My girlfriend just wrapped up nursing school, and we wanted to get away to celebrate a bit of newfound free time. With a stack of US miles and the impending merger calling into question the longevity of 90K business class to North Asia, Japan seemed like the perfect destination for our trip.

Neither of us had ever been, and naturally, my research began on FT. Many thanks especially to mkjr for his spot-on food advice (his terrific TR is here).

I was able to take advantage of US' lax routing rules to put together an itinerary that included (technically) three stopovers. CP status gave me free changes, which, combined with ExpertFlyer alerts and an unhealthy obsession with optimization led me to make about 15 changes to this trip before all was said and done (up until the day before departure). In the end, I was (and am) incredibly happy with the booking, and will be very sad if the agents at the new AA are any more knowledgable about the rules

Enjoy!

(Trip is DONE! See it all using the links below)

BWI-SFO United Domestic First
SFO Lounges - Silver Kris and China Dynasty
SFO-ICN Asiana Business (Quadra Smartium)
Millenium Hilton Seoul
GMP-HND NH Business
Hilton Tokyo (And Tokyo Highlights)
HND-ITM JA Coach
Westin Miyako Kyoto (And Kyoto Highlights)
Hilton Tokyo Narita Airport
ANA Lounge(s) NRT
NRT-FRA LH Business
Westin Grand Frankfurt
SEN Lounge, FRA
FRA-PHL US Envoy
PHL-BWI US Express (and some final thoughts)