A380 F > 789 F > A380 J > 789 J. The Apartments are a amazing experience and a class of their own so if you have the opportunity go for it. Also there’s no bar on the A380. It’s more of just a round communal seating area. Nothing that exciting.

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for. Now let me ask you this...I’m using AA miles so I’ve only got so many. I’ve got enough for my wife and I to fly AUH to/from SYD in F or enough miles to go AMS (where we live) to AUH to SYD in J. With the F option, means we’d fly to/from AUH in Y. So, which would you chose? 14ish hours in F or 20ish hours in J across two flights?

Yikes. That’s a tough choice. I guess it depends on Apartments vs First Class. If it were me I’d do Apartments & Y. But if it’s between All J vs 789 F & Y I’d go all J. Try to have F on your outbound from AUH so you can access the First Class lounge. Nice a la carte dining and free 15 minute massage at the spa.

Got it, good tips. If we do this for the outbound, that would mean:

AMS-AUH 773 J
17 hour layover
AUH-SYD A380 J

or

AMS-AUH 773 Y
17 hour layover
AUH-SYD A380 F

I know the 773 hard product isn’t as good as 789 or A380, from what I’ve read. Question is if that layover allows for a partial day to explore Abu Dhabi (we’ve never been).

I was leaning more towards the return since the two flights lined up better. But, if we flew SYD-AUH in F and then we’re on AUH-AMS in Y, I’d assume we would NOT have access to the First lounge at AUH. That right?

Oops, forgot I was also looking at LHR to AUH since they have 3 daily flights, an all on A380. One of those flights would kill that long layover but would only allow for a 2.5 hour layover from touch down to take off. That enough time to get a good experience in the F lounge in AUH?

Have you ever been to Abu Dhabi? It’s a great city to visit for a layover if you’ve never been. Visit the Sheik Zayed Mosque and take a free guided walking tour of it. Visit to new Louvre museum. Visit the Emirates Palace hotel and have the chocolate lava cake at the cafe behind the lobby (it will seriously change your life). Then back to the airport for your flight.

I had a 3 hour connection last week and due to delays it was cut down to 40 minutes. I barely made my connecting A380 to Paris and sadly didn’t have time to visit the lounge at all.

I’m confused about your mileage situation. Europe to Middle East is 20k in Y and Middle East to Australia is 100k in F. But Europe to Australia is 115k in F. So if you have enough for the Y/F routing you should have enough for a full F routing? Maybe I’m missing something.

I’ve got 200K AA miles total. Europe to Australia is 85K in J, which would work. But 115K In F would not. However, Middle East to Australia is 100K in F. So, that’s where I’m leaning now. Just buy a Y ticket to or from AUH Fromm Europe and then use the miles for the AUH to or from SYD route in F. Best scenario if I go that way, LHR-AUH in Y on A380, layover with maybe exploring Abu Dhabi and time in F lounge, then F on A380 to SYD. Or vice versus the return at the end of the trip vs the outbound.

Now that I think about it, I might be best off just buying 30K AA miles. It’s about $775 which is a lot, but I was going to have to pay for 2 x one-way LHR-AUH anyway, which is probably just as much...

That was going to be my suggestion as well. You can buy the miles for a similar price to an economy ticket, especially when they have discounts on miles.