Short hair Francis

Thanks very much, I was worried some of my bits might be a bit too wordy.
I'll say stay tuned for the Singapore First, now that part I promised will be a dandy for sure.
It's probably my most interesting part I have in years ^

RGN tickets were a bit of an animal to be exact.
Each round were really their own with their own combinations
I can't exactly quote exactly which TA to used because I remember the big ones all contributed one way or another.
I know I saw it on minimum on Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Vayama plus others as well.
Some of the tickets if you just input as a regular one way option, it automatically came up.
The RGN-JNB Round 1 tickets were a great example but again, how many combos can you really come up going down there?
Others were a bit tricky of course, I know of one Flyertalker that had a $330 J fare RGN-EZE, now that one was a bit more tough seeing you have a wider range of connecting points, and for that, is where the multi-city function comes in.
If you said specific tools, ITA Matrix is a great starting point then you can use that info to cross-check online TA to see the fare you want.

Thanks, great to see people are enjoying this one.
It will be bit of a quick one, I have to imbed the pics for the rest of the TR, its already all typed up.

Exactly, dat4life

Round 4 was again a weird animal,
1) How many times could they screwed so crazily, I have not seen that for as long as I've been in the game.
2) You had things like SQ Suites and LX/QF First in play, and who knew LX would go "all-out nuclear" with the CTA and all. You also had NH or CX First in play that were less reported in the thread.
You had to feel bad for NH, they were caught in Round 1/3/4

EXP, I have to go out and thank RJ alot this year, those RJ Y fare not many people went for came back to help me in a huge way.

I've been rather lucky to have catch most of the deals I wanted this year,
I still remember booking LA J JFK-SCL deal at 4am on Valentines in AMS,
or waking up the entire house at 1:30am for United 4 Miles, Great Memories

TomVexille

This looks like a fun adventure, looking forward to the rest.

Short hair Francis

Was very fun for sure doing it in Business/First Class, wouldn't be so sure in Economy though.
And definitely a good life experience, tiring yes but rewarding when you can legitimately say it took Jules Verne to go around the World in 80 Days, it took me just 80 Hours

Short hair Francis

Part 3 – Back to the Expected, Cathay Pacific First Class HKG-CDG


Jan 4, 2013 – Friday
CX 261 HKG – CDG 0:05am – 6:10am (77W/F)


With the slight headwind on Malaysian 78, we finally touched on the ground at 10:57pm, right on time if you discount the fact it takes time to taxi to your gate or with my utter bad luck. Outer Bay position at HKG, you’ve got to be kidding me, MH 78 finally parked at 11:05pm


And if luck would have it, seems like my ticket got caught by somebody else…..
Now let’s reset the clock for just a moment, for the past year or so, I’ve been working in a position that is aviation related and had a couple contacts here and there.

Step back to today, waiting at the bottom of the Airstairs was none other than a Lead Gate Agent I knew, let call her Ms. K because that is her name.
Ms. K immediately went more like this, in Cantonese tirade fashion , why was Mr. Francis you of all people, why you, why it had to be you???
Me - Well, why can’t it be me? Then I rethought it from another angle, how many people do MH>CX connection back in Jan 2013, when Malaysian wasn’t part of Oneworld Yet.
Ms. K went more like this, you booked a 1 hour 5 minute connection for a midnight flight in effing First Class!!! No one ever connects in HKG, you had the Malaysian liaison worried sick they had to re-book you in First Class in case you miss your flight
Me – So? Why can’t I fly First Class?
Ms. K – Ahh…… So where are you going really, me and the Malaysian liaison saw your ticket and we couldn’t figure out what is going on. We’ve never seen a ticket like yours
Me – You mean Rangoon – Montreal via Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Paris, and New York?
Ms. K – How much did you paid anyway?
Me – Around 3500 HKD, for First Class
Ms. K – What the Eff?!?! How?!?
Me – Currency Devaluation, got to love Burma haha
Ms. K – BTW, do you have your HKG-CDG boarding pass?
Me – Nope, why
Ms. K – Because CX closes check-in 40 mins prior so 11:25pm you better get there you idiot
Me – Its 11:10pm and the bus drops me off at the recheck point anyway
Ms. K – Ahh.. I’m sorry I am not supposed to show anger toward First Class customers
Me – Ya right I might be First Class customer today but my workplace and contacts will surely find out about it. And I’m sure you won’t let me forget it anytime in the future for this either.
Let’s just say I had to buy many gifts back for the people in the office and for her.

So at 11:15pm, I got dropped off back at the main terminal for check-in, First Class boarding pass in hand with my favorite seat 2K. Unfortunately, the gate tonight was 63 and I was still near the HKG immigration at T-50 mins which meant no lounge time and straight to the gate via the underground train.
I arrived at the gate around 11:30pm and soon boarding commenced


Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 777-300ER


Cathay Pacific Airways 261
Hong Kong to Paris Charles de Gaulle
Scheduled - 0:05am – 6:10am, 13 hr 5 mins flight
Delayed Departure – 0:16am, Awaiting Connecting Passengers
On Time Arrival – 5:50am(+1)
First Class, Seat 2K
Food – Dinner, Breakfast
Equipment – Boeing 777-300ER (6F/53J/34Y+/182Y)



Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 777-300ER First Class Cabin







Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 777-300ER First Class Seat






The flight attendants let me settle in and get as many photos as I wanted, then they began the services
Pajamas and Amenity Kit


Pre-Departure Beverage of Krug and Still Water



Part 3 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Captain announced a flight time of 12 hours 5 Minutes to Paris tonight with the route due North over Beijing prior to turning westwards over Russian airspace



Door closed at 0:16am as we were holding the flight for some last minute connecting passengers.

Bye Bye Hong Kong, back in 3 1/3 days hehe



Finally airborne just around 45 past midnight, I’m actually beginning my around the world journey in 3.5 days

CX 261 Dinner
Caviar and Balik
Caviar and Balik salmon "Tsar Nikolaj"

International Favorites
Leek and Chicken Soup
Roasted baby beets with bocconcini mesclun salad and balsamic vinegar
Grilled lamb Chops, lamb pie, green pea mash and roasted vegetable
Or
Saffron fettucine with tomato concasse and cherry tomato

Chinese Favorites
Pork soup with carrot and dried pak choy
Cold plate – Beef shank with cucumber
Steamed Cod with preserved mustard greens and Chinese olives, steamed jasmine rice, stir-fried pak choy with ginger and garlic

Cheese and Dessert
Shropshire Blue, Tilsit Royalp, Pont I’Eveque, Camembert Le Pere
Fresh Berries with Cream
Warm Caramel fig cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce
Double boiled papaya with snow fungus sweet soup

Tea and Coffee

Pralines

Being HKG based for the last 8 months, I’ve gotten sick of Chinese food so decided to go all western tonight

Of course, more Krug please


Dining Set-Up


Caviar and Balik Salmon


Personalized Bread Basket


Leek and Chicken Soup


Baby Beets and Mesclun Salad


Grilled Lamb Chop


Warm Caramel Fig Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream


Having a run of a flu certainly doesn’t help flying nor eating so I went a bit light tonight, and with the meal service complete just around 2:30am HKG time, I ask the FA to make the bed for night ahead
I finally figured out where the new KA destination of Zhengzhou is!





Turndown Water Service


About 5 Hours of Sleep later, I finally woke up


So its time to snack a bit

CX 261 Snacks
Shrimp Wontons in noodle soup
Assorted Sandwiches
Smoked turkey breasts with arugula mayonnaise, chicken and toasted almonds, smoked salmon with lemon cream cheese
Singaporean Chicken satay
Haagan Dazs ice cream

Good old Wonton Noodle Soup, something hearty


And after the light snack, I went to coordinate a bit of my photos and proceeded to watch Step Up Revolution plus a bit of snoozing as well.

About 2 1/2 hours out, I asked the FA to start my breakfast a little early

CX 261 Breakfast
Starter
Orange, Apple or Grapefruit Juice
Forest berry Smoothie
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Natural or Fruit Yoghurt from La Ferme du Manege
Assorted Cereals

Main Course
Organic Free Range Eggs – Freshly Scramble, Fried or Boiled
Served with roasted potatoes with onion and parsley, sautéed mixed mushrooms, back bacon, Lincolnshire sausage or tomato

Dim Sum with Chilli Sauce
Pork siu mai with scallop, shrimp fun gor, pork and chive dumpling, bean curd roll with vegetables

Breakfast Cold Plate

Bread Basket
Assorted Breakfast bread and fresh toast
Served with Mrs. Bridges Scottish preserves, Tasmanian meadow honey and butter

Tea and Coffee

Hot Towel to start the service


Forest Berry Smoothie



Part 3 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Fresh Seasonal Fruit Plate



Bread Basket consisting of only Danish


Cereal with Non-Fat Milk


Yogurt


Eggs and Mushroom, I went for a lighter option this morning


By the time I finished the meal, it was just about 1 1/4 hours perfect
Green Tea to finish the service


And around 5:10am we started our descent into Paris

And was on ground around 5:35am, sadly at CDG, that means a HUGE taxi to the gate

Final Routing of todays Cathay Pacific 261



We finally parked at T2A at 5:50am, plane door opens, now this is winter, 4 Celsius, not the 20 degree one in HKG.
Winter, welcome back to my life


Next Part
Part 4 – Yet Another Whalejet, Air France Airbus 380 Business Class CDG-JFK

SFO777

OMG, good thing I was sitting down when I saw that you had finally posted a trip report.
Excellent report so far with great pics, narrative of lots of that SHF humour.

I hadn't realized that MH had given pax such a hard time on RGN mistake fare. I only hit RGN twice and I can't see myself going back 'cause it sure isn't a Mrs. SFO777 destination. Unless of course there is a round 5. Still can't believe you convinced me to go there for a J mistake fare ticket. Although I have to admit, it was fun.

Wow. 31 pax upgraded from Y to J. That's pretty amazing. And pathetic.

jfkeze

paging JFKEZE hehehe, that trip down to EZE sure helped, but it sure was the scenic route.. RGN-BKK-NRT-LAX-JFK-EZE hehe, last two parts upgraded to First using an eVip...

Short hair Francis

It wasn't nearly as much flak as there was on the ground in RGN, my contacts certainly were VERY intrigued as to how I got my hands on one of the fares.
If there is ever is a Round 5, you really should plan for a Afternoon Tea @ the Strand, I would love to see those photos

Actually, its 31 Confirmed Upgraded Pax, plus 2 Empty J seats T-45 mins.
So a possibility of 33 Upgraded out of 52 J seats, that's a whopping 63%

Bahaha, paging Jfkeze, who else is crazy enough to fly a 36 or 48 hr one way trip while booking another mistake fare mid-journey at the same time :[

Short hair Francis

Part 4 – Yet Another Whalejet, Air France Airbus 380 Business Class CDG-JFK


Jan 4, 2013 – Friday
AF 6/DL 8550 CDG – JFK 2:05pm – 4:20pm (388/J)

A quick 5 min walk to immigration plus another bus ride over to T2E, I was over at the Air France terminal in about 20 minutes.
As the original connection was booked on the 8:20am AF 22 flight to New York JFK, I had to wait in line until I can get switched over to afternoon Air France 6 onboard the Airbus 380-800, might as well fly the AF 388 vs. AF 332, not sure when my next opportunity on Air France will be to be honest.
It is a bit of a sweat since the Delta ticketing counters does not open to 7am, but I was switched over in good order nonetheless, sadly only in Business and not First Class.

Now armed with just around 6 1/2 hours in Paris, I decided to make a quick trek out to Paris.





Maybe I was still a bit tired from CX First or the sunrise was around 9am on this very overcast day. So overall I tired out very quickly, so around 10am decided to headed back to CDG to rest up for the Whalejet flight ahead.

Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E



Heavily Patrolled Sky Priority Check-In Desk




Check-in was done very quickly and the onwards boarding pass to YUL couldn’t be printed.
I guess I got confused by the JFK Airtrain while connecting
2 Train stops later out to the Satellite Building (M Gates) and no wait at the security check and I’m inside the Concourse and off to the Lounge

Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E – M Gates, Air France Class Affaires Lounge












Part 4 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Since I haven’t had a shower after coming off HKG – CDG, that was the 1st thing to do, sadly they should’ve put up a reminder the lights auto shut off after 15 minutes since that is what exactly happened. Completely blacked out while in the shower, d’oh!

Lunch offering was ok with a pasta dish with salad options and luckily I secured one of those Clarins spa slots, 10 minutes but I’ll take it.
And around 1:10pm, I had off to gate M50 for the Whalejet

Air France Airbus 380-800



Air France 6
Sold as Delta Airlines 8550
Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York Kennedy
Scheduled - 2:05pm – 4:20pm, 8 hr 15 min flight
Delayed Departure – 2:25pm, Late Boarding Completed and Flight Paperwork
On Time Arrival – 4:19pm
Business Class, Seat 65E
Food – Lunch, Refreshment
Equipment – Airbus 380-800



Boarding started promptly at T-45 with the very roundabout boarding lane dividing Skypriority and the Regular lane, the lanes themselves were divided well around the stanchions but no one seems to know which line to pick so you created an even bigger mess at the gate.

Luckily I was the 3rd person to board, and 2nd person for upper deck, so I did get a good amount of photos nonetheless.

Air France Airbus 380-800 Front Business Class Cabin



Air France Airbus 380-800 Main Business Class Cabin


Air France Airbus 380-800 Business Class Seat, seated in 65E







Since I didn’t get on this flight until 5 hours out, I had to resort to 65E, which turned out to be a good seat.
Seat wasn’t full flat but reasonably easy to get out for the bulkhead rows.
And it was overall comfortable
I don’t think this applies for the other rows though



Electronic Art Gallery located at the front of the Business Class Cabin

Pre-Departure Champagne


Plane was about 20 Minutes late closing door due to last minute passengers and paperwork, a short 7 Hour 12 Minutes flight time to New York today


AF 6 Lunch
L’Amuse-Bouche
Salmon with vegetables

Gourmet Appetizer and Seasonal Salad
Sauteed scallops with ras al-hanout spices, pearl pasta salad with edible flower petals
Foie Gras Terrine, baby Spinach

Choice of Main Course
Beef Stew
Carrots, leeks, celeriac, turnips

Sauteed fillet of free-range chicken
Chestnut sauce, scalloped potatoes, buttered French green beans

Sauteed Shrimp, pasta shells, zucchini caviar, coconut milk sauce with Espelette Chili pepper

Creamy Polenta with Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and herbs
Balsamic Vinegar Sauce, Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas, sautéed shiitake mushrooms

Our special selection of cheese
Petit chevre, Camembert

Dessert
Our dessert trio
Caramel Macaroon, Lemon Cupcake, Chocolate Mousse

Sorbet and Ice Cream, choice of fresh fruit.

Amuse Borche


Appetizer Tray


Salad Bowl



Part 4 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Appetizer


Main Course


Mini Cheese Selection


Dessert Selections


Dessert


Food overall was nothing special, Foie Gras was nice but the main course itself was very average and the little cheese dish was given out early along with the rest of the tray and not after the main course which made the late lunch felt rushed.
Dessert was however very tasty.

And in typical fashion, I proceed to passed out immediately for the next 4 hours that took me over the rest of the Atlantic.

Flight path across the Atlantic



With my deep sleep, I’ve completely skipped the 2nd meal service and we landed on time into New York at 4:05pm, and with a short taxi and a tow-in, we finally parked at JFK Terminal 1, a 14 hours overnight in New York, then flying again westwards to San Francisco and onwards to Seoul Incheon.


Next Part
Part 5 – Can we just hit the Skip Button, United Airlines P.S First Class JFK-SFO

SFO777

Yikes, that has to be the most pathetic excuse for a salad I've seen in a long time. A far cry from AA's most basic domestic salad. Thanks for convincing me avoid AF for another 10 years.

correctioncx

It's not that bad at least the leaves look fresh unlike on AA. Also not drenched in dressing like Americans like it

rxziebel

Exactly what is wrong - that is a bowl of leaves and not lettuce and where is the salad dressing? A salad is made of lettuce, not something raked up from the lawn.