Austman
Apr 10, 01, 9:25 am
StarLite MEL-SYD-SFO-EWR-ARN-CPH-BKK-CNX-BKK-SIN-SYD-MEL on AN, UA, SK, TG and SQ
This was the 26.000 mile StarLite RTW economy class ticket. The cost was USD 1200.
MEL - Melbourne
SYD - Sydney
SFO - San Francisco
EWR - Newark (New York)
ARN - Arlanda (Stockholm)
CPH - Copenhagen
BKK - Bangkok
CNX - Chiang Mai
SIN - Singapore
MEL-SYD was on AN Ansett Australia
SYD-SFO-EWR was on UA United Airlines
EWR-ARN-CPH-BKK was on SK Scandinavian Airlines
BKK-CNX-BKK was on TG Thai International
BKK-SIN-SYD was on SQ Singapore Airlines
SYD-MEL was on AN Ansett Australia
This is a gruelling trip for a 6' 3" frequent flyer to do in economy class, but ....
Thanks to a UA System Wide Upgrade from Rudi, I upgraded the SYD-SFO-EWR segments.
I had upgrade coupons for SAS on the EWR-ARN (20.000 EuroBonus points) and CPH-BKK (30.000 EuroBonus points) flights.
The only other long segment was SIN-SYD and that was on SQ. I called SQ and was granted an aisle exit row seat on both my SQ flights. I knew SQ would never upgrade, so I tried for one of their most comfortable economy class seats.
1. MEL-SYD-SFO which became MEL-LAX-SFO. Ansett Australia and United Airlines.
It was a wet day in Melbourne but I was travelling with hand luggage only and decided to walk to the nearby Skybus bus stop. But alas, despite checking their website a few days earlier, I discovered that the Skybus don't stop here no more... So it was a taxi after all to Melbourne airport. Check-in with Ansett was interesting. I went to the Star Gold line and the nice lady seeing me with small hand luggage said 'where are you off to today?'. She expected me to answer 'Sydney or Brisbane' and was quite surprised when I announced 'New York'! My ticket was actually MEL-SYD-SFO-EWR but I was taking a 23h30m transit stop in SFO. She could not issue my UA boarding passes. The Star Alliance 'seamless travel' strikes again! Or was it because I had a SWU that UA needed to collect? I did get my MEL-SYD boarding pass and headed off to the Ansett Golden Wing lounge for some breakfast. It was 09.00 and my flight was scheduled for 10.00.
At around 09.45 the departure time slipped back to 10.15. I had a 1.5 hour connection time in Sydney, so I wasn't too worried. At 10.10 there was still no sign of boarding. Now I was worried. An announcement was made that all passengers connecting with UA in Sydney should report to the service desk. I was already there, having anticipated a cancellation of the 10.00 flight. Sure enough we were told the 10.00 flight would probably be cancelled and we were going to be re-routed to SFO directly with UA. There was a UA flight MEL-LAX leaving in 1.5 hours and we should report to the UA desk in the international terminal. UA did re-route me to MEL-LAX-SFO and collected my SWU. I explained that I was using the one SWU to upgrade SYD-SFO-EWR with a 23:30 transit in SFO. The agent said that he did not think that was permitted and that 2 x SWUs would be required. I'd already had lots of trouble with UA in Australia over this matter. I ended up calling UA in Chicago and they assured me that SWUs are allowed for all connections and that a connection on an international ticket is any stop of less that 24 hours. I also knew to tell the MEL agent to write 'SWU collected already' in my PNR. I also knew to take a copy of the SWU because I anticipated problems in SFO when I checked in for my SFO-EWR flight. UA in MEL could not issue my SFO-EWR boarding pass. UA 'seamless travel' strikes again!
Off now to the RCC and then onto the UA 747-400, upper deck C class. I was not expecting too much from UA but I was pleasantly surprised. Service was very good thanks to the excellent crew. The seat was modern and comfortable. It was a very nice flight in fact.
The UA shuttle LAX-SFO was ... well just a flight. But at least it was on time and not cancelled.
I spent some time with dgolds in SFO and the next morning we were both off to EWR for the Catman Do III.
2. SFO-EWR. United Airlines.
dgolds and I were taking 07.00 flights to EWR. He was on CO and I was on UA. After checking-in dgolds at the CO lounge, we both headed off to United to see how I would fare. I had to do 'battle' with two check-in agents and two supervisors in order to secure my upgrade. All of them assured me that another SWU was needed. Both the supervisors were certain that they knew all the rules and needed no further clarifications. I convinced the second supervisor to call Chicago and after a couple of minutes his facial expression changed and in a few more minutes I had my F-class seat SFO-EWR. The flight itself was quite nice. I saw dgold's CO 737 behind us at taxi for take-off and indeed he was there at EWR when I went to the agreed meeting point. We were waiting for some more FTers namely newself and MRLIMO who were also going to the CMDIII. We went to the CO lounge and I noticed that there was a SAS logo on the entrance. I decided to try my SAS EuroBonus Gold card and it actually got me admitted!
When the others arrived, we all headed off to Manhattan.
At the CMDIII, I met lots of fellow FTers and finally my Scandinavian colleagues kempis and Goldlust.
3. EWR-ARN. Scandinavian Airlines.
Goldlust, kempis, dgolds and myself were all leaving EWR within a few hours of each other. kempis and I were off to Sweden, Goldlust to Denmark and dgolds to SFO. We decided to take the PATH train to Newark station and then a taxi to EWR. But we were running late and I was getting stressed because I had the first flight and I knew it was sold out. I made it to check-in about 40 minutes before departure and was pleased to see that I had been given a business class seat in economy class. SAS sometimes run the middle business class cabin as economy class. It's the seat that counts. SAS economy class service is quite OK and the difference in the food and drink service is not worth the spending of 20.000 EuroBonus points to upgrade. kempis was scheduled to fly EWR-CPH-ARN and I suggested that he try for the EWR-ARN non-stop. He was accepted at check-in but as stand-by only. Goldlust was doing a tour-de-Scandinavie by flying EWR-OSL-ARN-MMX-CPH for some strange reason. (it was cheap or something silly like that ....). True to FF form, he was also after the extra miles. He used 20.000 EuroBonus points to upgrade EWR-OSL. kempis and I said goodbye to dgolds and Goldlust and headed off to the SAS lounge. I've been there many times and I knew that the lounge staff are very good at giving operational business class upgrades. We handed the agent both our boarding passes and requested that IF kempis was granted a seat on the EWR-ARN non-stop, we would like to be seated together (if possible). This was my gambit to get us BOTH into business class. We were told to wait in the lounge. After the final boarding call, the agent came to us and said we should thank him because it's our lucky day. Well, it was lucky for kempis who got business class. I was initially a bit miffed when I got back my boarding pass that was still economy class (but business class seat) - me being EuroBonus Gold and all that. But kempis had never travelled intercontinental business class so I conceded that it would be more of an experience for him.
In fairness, the SAS economy class service was quite OK . And kempis looked very satisfied when we caught up at Arlanda.
The Schengen procedures had been introduced in Stockholm just the day before and it was interesting to see those with a US passport getting asked the same sorts of questions that we get when we travel to the USA.
4. ARN-CPH-BKK-CNX. Scandinavian Airlines and Thai International.
After a few days in Stockholm, it was time to travel to BKK. My travel agent in Melbourne initially booked me on a ARN-BKK non-stop operated by TG. But I knew I wanted to use some EuroBonus upgrade coupons that only work on SK operated flights. Also my chances of operational upgrades on SAS are good. They are not good on TG. So I asked my agent to book me on SK ARN-CPH-BKK instead. The CPH-BKK was already full in economy class and I was wait-listed. But I cleared the wait-list and that was the way my ticket was printed. But perhaps my agent forgot to cancel the ARN-BKK flight on TG. When checking-in at ARN, the SAS agent could not find my reservation. She had to call a supervisor who informed me that my reservation had been cancelled. This was probably due to a double booking, I was told. I was directed over to the ticket counter and the agent there spent about 20 minutes on the phone to CPH. Eventually she said I would get on board but the seat allocation would be done at the gate. The flights were both sold out. She gave me my two boarding passes ARN-CPH and CPH-BKK and both stated 'seat at gate'. I explained that I was happy to use 30.000 EuroBonus points to upgrade the CPH-BKK flight. She noted that in the computer.
At the gate at ARN, the boarding computer put me in business class from ARN-CPH. A short flight on a beautifully renovated MD81. A light meal was served. At CPH in the Scandinavian lounge I asked if my seat CPH-BKK was now available. The agent checked and issued me a complimentary business class boarding pass. No upgrade coupons were necessary.
Service on board was good. Apart from the 767's old interiors and seats, I think SAS has a pretty good business class product. I was so tired that I cannot remember the meal trays being taken away. I fell asleep after the last bite.
I had a 2.5 hour transit in BKK. I went to the SAS Scandinavian lounge and I was the only one there for about an hour. It's a very nice small lounge with internet terminals. The TG flight to CNX was short and uneventful in economy class. I double checked to see that the Thai prime minister would NOT be on this flight. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
5. CNX-BKK-SIN-SYD. Thai International and Singapore Airlines.
The TG flight CNX-BKK was again uneventful. From the BKK domestic terminal there is a 500m walk to the international terminal. It's air-conditioned and I was in no hurry.
I had earlier requested an aisle exit row seat on my SQ flights and I was given two boarding passes which showed exactly that. At BKK, my Star Gold status allowed me to use the SilverKris lounge. Not so in SIN, as I knew. I checked just to be sure. At least the refusal was done with very nice manners this time. SQ economy class service was good and I can see why many people like them. For me however, even SAS is better. SAS don't have as many staff running around and their service certainly is not as friendly but they do offer proper pre-dinner drinks and serve wine with meals and not 25 minutes later. Cognac etc is offered with coffee. To me, SQ's meal service is a bit strange. I will say that the entertainment on SQ was very good and the staff really tried hard to please.
About 30 minutes before arriving in Sydney, I was watching the flight path map and saw the plane make a 90 degree right turn. A direct path for Melbourne in fact. I knew that this was NOT a good sign. About 20 minutes later the pilot announced that fog in Sydney meant that we had to divert to Melbourne. At Melbourne, no one was allowed off the plane. Two hours later we were heading back to Sydney landing together with all the other diverted flights about 5 hours late. There were long long lines at migration and because I had been to Europe, I had to go through customs to be questioned about foot-and-mouth disease.
6. SYD-MEL. Ansett Australia.
Finally my last flight on the ticket. I was scheduled for a 19.00 flight but arrived at the airport just after 17.00. 'Would you like an earlier flight sir?' asked the check-in agent. So I was re-booked to the 18.00 instead. There was still some time for a visit to the excellent Golden Wing lounge. I didn't realise it until I boarded, but I had been allocated an exit row aisle seat again. Lots of leg space! And Ansett served a decent meal for economy class. Chicken schnitzel and salad.
[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 04-10-2001).]
This was the 26.000 mile StarLite RTW economy class ticket. The cost was USD 1200.
MEL - Melbourne
SYD - Sydney
SFO - San Francisco
EWR - Newark (New York)
ARN - Arlanda (Stockholm)
CPH - Copenhagen
BKK - Bangkok
CNX - Chiang Mai
SIN - Singapore
MEL-SYD was on AN Ansett Australia
SYD-SFO-EWR was on UA United Airlines
EWR-ARN-CPH-BKK was on SK Scandinavian Airlines
BKK-CNX-BKK was on TG Thai International
BKK-SIN-SYD was on SQ Singapore Airlines
SYD-MEL was on AN Ansett Australia
This is a gruelling trip for a 6' 3" frequent flyer to do in economy class, but ....
Thanks to a UA System Wide Upgrade from Rudi, I upgraded the SYD-SFO-EWR segments.
I had upgrade coupons for SAS on the EWR-ARN (20.000 EuroBonus points) and CPH-BKK (30.000 EuroBonus points) flights.
The only other long segment was SIN-SYD and that was on SQ. I called SQ and was granted an aisle exit row seat on both my SQ flights. I knew SQ would never upgrade, so I tried for one of their most comfortable economy class seats.
1. MEL-SYD-SFO which became MEL-LAX-SFO. Ansett Australia and United Airlines.
It was a wet day in Melbourne but I was travelling with hand luggage only and decided to walk to the nearby Skybus bus stop. But alas, despite checking their website a few days earlier, I discovered that the Skybus don't stop here no more... So it was a taxi after all to Melbourne airport. Check-in with Ansett was interesting. I went to the Star Gold line and the nice lady seeing me with small hand luggage said 'where are you off to today?'. She expected me to answer 'Sydney or Brisbane' and was quite surprised when I announced 'New York'! My ticket was actually MEL-SYD-SFO-EWR but I was taking a 23h30m transit stop in SFO. She could not issue my UA boarding passes. The Star Alliance 'seamless travel' strikes again! Or was it because I had a SWU that UA needed to collect? I did get my MEL-SYD boarding pass and headed off to the Ansett Golden Wing lounge for some breakfast. It was 09.00 and my flight was scheduled for 10.00.
At around 09.45 the departure time slipped back to 10.15. I had a 1.5 hour connection time in Sydney, so I wasn't too worried. At 10.10 there was still no sign of boarding. Now I was worried. An announcement was made that all passengers connecting with UA in Sydney should report to the service desk. I was already there, having anticipated a cancellation of the 10.00 flight. Sure enough we were told the 10.00 flight would probably be cancelled and we were going to be re-routed to SFO directly with UA. There was a UA flight MEL-LAX leaving in 1.5 hours and we should report to the UA desk in the international terminal. UA did re-route me to MEL-LAX-SFO and collected my SWU. I explained that I was using the one SWU to upgrade SYD-SFO-EWR with a 23:30 transit in SFO. The agent said that he did not think that was permitted and that 2 x SWUs would be required. I'd already had lots of trouble with UA in Australia over this matter. I ended up calling UA in Chicago and they assured me that SWUs are allowed for all connections and that a connection on an international ticket is any stop of less that 24 hours. I also knew to tell the MEL agent to write 'SWU collected already' in my PNR. I also knew to take a copy of the SWU because I anticipated problems in SFO when I checked in for my SFO-EWR flight. UA in MEL could not issue my SFO-EWR boarding pass. UA 'seamless travel' strikes again!
Off now to the RCC and then onto the UA 747-400, upper deck C class. I was not expecting too much from UA but I was pleasantly surprised. Service was very good thanks to the excellent crew. The seat was modern and comfortable. It was a very nice flight in fact.
The UA shuttle LAX-SFO was ... well just a flight. But at least it was on time and not cancelled.
I spent some time with dgolds in SFO and the next morning we were both off to EWR for the Catman Do III.
2. SFO-EWR. United Airlines.
dgolds and I were taking 07.00 flights to EWR. He was on CO and I was on UA. After checking-in dgolds at the CO lounge, we both headed off to United to see how I would fare. I had to do 'battle' with two check-in agents and two supervisors in order to secure my upgrade. All of them assured me that another SWU was needed. Both the supervisors were certain that they knew all the rules and needed no further clarifications. I convinced the second supervisor to call Chicago and after a couple of minutes his facial expression changed and in a few more minutes I had my F-class seat SFO-EWR. The flight itself was quite nice. I saw dgold's CO 737 behind us at taxi for take-off and indeed he was there at EWR when I went to the agreed meeting point. We were waiting for some more FTers namely newself and MRLIMO who were also going to the CMDIII. We went to the CO lounge and I noticed that there was a SAS logo on the entrance. I decided to try my SAS EuroBonus Gold card and it actually got me admitted!
When the others arrived, we all headed off to Manhattan.
At the CMDIII, I met lots of fellow FTers and finally my Scandinavian colleagues kempis and Goldlust.
3. EWR-ARN. Scandinavian Airlines.
Goldlust, kempis, dgolds and myself were all leaving EWR within a few hours of each other. kempis and I were off to Sweden, Goldlust to Denmark and dgolds to SFO. We decided to take the PATH train to Newark station and then a taxi to EWR. But we were running late and I was getting stressed because I had the first flight and I knew it was sold out. I made it to check-in about 40 minutes before departure and was pleased to see that I had been given a business class seat in economy class. SAS sometimes run the middle business class cabin as economy class. It's the seat that counts. SAS economy class service is quite OK and the difference in the food and drink service is not worth the spending of 20.000 EuroBonus points to upgrade. kempis was scheduled to fly EWR-CPH-ARN and I suggested that he try for the EWR-ARN non-stop. He was accepted at check-in but as stand-by only. Goldlust was doing a tour-de-Scandinavie by flying EWR-OSL-ARN-MMX-CPH for some strange reason. (it was cheap or something silly like that ....). True to FF form, he was also after the extra miles. He used 20.000 EuroBonus points to upgrade EWR-OSL. kempis and I said goodbye to dgolds and Goldlust and headed off to the SAS lounge. I've been there many times and I knew that the lounge staff are very good at giving operational business class upgrades. We handed the agent both our boarding passes and requested that IF kempis was granted a seat on the EWR-ARN non-stop, we would like to be seated together (if possible). This was my gambit to get us BOTH into business class. We were told to wait in the lounge. After the final boarding call, the agent came to us and said we should thank him because it's our lucky day. Well, it was lucky for kempis who got business class. I was initially a bit miffed when I got back my boarding pass that was still economy class (but business class seat) - me being EuroBonus Gold and all that. But kempis had never travelled intercontinental business class so I conceded that it would be more of an experience for him.
In fairness, the SAS economy class service was quite OK . And kempis looked very satisfied when we caught up at Arlanda.
The Schengen procedures had been introduced in Stockholm just the day before and it was interesting to see those with a US passport getting asked the same sorts of questions that we get when we travel to the USA.
4. ARN-CPH-BKK-CNX. Scandinavian Airlines and Thai International.
After a few days in Stockholm, it was time to travel to BKK. My travel agent in Melbourne initially booked me on a ARN-BKK non-stop operated by TG. But I knew I wanted to use some EuroBonus upgrade coupons that only work on SK operated flights. Also my chances of operational upgrades on SAS are good. They are not good on TG. So I asked my agent to book me on SK ARN-CPH-BKK instead. The CPH-BKK was already full in economy class and I was wait-listed. But I cleared the wait-list and that was the way my ticket was printed. But perhaps my agent forgot to cancel the ARN-BKK flight on TG. When checking-in at ARN, the SAS agent could not find my reservation. She had to call a supervisor who informed me that my reservation had been cancelled. This was probably due to a double booking, I was told. I was directed over to the ticket counter and the agent there spent about 20 minutes on the phone to CPH. Eventually she said I would get on board but the seat allocation would be done at the gate. The flights were both sold out. She gave me my two boarding passes ARN-CPH and CPH-BKK and both stated 'seat at gate'. I explained that I was happy to use 30.000 EuroBonus points to upgrade the CPH-BKK flight. She noted that in the computer.
At the gate at ARN, the boarding computer put me in business class from ARN-CPH. A short flight on a beautifully renovated MD81. A light meal was served. At CPH in the Scandinavian lounge I asked if my seat CPH-BKK was now available. The agent checked and issued me a complimentary business class boarding pass. No upgrade coupons were necessary.
Service on board was good. Apart from the 767's old interiors and seats, I think SAS has a pretty good business class product. I was so tired that I cannot remember the meal trays being taken away. I fell asleep after the last bite.
I had a 2.5 hour transit in BKK. I went to the SAS Scandinavian lounge and I was the only one there for about an hour. It's a very nice small lounge with internet terminals. The TG flight to CNX was short and uneventful in economy class. I double checked to see that the Thai prime minister would NOT be on this flight. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
5. CNX-BKK-SIN-SYD. Thai International and Singapore Airlines.
The TG flight CNX-BKK was again uneventful. From the BKK domestic terminal there is a 500m walk to the international terminal. It's air-conditioned and I was in no hurry.
I had earlier requested an aisle exit row seat on my SQ flights and I was given two boarding passes which showed exactly that. At BKK, my Star Gold status allowed me to use the SilverKris lounge. Not so in SIN, as I knew. I checked just to be sure. At least the refusal was done with very nice manners this time. SQ economy class service was good and I can see why many people like them. For me however, even SAS is better. SAS don't have as many staff running around and their service certainly is not as friendly but they do offer proper pre-dinner drinks and serve wine with meals and not 25 minutes later. Cognac etc is offered with coffee. To me, SQ's meal service is a bit strange. I will say that the entertainment on SQ was very good and the staff really tried hard to please.
About 30 minutes before arriving in Sydney, I was watching the flight path map and saw the plane make a 90 degree right turn. A direct path for Melbourne in fact. I knew that this was NOT a good sign. About 20 minutes later the pilot announced that fog in Sydney meant that we had to divert to Melbourne. At Melbourne, no one was allowed off the plane. Two hours later we were heading back to Sydney landing together with all the other diverted flights about 5 hours late. There were long long lines at migration and because I had been to Europe, I had to go through customs to be questioned about foot-and-mouth disease.
6. SYD-MEL. Ansett Australia.
Finally my last flight on the ticket. I was scheduled for a 19.00 flight but arrived at the airport just after 17.00. 'Would you like an earlier flight sir?' asked the check-in agent. So I was re-booked to the 18.00 instead. There was still some time for a visit to the excellent Golden Wing lounge. I didn't realise it until I boarded, but I had been allocated an exit row aisle seat again. Lots of leg space! And Ansett served a decent meal for economy class. Chicken schnitzel and salad.
[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 04-10-2001).]