Planning A Round-The-World Trip On SkyTeam’s Forgotten Airlines?

As you guys know, this year I’ve made a point of reviewing as many new airlines as possible. So far I’m pretty pleased with how I’ve done. Even though the year is slowly coming to a close, in 2017 my goal is to review even more new airlines than this year. I’m in the process of planning something that seems like a fun way to kick this off.

The SkyTeam products I’ve already reviewed

This year I’ve enjoyed reviewing several new SkyTeam products for the first time, including the following:

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• Air France Business Class 777 Paris To Toronto
• Aeromexico 787 Business Class Madrid To Mexico City
• Aeromexico 787 Business Class Mexico City to Los Angeles
• China Airlines Business Class 777 Los Angeles To Taipei
• China Airlines Business Class A330 Taipei To Singapore
• China Eastern Business Class 777 Los Angeles To Shanghai
• China Eastern Business Class A330 Shanghai To Colombo
• Saudia Business Class 777 Colombo To Jeddah
• Saudia Business Class 787 Jeddah To Manchester
• Korean Air First Class 747-8 Vancouver To Incheon
• Xiamen Air Business Class 787 Seattle To Shenzhen
• Xiamen Air First Class 787 Shenzhen To Seattle
• Aeroflot Business Class 777 Los Angeles To Moscow
• Aeroflot Business Class 737 Moscow To Belgrade

This year I flew China Airlines’ excellent 777 business class

This is in addition to SkyTeam premium cabin reviews I’ve written in prior years, which include the following:

• Delta Business Class 767 Los Angeles To London
• KLM Business Class 747 Amsterdam To Chicago
• Alitalia Business Class A330 Rome To Boston
• Czech Airlines Business Class A319 Prague To Rome
• Air France First Class A380 Los Angeles To Paris
• China Southern First Class A330 Guangzhou To Tokyo Narita
• China Southern First Class A380 Los Angeles To Guangzhou
• Korean Air First Class 777 Los Angeles To Sao Paulo
• Korean Air First Class 777 Tokyo Narita To Incheon
• Korean Air First Class A380 Incheon to Los Angeles

Last year I flew Delta One from Los Angeles to London

Furthermore, I’ll soon be flying Garuda Indonesia first class, which I’m very excited about.

Flying SkyTeam business class around the world

I’ve enjoyed trying more SkyTeam airlines, as a lot of the airlines have surprised me. For example, China Eastern was significantly worse than I was expecting, while Aeroflot and Xiamen were significantly better than I was expecting.

Since I still have quite a few SkyTeam products to try, I figured I might as well have some fun with it. I’m trying to decide the best way to approach that. Here are the SkyTeam airlines I’d most like to review:

• Aerolineas Argentinas’ A330 business class
• Air Europa’s 787 business class
• China Southern’s 777 or A380 business class
• Garuda Indonesia’s 777 business class
• Kenya Airways’ 787 business class
• Korean Air’s 747-8 or 777-300ER business class
• MEA’s A330 business class
• Vietnam Airlines’ 787 business class

How I plan on booking this

I’m still in the early stages of planning this, but my intent is to book a combination of discounted business class tickets and also award flights.

Like I said, at this point I’m just looking at options, though I figured I’d share what I’ve been thinking in general, and maybe you guys can inspire my further.

Here’s what I’m thinking in general.

I could start by flying China Southern business class from New York to Guangzhou.

Then maybe I could fly Kenya Airways business class from Guangzhou to Bangkok, which is a cool fifth freedom route they operate.

Then I could grab a connection to Jakarta, and try Garuda Indonesia’s 777 business class from Jakarta to Amsterdam.

I could then return back to Asia on a cheap Vietnam Airlines business class fare.

Then I could head back to Europe in Korean Air’s new business class.

And then from Europe I could take Aerolineas Argentinas to Buenos Aires.

And then that’s the part in the travel planning process where I stick this on a map and come to the conclusion that I’ve gone too far. 😉

So it’s back to the drawing board to simplify this a bit…

Bottom line

I’m serious about planning a crazy round the world trip on SkyTeam, though clearly I have to refine this a bit. I realize I probably won’t be able to get all airlines on one trip, but I have to find a way to combine more products onto individual itineraries, since I plan on booking this all as several one way tickets. If only Delta was better about displaying award availability for all partners online, and also publishing award charts, which would make it easier to figure out how some of these flights could be consolidated onto single awards.

If anyone has any inspiration or ways to simplify parts of this, I’d of course love it. I think I’ve completely lost my mind with this one, though…