This is my first trip report so I don’t know what I’m doing yet. Unfortunately I didn’t take photos of the lounges and I’ll spare you the holiday snaps.
My wife and I finally got to execute some Qantas award bookings and we got carried away. We are only bronze but now live in Thailand which helped as we didn’t have to actually get award flights out of Oz. As an aside I don’t think anyone would believe the number of hours I was on hold over the last couple of years with Qantas. Using an internet call app didn’t help but a lot more than 50 hours on hold over that time was at least offset by brilliant travels.
We started in May 2021. BKK-DOH-DBX-CAS…RAK-MAD-BCN-LHR…HEL-DOH-BKK All in J flying QR IB BA on pts.
Between London and Helsinki we used a Eurail pass via Bruges, Toulouse, Nice, Cinque Terra, Switzerland, Berlin, Stockholm, Tallin et al
The highlights of these flights were definitely Q suite on QR and the Al Mourjan lounge. (Looks like we timed this well because it’s next to impossible to book QR now on Qantas pts even though they are supposedly one world members.)
As soon as we returned to Thailand my daughter asked me to accompany her to Istanbul. I jumped at the chance to risk going deaf sitting next to her in confined spaces for many hours. It was music to my ears to have time with her.
We flew Y class on QR to IST via DOH. I utilized the Sleep N Fly at Doha airport for a few hours and we woke feeling very refreshed for the next leg.
On the return alone, I detoured to have a couple of days in Muscat. I flew economy IST-MCT on Turkish Air and it was hell. Then J class MCT to BKK on WY and very impressed with Oman Air.
After a quick trip to Sydney to see family using my $450 Amex credit, my wife and I flew local economy to Siem Reap, Hanoi, and Laos. After flying to Vientiane we took the new high speed modern train to Luang Prabang( one of our fav towns in SE Asia). It is worlds advanced from the usual infrastructure of Laos. What used to be a full day over bumpy roads can now be done in comfort in 2 hours.
High speed bullet in Laos. Wow.
The next chapter in our big travel year saw us fly JL in J class BKK-HND-CTS-ITM….NRT-SEA….SFO-NRT-BKK
In Haneda we tried First Cabin accom in Terminal 1 and it was just what we needed.
We were very impressed with the quality of service and food on all the JL flights. The Japanese meals were superb.
In USA we flew 5 different carriers in economy
SEA-LAS Alaska Air. ( very impressed)
LAS-JFK Delta
JFK-MIA American
FLL-MSY JetBlue great value
MSY-SFO United (rolling delays and unimpressed with how they handled it.)
Above Miami
That’s it. Time to plan the next one.
My wife and I finally got to execute some Qantas award bookings and we got carried away. We are only bronze but now live in Thailand which helped as we didn’t have to actually get award flights out of Oz. As an aside I don’t think anyone would believe the number of hours I was on hold over the last couple of years with Qantas. Using an internet call app didn’t help but a lot more than 50 hours on hold over that time was at least offset by brilliant travels.
We started in May 2021. BKK-DOH-DBX-CAS…RAK-MAD-BCN-LHR…HEL-DOH-BKK All in J flying QR IB BA on pts.
Between London and Helsinki we used a Eurail pass via Bruges, Toulouse, Nice, Cinque Terra, Switzerland, Berlin, Stockholm, Tallin et al
The highlights of these flights were definitely Q suite on QR and the Al Mourjan lounge. (Looks like we timed this well because it’s next to impossible to book QR now on Qantas pts even though they are supposedly one world members.)
As soon as we returned to Thailand my daughter asked me to accompany her to Istanbul. I jumped at the chance to risk going deaf sitting next to her in confined spaces for many hours. It was music to my ears to have time with her.
We flew Y class on QR to IST via DOH. I utilized the Sleep N Fly at Doha airport for a few hours and we woke feeling very refreshed for the next leg.
On the return alone, I detoured to have a couple of days in Muscat. I flew economy IST-MCT on Turkish Air and it was hell. Then J class MCT to BKK on WY and very impressed with Oman Air.
After a quick trip to Sydney to see family using my $450 Amex credit, my wife and I flew local economy to Siem Reap, Hanoi, and Laos. After flying to Vientiane we took the new high speed modern train to Luang Prabang( one of our fav towns in SE Asia). It is worlds advanced from the usual infrastructure of Laos. What used to be a full day over bumpy roads can now be done in comfort in 2 hours.
High speed bullet in Laos. Wow.
The next chapter in our big travel year saw us fly JL in J class BKK-HND-CTS-ITM….NRT-SEA….SFO-NRT-BKK
In Haneda we tried First Cabin accom in Terminal 1 and it was just what we needed.
We were very impressed with the quality of service and food on all the JL flights. The Japanese meals were superb.
In USA we flew 5 different carriers in economy
SEA-LAS Alaska Air. ( very impressed)
LAS-JFK Delta
JFK-MIA American
FLL-MSY JetBlue great value
MSY-SFO United (rolling delays and unimpressed with how they handled it.)
Above Miami
That’s it. Time to plan the next one.
