You see super-cheap ~$1000 fares between Australia and the USA these days, but they are limited. Around Xmas, no, it's more like $1900. To be stuck in Y the whole way, that's a bit steep, so time to try something else.
With some searching, I came up with a plan that would kill several birds with one stone: Fly in C half the way for not much more money, try an airline I'd not tried before (Cathay), and try the Qantas A380. So, I used AA miles for C reward on CX (MEL-HKG and HKG-BKK-SIN) and QF (SIN-MEL), with DL in Y for the rest.
For those who may not know, AA's agency here charges huge fees and is a toll call, so I Skype'd AA in the USA. The agent was pleasant, but had no intention of trying multiple legs, let alone multiple airlines. However, I'd looked up availability on
Award Nexus and was able to guide her along.
CX178 MEL-HKG 333 16A 23/11/10 2345-0600+1 (actual 0000-0539)
My first CX experience was a really good one. I checked my bags through to SEA on DL and visited the lounge, before trying out the CX coffin seats that I'd read about. I must say I found the seat very comfortable, especially with all its velcro-attrached filler pieces when totally flat. The only downside was the video screen is a real pain for the FA's to try to reach over when serving dinner. However, these seats would be terrible if you were travelling with anyone you actually wanted to communicate with.
Food was good, service was very good, and I really enjoyed the cloud nine cocktails. I got so much sleep that I didn't have time to watch all of Inception ... but I knew DL had it too.
After landing, I tried to find the DL transfer desk. Hint: For a start, it isn't where the airport signage says it is. Given it took a ludicrous number of steps, I gave this silliness
its own thread!
DL638 HKG-NRT 744 58A 24/11 0800-1305 (actual 0820-1233)
Full flight with no PTV, but I was well rested and didn't mind watching The A Team.
DL296 NRT-SEA 333 36C/D/F/G 24/11 1540-0735 (actual 1551-0721)
I guess flying on this route isn't popular on the day before Thanksgiving. When booking, I saw that almost every row from 35 back was totally empty, so sacrificed the laptop power further forwards for the space. When we boarded, there ended up being about 2 pax per row from 33 to the back. After a while, some of the Y pax in the forward cabin migrated back to the empty A/B and H/J seats.
For Y, an awesome flight. Decent food, decent service (well, you'd hope so with 2 pax/row, eh?), lots of sleep, plus the chance to finish watching Inception.
My plan worked beautifully. A vastly better experience than flying direct across the Pacific in Y. Only about 2 hours extra elapsed time, too. And it's much quicker and easier to get a lift to MEL in the evening than in semi-peak traffic in the morning for the usual flights to the US.
The astute reader might wonder what NH in the title has to do with anything. Well, you'll find out when I write about the return which, as you might now guess, didn't quite go to plan.