Hi All - A couple disclaimers before I start:
1) This is my first time writing a trip report, so please forgive any newbie mistakes or faux pas.
2) There won't be any pictures (as explained
here), so you can unsubscribe now if that's a show stopper for you.
If you're still reading, here's the backstory: As a result of a desire to take advantage of these
two offers and questionable planning on my part, I'm flying
SFO-YYZ-FRA-JNB-CPT-JNB-FRA-YYZ-SFO-IAD-VIE-HKG-VIE-IAD-SFO over a 3-week period, with the CPT-JNB-FRA-YYZ-SFO-IAD-VIE-HKG portion taking place over a ~3-day span.
All flights will be on Star (AC, LH, SA, UA, OS) and in J. I didn't intend on writing a trip report, but posters in my
original thread on this trip wouldn't take no for an answer, so I'm going to try my hand at this for the first time. As noted in the other thread, these will be short summaries of each flight focusing on more noteworthy events and observations rather than full-fledged reports. Here goes!
UPDATE 1: After discovering
this little snafu the night before my IAD-VIE-HKG flight on OS, I called OS to be rerouted IAD-BOS-ZRH-HKG on LX instead. As such, the overall itinerary is now
SFO-YYZ-FRA-JNB-CPT-JNB-FRA-YYZ-SFO-IAD-BOS-ZRH-HKG-VIE-IAD-SFO, a total of 49,415 miles over 15 segments.
UPDATE 2: Unable to sleep and realizing that even with the new outbound routing, I would lose the better part of a day in HKG, I decided to see if I could change the return as well. After some initial resistance, OS agreed rebook my return via FRA on LH, giving me an extra 12 hours in HKG and negating the need for an overnight stay in VIE. The latest itinerary is now
SFO-YYZ-FRA-JNB-CPT-JNB-FRA-YYZ-SFO-IAD-BOS-ZRH-HKG-FRA-IAD-SFO, a routing that is actually shorter than either of the previous iterations at 49,313 miles.
I'm disappointed that I won't get to experience OS's J product and its much-lauded cuisine, but I'm looking forward to flying LX long-haul J for the first time, especially on the brand new B77W. And while I don't love LH's J seat, I do view the A388 and B748 as upgrades over the B77E and B763 that would have operated the original OS routing. Moreover, whereas my original IAD-VIE-HKG-VIE-IAD booking was all in P, I'm now booked in Z for IAD-BOS-ZRH, P for ZRH-HKG, and C for HKG-FRA-IAD, and the extra miles help compensate for the last minute stress and long-distance minutes.
Itinerary:
1) AC738 / SFO-YYZ / J / B763
2) AC876 / YYZ-FRA / J / B789
3) LH572 / FRA-JNB / J / B748
4) SA327 / JNB-CPT / J / A346
5) SA346 / CPT-JNB / J / A343
6) LH573 / JNB-FRA / J / B748
7) AC873 / FRA-YYZ / J / B77W
8) AC753 / YYZ-SFO / J / A320
9) UA1959 / SFO-IAD / F / B739
10) UA822 / IAD-BOS / F / A320
11) LX53 / BOS-ZRH / J / A343
12) LX138 / ZRH-HKG / J / B77W
13) LH797 / HKG-FRA / J / A388
14) LH418 / FRA-IAD / J / B748
15) UA712 / IAD-SFO / F / B739