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-   -   Done with Finals? How about a quick RTW in CX, EK, QF and BA First? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1292257-done-finals-how-about-quick-rtw-cx-ek-qf-ba-first.html)

BrewerSEA Dec 17, 2011 3:38 am

Done with Finals? How about a quick RTW in CX, EK, QF and BA First?
 
Introduction and Planning

This quarter was not particularly stressful so as my finals came up I really should have been content with staying in Seattle. But I wasn’t. Not at all. I think part of it was that the last month and a half Seattle has been cold, like really cold. Global climate change and La Niņa are working together, not to give us snow (as I would like) but to give us dry, bitterly cold nights. 40s and rainy I can deal with, but this was just too much. I knew I wanted to go somewhere warm for just a few days.

My whole trip couldn’t last more than a week, so a large part of my goal was simply to fly a bunch of world class F products. I knew I’d start out with CX F because it’s so reliably available last minute, so on a Wednesday afternoon (during dead week) I put together an itinerary to get me to Colombo, Sri Lanka. My routing was to be (leaving four days later) SEA-SFO-HKG-SIN-CMB with SFO-HKG-SIN in 3-class F and crappy domestic-F/regional-J for the two other segments. I was forced to overnight in SFO and chose a ~18 hour layover in HKG. I wasn’t bothered by either of these as I was able to do my Radisson stay (for the 50k points promo) at SFO for $118 and use my Q4 Hilton Free Night cert at the Conrad Hong Kong (which was something like $550 a night when I booked). After finding availability on Qantas’ website I called up the EXP desk and booked it in less than five minutes for 67.5k miles + $29.60. This was a bit more than my last CX F redemption which only cost $5.00 in taxes/surcharges.

At this point you might be asking, why Colombo? Because of a ridiculously good one-way F fare. My original plan was to fly CMB-SIN-DXB-LHR-SEA all on EK but for the last segment. Despite having confirmed the A availability on my selected flights I could not book it on Emirates’ website nor elsewhere. At this point I just wanted to book something so went back to ITA Matrix to look at my options on other carriers. I quickly found CMB-SIN-LHR-SEA on EK/QF/BA, which seemed satisfactory as I wanted to give Qantas A380 F another try. My QF flight was showing A1, so I immediately went to Travelocity and purchased it.

And I was done! Well, except for the studying for my two finals on Saturday.

SFO777 Dec 17, 2011 9:15 am

I've heard about those incredible x-CMB First fares, but it just seemed like a tough place to get to and take advantage of. One way AA award in CX First is a great idea. Definitely a solo trip as Mrs. SFO wouldn't put up with any part of it. How much was your CMB-SIN-DXB-LHR-SEA ticket? Looking forward to the full report.

Jimgotkp Dec 17, 2011 1:44 pm

Looking forward to the rest of your TR!

eastbiz Dec 20, 2011 12:55 am

Sounds incredible. I would love to know how you are finding such options. I played with ITA Matrix but could not duplicate.

amolkold Dec 20, 2011 12:58 am


Originally Posted by eastbiz (Post 17659378)
Sounds incredible. I would love to know how you are finding such options. I played with ITA Matrix but could not duplicate.

Look at Lucky's latest blog post (within the last hour -- One Mile at a Time)

qbrain Dec 20, 2011 7:27 am


Originally Posted by BrewerSEA (Post 17643427)
SFO-HKG-SIN in 3-class F

Doh! I didn't even know CX had 3-class flights HKG-SIN.

Looking forward to learning a little more from your TR.

millsdale Dec 21, 2011 11:18 am


Originally Posted by qbrain (Post 17660522)
Doh! I didn't even know CX had 3-class flights HKG-SIN.

Looking forward to learning a little more from your TR.

There are certain flights that are sold as 3 class and get the true F treatment (as much as F can be for a 3h flight, I do not think they get the caviar out.)


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