Having been a longtime avgeek and lurker on Flyertalk, I’ve been in the miles and points game for quite a few years. However, I’ve mainly been focused on accumulating miles and points for rather than actually redeeming them. I’ve been able to put miles to good use for family trips to Hawaii, nicer hotel stays for our vacations, but up until now I have not had a chance to put together a trip to fly in premium cabins and to new destinations. What initially prompted me to book the trip was the AAdvantage devaluation that hit in March 2016. I had accumulated a bunch of AAdvantage miles from actual flying and credit card bonuses, but realized that I could not hold on to them forever.
Why only 6 days for a round-the-world trip? I tried to get my wife to come with me, but she doesn't share the same fascination of aviation and travel that I do. She allowed me to go solo on this crazy trip, but I also had to return home quickly since we have two kids and time is precious!
Planning
One of the better AAdvantage redemptions pre-devaluation appeared to be between the U.S. and Middle East in First for 90,000 miles. After March 2016, it was going to jump up to 115,000. As part of the Kangaroo route, I knew that it was easier to book First on Qantas on their A380 from Dubai to London rather than any Qantas route originating from Australia. From London, there are always BA or AA flights available to get me back to San Francisco. As for the other segments, I knew I wanted to stop in Singapore to visit some old friends and to fly Singapore Airlines. It was hard to find any availability flying on SQ from SFO to Singapore in Business or First, so I ended up booking SQ from Singapore to Dubai in Business (award space later opened up for First Class). Finally, Korean Air started flying SFO to ICN using a 747-8 instead of a 777-300ER in late 2015, and first class availability is excellent, so that was my first leg out. Here’s what the itinerary looked like:
SFO-ICN on KE (747-8)
ICN-SIN on KE (777-300ER)
SIN-DXB on SQ (777-300ER)
DXB-LHR on QF (A380)
LHR-SFO on BA (A380)
A couple of months after the devaluation, I found that there was availability on Etihad’s F Apartments from Abu Dhabi to London. I also shifted my dates by a week to coincide with the famous Singapore DO in mid-January, in the hopes of meeting some fellow FTers in person for the first time. There was no longer any availability in F on BA for LHR to SFO, but I noticed that there were F seats open for awards on BA’s newer route between LHR and San Jose on the 787-9. I’ve never flown on the 787-9, so it was a great opportunity to try a new plane type. While I would have to pay the much higher 115,000 in AAdvantage miles for the AUH-LHR-SJC ticket, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the Etihad Apartments so I ponied up the extra miles.
Here was my final itinerary:
SFO-ICN on Korean Air (747-8)
ICN-SIN on Korean Air (777-300ER)
2.5 days in Singapore, stay at the Fairmont Singapore
SIN-DXB on Singapore Airlines (777-300ER)
AUH-LHR on Etihad Airways (A380)
LHR-SJC on British Airways (787-9)
In total, this trip cost me 259,500 miles, broken down into the following:
95,000 KE Skypass for SFO-ICN-SIN
59,500 SQ Krisflyer miles for SIN-DXB (70k minus 15% online discount)
105,000 AAdvantage miles for AUH-LHR-SJC (115,000 AA miles minus 10,000 (10%) miles refund from Citi AAdvantage Card)