A flight a day ...

JessicaTam

JessicaTam

Enthusiast
Moderator
AFF Plat Supporter
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Posts
15,789
Qantas
LT Gold
Virgin
Red
Oneworld
Emerald
It has been a while since I posted a trip report, so this seemed opportune. I have 28 days leave and so I thought I would do a bit of a status run before my BA year ends.

Now you would realise that I am good at starting trip reports, but bloody hopeless at finishing them. Well this time it's different. I have not packed a camera so all photos will be on my phone and able to upload straight away. It will also be a bit light on detail, so I make sure I post each day - even if just a few words.

This is what 29 flights in 28 days looks like:
Screen Shot 2023-04-29 at 1.46.36 pm.png

It ticks off a few things:

I will be travelling on the (current) world's longest commercial flight SIN-JFK.
I am going to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix - don't ask how much the ticket for that was!
And I am hosting the SIN lounge crawl on the King's Birthday long weekend.
 
Once again I packed light, and leaving out the camera saved a bit under a kilo. So 8kg in the main bag and about 2 in my satchel. That covers Europe, North America and Asia.

As a bit of a breakdown, the bag weighs 2.6kg empty and laptop and cables about 1.4. so that leaves 6kg for clothes and toiletries (and a bit of a goody bag for Nice. ;) )

My bag is not very full so room for QR PJs and amenity kits.

I am flying with QF, MH, SQ, BA, QR and AA. 5 flights are in Y, the rest in J. SQ is points, and the rest revenue. All up a bit shy of 2,500 BA Tier Points (TPs). That will get me about half way to BA GFL (Gold for Life - equivalent to QF life time WP). Oh, and a couple of high speed trains.

And no, don't ask.
 
Last edited:
JessicaTam said:
I am going to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix - don't ask how much the ticket for that was!
Click to expand...
Absolute bucket list item for me! Really keen to hear about your experience with this. I’ll be trying to find a sports bar (or similar) in Toyama to watch it and decipher the 日本語 commentary 🤣

Enjoy your trip - looks like it’s going to be a cracker!
 
My flight SYD-PER was interesting. Service was a bit hit and miss until I had a chance to catch up with the CSM. All the FA in the J cabin were new (to the J cabin). So the CSM had to watch them as well as do his own job. And some of them had only been in the job a few months. The result of a lack/loss of staff and a massive recruitment drive to replace them.

I am now in the Aspire lounge in PER Int waiting for my flight to KUL. If you head all the way to the end then up the stairs there is a lounge with a great circular view.
IMG_0256.jpeg

IMG_0257.jpeg
The dining area.

IMG_0258.jpeg
The food selection. Three hot options and a range of salads. Everything was freshened up often. The bar has a good range of drinks.
 
Check out the latest credit card signup bonus point offers
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

maia200 said:
Sounds amazing.....look forward to the TR.
Is the 8kg carry-on? I had read somewhere that AF were starting to weigh J carry on.
Click to expand...
Yes carryon. I don’t do checked luggage.

QF dom allows me 2 bags up to 14 total. And I have never worried with international airlines.

One day I might fly AF. I hear their F lounge is pretty good.
 
RooFlyer said:
True to your forecast, a bit light on TR detail :p .

Don't worry, I know exactly the time commitment to keep up with a TR on-the-road. 👍
Click to expand...
Actually the bus was just pulling away from the terminal so I was about to lose wifi. I am at the HH now so when I get to the exec lounge in a while more detail will be forthcoming.
 
JessicaTam said:
So I have just done my first two MH flights. PER-KUL and KUL-TPE.
Click to expand...
Ok, time to add the detail that circumstances prevented earlier.

My flight from PER-KUL was a 737. The J seats recline a bit more than QF's equivalent. I was originally in 2A but ended up in 1C. Probably my least favourite 737 J seat. Struck in an aisle for 6 hours and no seat infront to put my bag or stretch out under. At least I had a shadow so I was sitting in 1A before takeoff. There was a couple in 2A/C so I don't know if that influenced my move. They could have had 1A/C! :( I think I managed to get an hour or two of shuteye.

As we were late out of PER I only had enough time to get from the arrivals to the departure gate. So no lounge visit this time. I am back there on Monday so I will get my fill then. KUL-TPE was an old A332. I watched a movie and then had a bit more of a nap. The staff on both flights were great. Attentive without being in your face.

IMG_0264.jpeg

When I got to TPE I saw that AU is now able to the e-gates. But preregistering required. I didn't want to take the risk of not being able to manage that today so I headed strait to the immigration queue. All up about 30 minutes. I have subsequently learned that any AU passport can register free at the airport. So I will probably do that on my way out. The passport needs 6 month's validity, so similar to SIN and HKG's systems.
 
Last edited:
I had a choice of transport from TPE to HH SInban. A cab or Uber would have been about AUD50-60 and the MRT about $8. I stumped up TWD135 for the bus. AUD6.65 got me a fairly efficient coach trip that took an hour to get within 150m of the HH. I was a drizzly afternoon so I was glad to get close. The MRT is a bit further away.

IMG_0267.jpeg

I received a room on a high floor at the HH and a good size too. The exec lounge is well provisioned this evening with two sittings. I chose 1830-1920, the alternative being 1940-2030. I will see if they kick me out in half an hour. :D
 
A bit about the fare and booking. This is a complex routing with lots of moving parts. I definitely had help putting this together so thanks to the TA for that. 👍👏

But to break it down, the MEL-SYD legs were tacked on in Y. There is also a quick Y NCE-LHR return to get me the rest of my 4 ~. I might have a drink or two at LHR to help defray the cost. 😉

SYD//TPE was booked for me and that fare has since been “corrected”.

KUL-SIN-JFK-FRA and FRA-SIN-KUL were booked on SQ miles as soon as they came available. FRA-LHR-NCE was tacked on the end of the first one as a revenue fare. I hope to get a picture of a string of 5 BPs.

The rest is a rather convoluted QR fare that sees me in MIA and LAS twice along with a number of other US cities.

Oh, the fifth Y flight is from KUL-SIN at the start of the lounge crawl.

And why have I put such a massive SR together? Well simply because my BA year ends in July and I have had a lot of complications in the last twelve months that have prevented my usual pattern of travel. Next year I am back to normal picking up a steady stream of TPs* throughout the year.

I am Gold Guest List with BA, which is sort of equivalent to QF P1 (actually slightly better I reckon 🤣) To qualify 5,000 TP are needed and 3,000 to requalify. So I didn’t want to lose it as it is very difficult to get back. This year I will end up with about 3,500 TP which has additional benefits at that level. But there is a lot of info on BAEC elsewhere so that will do.

*Tier Points, similar to QF Status Credits
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.

Recent Posts

Currently Active Users

Total: 336 (members: 49, guests: 287)
Back
Top