My first oneworld RTW (around Japan, NYC, and Europe)

[encryptededdy]

A work trip came up, and I was able to combine this with a trip to Europe that I had planned to form a oneworld RTW itinerary (DGLOB34). This is my first time flying on an RTW-type ticket (although technically not the first time flying round-the-world on one trip). Due to the work commitments etc., I was unable to spend as much time in each destination as I had hoped, but I still had a good trip.

SYD-HND	QF25 Business	Airbus A330-200
HND-KOJ	JAL643 Class J	Boeing 767
KOJ-HND	JAL654 Class J	Boeing 737-800
HND-JFK	JL6 Business	Airbus A350-1000 (new JAL Business)**
JFK-DCA	AA4636 (US Domestic) First (Republic Airways)	Embraer 175
DCA-LGA	AA2064 (US Domestic) First	Airbus A319
JFK-LHR	BA114 Club World (Business)	787-10 (Club Suites)
LCY-AMS	BA8457 Club Europe (BA Cityflyer)	Embraer 190
AMS-OSL (separate ticket)	KL1199 (Euro) Business	Boeing 737-900**
OSL-HEL	AY914 (Euro) Business (Nordic Regional)	Embraer 190
HEL-ZRH	AY1513 (Euro) Business	Airbus A320
ZRH-DOH	QR96 Business	A350-900 (old Super Diamond)
DOH-SIN	QR948 Business	A350-1000 (QSuite)
SIN-SYD	QF2 First (Classic Upgrade from Business)	A380-800

**affected later by equipment change

I think I'll mostly talk about the flights and share a few photos from my trip as opposed to talking in-depth about what I did in each destination, but I'm always happy to take questions. I'll be making one post below for each group of flights as I see fit.

I had travel companions for some of the trip (they flew on a separate EK ticket but did not join me in the US)

The total cost of the DGLOB34 ticket including taxes was AU$16,700. Unfortunately the base fare of all oneworld RTW tickets from Australia actually went up by over $1k whilst I was planning, much to my annoyance.

Total Status Credits haul was 910

 

[encryptededdy]

QF25 Sydney to Haneda

This trip started off as many do in the always delightful Qantas First Class lounge in Sydney. It's not very busy in the evening, and I burned one of my Titanium card lounge passes to bring in a second guest. My friend made the amusing comment that this was "like United Polaris dining, except you don't have to wait 30 minutes to be seated"



Boarding was mostly on-time and priority boarding sort-of worked, as is always the case for Qantas these days.

I suspect almost everyone reading this will have flown the current Qantas widebody business product, so I won't talk too much about the seat, but safe to say I think it's a decent seat that's neither the best in the skies but also far from the worst. And hey, at least it's consistent across the fleet (except that one unrefurbished A380, but we won't get into that).



If you haven't flown one of the A330-200s (as opposed to -300) before, you might not know that the IFE system is quite a bit older. The UI isn't dark mode (it's got light backgrounds everywhere), there's no seat chat, and it's missing music. I believe back in Economy the screens are also older than the ones on the A330-300. I believe that these aircraft are in the most need of a modern-looking interior, especially since basically all of Qantas' major asian competitors on their asian routes are running much more modern aircraft and cabins. I know it's coming, but it can't come soon enough...



Dinner was the Seared snapper which tasted quite good actually. I'd usually go for the Japanese Set menu on these Japanese routes, but from past experience flying QF25/26 many times, the crew are extremely slow at getting the mains out after the bento box and I really wanted to get sleep.



Breakfast was a nice enough burger and a crumpet, which I always appreciate.



Arrival into Tokyo was on-time in the early morning. Had a bit of a faff around at immigration since my fingerprints wouldn't scan, then straight off to the JAL Transit desk/bag-drop right next to arrivals in Haneda.

 

[encryptededdy]

Next up, the two JAL domestic flights to/from Kagoshima. Not much to say here (I didn't even take a picture of the cabin!), other than the Class J seat (2-2-2 on 767 and 2-3 on 737) is more than adequate for a <2h flight. I did try to upgrade to F on the 767 leg, but there were no seats available.


Thanks to @Himeno about the tip re. getting a free terminal transfer ticket


The JAL Global Club (and OW Sapphire) domestic security entrance was very packed this morning, as everyone and their dog in Japan seems to have JAL GC or ANA SFC status. Thankfully the First Class entrance next to it is very empty.

The JAL Diamond Premier lounge was the usual basic affair you find in Japanese domestic lounges

Group-based boarding worked very well in Japan as expected.


In-seat USB-C ports were a pleasant surprise on otherwise quite old looking 737-800s and 767s. It offered 30W of power delivery. There was free in-flight wifi on both flights.

Some photos on arrival taken at the Kagoshima Airport observation deck;

 

[encryptededdy]

QF25 Sydney to Haneda

Here's a fun quirk. I earned 1,259 Accor points for this flight, and 1,012 for my QF2 flight. Since these earn at 1 point per $2 (excl. taxes but incl. carrier charges), does this mean that Qantas was paid $2518 for this flight out of the cost of the DGLOB34 ticket? My ticket was 131 (issued by JAL).

 

[encryptededdy]

Kagoshima
(photos in next post below)

Of the 3.5 days I had in Kagoshima, most of it was spent driving around to the above destinations. I didn't spend much time in the city itself, but I have a few thoughts;

• The local tram takes contactless payment, but only Visa, JCB, and Amex. No Mastercard...
• Kagoshima has a really high concentration of covered shopping streets. They're common to see in Japan, but I feel like Kagoshima has more than usual.
• The ferry to Sakurajima is very frequent and cheap, so just hop on whenever. They take IC card, contactless and cash. Make sure to get Udon from the little shop on the ferry! It's quite good
• I didn't really scout out food places this trip, but this Tonkatsu place was great: Taketei Taniyama · 5723-8 Kamifukumotocho, Kagoshima, 891-0116, Japan

 

[encryptededdy]

Annoying... I already shrank those photos 6000x4000 / 5mb max and it looks like they're still too large for Xenforo. I'll try update them soon with even smaller copies.

 

[encryptededdy]

okay, take 2 at uploading photos


View from Yoshino Park of Sakurajima, an active volcano


View of Kaimondake Volcano from Onodake




Kirishima Jingu


Due to the unexpected late blossoming because of cold weather, these were the only Sakura I saw in Japan


Kaimondake Volcano from Lake Ikeda


Stray cats on Sakurajima


Iwaya Park (in theory you can see cherry blossoms here, but we were too early...)

 

[encryptededdy]

Stayed at the special JAL collaboration room at the Hotel Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport

 

[encryptededdy]

JL6 Haneda to New York JFK

I was very excited for this flight, given it was on JAL's new A350-1000 product. I'd already flown their Apex Suites many times, so it was nice to have something new to try out. This product only launched ~1.5 months ago, so it's still brand new. Also has a few novel features I've never used, such as in-seat speakers and dimmable windows on the A350.

Well, I was excited until...

:/

I guess this is what happens when you need two A35Ks to operate the route and only have two A35Ks on hand.

Ah well, it happens. I visited the JAL ticketing desk at HND the night before to see if I could be put on the next day's flight to get the A35K (still 7J), but was denied. They said it didn't count as an involuntary change. Technically true, but I think this is just a case of Japanese rule rigidity unfortunately. I pleaded that I really wanted to fly the A35K and it doesn't cost JAL anything to move me to tomorrow but was met with lots of ahhh.... sumimasen (I couldn't just change my ticket since there was no "D" space left, only 7 "J" seats)


Anyway, a Window Apex Suite is not a bad seat (storage aside), and has great privacy. Excellent Japanese food as usual






Somewhere off the coast of Washington State


Maybe Seattle? Unsure. Somewhere around there though.

My take is still that the Window Apex suites are the best seat for a trip where you will spend most of the time sleeping. Completely open footwell, reasonably wide, more or less complete privacy. Two downsides of the JAL implementation are pillows that are way too small, and no individual air vents.

 

[encryptededdy]

Took two AA domestic first flights from JFK-DCA then DCA-LGA.

First of all, it's always a pleasure to use a international-class lounge before a domestic flight, and the Soho lounge is no exception. In fact, this has got to be one of the nicest looking lounges I've been to, and certainly the nicest looking in the US (Qantas F LAX is quite ugly imo).




Nice burger off the a-la-carte menu


Nice fireplace too.

The flight from JFK to DCA on the E175 was uneventful, although I forgot how small the overhead bins on the "A" side are. My messenger bag couldn't even go straight in, it had to go sideways.

The Admirals Club in DCA has got to be one of the nicest I've seen. Of course, the food selection was nothing to write home about (as to be expected for an Admirals Club)




Trying to order a "Diet Coke" on the plane was a struggle though. Had to say "Day ett coke" for them to get what I meant.

 

[encryptededdy]

Had to stop by the TWA hotel...

Onto DC...

Woke up early to catch the moon setting due to jet lag


Sunrise...



Whilst as mentioned earlier I sadly missed the cherry blossoms in Japan, it was everywhere in Washington, DC around the tidal basin!


Absolutely packed with people viewing cherry blossoms (the signs do say "don't touch" though)

 

[encryptededdy]

Took two AA domestic first flights from JFK-DCA then DCA-LGA.

Ah, something I forgot to mention about this. The JFK-DCA was on an American Eagle E175, and the safety briefing was an audio recording. Here's what it sounded like: 2024-04-29 14.38.55.mp3 (AFF doesn't allow the upload of mp3 files unfortunately).

Yep, you can barely tell what it was saying. I assume it's being played back from a extremely worn-out magnetic audio tape. Surely they should've replaced the tape long before it got this bad.

 

[elanshin]

Do you think its worthwhile paying extra to fly AA departing JFK just to check out the soho lounge?

Need to head to Toronto from NYC and cheapest option atm seems to be AC (from LGA) or UA (from EWR).

 

[encryptededdy]

Do you think its worthwhile paying extra to fly AA departing JFK just to check out the soho lounge?

I loved the Soho lounge, but I probably wouldn't pay more than a US$30 premium to visit it. Also the Republic Airways E170 just really isn't pleasant (although I assume it's a small regional jet to Toronto regardless of the airline).

I'm not a NYC expert but I assume that getting to the different airports may vary in difficulty and cost. I would add that LGA was probably the nicest airport I've been to in the US though - they've really given it a great makeover.

 

[VPS]

Fantastic photos - love those cats

 

[encryptededdy]

New York

I was here for business meetings so didn't do much (need to come back), but here's some pictures






I've only been to NYC once before, and that was in 2015. Subjectively, I felt New York was a lot cleaner (especially the Subway) compared to back then, however this sentiment was not shared by my New Yorker colleagues (they think it's worse).

 

[encryptededdy]

BA114 New York JFK - London Heathrow

I specifically picked this flight out of the many trans-atlantic flights available between AA and BA because it was operated by the 787-10 (78X), which is a type I haven't flown on before. Not particularly interesting of course, especially up in J since it's just a long 787, but still neat.


Nice Fish and Chips at the Soho lounge


Onboard the new Club Suites seat


Menu


English Muffin breakfast


Cool flight summary after landing shown by the Panasonic ARC maps

I heard very mixed opinions on BA before this flight, especially how it's very hit or miss (just like our favourite airline down under ), but I actually had an excellent experience on this flight.

• Crew was friendly and proactive without feeling too formal / fancy, which is something I don't like about e.g. QR/JL/NH
• Before takeoff, I asked to skip dinner and just have a cup of tea before bed, then wake me up for breakfast at the last minute. Crew bought around tea immediately and offered to make my bed whilst I went to the bathroom. Breakfast was served as expected.
• BA seem very thorough with their pre-flight safety checks, and made sure all my stored items were only in allowed locations, for instance everything below the footrest not above it etc.
  • IME QF/AA/QR/NZ don't really care if you leave some small items in storage marked "not for use during takeoff, taxi, and landing)
• I enjoyed the breakfast, but hard to judge without having a dinner meal.
• IFE was excellent with a nice looking UI (rare on airlines, even if they have a good selection)
• Seat was your usual Collins Super Diamond. Good but not outstanding.
• Bedding was great.