GRALISTAIR

OK people - call me crazy. You can see from my flight stats I am at circa 800K lifetime flight miles. Now by some standards that is pretty low. Hey UA1flyer did that in 1 year on United and many Diamonds on Delta do that mileage every 2 or 3 years.

I have NEVER flown on a Boeing 747 the most recognizable plane in the world (OK Concorde was pretty recognizable). I want to badly. I have flown on the 777 a few times.

I would like to fly on DL/Skyteam to maintain PM status and even push to DM but would love to fly on a 747. I have only 15 days vacation and all my family lives in Europe apart from 1 brother-in-law who lives in Kuala Lumpur. What are my best options internally or TATL to fly on one of those beasts? I only get 15 days vacation per year.

One option I have considered is RTW at xmas-new year 2013 MCI-XXX-HNL-XXX-Kuala Lumpur-AMS-MAN-ATL-MCI so I could fly around the world leaving Friday Dec 20th 2013 and return Jan 2nd 2014. This would still give me time with family back home in England and get me back in the USA in time for another set of vacation days for 2014.

Money is not the main constraint - it is time/vacation days. Any ideas? 747 route certainties.

daytonanerd

I mean, you could take a trip to New York, then go to Israel. That works, but it doesn't make much sense, crossing the Atlantic to cross it again. You could fly to Detroit, and then go to Narita. I believe that's a 747 flight.

sr_tipitinas

You might check Aerolineas Argentina out of Miami to Buenos Aiers. It's an overnight flight, so you could go for the weekend while using a minimum of vacation days.

GRALISTAIR

Redeye Friday night and then redeye back Saturday night to arrive Sunday afternoon back in MCI. Long sleep and back in work Monday. Thanks. I will look at this option. Memorial day would give me an extra day - time to get to AEP and get to Rio Gallegos or even Comodorio Riverdavia? Don't think I could do Ushuia.

bazers

My son (he's 12) desperately wants to fly on the "double decker" and sit upstairs.

davetravels

Well, on DL, that'll cost you a FORTUNE! AF has Y seating upstairs on the B744 and, of course the A380.

xliioper

There's an IAH-CPT deal on KL that's currently around $825. IAH-AMS is flown by a KL 744 Combi. You'll have to position to IAH of course. If you do an immediate turn, you only have to burn one vacation day, but that would be a pretty rough trip.

AeroWesty

Delta will have to position a 747 at SEA in order to begin daily 747 service to NRT in June. Check the schedules to see if they'll be subbing a 747 on a domestic flight to SEA around that time.

GRALISTAIR

OK so Friday Lunchtime out to IAH on United -direct and minimizes misconnect chances. Then IAH-AMS o/n Friday to arrive AMS Saturday morning. Train into the city - hotel - then Sunday morning AMS-IAH, then IAH-MCI on United. Yes this could be doable -or of course Saturday morning AMS-MAN on KLM -visit parents and children. Overnight in my UK home. Then Sunday morning my usual DL 65 MAN-ATL then to MCI. Zero vacation days (I can take a Friday flight leaving lunchtime without vacation penalty). Or to make less brutal stay in UK Sunday and take DL65 back Monday and use 1 vacation day.

GRALISTAIR

How do I do this - do I need an EF subscription?

ND76

I've done that twice on mileage redemption tickets (once on NW right after they joined the DL frequent flyer program, the other time on KL when they subbed a 747 for the usual A330).

As DL seems to use the majority of its 747s on TPAC routes, that is probably what you are going to need to look at.

I've been on 747s owned by PanAm, TWA, NWA, KLM and Delta. It is always a neat trip, regardless of class.

GRALISTAIR

Wasn't PanAm 103 over Lockerbie a 747 if memory serves?

mother-

Pretty sure AF does BOS-CDG once a day on a 747...

GRALISTAIR

Now that is doable. I would position to BOS and then do a RT BOS via CDG to MAN. I would need to do this year 2013 in case I fall foul of the MQD requirements (unlikely but just in case) as AF metal may not be as good as DL metal if I have read the new rules correctly.

CPMaverick

You are not crazy. The 747 rules. I would make sure you get a trip in the UD though if you are going to do it once and cost isn't a huge factor.

I got to ride ATL-LAX in a 747 unexpectedly last year. made my day!

Transpacs are more 747 heavy. Consider your RTW trip but maybe you can use coupon connection to get a few one-way awards on UA or AA miles to piece it together. You could probably fit several 747s in with multiple carriers through Asia, see your BIL in KL and really do it proper DL 747 to NRT, then JAL or ANA 747 to KL, then BA 747 to LHR (or LH 747 to FRA)? I haven't checked that this works but it seems plausible!