I have come up with a rather ambitious itinerary of which the main purpose being to sample the F/J products and airport lounges of all the major Airlines based in Middle East and South East Asia in different aircraft configurations mainly the A388 359 333 332 B773 77w and 789.

The flagship route for most if not all of the Airlines around the world is from their home city to LHR where they fly their best flights. Hence I decided to fly to/from LHR to each of these airlines home cites in F/J to sample their products. Also the flight times range between 7 - 12 hours from ME and SE Asian destinations to LHR. This gives me ample time to experience the cabins and onboard services.

I have planned out an itinerary over a period of 2 weeks with minimum time on the ground in August 2016 as I am based out of Chennai(MAA) my trip will commence/terminate from there.

I will list down my itinerary along with the fares which I have drawn up and will later pen down the reasons for selecting the particular flights.

12/08/16

1)MAA - BOM 9W482 1550 - 1740 Premiere B737-900 US$600/-

2)BOM - AUH EY203 2135 - 2325 First Apartment A380-800

13/08/16

3)AUH - LHR EY19 0800 - 1305 First Apartment A380-800 US$3000/-(Flts 2&3)

4)LHR - CMB UL504 2130 - 1245+1 Business A330-300

14/08/16

5)CMB - MAA UL127 1335 - 1545 Business A330-200 US$2800/-(Flts 4&5)

6)MAA - BOM 9W462 2045 - 2245 Premiere B737-900 US$600/-

15/08/16

7)BOM - DXB EK501 0430 - 0600 First A380-800

8)DXB - LHR EK003 1415 - 1840 First A380 - 800 US$3200/-(Flts 7&8)

16/08/16

9)LHR - BAH GF002 1000 - 1835 Falcon Gold A330-200

10)BAH - MAA GF068 2150 - 0510+1 Falcon Gold A321-100/200 US$2600/-(Flts 9&10)

18/08/16

11)MAA - MCT WY252 0935 - 1155 Business B737-800

12)MCT - LHR WY101 1400 - 1905 Business A330-300 US$2400/-(Flts 11&12)

19/08/16

13)LHR - SIN SQ321 2205 - 1810+1 Suites A380-800 US$6500/-

21/08/16

14)SIN - DOH QR943 1040 - 1315 Business A350-900 US$3500/-

22/08/16

15)DOH - LHR QR11 0345 - 0915 First A380-800 US$6500/-

16)LHR - RUH SV118 1850 - 0335+1 Business B777-300ER

23/08/16

17)RUH - DXB SV562 0625 - 0925 Business A321 US$1800/-(Flts 16&17)

18)DXB - HKG EK386 1825 - 0620+1 First B777-300ER US$4500/-

24/8/16

19)HKG - LHR CX253 1435 - 2030 First B77W US$9500/-

25/08/16

20)LHR - MAA BA0035 1310 - 0330 Club World B787 US$6800/-

End of Trip!

Total cost of the tickets US$55000/-

Flights 1 2 and 3

The reason I chose EY as my first flight is because of their unparalleled First Apartments which they have on their A380. I want to take the Etihad A380 from Mumbai itself since they started flying from May 2016 to maximise my time on the big bird. Hence flying the domestic sector in Jet Airways Premiere Cabin from MAA - BOM and connecting to EY A380 to AUH and LHR.The 8 hour layover in AUH gives me ample time to check out the newly opened Etihad First Class Lounge.

Flights 4 and 5

I want to try out Srilankan�s new A330-300 in Business which is the highest cabin class they have. I will have a short connection in CMB before my A330-200 flight to MAA.

Flights 6 7 and 8

Since EK also flies their A380 from BOM I decided to take this flight, hence flying back to MAA from CMB and in a few hours taking the 9W to BOM to connect with the EK A380 to DXB and LHR. On the way spending a good amount of time at the EK lounges in BOM T2 and DXB T3.

Flights 9 and 10

After 3 nights on flights/lounges my first night in a proper hotel room at a LHR Hotel. Taking these flights to sample the GF Falcon Gold all the way from LHR to MAA Via BAH.

Flights 11 and 12

After a short stay at home for about 24 hours I will be taking the WY Business Class to LHR via MCT.I am excited to try their Apex suite in their A330-300 which is arguably the best Business Class seat in the market today. There is an earlier WY flight from MAA but I opted for the latter one since the layover is not too long in MCT unlike the earlier flight as there is no significant new lounge to sample in MCT.

Flight 13

After another night and day at a Central London Hotel flying the second most ultimate flight I want to try in this trip after the EY first apartment. Hence flying from LHR - SIN on the SQ A380 Suites Class.

Flight 14 and 15

Spending the night at a Changi Hotel. I also had another reason to fly SQ from LHR - SIN instead of the other way round which would also have given me to experience the ground services at the SQ home destination, was to fly the latest A350-900 which QR operates on the SIN - DOH sector. Hence this worked out perfectly as I could fly the QR A350 and the A380 from DOH - LHR. The A350 has only the Business Class cabin whereas the A380 has the Business and First. I am not able to ticket as a single trip from SIN - LHR Via DOH as then I needed to fly only Business all the way missing out on trying the First in QR A380. Hence I will have to buy 2 separate tickets SIN - DOH in Business and DOH - LHR in First.

Flights 16 and 17

These flights are to try out SV. I need to connect to DXB for a positioning flight so flying from LHR - DXB Via RUH in Business. Also the cheapest flight of the whole trip.

Flight 18

Taking the EK B777 in First to HKG. This also gives me an opportunity to experience the EK B777 as well, apart from the EK 380 so I could compare the First Cabins in both the flights. Though EK flies their A380 to HKG I opted for the B777.

Flight 19

CX B77w in First from HKG - LHR. The most expensive flight of the entire trip!

Flight 20

My last night of the trip at a LHR Hotel.

Drifting a bit from the theme of my trip to try out only ME/SE Asian flights to/from LHR I opted for the direct flight in BA Club World from LHR - MAA as this gives me an opportunity to experience the B787 Dreamliner though I could have taken the 9W B777 from LHR - BOM and onward to my home MAA. As B787 which is the only major contemporary aircraft which I was missing out so this sector covers that as well.

I am NOT redeeming miles for any of the flights for the simple reason is because I do not have enough miles . I will be writing a detail trip report after the trip reviewing each of the flights and airport lounges. As all the tickets will be paid revenue I am looking forward to someone sponsoring my Trip!

Any suggestions are welcome.

Wish me Luck!

Especially Air France, Lufthansa etc

Touch�! ^

Look forward to the TR! As your paying for flights, will you be collecting the air miles? Hate to think someone spending over $55k not gaining miles and become elite or some sort of status on those alliances.

No offense but for 55k 99% of people here would do 10 times the flying you are...

Sounds great ! Hope you enjoy your well deserved outing , keep us informed..

Most people who can afford $55000 in airfare for one trip don't have time to post on some forum about it... What's your story?

I agree that�s quite unusual. Even if you don�t have any miles, with proper planning you could probably fly on the majority of those cabins, paying a lot less, by buying miles on AA, AS, UA, SPG…
Since money doesn�t seem to be a factor, you could add a F ticket on GA, which I don�t remember reading about on FT.

What's GA?

I don't understand this... are you saying you want to take that trip and you're trying to find a sugar daddy here to pay $55k for it?

Garuda Indonesia.


Sure sounds like it, doesn't it?

Can't one redeem DL miles for GA F?

Beats me, I'm an AA guy.

Per SSZ's request this thread is being moved to travel buzz as they are seeking help planning their trip.


Madone59
Moderator: Trip Reports

Yes Mr Tom Ford thats my story! I am looking out to someone who would foot the airfare.