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- Feb 23, 2015
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If you are flexible with your schedule, wouldn't it be better to go to JFK first then MXP? Avoids the backtrack to SIN if you choose the right route back to Australia (eg via DOH).
Fair point. Unfortunately we're not too flexible with schedule - we are travelling over the 2023 Easter/Anzac day public holidays to maximise our annual leave, and that happens to line up with cherry blossom season. We also want to get the Japan component out of the way right at the start as we'll be visiting an in-law for their 80th birthday, and want to reduce the chance of passing along any bugs we pick up on our travels...
From Japan, we decided to head to Europe before the US as we have a strong preference for travelling westward to help with the jet lag. I would've booked straight from Tokyo to Europe had it not been for the situation with Russia adding 3-4 hours to those flight paths, so it felt a little safer (from a flight reliability perspective) to backtrack down to SIN and pivot back up to Europe.
The silver lining is a full day transit in Singapore, free wifi for OWEs on AY, and I've always wanted to check out the HEL Platinum Wing sauna. I'd also be pretty happy to try their new 'no recline' seats if they are running on this route too.
I was hoping to get seats released on the SIN-LHR portion of QF1 for the Points Club SC earn, but the droid wasn't cooperating. I may still swap AY out for QF down the track if the droid changes its mind.
