samwise6222

Full Background:
Can be found here

I don't want to read another thread background:

This starts with a phone call that I received on January 1 while I was enjoying my vacation in London.

“We have an emergency. I need you to cancel your vacation and fly back on the first available flight” he said.



Like that. I (almost) met my Elite Qualifying Dollar requirement on the first of January 2018 as everyone in the U.S. were yelling “HAPPY NEW YEAR”.

At that time, I thought “cool – I could re-qualify for EXP (Executive Platinum) before February at this pace”

At least that's what I thought.

Fast forward 10 months: my travel had largely stopped this year and I was looking at a situation of not even qualifying for Platinum Pro.




You don’t have to look at the entire post linked above, but long story short, I largely accepted the fact that I was not going to make it to executive platinum this year. I thought I had finally left the world of battlefield upgrades and entered the nirvana to find my moment of zen.

Until I stopped having my moment of zen.

So naturally, like many others here, I asked my wife for her insight:



Magically, I had found my moment of zen again.



Then darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth....then I saw the light and I realized that there was no point in pursuing what could be a useless status in this mortal world.

But then darkness took me again. I can’t give up yet. I thought. Let me tried to convince her once more.



Makes sense. Right?

But I couldn't give up. One day I will lose my status, but today's not the day I thought.




After hours of contentious negotiation, we agreed on a framework to allow me to pursue this long trip.


THE AGREED FRAMEWORK

DELEGATIONS OF SAMWISE62222 AKA SAMWISEGAMGEE AND MRS. SAMWISE6222 HELD TALKS NEAR THE UNITED NATIONS IN NEW YORK, NY FROM OCTOBER 10, 2018 TO OCTOBER 10, 2018, TO NEGOTIATE AN OVERALL RESOLUTION OF THE DISPUTE IN THE HOUSEHOLD

I, SAMWISE6222, ALONG WITH MRS. SAMWISE6222 HEREBY AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

1. TOTAL COST OF TRIP MUST BE UNDER $1,500, INCLUSIVE TAXES
2. ONE WEEKEND, ONE WEEKEND ONLY.

SIGNED
/samwise6222/ & /Mrs. samwise6222/

n.b. (while we are married, we are having our ceremony later this year… which I have been slacking on….. yea… I should really help her with that…..)

Using the agreed-upon framework, I planned my trip and came up with the following itinerary:

This Saturday --
AA Y (aisle seat on A321): LGA -> DFW
AA PE (middle seat on 777-200): DFW -> NRT
JL PE (window seat on 787): NRT -> CGK

Next Tuesday --
above in exact reverse, except for the window seat on NRT->DFW


Next <-- when the next part is ready, this will turn blue with underline on it

P.S. sorry for starting this even before starting the trip. But this way, I can make sure I finish this whole piece by next week.

P.S.2 "almost around the world" means the flying distance. I couldn't find RTW ticket in PE for that amount....

Current Chance of Upgrade:

ffI

Congrats. My year started much slower but I find myself avoiding a nonstop at the very end in Dec to get the extra few miles to EXP. I am far away from any Zen.

gaobest

zip10001

Awesome! Good luck for those long-flights in PE...Valium might help

samwise6222

Learning my lesson from my previous TR, I decided to show up early. It's 3:30AM and I am already at the airport for my 6:45AM flight. Aren't you proud of me guys?

Oh wait. Check-in doesn't open until 4AM and the lounge doesn't open until 5AM. Oh lord what have I done?

Flight # 1 : LGA -> DFW in Y 9AM Flight

It's Friday morning 6:30AM. Mrs. Samwise6222 wakes up to got to work and she sees me in bed.
Mrs: Why.... are you still in bed? Aren't you supposed to be at the airport?
Me: Oh it's tomorrow
Mrs: I am pretty sure it's today?
Me: Uhhh I am pretty sure it's tomorro..... OH ... WHY IS IT TODAY?!? (I have a reason for that which I will touch later)

I pack all my stuff (for 26 hours of travel going, for a day in there, then 25 hours back) in less than five minutes. Wow. What a miracle. (but this will cause issues later which I will revisit....).

Phew. I am not going to be late today. I told myself. An Uber driver accepts my ride within two minutes and he's four blocks away. Perfect.

On my 12 minute ride to the airport, I check my phone for my upgrade list.



Boo. I am #7 . I am guessing it makes sense given that it's a Friday morning flight to Dallas.

I am at the airport at 7:30AM. All checked-in. The check-in agent gives me a stink eye:

Check-in Agent: You are going to all the way to Indonesia for... two days? Do you have a life?
Me: (nervously) hahaha I am going to meet my "friend"
Check-in Agent: Sure sweetie. Sure. I've seen many like you.

Okay.. Thanks for the commentary. But I am a grown up, so I ignore her and go up to the Centurion Lounge.


(If there's an admirals club & a centurion lounge, I will always go for the latter as I am not hipster enough to have avocado toast as my breakfast).


(not to beat the dead horse again, but let's appreciate how ridiculous the leg room is in their safety video).

While the flight itself was uneventful, it was filled with a group tourists from mainland China (about 20 of them) who were booked in Basic Economy ticket. During that time, I received about 10 requests from different people asking me to change my seat with them. 12C with 26E? Nope. 12C with 9B? Nope. 12C with 26B? Nope.

After 15 minutes of flight attendants pleading people to sit down and stop using the bathroom or get up so that we can start taxing, we finally depart. 90 minute transfer in Dallas. This will be close.

However, on the way there, I had to defend the middle seat Chinese lady's rights as the gentleman sitting on the window seat started protruding into the Chinese lady's space taking the advantage of the fact that she couldn't speak English. He started using her outlet, her USB charging port, and started putting his stuff on her tray table. So I had to tell him to stop it. Let's try to be nice. ok?

samwise6222

Flight # 2 : DFW -> NRT (PE J)

As I land in Dallas, my phone refreshes... and I found my systemwide upgrade clearing to J (and this will create headache later... but we will get to that when we can).

Thank. The. Travel. Gods. My last SWU for the year clears (I used two of my SWUs for Mrs' domestic flight so I won't have an SWU for the return trip).

As some of you may be aware, Japan Airline provides Japanese meal service for Dallas to Tokyo segments after many Japanese people complained about the qualify of food AA offered (supposedly).


I asked for the availability of Japanese meals, and luckily they have it . However, it did make me question their choices as they had listed "Short Rib with Bulgogi Sauce, Kimchi and Rice" under "Western Meals." I mean Kimchi is from Williamsburg, NY right? So I guess it makes sense. Short Rib with Bulgogi Sauce seems to be a fairly traditional American meal originating from 32nd Street and Broadway in Manhattan.

[To be continued - we are boarding now and I don't want to be the last one to board... again!]

gaobest

kevincrumbs

What is ****ing wrong with people??? Thanks for doing the right thing and helping her out when you were under no obligation to do so.

Madone59

I love a good butt numbing coach mileage running trip report!! Good luck^^

samwise6222

OK. Before I start again, here's my recap.

My wife gave me a budget of $1,500 for the entire trip, and at this point, I had spent $1,300 for the flight.

So REMAINING BUDGET: $200.

AA's Japanese selection, as it was catered by Japan Airlines, was excellent





It was just fantastic except for one complaint. Unlike JAL, they didn't have any soy sauce to add more flavor to some of the blend vegetables.




Crossing Alaska



For midflight snack, they provided cold-dip udon noodle, which I couldn't believe came from AA's catering.



However, for the pre-landing meal, my tonkatsu (deep fried pork) was missing the typical tonkatsu sauce which made the food very blend. Bleh.





After we landed in Tokyo... we, uhh, started taxing to the gate at 62MPH. I never knew that airplanes taxied that fast!



Next up, JL 787's Premium Economy to Jakarta.

samwise6222

If you are not too obsessed with sushi bar from Japan Airline's first class lounge in Narita, going up a stair to 4th floor lounge is a great option, as it usually much emptier than its third floor counter (which has the sushi bar).



They have two massage chairs that everyone can use on a complimentary basis. They do ask you to limit your use to 15 minutes for the next customer, but I used it for 30 minutes since there was no one else in the lounge. (I am a rebel. I know).




Japanese people are very conscious about other people hearing you urinate. So they have a noise machine in the bathroom that could drown out your pee sound. Wave your hand in front of that machine, and it will make some loud waterfall noise for the next 30 seconds so that you can pee in peace.







JL's 787 PE class is in a 2 - 3 - 2 configuration with 19.2" width and 42" pitch.

Compare that with AA's 787's PE which has 19" width and 38" pitch.

As I boarded, the flight attendant came up to me and thanked me for being one world emerald, and told me that she was impressed by the fact that I was staying in Jakarta for only one day and going back to New York City right after. (1) I was surprised that they studied my itinerary and (2) that they remembered enough to come up to me to ask about what I was doing there for a day. She told me "i am working on your return flight as well, so we will see you then too"



For their dining, they were running a program where they let chefs under 35 years old design their meals. So my meal came with the face of the chef who designed it.



JL's IFE has a number of Japanese variety shows with English subtitles. Can you guess where these guys are from?



Even for non-business class passengers, they have on-demand snacks where you can order by calling your flight attendant.

OK. My butt's pretty numb by this point. Let's go to the hotel.

gaobest

jtav559

Sub'd! Keep it coming.

It seems the upgrade inventory gods smiled upon you in Dallas. May the odds be ever in your favor!

samwise6222

She did! Gave me lots of snacks on the way back lol and most of the flight attendants came up to say hi "you are the one that's doing the crazy trip"

Planning to finish this evening!

Hawes7701