KezzaKawasaki
Jul 8, 03, 5:21 am
I have been meaning to write a trip report for some time now, so here it is - my first effort, a Mileage Run Trip Report on Northwest in Eco class to Singapore!
Here is the background to my trip...
In order to qualify for the latest Worldperks Fly Free Faster 3 promotion
http://www.nwa.com/jp/en/offers/fff2003/index.shtml
I knew I would have to take a Northwest flight sometime before August 31st.
My EQM tally for the year (built up on KLM flights to Europe, a few US domestic internal flights on NW, and two trips to Cairns via Gum on CO - those elite upgrades to F are really cool!!) had somehow crept up to 36,000 miles as well, so I thought another 6,600 miles or so would put me in a stronger position to aim for Platinum by the end of the year.
I had been monitoring airfares between Narita and the Asian cities that Northwest serves. When Bangkok and Singapore fares plummeted to new lows for departures up until the end of June, I knew it was time to act.
After spending hours on my favourite online travel site http://www.advancetravel.co.jp looking for a spare seat to either of these two cities and back, I finally found availability to Singapore and back on June 28th and 30th respectively - all for the respectable sum of 23,800 yen return (about USD$200) plus taxes.
I booked and paid for my tickets on June 23rd (five days prior to departure) and then started to wonder how on earth I was going to explain to my other half what I was planning to do. That evening, after dinner, I casually mentioned that I was off to Singapore for the weekend.
'You are going where?'
'Well, to Singapore...'
'Why?'
'Well, it is a Mileage Run.'
'A what?'
'A Mileage Run'
'Have you met somebody?'
'Are you kidding! I am doing it for the miles! You know, so we can fly to Thailand together at Christmas time!!! 13,000 or so extra points into my account, 10,000 miles for the Fly Free Faster 3 campaign, and I might qualify for Platinum by the end of the year with this extra trip.'
'Are you sure you haven't met somebody? And what is a Platinum?'
It was at this point that I wondered if other Flyertalkers had experienced the same reactions when they announced their first Mileage Run to their partners...I got the distinct feeling that this had not gone down well...and wondered if I had done the right thing...
'Well have fun. Make sure you bring me back some duty free cigarettes...and a new toy for the puppy.'
30 hours before departure, I decided to try the new online check-in to qualify for the extra 1000 point bonus for trying the service for the first time. For some unknown reason, even though my Worldperks number had been entered into the booking, I had been pre-allocated a seat at the back of the DC-10 in the middle seat of the row of 5! So much for Elite pre-seating! Thankfully, the online check-in service allows a change of seat, so I clicked on 10B (thank you Seatguru!) and I was moved immediately.
Saturday afternoon arrived, and I still felt slightly guilty. I took the Marunouchi line from my flat in downtown Shinjuku, and changed over to the Narita Express service from Tokyo Station. In the ten years that I have been taking the NEX, the price (and poor quality) of the coffee served has not changed at all. For some reason, I find that to be a very comforting and reassuring aspect to my life here in Japan.
I arrived at Narita Terminal 1 just before 1700, and proceeded to the WBC check-in counter for a 1840 departure. With only hand luggage and my boading pass pre-printed, I was on my way to Immigration within ten minutes of arriving at the Airport. The check-in staff at the NWA counter were polite and friendly.
I had been looking forward to trying out the new Worldclub at Narita, and was not disappointed. For me, I am not so fussed about food in airline lounges, and prefer a good view to look at while downing a glass of wine and nibbling on some crackers. The view from the new Worldclub (particularly of the runway) is superb, and is far superior to that of the other lounges (SQ and NH) that I had previously experienced at Narita during my life as a Star Gold...
I had been advised at check-in that our flight NW11 to had been delayed 15 minutes. When boarding finally commenced, it was through one of the gates downstairs with a bus trip out to the plane which had been parked near the cargo hangers. I guess Elite pre-boarding this time consisted of being on the first bus out to the plane.
It was quite a fun five minute bus ride, whizzing amongst the Northwest and United jumbos...
Boarding did take longer than normal, and by the time everybody had been bussed on board, we were about 40 minutes behind schedule. The load in economy was about 75 to 80%.
After the doors were closed, it became immediately obvious that the airconditioning was not working, and the plane gradually became unbearably hot. An announcement / apology was made; however, after we had been siting there in discomfort for ten minutes or so, another announcement was made that due to a 'problem' that had developed, the engineers would be doing an investigation on our plane. Long live the DC-10!
The doors were opened again, the mechanics brought on board, some magic was done, and 75 minutes after we boarded the plane, we were on our way.
It was an uneventful flight from that point on. The food and beverage service was nothing outstanding; for dinner, we were served a choice of seafood noodles or chicken curry, along with some rock hard bread, a few pieces of lettuce, and cake for dessert. I ordered the seafood noodles, which were very average, and washed it all down with a small bottle of Chilean white wine. The FAs were fine, although they tended to have a slightly tired demeanour. This was my first International flight ever on Northwest. I had not gone in with high expectations, but ended up being slightly underwhelmed.
I spent most of the flight asleep. Seven years living in Japan have finally rubbed off on me, and I have picked up the Japanese habit of immediately falling asleep once being on board some form of transportation.
When we finally arrived in Singapore it was well past 2am. I jumped in a cab and arrived at the Sheraton at around 3 o'clock. I had booked one night here to take advantage of the triple SPG points promotion, and to keep building my tally of stay credits as I am quite new to this programme and am hoping to reach Platinum by the end of the year. (The second night was to be spent at a cheaper hotel in Chinatown).
The cheerful check-in agent at the Sheraton immediately granted me a 4pm late checkout.
Not wanting to waste a minute of my day in Singapore, I got up at 830am and headed down for breakfast. It was not included in the rate, but I thought I would try and eat something substantial and leave more time for exploring later in the day. The queue was quite long, so I decided to skip breakfast and headed to to the pool for a quick dip instead. I am an avid swimmer, and one of my key criteria for judging a hotel is the quality of the pool. The Sheraton pool scored the thumbs up, probably because it was completedly deserted at that hour on account of the pouring rain and lashing winds.
After my swim, I was famished, so gave breakfast another shot. This time I was successful in getting a seat. Imagine my surprise when the attendant told me after I finished 'This has been included in your rate, sir.' Nice one Sheraton Singapore!!
The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent exploring Orchard road. I killed a few hours at the big sale in Takashimaya (so I fly to Singapore and spend my time shopping in a Japanese department store...) and managed to pick up some new bed sheets and a doonah at 80% off, and my favourite brand of apricot face scrub (imported from Canada) at 50% off as well. I stocked up on Body Shop banana shampoo, which was also on sale. By the time I had done my sums, I was pretty sure that what I had saved on those purchases would have covered the cost of my flight http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I headed back to the Sheraton, had another leisurely dip in the pool (this time it had fined up and the pool was packed) checked out dead on 4p.m. and thanked the staff for a very nice stay.
I headed off to Chinatown, checked into the hotel 'Inn at Temple Street' (booked at http://www.wotif.com.au for SIN$78) had a nice 30 minute reflexology massage at one of the many establishments providing the service at the Chinatown shopping centres, and finished off the day with a cold beer and dinner of soup and satay at one of the outside stalls.
Oh, I also managed to see the closing moments of the 'Little Miss Singapore Cindarella Pagent' at the shopping centre as well.
Overall, I was amazed at what I crammed into my day in Singapore. I was asleep by 10pm, and dreaming all night of my 4am wake up call.
Not much to report about the trip back, except my run-in with the sales clerk at the DFS duty free shop in Chiangi Airport while trying to buy my other half's cigarettes.
I had used online NWA check-in again, (this time changing yet another shocking seat assignment to 22B, which is even better than 10B in my opinion!) and had printed off my boarding pass onto a sheet of A4 paper. Of course, the sales clerk at DFS had never seen such a boarding pass and told me to produce the 'real' boarding pass or she could not sell me the goods.
'This is the boarding pass' I insisted.
'No, that is not a boarding pass' she insisted back.
After a five minute or so 'discussion' which consisted entirely of the sentences 'This IS the boarding pass' / 'No that is NOT a boarding pass', I was on the verge of calling the manager when the lady at the head of the queue that had formed behind me screamed out 'Just sell him the fags!!' (I guess she was from the U.K and flying off to London on QF32....)
Anyway, the sales clerk finally succumbed, but did have one final parting shot with 'Next time you show me the real boarding pass, OK?'
The flight back was good - being in seat 22B (with nobody beside me...) made a huge difference. I noticed many of the same FAs on this flight, and they seemed to be more cheerful than on the way down. Breakfast was fine, and the pre-arrival sandwich was actually very good. I slept for about three hours on this flight as well.
Well, it is now a week after I have been back. All the points have posted to my Worldperks account, plus a few pleasant shocks as well:
27 June 03
First time usage bonus-nwa.com Check-In 1000 miles
28 June 03
Citibank VISA First Flight Bonus 2000 miles
Japan E-ticket Promotion 2Q/3Q 500 miles
E-Ticketing Bonus Miles Offer 2000 miles
100% Gold Elite Bonus 3328 miles
NRT - SIN 3328 miles
30 June 03
Japan E-ticket Promotion 2Q/3Q 500 miles
100% Gold Elite Bonus 3328 miles
SIN - NRT 3328 miles
And 10,000 miles for FFF3 to come soon as well.
I have no idea where these bonus miles came from, but hey who cares!
Overall, this short trip has bumped my EQM up to 42,792 for the year and added close to 30,000 miles to my account.
Well...until I was asked this morning to cash in those points to fly my other half's sister from Narita to Singapore next week so she can meet her boyfriend.
'You don't need the points, right?'
'No, I guess I don't...'
'Oh, and make sure it is in Business Class..' http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
------------------
NW Worldperks Gold, 6/10 of the way to SPG Gold
Here is the background to my trip...
In order to qualify for the latest Worldperks Fly Free Faster 3 promotion
http://www.nwa.com/jp/en/offers/fff2003/index.shtml
I knew I would have to take a Northwest flight sometime before August 31st.
My EQM tally for the year (built up on KLM flights to Europe, a few US domestic internal flights on NW, and two trips to Cairns via Gum on CO - those elite upgrades to F are really cool!!) had somehow crept up to 36,000 miles as well, so I thought another 6,600 miles or so would put me in a stronger position to aim for Platinum by the end of the year.
I had been monitoring airfares between Narita and the Asian cities that Northwest serves. When Bangkok and Singapore fares plummeted to new lows for departures up until the end of June, I knew it was time to act.
After spending hours on my favourite online travel site http://www.advancetravel.co.jp looking for a spare seat to either of these two cities and back, I finally found availability to Singapore and back on June 28th and 30th respectively - all for the respectable sum of 23,800 yen return (about USD$200) plus taxes.
I booked and paid for my tickets on June 23rd (five days prior to departure) and then started to wonder how on earth I was going to explain to my other half what I was planning to do. That evening, after dinner, I casually mentioned that I was off to Singapore for the weekend.
'You are going where?'
'Well, to Singapore...'
'Why?'
'Well, it is a Mileage Run.'
'A what?'
'A Mileage Run'
'Have you met somebody?'
'Are you kidding! I am doing it for the miles! You know, so we can fly to Thailand together at Christmas time!!! 13,000 or so extra points into my account, 10,000 miles for the Fly Free Faster 3 campaign, and I might qualify for Platinum by the end of the year with this extra trip.'
'Are you sure you haven't met somebody? And what is a Platinum?'
It was at this point that I wondered if other Flyertalkers had experienced the same reactions when they announced their first Mileage Run to their partners...I got the distinct feeling that this had not gone down well...and wondered if I had done the right thing...
'Well have fun. Make sure you bring me back some duty free cigarettes...and a new toy for the puppy.'
30 hours before departure, I decided to try the new online check-in to qualify for the extra 1000 point bonus for trying the service for the first time. For some unknown reason, even though my Worldperks number had been entered into the booking, I had been pre-allocated a seat at the back of the DC-10 in the middle seat of the row of 5! So much for Elite pre-seating! Thankfully, the online check-in service allows a change of seat, so I clicked on 10B (thank you Seatguru!) and I was moved immediately.
Saturday afternoon arrived, and I still felt slightly guilty. I took the Marunouchi line from my flat in downtown Shinjuku, and changed over to the Narita Express service from Tokyo Station. In the ten years that I have been taking the NEX, the price (and poor quality) of the coffee served has not changed at all. For some reason, I find that to be a very comforting and reassuring aspect to my life here in Japan.
I arrived at Narita Terminal 1 just before 1700, and proceeded to the WBC check-in counter for a 1840 departure. With only hand luggage and my boading pass pre-printed, I was on my way to Immigration within ten minutes of arriving at the Airport. The check-in staff at the NWA counter were polite and friendly.
I had been looking forward to trying out the new Worldclub at Narita, and was not disappointed. For me, I am not so fussed about food in airline lounges, and prefer a good view to look at while downing a glass of wine and nibbling on some crackers. The view from the new Worldclub (particularly of the runway) is superb, and is far superior to that of the other lounges (SQ and NH) that I had previously experienced at Narita during my life as a Star Gold...
I had been advised at check-in that our flight NW11 to had been delayed 15 minutes. When boarding finally commenced, it was through one of the gates downstairs with a bus trip out to the plane which had been parked near the cargo hangers. I guess Elite pre-boarding this time consisted of being on the first bus out to the plane.
It was quite a fun five minute bus ride, whizzing amongst the Northwest and United jumbos...
Boarding did take longer than normal, and by the time everybody had been bussed on board, we were about 40 minutes behind schedule. The load in economy was about 75 to 80%.
After the doors were closed, it became immediately obvious that the airconditioning was not working, and the plane gradually became unbearably hot. An announcement / apology was made; however, after we had been siting there in discomfort for ten minutes or so, another announcement was made that due to a 'problem' that had developed, the engineers would be doing an investigation on our plane. Long live the DC-10!
The doors were opened again, the mechanics brought on board, some magic was done, and 75 minutes after we boarded the plane, we were on our way.
It was an uneventful flight from that point on. The food and beverage service was nothing outstanding; for dinner, we were served a choice of seafood noodles or chicken curry, along with some rock hard bread, a few pieces of lettuce, and cake for dessert. I ordered the seafood noodles, which were very average, and washed it all down with a small bottle of Chilean white wine. The FAs were fine, although they tended to have a slightly tired demeanour. This was my first International flight ever on Northwest. I had not gone in with high expectations, but ended up being slightly underwhelmed.
I spent most of the flight asleep. Seven years living in Japan have finally rubbed off on me, and I have picked up the Japanese habit of immediately falling asleep once being on board some form of transportation.
When we finally arrived in Singapore it was well past 2am. I jumped in a cab and arrived at the Sheraton at around 3 o'clock. I had booked one night here to take advantage of the triple SPG points promotion, and to keep building my tally of stay credits as I am quite new to this programme and am hoping to reach Platinum by the end of the year. (The second night was to be spent at a cheaper hotel in Chinatown).
The cheerful check-in agent at the Sheraton immediately granted me a 4pm late checkout.
Not wanting to waste a minute of my day in Singapore, I got up at 830am and headed down for breakfast. It was not included in the rate, but I thought I would try and eat something substantial and leave more time for exploring later in the day. The queue was quite long, so I decided to skip breakfast and headed to to the pool for a quick dip instead. I am an avid swimmer, and one of my key criteria for judging a hotel is the quality of the pool. The Sheraton pool scored the thumbs up, probably because it was completedly deserted at that hour on account of the pouring rain and lashing winds.
After my swim, I was famished, so gave breakfast another shot. This time I was successful in getting a seat. Imagine my surprise when the attendant told me after I finished 'This has been included in your rate, sir.' Nice one Sheraton Singapore!!
The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent exploring Orchard road. I killed a few hours at the big sale in Takashimaya (so I fly to Singapore and spend my time shopping in a Japanese department store...) and managed to pick up some new bed sheets and a doonah at 80% off, and my favourite brand of apricot face scrub (imported from Canada) at 50% off as well. I stocked up on Body Shop banana shampoo, which was also on sale. By the time I had done my sums, I was pretty sure that what I had saved on those purchases would have covered the cost of my flight http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I headed back to the Sheraton, had another leisurely dip in the pool (this time it had fined up and the pool was packed) checked out dead on 4p.m. and thanked the staff for a very nice stay.
I headed off to Chinatown, checked into the hotel 'Inn at Temple Street' (booked at http://www.wotif.com.au for SIN$78) had a nice 30 minute reflexology massage at one of the many establishments providing the service at the Chinatown shopping centres, and finished off the day with a cold beer and dinner of soup and satay at one of the outside stalls.
Oh, I also managed to see the closing moments of the 'Little Miss Singapore Cindarella Pagent' at the shopping centre as well.
Overall, I was amazed at what I crammed into my day in Singapore. I was asleep by 10pm, and dreaming all night of my 4am wake up call.
Not much to report about the trip back, except my run-in with the sales clerk at the DFS duty free shop in Chiangi Airport while trying to buy my other half's cigarettes.
I had used online NWA check-in again, (this time changing yet another shocking seat assignment to 22B, which is even better than 10B in my opinion!) and had printed off my boarding pass onto a sheet of A4 paper. Of course, the sales clerk at DFS had never seen such a boarding pass and told me to produce the 'real' boarding pass or she could not sell me the goods.
'This is the boarding pass' I insisted.
'No, that is not a boarding pass' she insisted back.
After a five minute or so 'discussion' which consisted entirely of the sentences 'This IS the boarding pass' / 'No that is NOT a boarding pass', I was on the verge of calling the manager when the lady at the head of the queue that had formed behind me screamed out 'Just sell him the fags!!' (I guess she was from the U.K and flying off to London on QF32....)
Anyway, the sales clerk finally succumbed, but did have one final parting shot with 'Next time you show me the real boarding pass, OK?'
The flight back was good - being in seat 22B (with nobody beside me...) made a huge difference. I noticed many of the same FAs on this flight, and they seemed to be more cheerful than on the way down. Breakfast was fine, and the pre-arrival sandwich was actually very good. I slept for about three hours on this flight as well.
Well, it is now a week after I have been back. All the points have posted to my Worldperks account, plus a few pleasant shocks as well:
27 June 03
First time usage bonus-nwa.com Check-In 1000 miles
28 June 03
Citibank VISA First Flight Bonus 2000 miles
Japan E-ticket Promotion 2Q/3Q 500 miles
E-Ticketing Bonus Miles Offer 2000 miles
100% Gold Elite Bonus 3328 miles
NRT - SIN 3328 miles
30 June 03
Japan E-ticket Promotion 2Q/3Q 500 miles
100% Gold Elite Bonus 3328 miles
SIN - NRT 3328 miles
And 10,000 miles for FFF3 to come soon as well.
I have no idea where these bonus miles came from, but hey who cares!
Overall, this short trip has bumped my EQM up to 42,792 for the year and added close to 30,000 miles to my account.
Well...until I was asked this morning to cash in those points to fly my other half's sister from Narita to Singapore next week so she can meet her boyfriend.
'You don't need the points, right?'
'No, I guess I don't...'
'Oh, and make sure it is in Business Class..' http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
------------------
NW Worldperks Gold, 6/10 of the way to SPG Gold