided to continue from Munich to Cairo was both to review one of EgyptAir’s newer narrow body aircraft, and to position to Cairo, which is known for its attractive premium cabin airfare. One of the few remaining first class products in the world that I haven’t reviewed is Kuwait Airways’ first class, and I found an attractive fare out of Cairo that would allow me to review both Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class and Kuwait Airways’ 777 first class.
Kuwait Airways doesn’t have any useful partnerships for redeeming miles, unfortunately. So I booked the following ticket in first class for $2,042 (I used Amex Pay With Points, so since I have the Amex Business Platinum, this ended up costing me 132,730 Amex Membership Rewards points):
5/03 KU546 Cairo to Kuwait departing 11:20AM arriving 2:00PM
5/04 KU413 Kuwait to Bangkok departing 2:40PM arriving 1:40AM (+1 day)
From Bangkok, I was looking forward to checking out one of the other remaining first class products I’ve yet to fly, which is Thai Airways’ 777 first class. Once again, unfortunately there wasn’t award availability on the flight.
I booked the following ticket in first class for $1,881 (I used Amex Pay With Points, so since I have the Amex Business Platinum, this ended up costing me 122,265 Amex Membership Rewards points):
5/05 TG676 Bangkok to Tokyo Narita departing 7:35AM arriving 3:45PM
Then to return back across the Pacific to the United States, I found award availability in United’s 777 Polaris business class, which is a product I haven’t reviewed in quite some time. I booked the following in business class for 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $94.09 in taxes and fees:
5/05 UA838 Tokyo Narita to San Francisco departing 5:05PM arriving 10:25AM
Lastly, I flew home from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale on JetBlue, but I won’t be reviewing that here, as I slept almost the entire way. I was exhausted at this point in the journey!
In addition to flight reviews, you can expect reviews of the following lounges:
- The Delta Sky Club® Miami (MIA)
- The Kuwait Airways Elite Lounge Kuwait (KWI)
- The Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok (BKK)
- The Coral Finest Business Class Lounge Bangkok (BKK) — lol to the name, but this lounge fascinated me, since it’s the former Thai Airways First Lounge Bangkok
- The Thai Airways First Lounge Bangkok (BKK)
- The Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok (BKK)
At some other airports I wasn’t able to get full lounge reviews, either due to short connections, or because I’ve reviewed the lounges already.
The hotels I stayed at on this trip
On these review trips, I spend most of my time in the air, and not in hotels. On this trip I had overnight stays at two airports:
- Cairo (CAI)
- Kuwait City (KWI)
In Cairo, I had just over a 14-hour overnight, so I decided to book the most practical hotel, which is the Le Meridien Cairo Airport. You can’t beat the property’s convenience, as it’s connected directly to Terminal 3. While this hotel is starting to show its age and is getting to the point where it can use a renovation, there’s something I really like about this property.
Then I had a nearly 24-hour layover in Kuwait City. I wrote a separate post about my decision making process in choosing a luxury hotel in Kuwait, and I ended up selecting the Waldorf Astoria Kuwait City. I’m so happy I did, because my stay was phenomenal, and this is easily one of my favorite city hotels I’ve stayed at.
Bottom line
I had an awesome review that included flights on Delta, Lufthansa, EgyptAir, Kuwait Airways, Thai Airways, and United, including some products that had been on my list for quite some time. I’m so happy I had the chance to have these experiences, and also to visit some cool lounges and hotels along the way.
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
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