Suggestions for *A First Class Award?
 

I am in the process of planning an award ticket using CO miles (10 segments, 1 stopover, 1 open-jaw). I will know my final travel dates in late May but I'm going to book on 6/15 when the redemption prices drop.

My itinerary will be North America to somewhere in Asia (this part isn't decided yet) via Europe. I will most likely be using LH IAH-FRA for both TATL segments.

I need to fly IAH-FRA-Asia-HEL on or around 8/20 arriving in HEL by 9/2. After a stopover in HEL, I will return HEL-IAH in mid-December.

There aren't any non-stop *A flights Asia-HEL so I will need to make connections through LHR, FRA, CPH, etc.

This leaves me with several options for Asia. I want to try OZ F so I will need to fly through ICN. The FRA-ICN flight would work well. I would also like to use all 10 segments and book as many 23-hour layovers as possible.

The itinerary would look something like:

1. IAH-FRA
2. FRA-ICN
3. ICN-Asia
4. Asia-Asia
5. Asia-Asia
6. Asia-Asia
7. Asia-Europe
8. Europe-HEL
9. HEL-FRA
10. FRA-IAH

The Europe-HEL-Europe segments are on 1/2 cabin aircraft so I would have no problem purchasing a revenue ticket and using the 2 segments for extra flights within Asia.

Now I just need to choose a destination! I have never been to Seoul so I could use it as my destination and feel like I got a good redemption value. If I open-jaw, I can essentially choose two destinations as long as I pay for a revenue flight between them. Does anyone have suggestions for good August destinations? I have a Chinese visa but just visited PEK and PVG a month ago. I would love to visit more rural areas of China or even possibly Mongolia but I wouldn't have time to venture far from ULN (these flights wouldn't be in 3-cabin F but the Y tickets are so expensive that I could justify using award segments). SIN, HKG, and BKK would be good connecting points but I don't want to spend more than 24 hours there (again, I just went there a few months ago). This leaves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, or somewhere in Thailand other than BKK. I enjoy a variety of indoor and outdoor activities so I can have fun almost anywhere!

I'm not too worried about award availability at this time - just the routing. Once I have a routing in mind I can tweak connections as needed. I would prefer to get FRA-ICN (OZ) and NRT-FRA/LHR (NH) or reverse in there somewhere but it isn't a 100% requirement. Alternatives would be any LX flight on the A333 or any TG flight on the 9W 77W. Also, any chance to get on one of SQ's remaining 744s is a plus.

For a point of reference, I flew IAH-FRA-NRT-SIN-BKK-HKG-IST-ZRH-ORD-IAH on an award ticket in December/January on LH/NH/SQ/TG/TK/LX F and SQ/LX J. FTers were very helpful with that itinerary so I challenge you to help me create something even better! ;)

Thoughts? Asian *A routings/equipment aren't my area of expertise so I would really appreciate comparisons of service and equipment within Asia.

Unless there is new LH F, I would skip that and fly SQ F JFK-FRA instead !

I have never flown LH F, all because of ancient hard product. FCT is nice, but how many hours can you stay there, it would still be shorter than your flight. And base on numerous trip report in LH F, their food offerings and service doesn't look like even come close to SQ F, NH F, or OZ F.

Coincidence ;)

I just got off the phone with LH as my wife and I are booked in F on their B-747 flight out of Boston in May. They changed our seat assignments across the aisle from each other. I did some searches and all their web site shows is the old hard product 4 across seating of 16 in the upper deck. But lo and bhold I found industry press releases that says they are converting their B747 fleet to only 2 across in the upper deck (half the number of seats) with the seat space along the window now converted to individual beds. so just like home you roll out of your easy chair into a made up bed

Of course since the conversion isn't completed yet they have no idea of what aircraft configuration would be on our flight so all they will do is book the cabin as a cabin of 8 rather than 16.

I'm trying to browse this forum to find out anymore info on this and would appreciate any direction to relevant threads

You have never flown LH but you're an expert on their service? ;)
While I would choose SQ over most any airline, their JFK-FRA service is not their best product... ancient 744 with old seats, third-world like JFK ground facilities. While SQ is wonderful once you are on board, other than in SIN, LH beats the snot out of SQ in lounges and ground facilities. Even with a dated hard product, LH is still a wonderful experience. Indeed, Mrs. SFO insists she prefers LH over SQ and CX.

I would definitely consider trying to get a LX F segment on the A330 if you can find award space. Other routes to consider would be BKK-CDG on TG F (you'd have TG's fantastic ground service ex-BKK and have the 9W 777 that they have leased.). Another option might be BKK-IST on TK's 777 from 9W (if they still have them. I can't remember).

For this summer, I have the following booked:

ORD-FRA LH F
FRA-ICN OZ F
ICN-BKK OZ C
BKK-DPS TG F
DPS-SIN SQ C
SIN-BKK SQ C
BKK-CDG TG F
CDG-ZRH LX C
ZRH-ORD LX F


Good luck in planning your trip! Are you a beach person? If so, I'd consider taking a trip back to Thailand and visiting the LM Khao Lak. It's a very nice property with excellent SPG Plat treatment.

IAH-FRA is operated by the 744 so I'm hoping that it will have the new F or get up-gauged to the A380 after I make my reservation. I really hope to avoid JFK so LH and LX are really the only options for the TATL segments.

^

I have flown both LH and SQ 744s and I have to say that while SQ had better service and food it wasn't good enough to make up for the dated seat. Sure, LH's old F seat isn't the greatest but at least the exit row has a ton of extra room for a tall person like myself! By the way, your TRs are excellent and have truly helped my planning.

I flew the new LX F ZRH-ORD in January and it was excellent! You won't be disappointed. I would gladly use it over LH if I can find the award space (which didn't open up until a few days before departure last time). I also tried TK F HKG-IST but I don't think that their leased 77Ws will still be around in August. I need to look into the TG 77W on the BKK-CDG flight but I don't know if I would choose it over the NH/OZ combo unless the situation at NRT deteriorates over the next few months. Is CDG the only route with the leased 77W? I'm not really a beach person so I wouldn't choose a destination solely for their beaches. I couldn't spend more than 1-2 days at a beach before getting bored.

I did some further research and found SQ F availability on their 772 SIN-BWN-SIN. Is award space on the 772 given to partners just like the 744? If so, how are the seats?

Thanks again!

LH F is great, any aircraft.

For *A redemption, is it still that for Any flight in a 380, redemption from any program other than that of the airline flown, it is impossible?

And for LX, award tickets open up very late?

All base on plentiful of LH F reports and from friends who have done it, other than FCT in FRA, anything inflight: current seat (extremely dated), FA (inconsistent like UA), food (unappetizing bibimbap for FRA-ICN), amenity kit (no Ferragamo or Bvlgari like SQ or OZ) just doesn't have the "wow" factor, or that "I really want to try it !"

SQ F and OZ F are just so good that even I have done it already, I want to do it again.

With the new F seat though, I am tempted to give it a try.

That's a bit harsh IMO.

The food really isn't that bad in LH F, I'd compare it to SQ F.

And inconsistent? Out of those 60 or so airlines I have tried I have always ranked LH among the most consistent airlines out there.

But it's better to get on an A340 than an B747 is possible.

There may be some difficulty getting an F redemption in SQ using anything other than KrisFlyer points.

+1^
Mrs. luvFclass concurs with Mrs. SFO777.:D

Yes; it appear to be that way.

If it is your dream to fly in F on the A380 I would suggest watching these boards, and then try to book an LH reward in F as soon as a new A380 route is announced. It can take a couple of days from the announcement to LH loading up their computer system with A380 metal on the schedule.

FWIW - I was booked in F from FRA-JFK before LH announced that it was becoming a A380 route, and so far (cross fingers) they are honoring that reservation. ^ So - as of now (double cross fingers) I will be arriving on the 4th of July into the US in F on the A380. ^^


SunLover