US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - FC award on Swiss

Well, I bit the bullet... traded in 480,000 miles for two FC tickets on Swiss Air Lines to Johannesburg, South Africa. Availability was hit & miss, even this far out...

11/23 LX 35 IAD-ZRH A330
11/26 LX 288 ZRH-JNB MD11
12/05 LX 289 JNB-ZRH MD11
12/06 LX 34 ZRH-IAD A330

There's a tiny picture of Swiss's awesome First Class pod at swiss.com (http://www.swiss.com/net/index/sw-intercontinental-flights).

The tickets price around $12,000 each, which means 1 mile = 5 cents of airfare. I consider that a good deal, since that means it wouldn't be worth trading 25,000 miles for a
domestic coach award unless the ticket cost $1,250!

I'll post a trip report in December. (Don't hold your breath. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif) Who can help me learn Afrikaans?

David

With a couple of days in ZRH ta boot! I'm soooo jealous!

I was supposed to head to CPT last year, but then that appendix of mine went ahead and blew up! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif

And don't worry about "biting the bullet" miles are meant to be burned. They don't do you any good sitting in an account! Use them for occasions like this! Sitting in F on Swiss, I'm sure won't be a horrible experience!

Anxiously awaiting the december trip report... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by chexfan:
[B]....but then that appendix of mine went ahead and blew up! </font>


Well. One less thing to worry about...

(as Forrest Gump would say)

WOW - I've always wanted to make the same trip. I've flown SR F IAD-ZRF and back last year and it was more than great. The SR F Suite is fantastic. Being a large guy I found the flat seat to be less comfortable than a nice recline in lounge mode for sleeping. The large pillows and blanket/sleeping bad thing they give you make it oh so great. If only they had two seats such that you could snuggle with your gf then I would say its perfect. But then they might have to worry about a rise in "Mile High Club" memberships on their aircraft which would be so out of character for the typical F pax on SR. (I suspect)

Enjoy your trip and we anxiously await your full TR. It is good that you broke up your trip with a few days in ZRH. If you don't have a hotel picked yet, the Sheraton that is up on the hillside overlooking Zurich is very nice. Stayed there on an award for three days while I was making my way back from a week in Prague. The accomodations at the Sheraton much improved from the local hotel I stayed in while in Prague (but the activites in Prague made up for the lack luster hotel).

I agree with Chexfan, miles siting in your account are not working for you unless you spend them on something that you would never pay cash for, like SR F tickets.

Enjoy!!!



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US-CP; UA PE; Hilton Gold VIP; Crowne Plaza Gold