Hey everybody!
After finally bothering to sit down and write it up, here is a sample of our first trip in Premium Class! Before I start, thanks immensely to those on Flyertalk boards, especially those who answered some of my ridiculous questions, from
Australian Frequent Flyer forums, and also Lucky from his blog
One Mile at a Time, and Gleff from
View from the Wing (obligatory commercials).
It all started at the beginning of this year, when I was planning my mid-year trip with my partner to New York, all the way from Perth, Australia. At that time, I was searching high and low for cheap economy fares, trying to make the most of stopovers and decent airlines. Having flown more than 100 segments in my life, I had never flown in the front of the cabin, and this was one of those far away dreams. And then! I stumbled across Flyertalk, and everything just exploded. I spent hours scrounging and reading all I could, all the tips, all the trip reports, the lounges, the codes, all the ridicule, all the stupid questions.. I digress.
So one day, I stumble across the US Airways Buy/Gift/Share miles promotion. At that point
this thread only had 75 pages. Tossing and turning for a week, I thought it was too good to be true -> Less than $2000 US to get from Perth to USA with a stopover? In FIRST CLASS? ….
3 weeks later, I was ready to rumble. My itinerary was:
PER-BKK TG C
BKK-HKG TG F
HKG-FRA LH F
FRA-ZRH LH C, stopover
ZRH-JFK LX F, destination
LGA-DCA US F, stopover
IAD-FRA LH F
FRA-ZRH LH C
ZRH-BKK LX F
BKK-PER TG C, Home!
This ended up as 140,000 miles and less than $150 in taxes. I was still feeling like I was dreaming. My partner was in severe disbelief and didn’t actually believe it until we came back from the trip. At this point, there was no turning back!
Coincidentally, Hyatt was also running their FFN promotion at that time. What the heck is FFN? That’s what she said. Mattress running in HK and in Perth ended up gunning 3 nights in Park Hyatt Zurich, 4 nights in Grand Hyatt New York, 2 nights in Park Hyatt Washington, and 2 extra nights in Park Hyatt Tokyo. Damn.
My holidays soon came up and we were packing. So many virginities to be lost. Business Class… FIRST Class. Zurich. New York. Grand Hyatt…PARK Hyatt… SUITES??? Lounges? Body Massage? Man, I’m having a mind explosion. Little did I know that just thinking about the trip was just the beginning.