Just returned from our second trip using US Airways Dividend Miles. This was a J trip as F availability just wasn't there for the dates we wanted. Routing was PER-BKK-ICN-JFK---FRA-BKK (overnight) PER and cost was 110,000 Dividend Miles because of the weird routing I think.
Felt much more relaxed this time turning up at the airport with just my passport and a few screenshots from the US Airways website. Checkin went okay and we were in the business lounge in 10 minutes enjoying the bubbles. Flight to BKK was with Thai and as it was the afternoon flight it was direct. A quick stopover in BKK and it was off to Korea flying with Asiana. Plane was a 777 and seats were the NEW premium type Asiana Airlines as shown in the top picture. 5 hours went quickly and very comfortably on the lie flat beds. We had a short stopover in Soeul/Inchon airport which looked very nice. Minor annoyance on entering the business lounge as Asiana insisted we change our boarding passes which had been issued in Perth using Thai boarding cards. Come on guys its all Star Alliance. Quite surreal business lounge with a grand piano and fake leather bound books. Then off to JFK. I was very dissappointed when the 777 had the old business sloping seats. Seems strange for a 13.5 hours flight when the previous 5 hour flight had the new ones!! I opted for the Korean menu going to JFK and really enjoyed the different cuisine although I moved back to french wine after one glass of rice wine/beer ;-) Got through JFK quickly as there was a premium queue. So all in all about 32 hours door to door.
Coming home it was SQ to FRA and thats when I got the BIG surprise. Upstairs in the A380. Business lounge was very average at JFK but seeing 2 A380's from the departure lounge got me even more excited. The SQ seat is the type where the backrest folds forward and a mini bed folds out. It looked more comfortable than the Asiana bed but my wife and I agreed that it wasn't. My only peeve (amazing how pernicketty you become) was that as business is so big meal service has the same problem as Y where the food is served and the wine comes later. Later for me was after I had finished my main, which was a perfectly cooked piece of lamb (what a waste). Couple of hours in FRA and then it was back to Thai in a good ol 747. No delay in service here as we were upstairs in the small cabin. We couldn't get the connection we wanted to Perth so we had 24hrs at the Novotel at the airport (6AM-6AM). We used it last year and the price has come down to only $130.00. We spent the day sleeping and lazying round the pool which helped us with our jetlag as we were going to work the day after we arrived back in Perth. Nice flight back to Perth and we were unpacking at 4PM. Thanks again to Ben Points Pros for taking all the hard work out the booking.
Now its off to buy more DM with 100% bonus
cheers Paul
Felt much more relaxed this time turning up at the airport with just my passport and a few screenshots from the US Airways website. Checkin went okay and we were in the business lounge in 10 minutes enjoying the bubbles. Flight to BKK was with Thai and as it was the afternoon flight it was direct. A quick stopover in BKK and it was off to Korea flying with Asiana. Plane was a 777 and seats were the NEW premium type Asiana Airlines as shown in the top picture. 5 hours went quickly and very comfortably on the lie flat beds. We had a short stopover in Soeul/Inchon airport which looked very nice. Minor annoyance on entering the business lounge as Asiana insisted we change our boarding passes which had been issued in Perth using Thai boarding cards. Come on guys its all Star Alliance. Quite surreal business lounge with a grand piano and fake leather bound books. Then off to JFK. I was very dissappointed when the 777 had the old business sloping seats. Seems strange for a 13.5 hours flight when the previous 5 hour flight had the new ones!! I opted for the Korean menu going to JFK and really enjoyed the different cuisine although I moved back to french wine after one glass of rice wine/beer ;-) Got through JFK quickly as there was a premium queue. So all in all about 32 hours door to door.
Coming home it was SQ to FRA and thats when I got the BIG surprise. Upstairs in the A380. Business lounge was very average at JFK but seeing 2 A380's from the departure lounge got me even more excited. The SQ seat is the type where the backrest folds forward and a mini bed folds out. It looked more comfortable than the Asiana bed but my wife and I agreed that it wasn't. My only peeve (amazing how pernicketty you become) was that as business is so big meal service has the same problem as Y where the food is served and the wine comes later. Later for me was after I had finished my main, which was a perfectly cooked piece of lamb (what a waste). Couple of hours in FRA and then it was back to Thai in a good ol 747. No delay in service here as we were upstairs in the small cabin. We couldn't get the connection we wanted to Perth so we had 24hrs at the Novotel at the airport (6AM-6AM). We used it last year and the price has come down to only $130.00. We spent the day sleeping and lazying round the pool which helped us with our jetlag as we were going to work the day after we arrived back in Perth. Nice flight back to Perth and we were unpacking at 4PM. Thanks again to Ben Points Pros for taking all the hard work out the booking.
Now its off to buy more DM with 100% bonus
cheers Paul
