djfuzz
Established Member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2007
- Posts
- 1,412
Summary and final thoughts
For my own edification, and perhaps for reference purposes if anyone wants to look up some quick thoughts about a particular service, I’ve broken down our trip(s) – as well as a few IMHO observations, which are probably wildly inaccurate / biased.
Positioning flights:
DONE4:
Positioning home / side trip:
Favourites
General impressions
So that’s that. As much as I’d love to do so, I don’t think we’ll be heading out on a DONE4 again for at least a year, possibly longer (I didn't know what the acronym even meant for the first year or so I was lurking on this site!). But I did succeed in convincing Mrs Djf of the virtues of this type of travel, so who knows what the future holds. We had an awesome time, and got some excellent value out of our trip, which we’d probably have squandered on a short, overpriced and not as satisfying honeymoon instead of three to four separate international trips spread out across a year, plus elite status for a couple of years and enough FF points for at least one more international trip. And for that, I really have to thank all of you for your advice, feedback and thoughts over the past year or so – you’ve collectively been better than any travel agent or website I could have gone to on my own. So thanks again, and good night.
The End (of this TR). Thanks for reading!
For my own edification, and perhaps for reference purposes if anyone wants to look up some quick thoughts about a particular service, I’ve broken down our trip(s) – as well as a few IMHO observations, which are probably wildly inaccurate / biased.
Positioning flights:
- QF MEL-HKG PE 744
- CX HKG-ICN Y 744
DONE4:
- JL ICN-NRT J 773
- AA NRT-JFK J 772
- AA JFK-SFO F 763
- AA SFO-DFW F MD80
- AA DFW-LAX F 738
- AA LAX-LHR J 772
- BA LHR-DXB J 773
- BA DXB-LHR J 744
- QF LHR-SIN-SYD J 388
- QF SYD-MEL J 738
- QF MEL-AKL J 734
- QF AKL-MEL J 734
- QF MEL-HKG J (F seat) 744
- KA HKG-DAC J 330
- KA DAC-KTM-HKG J 330
- CX HKG-ICN J 330
Positioning home / side trip:
- CX ICN-HKG Y 330
- CX HKG-BKK J 773
- PG BKK-USM Y ATR72
- PG USM-BKK Y 319
- CX BKK-HKG J 330
- QF HKG-MEL J (F seat) 744
Favourites
- Flounge: QF MEL, closely followed by The Pier (The Wing misses out due to its capacity limitations being made starkly obvious on the final morning); least favourite – CX BKK.
- Jlounge: BA Galleries South T5; least favourite – AA LAX T4 Admirals Club.
- Flight: CX 418 HKG-ICN in J; least favourite – QF 494 SYD-MEL in J.
- Soft product: CX on CX 418/9 was spectacular, across J and Y cabins; least favourite – QF on QF 494 was not.
- Hard product: QF F cabin; special mentions to BA NGCW, QF Skybed Mk II, CX NGBC; least favourite – aside from anything in Y, AA’s squashed cubicle Recaro seats, and their aging domestic F cabins were disappointing.
- IFE: A tie between QF’s A380 OnQ and CX’s Studio CX – QF edges ahead in content, CX in presentation and depth; least favourite – CX looped IFE in its regional product with washed out screens was not good enough.
- Amenities/bathrooms: CX/KA dermalogica products in its bathrooms were great, but QF Payot products and F loos were up there (but technically not for us); least favourite – AA.
- In-flight bar: QF 744 still reigns supreme – A380 bars are too small / crowded by the galley; least favourite – given that CX/KA didn’t have them in their medium-haul aircraft, I’d say AA’s snack baskets were disappointing – but at least they had something.
- Checkin: MEL F obviously, though AKL F and CX HKG F weren’t too bad either; least favourite – AA LAX T4.
- Status benefits: Selecting F cabin seats on QF was great, but the welcome and attention given on certain CX flights was outstanding; least benefits – QF domestic, see above; lack of ability to use domestic lounges and haphazard boarding procedures were a mark against AA, but their status mileage bonuses were generous.
- Customer service: AA, whose RTW desk was fantastic; least favourite – CX, with whom I spent several half an hour or longer calls on hold, hung up and lost priority for my requested changes (yet at other times they were very quick and efficient).
General impressions
- Jlounging is nothing great – while a separate lounge area, shower access and occasional hot food is nice, it’s nothing that special (and not necessarily anything that can’t be purchased at a reasonable rate without such access). In general, the flight is more exciting than the lounge. I’d say J lounges are a nice comfort and convenience, but that’s about it.
- Flounging, on the other hand, makes traveling truly special, regardless of the class of travel – in fact, I’d almost say that unless you were traveling in a decent F product, the lounge is more enjoyable than the flight, as you get all the perks of elite travel without the hassles of actually being in a plane and flying (though it does help to be at Y+ or above I suppose). And home Flounges are far and away superior to regional Flounges – like the MEL/SYD QF lounges and the CX Wing/Pier.
- Plain vanilla J seats like domestic or regional products are adequate for short products as long as their lower utility compared to newer J products is reflected in a lower price premium for sitting in the J cabin. But J class flat beds are only as great as they’re made out to be on particularly long sleeper flights where the J cabin itself doesn’t feel cluttered like Y. I think CX may have just succeeded in packing in J seats into a small cabin, whereas AA’s cabin design makes it feel like a domestic product, almost Y-like (but KA did much better with the same seats by giving the cabin a bit of open space).
- Inflight service can make a huge difference to one’s enjoyment of a flight, and I have to say that the few instances in which FAs have spent a little bit of time personalizing their service has gone a long way towards making our trips enjoyable, and making us keen to travel on that same airline/service in the future.
- I’ve only sampled true F class food on board once, but I’ve got say that although J class food can be bland at times, I was generally very happy with the food we got – restaurant (or café) quality across the board, and good meals really made the flights themselves more pleasant.
- I still value a good IFE system as I tend to watch a few light TV shows or comedies to break things up on a flight, so I really appreciate the depth of the AVOD offered by QF and sometimes CX. But I imagine that it may be increasingly less important as iPods/PMPs/phones become more effective at storing and displaying content over long flight durations – I always have mine as a backup, but was glad to never have to really use it on any flights on our DONE4.
- Although generally I'd say newer aircraft are better than older ones, I must say after a few A380 flights, I've begun to think that there's something just a little bit more special about flying on the 744. Perhaps its the fact that the upper deck and nose section are unique, and provide a very different type of flying experience than do two plain widebody decks on the 380. Also, as much as recent events make me flinch every time I board an A330, I found travelling aboard them to be very pleasant, much more so than 767s or 777s. Really wish we got an A340 too, but perhaps next time.
- Status is a beautiful thing, even if it only comes through occasionally. We earned our status pretty quickly (well, at least to Sapphire level), but the early flights we had without status (even when flying F in the US) were noticeably different – perhaps none more than when we were declined a points upgrade from PE on our first QF flight. With elite status in hand, we got pretty much every benefit we were after, from flexibility on baggage allowances to upgrades (if not op-ups) to an extra smile. I do regret not sticking with QF, as my flying patterns would have sustained at least one year’s worth of non-comped renewal of WP, whereas on AA I never had a chance of getting to EXP (I thought I had, but misunderstood the length of the qualifying year). But at least we get those privileges when flying together, and I have a stack of AA miles to use towards a future Oneworld Award and the consolation prize of SG through Mrs Djf getting to PG status. My next challenge is working out how to get 1400 SCs for WP myself.
- Although we did exceptionally well on the 10 year anniversary sale, favourable-ish currency rates and decent pricing out of ICN (now gone), DONE4s still have a pretty high price barrier to entry. Despite how much I’ve enthused about the incredible value and flexibility we’ve gotten out of them (and as I said, we were luckyish), I haven’t been able to convince others that it’s the way to go – because of the cost (higher out of Australia), routing, timing and availability of flights. I’d love to do a DONE4 again – I just don’t know when in the future the financial controller will allow it or when we’ve got enough time to do it again.
So that’s that. As much as I’d love to do so, I don’t think we’ll be heading out on a DONE4 again for at least a year, possibly longer (I didn't know what the acronym even meant for the first year or so I was lurking on this site!). But I did succeed in convincing Mrs Djf of the virtues of this type of travel, so who knows what the future holds. We had an awesome time, and got some excellent value out of our trip, which we’d probably have squandered on a short, overpriced and not as satisfying honeymoon instead of three to four separate international trips spread out across a year, plus elite status for a couple of years and enough FF points for at least one more international trip. And for that, I really have to thank all of you for your advice, feedback and thoughts over the past year or so – you’ve collectively been better than any travel agent or website I could have gone to on my own. So thanks again, and good night.
The End (of this TR). Thanks for reading!
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Pity your latter CX experiences were not as good as the HKG-ICN leg, perhaps your other CX flights are relatively short and the SP didn't have time, though some of the best SPs I've had have been on SIN-BKK legs. Unfortunately I've not had yours and others' good luck with the Pursers and polka dots.
Oh well, cest la vie.
