TravelLawyer

Congratulations Mr. 5M! Amazing report.

SFO777

Seat 2A, what a fabulous trip! And your usual outstanding report with great pics. Congratulations on 5 million miles!

snabbu

echoing the congrats on 5MM BIS omg! (and the one again epic report)

Bravo.

FLYGVA

Congratulations to 5,000,000.00 Miles ^.

And thank you for another great report. It is always great so see your passion and attention to detail in your reports compared with the experience in the "gold old days". I truly enjoyed every single line of your report and every picture taken yourself or added from other sources. Personally - and speaking as the one who still has now three trips to finish to report - I know what efforts it takes to write a report like this and it is a great honour for us here at Flyertalk that you always take your time to write it down for us.

I just returned from flying Europe to Asia onboard Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific via Doha to Hong Kong and Bangkok and back to Europe (unfortunately not onboard QRs 380 but their 787). And while not everybody understands why I put more effort in the way to travel to my destination, you are still an inspiration (and an excuese ) to do so.

Thank you !!

Seat 2A

I think they very well may, at least in as far as travel aboard Emirates goes. What was 100000 is now 180000? Even Emirates is not worth that much!

I still am not sure exactly what it was that resulted in this sudden devaluation. I believe "Travel hacking" was the term used by Alaska Airlines. What exactly is that?

Whatever nefarious things people were doing, I wish they'd stop. Alas, there are always going to be some who not only want to game the system but also need to crow about it in blogs and even seminars. We'd all be better off if people would just quietly go about their mileage running, etc. and stop giving interviews to the WSJ or USA Today about how bright they are to have figured it all out.

Robert Louis Stevenson said it best: "For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

While planes do most of the heavy lifting, trains, boats and busses are also integral and cherished components of my travels. Trains in particular allow one to relax in a comfortable setting while enjoying the company of one's fellow travelers (rarely done on airplanes) and a wonderful rolling view of the country traveled through.

Thanks for the kind words, gang! It is so nice to hear that these reports are enjoyed amongst new and long time readers alike. Fodor's this is not! I wish you all travels equally as varied and enjoyable as mine have been - if not more so!

Thanks, Adam! My apologies to the Brisbane Airport and its store. When I asked the clerk about the price, I understood him (perhaps wrongly) to say the prices were less outside the airport. Still, when you consider the cost of sending a postcard overseas from most anywhere in the world, I do think $2.75 AUD or USD is more than a bit exorbitant. My next postcard from Australia will be an e-postcard! Additionally, I'd love to return to Queensland to ride a few as yet unridden trains and pay a visit to the Qantas museum in Long Reach. Looks like It'll have to be on an airline other than Emirates, though...

You are so welcome, FlyForFun. It takes time for me to put all these words together into a cohesive report, and it means a lot to hear that the difficulty in doing so is not lost on my readers. Thank you!

I hope your retirement options include a nice mix or First Class air and rail accommodations to whatever corners of the world capture your interest. Happy travels!

JoeDTW

Thank you for another outstanding trip report. I always look forward to reading your reports because you use the written word so well - instead of using pictures, your writing paints a picture in the readers' minds that's far more vibrant than a simple image.

Hopefully, you will write a report on your Sukhoi 100 flight!

As an aside, I live near Minneapolis and tend to be awoken very early because I live two blocks from the Burlington Northern's Minneapolis - Willmar secondary main line, and when I'm on my computer at 3:30 AM, I'll often check Flight Aware to see what airplanes are over Minnesota at that time of night. The CX and PR flights from YVR to JFK are two "regulars", so I was probably watching your aircraft as it flew across the overnight sky.

Seat 2A

And thank you as well, FLYGVA! I don't know how many of you out there I speak for when I say that outside of Flyertalk, it seems like nobody understands or appreciates our passion for the pure act of traveling - and especially flying - in style. This is especially true for those of us who've done as I did on this particular trip and simply burnt up a handful of miles for the sheer fun of the experience of logging 32000 miles while enjoying the top flight First Class products offered by Cathay Pacific and Emirates.

That said, for the most part Flyertalk’s members are no different than any other group of travelers. While we enjoy flying in First or Business Class, when it comes to travel literature most of us want to read about being there more so than getting there. With few exceptions (A First Class apartment aboard Etihad’s A380, for example) the novelty of flight has long since worn off for many of us. Add to that today’s security precautions, cramped and crowded airplanes and all the ancillary fees that accompany most base fares - it’s little wonder that many people view air travel as something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Why then would anyone – especially those who fly for a living - want to read about flying somewhere?

Curiosity about the product is one reason. Ever since British Airways introduced its First Class Suites back in 1996, the competition to provide new and improved First and Business Class cabins has resulted in some fantastic innovations that would have been unthinkable just twenty years ago. Witness 30” LED screens for your IFE viewing pleasure, dine on demand meal service, onboard showers and totally enclosed suites with sliding doors to name just a few enhancements. Anybody who’s logged a few thousand miles in old first and second generation sleeper seats and faces the prospect of logging a few thousand more couldn’t help but be curious about these new products. Anything that promises to make our lives easier and more enjoyable – especially while traveling – warrants our attention.

Outside of Flyertalk only a handful of friends and family claim to have actually read my reports in their entirety and most of them are politely evasive when asked whether they liked them or not. So believe me, I am doubly appreciative for an audience here at Flyertalk that's populated with intelligent, experienced air travelers who not only appreciate a quality premium class experience but – amongst some at least – are also willing to read or even write specifically about those experiences.

Be it as a reader, a writer or a photographer - Thanks to everyone for their participation in the Trip Reports forum!! ^^

Thank you, Joe. I will indeed be producing a trip report on my Interjet Sukhoi 100 flight, as well as my subsequent flights on Volaris from Monterrey to Phoenix via GDL. Those two airlines will be my 179th and 180th flown. I'm pushing for 200!

tsastor

Thank you Seat 2A. I'm home with a flu so I accompanied your report with the best cough medicine surrogate there exists, a small glass of lukewarm Jägermeister. That made me wonder how few airlines serve any kind of traditional Herb Bitters for passengers who might be a bit ill or having stomach problems. Campari simply does not count. Besides CSA serving Becherovka (do they anymore?) and Finnair serving Underberg, I can't really recall.

Despite my current poor appetite, may I say that most of the meals you had looked really nice. I agree with your choice of bread together with the caviar. What I would have missed is bacon for breakfast. Chicken sausages just won't do! Oh well, I guess that's what you get as a compromise when flying otherwise great airlines from (or through the) Middle East.

brg

Sorry, I find that hard to believe. You are too modest. These are classics.

1P

Late reading this (on the road too much!), but absolutely brilliant as usual. Thank you, Seat 2A !

Seat 2A

FallenPlat

Great report, as usual, sardonic meta-commentary and all.

Even back in the day, however, those first class bars were often sparsely populated. Eons and eons ago, I once crossed the Atlantic in a nearly new Air France 747-200, where "upstairs" was entirely given over to the bar. It, too, was practically empty and it wasn't even open for the entire flight. I remember that the one other passenger up there, a guy from South Africa, was nice enough to put up with chatter from the still-too-young-to-drink crowd, namely me.

The spiral staircase was fun, and I still have the 4-1/2 foot long fold-out promotional poster for the service.

The food? Not memorable. The seat? Same. The free op-up? Priceless!

And I truly do appreciate your wonderful reports. Keep 'em coming!

krazykanuck

Fantastic report. Unfortunately it took me a couple trips into this thread over a couple weeks to finish given the detail and so many great photos. Your Emirates flights have rekindled the excitement for my first, and likely only, EK F flight this fall. I enjoyed the focus on the food and the experience, rather than some ill timed selfies in the shower like some bloggers.

flycal312

Thank you, Seat2A, and congrats on 5 million miles!

Having read nearly all of the 73 in your ongoing series, I'll echo the comments to keep 'em coming. Alaska has enough interesting partners (Air Fiji, LAN, Hainan, Iceland Air, etc.) that I'm sure you can find a way to keep it up for at least another decade.

Thanks for all the time you put into this, as you can see it's much appreciated.

duchy

It's your enthusiasm for every aspect of the experience that makes your reports so much fun. You literally take your readers along with you for the ride.
As a nowadays economy traveler (rare op-ups aside) I found myself remembering flying Pan Am in First and my first caviar service and relishing the experience in the same way you do. It was very evocative.

I prefer the text reports......I find the pictures are so much better Almost anyone can take a photograph but to deliver that image with words is a craft and a talent. Thank you.