Honeymoon OneWorld J award trip

[travelislife]

Using the great advice in the OneWorld Award Thread I was able to book 2 x 280k J tickets for my wife and I for our honeymoon. The first flight was booked 12 months out online and then I called to add more flights as they became available. I won't go through the whole booking process here as it can be found in the referenced thread. This report is mainly a focus around the airlines flown and the products, rather than the destinations themselves, but more than happy to answer any questions on them! We just arrived back from the trip last night.

Anyway, although it wasn't exactly what we wanted the final itinerary ended up as follows:

MEL-HKG (J) CX 08:50-15:15
Stopover 1: 2 nights/2 and a half day stopover in Hong Kong

HKG-MXP (J) CX 00:45-07:00
Stopover 2: Train to Chamomix for 10 days skiing over Christmas and New Year, then back to Milan for a couple of nights.

LIN-TXL (Y) AB 09:10-10:50 single class aircraft
Stopover 3: 3 days in Berlin

TXL-MAD-GIG (J) IB 07:20-19:30
Stopover 4: 6 nights in Rio, will then head to Paraty and the beaches around there for a few nights, then down to São Paulo for 2 nights.

GIG-EZE (J) QR 18:50-20:45
Stopover 5: 3 days in Buenos Aires
Then a long trip home.

EZE-DOH (J) QR 23:20-22:45+1
DOH-PER (J) QR 02:40-18:30
Overnight in Perth
PER-MEL (J) QF 16:45-23:20

The route above is 34,698 miles in GC Map so pretty much maximises the available 35,000 miles.

Total taxes and airline fees came in at $1285.17 per person, which seemed quite high to me.

Points 'spent' was 280,000 per person plus 14,000 in change fees. Total 294,000 per passenger. 588,000 points for the total trip.

Would have loved to get on QF SCL-SYD or LA SCL-AKL on the way home but nothing ever came up. Even DOH-MEL would have been good but I think I missed the window on the exact day they were released.

 

[JohnM]

Very nice!

 

[travelislife]

Flight 1 - MEL-HKG

Having never travelled business class on Cathay Pacific beofre I was really looking forward to this flight. After a couple of hectic weeks of work we decided to overnight at the Holiday Inn to give us a relaxing start to the trip without the rush to the airport in the morning. The hotel sufficed for an overnight stay, we had dinner in the restaurant which was just ok but using the dining rewards 25% off and a $10 voucher given at check in which they let us combine it was dirt cheap.

Check In - No line in business or economy, very smooth process.

Lounge - I have used the Qantas lounge on a number of occasions but decided to use the Cathay Pacific one on this occasion. It is a small lounge but the staff were great who helped me out using one of the computers to PDF a document I needed to complete for work but hadn't had time and there was no way I was bringing the work laptop on this trip!

Aircraft - A330. We had 2 window seats in the forward cabin, one behind the other, 14A and 15A, not the greatest 'honeymoon' seats but when you have headphones on for the next 8 hours there isn't that much talking happening anyway! First impressions of the seat were great and I love the reverse herringbone forcing your view towards the 3 windows you have. The space around the seat is great. Being a day flight I didn't make use of the bed. IFE was really good with plenty of options. The food service was interesting in that they brought all the meals past on the trolley and you could pick what you liked. In saying that the food wasn't amazing, I thought it was really similar to TG's food, served in the casserole dishes, not on plates, nothing really special. Service was good and they were happy to add some white rum to their 'signature coughtail' which turned it in to a delicious drink!

All up was thoroughly impressed with our first Cathay experience, but the real test was the next overnight flight to put the seat/bed through it's paces.

 

[amaroo]

Looks like a cracking honeymoon - congratulations.

Haven't had the motivation to attempt one of these OW fares... need to bury myself in that thread for a few weeks.

Look forward to reading more.

 

[get me outta here]

Sounds wonderful, a trip to treasure. Just be careful in Rio and take lots of the strongest mozzie repellant due to the Zika virus: [h=2]Latest advice, 25 Jan 2016[/h]Brazil is experiencing ongoing transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. All travellers should protect themselves from mosquito bites. Given possible transmission of the disease to unborn babies, and taking a very cautious approach, pregnant women should consider postponing travel to Brazil or talk to their doctor about implications (see Health). The level of this advice has not changed. We continue to advise Australians to exercise a high degree of caution in Brazil.

Travel Advice for Brazil - Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

 

[TomVexille]

Sounds like a great trip

 

[snabbu]

Great effort on the 34,698 miles, absolutely the best way to use QF points.

Riding along!

 

[craven morehead]

Well done and congratulations !!!

 

[travelislife]

After an awesome few days catching up with a friend in Hong Kong and that awesome feeling of the first few days off work it was time to move on to the next stage of our trip.

Flight 2 - HKG-MXP

Check in - This was brilliant. We used Hong Kong's down town check in at the central station which for a night flight was massively convenient. We were travelling with a 32kg double ski bag as well as a 30kg suit case. We were able to check these in at about 6pm and then head out for dinner with our friends before then jumping on the train out to the airport, without this check in it would have been a major hassle heading out to dinner. What other cities in the world have this option as it is the first time I have come across it?

Lounge - We had purposely left ourselves not much time to wait at the airport. So although I have read about all the great lounges at Hong Airport we only dropped in to one of the Cathay Pacific ones for about 20 minutes before heading to our flight, so can't provide much comment here.

Aircraft - 777. For this flight we went the centre 2 seats in row 14. The timing of this flight is pretty much perfect to allow for a good sleep and arrival in to Europe in the morning hopefully without any jet lag. So putting the seat in to bed mode. I have to say I love flat business class seats that make use of an Ottoman, I reckon they are the only ones that ever actually feel 100% flat to me, the solid surface is always much better than seats which recline down and have the end cantilevered, they always seem to get droopy just from the weight of people pushing down on them. Having read this tip elsewhere I used the main duvet supplied as a mattress, laying it down and tucking it over the seat and then asked for another blanket. This worked great and added some padding to what is otherwise a firm seat.

The best bit I loved about Cathay's seat was the width up around your shoulders, as a side/stomach sleeper the seat easily allowed for rolling over and different sleeping positions. I managed to get a good 7-8 hours with us landing in Milan at approximately 6:30am leaving us the whole day to make our way to Chamonix.

 

[travelislife]

So unfortunately we ran in to the warmest December on record whilst in Chamonix which meant the skiing was decidedly average. Though there is plenty to do in the region and it was great staying with some family who are based there at the moment for Christmas and New Years. In the 2 weeks we were there we only ended up skiing probably 6 days and the rest was spent site seeing and doing other activities such as rock climbing, hiking the glaciers, ice skating, going up the Aguile du Midi, plenty of stuff to do around the area. And off course drinking and eating plenty of amazing French food!

As an aside to get from Milan to Chamonix we went the train route which required 4 different changes and took us through Switzerland but culminates with the spectacular Mont Blanc express which I would recommend to anyone, was a brilliant trip with amazing scenery.

 

[travelislife]

After our 2 weeks in Chamonix we made our way back to Milan, this time by bus by heading through the Mont Blanc Tunnel. In Milan we stayed at the Crown Plaza hotel which was great being directly above the Metro station, would highly recommend for it's location and the staff were really helpful too with some great restaurant recommendations in the local area.

A couple of days sightseeing in Milan and then it was an early morning shuttle from the station out to LIN airport which is much closer to town than MXP. We were flying Air Berlin on an all economy aircraft but were admitted access to the Alitalia lounge using my Etihad Gold card (which I had status matched from QF!), it was nothing to write home about with a very limited spread, the only good thing the espresso coffee served at the bar.

I am not sure how, as I wasn't able to select them online, but we were given seats in row 1 which I was thankful for as the aircraft was full. No service on board to speak of but not an issue at all. Some great views out the window in to the alps during the trip towards a very chilly Berlin.

 

[travelislife]

So as you can tell I am not the best at writing up these reports!

After a great few days spent at the Intercontinental in Berlin where we got an awesome suite upgrade from my Ambassador status it was time to head for the warmth of Brazil after our whole time in Berlin it not getting warmer than -10 degrees or there abouts!

TXL-MAD-GIG (J) IB 07:20-19:30
Stopover 4: 6 nights in Rio, will then head to Paraty and the beaches around there for a few nights, then down to São Paulo for 2 nights.

So this was an omg'o'clock start jumping on the bus out the front of the Intercontinental to head out to Berlin's TXL airport. The one brilliant thing is that a ticket is only about 2 Euros. I still don't get why in Melbourne they have allowed this money maker to be outsourced to a private company when it could actually be a profitable Public Transport enterprise at half the cost it is privately. Anyway I digress.

TXL-MAD. Unfortunately this flight was on Iberia Express which means Euro Business, i.e standard economy seats with a spare seat in the middle. It also means we were shunted in to the LCC terminal of TXL airport, where they haven't spent any money for a few years in the anticipation of the new airport opening which is long overdue. This is pretty much a big shed with no lounges and one cafe where small bottles of Jega were cheaper than water! Not a pleasant place to be sitting around waiting for a flight. It was then boarding by bus out in the cold. There was 2 rows of business set up but only 4 passengers so we ended up spreading out and getting a row to ourselves. The breakfast served was surprisingly good and they had some good free content on the Wifi entertainment delivered to my iPad. And with some great views out over the alps our time in Europe was coming to an end, not really much else to say about the flight which was comfortable enough though you wouldn't want to pay $$ for this product with the non existent ground services.

The connection in MAD wasn't great. At this airport everyone needs to catch a train out to the Non Shengen terminals and with long immigration lines it literally meant we were running for our Rio flight. So no lounge time here which was disappointing as I was really after a shower and instead ended up hot and sweaty from the thermals I had on from Berlin!

 

[travelislife]

MAD-GIG

So after our rushed connection we bounced on to the plane hot and sweaty and got changed out of our thermals and in to some more comfortable gear. Iberia uses the same business class configuration as Emirates (A380) and Thai (A380/77W), the EADS Sogerma in a 1-2-1 layout which gives everyone there own aisle access and also creates 'honeymoon' seats with the offset configuration of the seats.

We had preselected our seats as a pair of the honeymoon seats in the centre bit of the forward cabin. I do like these seats and find them comfortable but they definitely have less space than the likes of Eva and Cathay Pacific who run with the reverse herringbone. The foot well can feel a little tight and it can feel narrow to get in and out of the seats. But it does go down to a nice sturdy flat bed.

As a day flight we stayed up watching movies, unfortunately the service and food left a lot to be desired. There wasn't anything specific rather just not very polished, a bit disorganised and the food was just really average with only a couple of choices.

All in all from the whole trip this was probably the most average intercontinental long haul flight we had. Wouldn't go out of my way to fly Iberia again if there were other options.