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Pre-Bachelor Party Adventure: AA/JL/SQ First, JL J, VA Y, Park Hyatt Seoul

Pre-Bachelor Party Adventure: AA/JL/SQ First, JL J, VA Y, Park Hyatt Seoul

Old Apr 11, 2015, 1:41 pm
  #1  
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Pre-Bachelor Party Adventure: AA/JL/SQ First, JL J, VA Y, Park Hyatt Seoul

This is my first attempt at a Trip Report on FT, so please bear with me. I've been a reader on the site for years, but rarely comment. I hope I've learned a thing or two from the TR experts on here, but I guess we'll see!

My brother and I have a travel site (pointsmd.com) that we started a few months ago and just took our first trip together last month since starting the blog.
My oldest brother Kevin is getting married next month and the bachelor party was in Las Vegas over the NCAA tournament opening weekend (hell yeah!). Since he and I are avid travel enthusiasts, we decided to take a little pre-bachelor party trip and head to....Asia? Both having jobs that we couldn't take a ton of days off from (he's a Doctor, I'm a Marine) we decided to galavant around the world for 5 days and roll right into the party where we'd meet about a dozen of our friends. While he started from SPI, I started our report out from my hometown in N.C. We met each other in DFW and continued the trip together from there!

My trip looked like this (with my brother's just a small bit different):

Originally, the reason we were going to Seoul was to fly the KE A380 FC flight back to the US (to LAX, specifically). We got the seats on the flight held and started planning everything. Then, as we all know, KE stopped showing up as a transfer partner of Chase for some time. While we thought it would come back, at some point we couldn't take the risk anymore, and instead decided to fly SQ home. I'm not upset at all by the decision.

Our trip report looks like this:
As we go along, I'll be adding the hyperlinks to our blog. The posts on here are a little bit behind, so feel free to head over to the site to cheat and read ahead.

We appreciate any feedback y'all have for not only the TR but the site as well.

Thanks in advance for following along!

Last edited by MarylandFlyer244; Jul 30, 2015 at 3:51 pm Reason: Adding more information
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Old Apr 11, 2015, 2:13 pm
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Looks promising! Maybe another "Hangover-esque" type of trip perhaps?
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Old Apr 11, 2015, 2:17 pm
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Originally Posted by roadwarrier
Looks promising! Maybe another "Hangover-esque" type of trip perhaps?
We purposely didn't go into much detail about the Vegas part of the trip other than the flight there and the lounge in order to save some friends from embarrassment!
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Old Apr 11, 2015, 3:54 pm
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Looking forward to the TR
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Old Apr 11, 2015, 7:55 pm
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Looking forward to it MarylandFlyer244!
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Old Apr 11, 2015, 10:08 pm
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Subscribing...sounds like an interesting trip already
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Old Apr 12, 2015, 12:28 am
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What exactly is a "pre-bachelor" party ?
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Old Apr 12, 2015, 10:06 am
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Originally Posted by Braniff
What exactly is a "pre-bachelor" party ?
Pretty much just a trip we took right before his bachelor party! We just took the very very long way to Vegas^
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Old Apr 12, 2015, 10:47 am
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Flight Review: AA First Class ATL-DFW

*Please keep in mind a couple of things with regard to my writing style*:
- I try to be funny occasionally, sometimes it takes, sometimes it doesn't. Sorry!
- A lot of my writing is focused towards readers of our site whom are usually more beginners/medium level travelers. As the site matures and the knowledge of our readers progresses, the writing style will follow!
- As I said in the intro post, this is my first TR, and the site is still blossoming. We very much welcome all feedback!

Without further ado...

The whirlwind trip has officially finished! Let's start at the beginning - Saturday March 14th...

My second flight of the first day was from Atlanta to Dallas-Fort Worth.... Yes, Atlanta to Dallas.

Wait, what? Werent you supposed to fly to Charlotte and then straight to San Francisco? Why yes, reader, I was. But you know what? Life happens.
Significant delays to my original flight out of Jacksonville (OAJ) Im talking a 3 hour delay would literally make me miss all my flights connecting to Tokyo. Long story short, I erupted into super-traveler mode and made some big moves. With the Gold Preferred (now Platinum) desk not answering and there already being a huge line in front of the gate agent, I left the terminal and went back to the ticket counter. I had them book me on the Delta flight to Atlanta (that left in 5 minutes) so that I could figure out my life from there. The important part was just getting to a bigger airport with options. Upon landing in ATL, I called the Gold Preferred line and they hooked me up with flights to DFW and then onto SFO, with plenty of time to spare for our big flight. I'll meet Kevin in Dallas and will actually be on the same flight as him now, strangely enough, so thats kinda cool.

Whats the moral of the story? Be travel savvy. Its important to know all your options before your flight in case the worst happens. Know your rights as a flyer and what you can and cant do. For instance, our flight was delayed for mechanical malfunction/maintenance reasons. Because of this, I knew that US Airways HAD to rebook me (right, FT?) on the flight I wanted in order to make my itinerary work, no matter the airline (for the most part). It took quick thinking. At risk of sounding cocky, Id say 95% of Americans would not have pulled it off, and thats simply because they dont know what they can and cant do. I guess obsessing with travel and wasting hours of my life reading blogs (and writing my own) have finally paid off!
So the flight reviews for the beginning of our trip shifted a bit, but its all good.

Saying I had issues with my checked bag is an understatement (considering I switched flights 3 times in an hour), but well get to that in a later post!
But, I digress

Growing up and living my entire life in the Mid Atlantic/Southeast, I've become accustomed to US Airways, and frequently fly them. Unfortunately, while flying short routes on the east coast, I'm usually subject to small regional jets.
That was once again the case on my first flight from Jacksonville, NC (OAJ). We had a quick 50-minute Delta flight on a CRJ-200. You didn't miss anything, that's why I didn't do a review on it. Fun fact I sat next to a guy who was twice my size and kept falling asleep on me. Bear in mind Im 6 foot and 200 pounds. HE WAS TWICE MY WEIGHT. Enough said. Luckily it was a under an hour flight and I was too nervous about the rest of my itinerary to worry about his sleeping habits or stench.

Since I've become so accustomed to flying these little regional jets, it's always a pleasure to fly the bigger domestic aircrafts. I was looking forward to the A321 flight to SFO, as Ive been on it before and I like the seats and wide cabin (relatively speaking). However, while not on a huge aircraft by any stretch of the imagination (MD-80), this flight was my first time flying first class on American! Im sure it will be a more frequent occurrence when the airlines merge, but Ive just always been on US Air. So todays craziness offered me something Ive never done before!

Airline: American Airlines
Class: First
Plane: MD-80
Route: ATL-DFW
Date: 3/14/15
Seats: 6F


The flight boarded on time and everything went smoothly. This was especially important to me as my layover in DFW was under an hour. I already had arrangements for Kev to hold the plane for me at all costs.

Taking some candids of my fellow passengers

Seat: This was a standard, older AA seat on the aging MD-80. I couldn't complain though - I had more than enough room on the two hour flight.

My ride to Dallas (window seat).


View during sunset!

Food and Drink: As this was a relatively short flight (only two hours) there was no meal service. However, the flight attendant came around to get drink orders and give us some warm nuts.


Sam Adams and some warm nuts.

Shortly after she came around with snacks. Options were pretty good, and I wanted something to hold me over until I could eat in SFO. They had bananas, cookies, chips, and some small pretzel pistolets!


In my opinion these sized snacks are perfect for a flight this length. Just enough to curb my hunger (the Sam Adams helped, too).

Service: Service was great. It was actually noticeably better than my similar flights I've had on US Air. I don't know why it matters so much, but when a flight attendant greets me by name when I sit or when they take my order, it instantly puts me in a good mood and at least gives you the illusion they care! Prompt with the beers and generous with the snack basket. No complaints.

Pretty standard flight, and a great first experience on my first AA first class flight.

Next thing I know were on the ground in DFW and Kevin and I are ready for the next flight!

Next up: Lounge Review: JAL Business and First Class Lounge SFO
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Old Apr 12, 2015, 11:03 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by MarylandFlyer244
Pretty much just a trip we took right before his bachelor party! We just took the very very long way to Vegas^
Everything needs a name Enjoyed your Report so far^
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Old Apr 12, 2015, 11:20 am
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Originally Posted by MarylandFlyer244
Pretty much just a trip we took right before his bachelor party! We just took the very very long way to Vegas^
That sounds great. I went on a similar trip to Reykjavik. My favorite quote there was from a taxi driver who drove me from a bar to my hotel (at 5 am!) and walked me to the hotel reception: "my pleasure, we do not accept tips, and if you remember how you got home you did not have fun!"

Why did you decide on Seoul. I go there frequently and the Park Hyatt is probably the best there... Although it needs a refurbishment !

Braniff
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Old Apr 12, 2015, 11:26 am
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Originally Posted by Braniff
That sounds great. I went on a similar trip to Reykjavik. My favorite quote there was from a taxi driver who drove me from a bar to my hotel (at 5 am!) and walked me to the hotel reception: "my pleasure, we do not accept tips, and if you remember how you got home you did not have fun!"

Why did you decide on Seoul. I go there frequently and the Park Hyatt is probably the best there... Although it needs a refurbishment !

Braniff
As I mentioned in the intro, we originally chose Seoul to fly the KE A380! But obviously that didn't happen! But yeah, we LOVED PH Seoul. We're finishing up the review on that one this week so you'll see it soon!
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Old Apr 13, 2015, 4:59 pm
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JAL Business and First Class Lounge SFO

Upon landing in Dallas, I made my journey over to the A terminal and met Kev at our gate for our flight out to SFO. It was about a 3 hour ride up to San Francisco in which Kev and I pretty much slept the entire time. Being that it was the same type of plane that I just flew on, I didn't bother with a review - the 2 hours of sleep was much needed.

When we landed in SFO, we had to transfer to the international terminal. There is a train that takes you there from Terminal 2 (which we took in reverse 5 days later), but we just decided to walk it out, maybe took us 8-10 minutes, max.

I had such a ridiculous amount of boarding passes from my flight fiascos earlier in the day that I wanted to head to the JAL ticket counter and get a real boarding pass. And I figured it couldn't hurt while I was there to inform them of my bag situation...

After a few minutes at the ticket counter, a new boarding pass was in hand and we were off through security and onto the lounges!

Our flight left from the A-Wing of the International Terminal (gates A1-A12).

In this part, there were multiple international lounges we had access to including the Cathay Pacific lounge, British Airways lounge, and, of course, the Japan Airlines lounge.

Wanting to try multiple lounges with the two hours or so we had in SFO, we headed to the Cathay Pacific Lounge first. Unfortunately....no dice. Lounge was closed for the night. Keep in mind it's about midnight at this point.


If only I could see the inside!

Not a huge deal, I said. The Japan Airlines lounge won't be too bad. I mean, come on, it's an foreign carrier first class lounge, it'll be sweet....


Entrance to the lounge


I like the logo!


Some cool...jar...

The woman at the front desk could not have been nicer. She started explaining everything in the lounge and how they would make announcements for the flight. Being two of only 4 first class passengers in the lounge might have helped.

The lounge was....underwhelming. It was extremely crowded as well, which didn't help. I only got about a half dozen pictures, as I felt somewhat uncomfortable taking too many with dozens of people staring at me!


The spread

The food and beverage would have been phenomenal...for a domestic lounge. Not that we really cared as we had an 11 hour flight upcoming where we would be doing plenty of eating and drinking.

There were some decent wines and bottled beers, but nothing to write home about. As far as the food, it was really just finger foods. Very surprising.

But don't worry, this was just a business class lounge! We had a separate, exclusive, and extremely private first class lounge to retreat to!


Exclusivity at its finest!

If you couldn't tell by my sarcasm, the "First Class" portion of the lounge is literally just a tiny room with about 8 chairs in it. I have no problem with the size, however. They operate the flight to HND once a day, which means they can only ever really have 8 first class passengers (we had a business class passenger hanging in there too). So, in theory, they only really need 8 chairs in the room. The problem was that it was just....a room with a sliding door.


Getting in the Japanese spirit!

For those of you that are unaware, international lounges usually have a separate business and first class side or level. The FC lounge will have upgraded food/drinks and ofter amenities (massage, showers, etc.).


Me taking up another 1/8 of the room. The guy in the background was the business class spy!


Kev taking up 1/8 of the room


Pretty much the lone hallway of the lounge...

Like I said, none of this was a deal breaker, considering we had an amazing flight coming up. But honestly, for a FIRST CLASS international lounge, it was pretty pathetic. If you don't believe me, just wait to see the other lounges we hit on the trip!

After about an hour, we decided to head out and hit the British Airways lounge. It was about halfway down the terminal right near our gate. Unfortunately, as we predicted it might be, the lounge was closed. Having only about 25 minutes until we should start boarding, we figured we'd walk around the terminal a bit.

30 minutes later or so we were boarding our flight to Tokyo!

Overall, I think a good way to judge an international lounge is by asking yourself, "Would I show up early for my flight to visit the lounge?" If the answer is no, that's really sad, and it's probably a bad lounge. Unfortunately, although I was really impressed with JAL throughout or trip, I have to say "NO" and give this lounge a big thumbs DOWN!

Next up - Flight Review: JAL First Class SFO-HND!

A little teaser for the next installment!

Last edited by MarylandFlyer244; Apr 14, 2015 at 6:11 am
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Old Apr 14, 2015, 6:03 pm
  #14  
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JAL First Class: SFO-HND

*This post is written by my brother (Kevin), the other author of our site (doctor)*

After our amazing time at the closet, also known as the JAL First Class Lounge, it was time to head to the gate for what would turn out to be the best flight that Joe and I have ever taken! The flight was the last to leave out of SFO I believe as its departure time was 1:45am. As we waited at gate A5 for our flight to board we noticed something that would become very common place once we arrived in Tokyo, medical masks. It seemed that at least 1 out of 4 people had masks on similar to the ones we use in the OR. We didn't ask any of them the reason for wearing them, although I assume it is because they are sick or they are afraid of becoming sick but once we arrived in Tokyo that number went closer to 1 out of 3 people!


One of our masked co-passengers

When First class was called we boarded through the door behind row 2 and were directed left to our new home for the next 11 hours!

Airline: Japan Airlines
Route: JL001 SFO-HND
Cabin: F
Plane: 777-300ER
Seats: 1D and 1G
Flight time: 11 hours



My seat for the flight to Tokyo!

After snapping a few pictures of the cabin we took our seats. Joe and I were seated in the first row and were 2 of only 4 people in the cabin which held 8 seats. The cabin is set up in 2 rows of 1-2-1 configuration so Joe and I each had an aisle and then 1 window seat next to us. The other passengers were seated in the windows seats at A and K in the second row.


Seats behind us


Yep, these will work

Immediately upon sitting we were given a glass of champagne and a warm refreshing towel (we found out later that the departure champagne although good was not the excellent and expensive Salon 2002 that we would have the rest of the flight). Following this initial refresher we were given our Pajama's (or lounge wear) as well as an amenity kit, a container of premier lotions, slippers, Bose headphone (just for the flight) and a menu. After taking off we changed into our PJ's and were ready to enjoy the flight! I found the JAL pajama's extremely comfortable as they are loose fitting with a very soft material and a half zip shirt. I actually found them more comfortable than the PJ's on our Singapore flight home, mostly because those had elastic at the ankle that I did not care for.


Pre-departure drink


Ready for the flight!


Pj's for the flight!


Amenity kit, lotion set and Bose Headphones


Inside the amenity kit


Slippers


Menu

Once comfortable, it was time to explore the seat. As you can see from the pictures the JAL first class seat is very wide and has many functions including a lounging recline, a full 180 degree recline into a bed and a massage function. The small suite also includes a very large screen measuring 23 inches that can be easily controlled by the touch screen controller in the one of the many compartments in the cabin.
There was a collection of current movies, shows and music which was more than enough for our flight. The tray table is also very large, covering the width of the suite and is able to be pushed all the way back against the screen or slide the length of the suite to your seat. Finally, there is an ottoman under the screen which is the perfect height for placing carry-ons underneath and can be used as a footrest or a seat for a companion (there is even a seat belt on it).


Huge 23 inch screen, tray table and ottoman


Compartment next to screen


Compartment next to seat


Second compartment next to seat with tv controls


Seat controls


Inside large pocket next to seat


Screens


Tray table pulled out


With divider up


Touch-screen IFE controller

I'm not going to put up the rest of the pictures we have of the touch screen remote. If you want to see them for some reason, click here and scroll down to them.

After exploring our seat it was time to peruse the menu to order our meals. As this was a flight which was not taking place at the conventional time of most meals, there was not a full meal service in the traditional sense but a "snack" and then an a la carte menu. Between the 2 of us we were able to try most of the things on the menu as well as some of the beverages!

The champagne served on board JAL First Class is Salon 2002. I am not someone who has ever tried expensive champagnes but from what I had read I knew this was suppose to be excellent and it was! Although not as well known as Dom or Krug, it is very pricey, usually going for well over $400 a bottle (look it up). Needless to say they stock 2 of these bottle per flight and Joe and I ended up taking care of 1 1/2 of them . The other alcoholic beverage we were able to try during our flight was Chivas Royal 21 Year Salute which has a pretty damn cool looking bottle. Now again, I am not someone who usually drinks Scotch, but this was easily the smoothest I have ever had and at over $300 a bottle I would hope so!


Time to eat dinner!


Salon 2002...AWESOME


Chivas Royal 21 Year Salute


Chivas Royal 21 Year Salute

For our late night snack we both selected the Nigiri Sushi which consisted of salmon, squid and shrimp and the caviar from the a la carte menu which was served with a mother of pearl spoon. This was first time (second time would be on the way back) tasting caviar and I really enjoyed it and thought that the small pancakes were superior to the cracker served on the Singapore flight on the way back. We enjoyed everything we ate and there are pictures with comments on each below.

Same as the remote, I won't post all the pieces of the menu. If you want to see them all, click here and scroll down to 'em!


Caviar


Sushi


Caviar and sushi


Salmon Roe, Squid and Sea Urchin


Salmon Sandwich and Salad with shrimp and crab


Shrimp and Crab Salad


Delicious Noodles!


Snacks near the bathroom


Dessert!!


Our flight route

After having our fill of expensive alcohol and Japanese food it was time to lay down for a nap. Since there was no one sitting by the window seats on either side of us we asked the flight attendants to turn those seats down into our beds. As I mentioned before, the seats fully recline 180 degrees into a bed and then a mattress is placed on top as well as a comforter and 2 pillows. You can choose soft or firm for your mattress. Before laying down we asked to be woken up about a hour and 45 min before arrival so we could wake up a bit and have breakfast. Both of us ended up sleeping for right around 5 hours and I were very comfortable for the most part but did find the cabin to be a bit warm at times and had to remove my comforter to cool off.


Open seat next to me that would become my bed!


My bed


I went with the soft mattress


Apparently that is me sleeping, at least that is what Joe said

Upon waking it was time for breakfast which was a Simmered Sablefish in soy sauce and several sides as well as a banana and strawberry smoothie (there is a western menu too with an omelet). I had never actually had fish for breakfast other then lox on my bagel but it was outstanding - I was really surprised. Along with our breakfast we were served coffee in special JAL First Class mugs which I LOVED! I thought they were so cool I had to tell the flight attendant.


Sablefish with rice and crab for breakfast!


Smoothie


Coffee with my new favorite mug I got to take home!


A little FROZEN with my morning coffee

Up until now I haven't mentioned anything about the service on this flight but it was EXCELLENT! It was easily the best service Joe or I have ever had and it is what really separated it from the Singapore flight we took on the way back. Banno was the pursuer who ran the team and she was just awesome. Our champagne glasses were never empty, we never had to wait more then 2 seconds to get anything we wanted and they just seemed to be generally nice, caring people.
Case in point, I had told them when we first boarded that this was kind the beginning of my bachelor party trip and when I returned from changing back into my regular clothes at then end of the flight there was a note with my name on it and 2 special chop stick holders for me! When they saw me sit back down the just kept bowing and saying "for you and your new wife." Not only that, when I told them how much I loved the coffee mugs they came back and said "You want clean mug to take home?!" Ummmm, YES!...and Joe needs one too


My special gift of JAL chopstick holders!


Joe in the empty seat next to him watching our landing

So bottomline, this was an outstanding flight and the best crew I have ever experienced. I am happy to report that I have already book another flight in this cabin for Katie (my fiance)and I in February of next year and can't wait for her to experience it!

Still to come, Tokyo, JAL Tokyo Narita First Class Lounge, Seoul and more!

A preview of the Tokyo post!

Last edited by MarylandFlyer244; Apr 14, 2015 at 8:17 pm
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 9:43 am
  #15  
 
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I flew on JAL in 1976 in F from Tokyo to LA and the food was awful.

I stupidly chose the Japanese meal. And I was too shy to change to the Western meal.

The desert was basically a sugar cube.

There were no beds in those days. And all they gave was a JAL jacket.

The croissants had no taste and I was not impressed.

Nothing in comparison with First Class today.

And there were no F lounges either.
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