Flying QF F, BA F, CX F & Visting London, Spain, New York + Maldives!

[Pumbaa]

PER-MEL-DXB-LHR-BCN-MAD-LHR-JFK-HKG-SIN-MLE-SIN-PER​

Hi guys, I've been planning this trip for my honeymoon for well over a year. I burnt a large number of AA points that I massed by:

1) Buying AA points when there are bonuses for the last 2 years
2) Buying SPG points when they are on sale (20-25% off) and transferring to AA
3) Staying at SPG hotels whenever possible and converting to AA

I booked the flights 330 days out and have been eagerly awaiting January 2014 to come! I've only ever experienced Thai in F, but have traveled in J with Singapore, Qantas, Swiss, ANA. So I'm very much looking forward to experience the hard and soft F product from QF, CX and BA.

Part 1: Booking Flights

Flight 1: Qantas

Perth – Melbourne (J)
Melbourne – Dubai (F)
Dubai – London (F)

Cost: 80 000 AA points + $86 taxes and surcharges each

3 hours and 50 minutes layover in Melbourne to experience the Qantas F Lounge
1 hour and 30 minutes layover in Dubai to experience Emirates First Class Lounge

Flight 2: British Airways

London – Barcelona (Y)

Cost: $130 each

I still have Marco Polo Gold from my Amex Platinum Charge Card, so I will still be able to access OW lounges in T5

Flight 3: British Airways

Madrid – London (J)
London – New York (F)

Cost: 62 500 AA points + $462 in taxes and surcharges each

3 hours and 45 minutes layover in London to experience British Airways Concorde Room

I was tossing up between flying the new J on American Airlines or sampling the new F on British Airways. In the end, after taking into account the difference in points (12 500 each) and fuel fines, the wife decided that we fly BA F, and tick off the bucket list of a visit the Concorde Room.

We managed to escape paying the London departure tax by routing through Madrid on our way to New York. However we had to pay the rather significant BA fuel fines!

For everyone’s reference:

LHR-JFK ($651) BA – Fuel fines and London Departure Tax
MAD-LHR-JFK ($462) – Fuel fines without London Departure Tax
MAD-DUS-JFK ($72) – No fuel fines or London departure tax

Flight 4: Cathay Pacific

New York – Hong Kong (F)
Hong Kong – Singapore (J)

Cost: 67 500 AA points + $49 in taxes each

6 hours and 30 minutes layover in Hong Kong, before our flight to Singapore. I’m not sure if we get access to F lounges in Hong Kong (F in and J out) because our J flight is at 1:30am (technically the next day). Worse case we’ll just visit the J lounges.


Flight 5: Singapore Airines

Singapore – Maldives (J)
Maldives – Singapore (J)

Cost: 30 000 US Dividend Miles + $97 taxes and surcharges each

This was a real bargain, because the alternative was to burn my Kris Flyer points and pay significant fuel fines. To fly the same route with Kris Flyer, it’d cost 59 500 KF points + $385 each!

Flight 6: Singapore Airlines

Singapore – Perth (J)

Cost: 27 500 KrisFlyer points + $209 taxes and surcharges

My next instalment will be the hotels that I've booked!

 

[vitagen]

Good stuff!! Enjoy your honeymoon!

 

[mannej]

6 hours is almost time enough to head into HKG

 

[amaroo]

Fabulous trip....that's the way to do a honeymoon!

 

[legroom]

My guess is 0.001% or less of the honeymooners would be able to enjoy what you're planning.

Amazing success!

Well done !

 

[Pumbaa]

Part 2: Booking Hotel

As a loyal Platinum SPG member, I try to book SPG hotels whenever I can. This time is no different! SPG Platinum gives free breakfast, free internet and when available, free suite upgrades. Sadly my status will expire at the end of February, so have to make the most of it before it goes!

I’m staying at the following SPG hotels, and all prices are in Aussie dollars:

Le Meridien Piccadilly
4 nights @ $351 a night

Le Meridien Barcelona
3 nights @ $274 a night

The Westin Palace – Madrid
3 nights @ $304 a night

W New York – Union Square
5 nights @ $308 a night

All hotels have been prepaid and include all taxes and charges. They are for the most basic room with a King size bed. I have never been overly lucky with hotel upgrades (usually always get one level up, but never the best suite). Let’s hope my luck changes for the honeymoon!

SPG have a really coughpy promotion in the first quarter, you only get 2500 bonus points for every 5 nights you stay. Usually they have double/triple point promotions, and that’s when I clean up! With this current promotion, I will only earn an extra 7500 bonus points. As SPG platinum, I’ll also earn 3 points per dollar. So roughly, these hotel stays should yield me just over 20 000 SPG points, which mean another 25 000 AA points!

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
6 nights @ $179 a night (Explanation below)

I managed to book this hotel with HH points prior to the devaluation. It only cost me 37 500 HH points a night compared to the 95 000 points it costs currently! I could not believe it when HH devalued their points by 200%! Subsequently after this change, I’ve changed my points earn from HH points to AA points. Hilton is still a reasonably good chain to stay at as HH Gold gets free breakfast, wifi and room upgrades. HH Gold is easy to obtain, so I still use Hilton as my second preference when SPG rooms are overpriced or lacking. Its just a shame now that their points are pretty much worthless!

I only had enough points for 4 nights, but I purchased 40 000 points and did a points + pay for the remaining 40 000 points. So I paid an extra $1075 to make this booking happen!

My wife has always wanted to go to the Maldives, but I wasn’t too fussed when we went. After HH announced their devaluation, I thought this is pretty much our last chance to stay at the Conrad for a reasonable amount of money. There is heaps of discussion at FlyerTalk about the Conrad, so there’s lots of information there if you want to read up about it.

As a HH gold, I will get free breakfast, free happy hour drinks, free internet and free water each day. Not a bad deal as it will go a long way to save some dollars during the stay. I’ve had a look at the restaurant prices, and it doesn’t look cheap, but because we saved so much in accommodation for this booking, we will spurge on dining, day spa visits and activities.

Because it is our honeymoon, the Conrad is also throwing in:

1. Fruit Basket & 1 bottle of Champagne in the villa upon arrival
2. $100 USD credit per couple per stay against the excursion of the guest’s choice (amount to be deducted from the room account at the end of the guest’s stay)
3. One romantic 3-course menu candlelight dinner, excluding beverages.

They couldn’t promise a room upgrade, but I have my fingers crossed that they can make something happen. I checked about the cost for guaranteed room upgrades, and it varies for $390-$2385 a night + taxes. No thanks, the standard room is good enough for us!

We leave next week, so my next instalment will be about

1) Qantas chauffeur pickup
2) PER-MEL J flight (we plan not to eat on board so we can make the most of our visit to the F lounge and the famous degustation on board of QF9)
3) Melbourne F Lounge
4) MEL-DXB-LHR
5) Emirates F lounge in Dubai
6) Qantas chauffeur drive to our hotel in London
7) First host if applicable to fast track us through immigration at LHR

I plan on taking lots of photos, but if anyone has any special requests, I'm more than happy to oblige

 

[Pumbaa]

@ vitagen: Thanks mate, we both can't wait, have you completed your MEL/SYD-DXB-LHR award booking? I vaguely remember you had an F booking as well!

@ mannej: I know, but I'd rather just lounge hop and see all that is on offer! We'll visit HKG another time and do the city properly

@ amaroo: I know right! When friends and colleagues ask about the honeymoon, I just can't tell them about all the F flights and how I booked it. We're not loaded by any means and flying F is just a little over the top! Everyone thinks we're nuts flying the way we are, but in AFF fashion, "why fly direct when you can connect"

@ legroom: Thanks mate! I'm pretty chuffed that it all came together. I must thank everyone in AFF for their advice and tips/tricks. Without it I'd never get close to pulling something like this off. I want to tell everyone about it, but no one understands! Good thing I can post in AFF and everyone here gets it and can relate!

 

[jason_c]

Wow... that's beyond impressive! Need to start planning for your first anniversary now

 

[LadyC]

Sounds like an amazing holiday you have planned! I hope you have a fabulous time

 

[Pumbaa]

A lovely lady gave me a call at around 11am to confirm the chauffeur drive pickup for the following day. They allowed me to change the pickup time from 3am to 3:30am. Knowing what I know now, 4am would have been better but more on that later. I received the expected phone call from the F team at Melbourne around 1pm. They asked if the seats I selected were still what I wanted and if I wanted to book treatments at the spa tomorrow before our flight to London. I chose the back massage and my wife chose a facial.


Chauffeur pickup was 15 minutes early (scheduled time was 3:30am) and we made it to the airport in record time (no traffic that early in the morning). Arrived at 3:30am but no check in counters were open. The counters eventually opened at 4am, and we were first in line. Baggage was checked all the way to London and we were issued all our boarding passes. We then swiftly made our way to the Perth domestic lounge. Same as it was at our last visit, but this time I noticed sandwich presses (suspiciously similar to Virgin’s offerings). The wife had a coffee, but I refrained from eating anything to keep my tummy empty for the onslaught that is the Melbourne F lounge J

Boarding was quick with the priority line working nicely. Water or juice was offered, and I thoroughly enjoyed my glass of pineapple juice. Menus were offered consisting of the new small and main plates which was nice. I nearly fell asleep waiting for the plane to begin its climb. The CSM came around after the seatbelt sign was switched off and greeted us which was very nice. I think it’s the first time a CSM has ever said hello to me! The FA came around to take our breakfast orders and we both chose the croissant only. The FA was a little shocked that we both didn’t want anything from the main plates. I wanted to tell her that we were saving space for the F lounge, but decided to keep it to myself J

The crew this morning was great. One of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet! Everyone was friendly, smiling and helpful. Its times like these when Qantas really shines and when it does everything right, they are just unbeatable in my opinion. The hard product was great as well. I always choose the A330-200 plane when it is available. The seats are the MK1 type I believe, that convert to a nice angled lie flat bed. I managed to have a little shut eye before we landed in Melbourne. The plane was ahead of schedule (more F time YAY!)

We followed the signs to the international terminal but had to wait in line for immigration and customs. No express passes were issued in Perth, so we waited in line like everyone else. We didn’t have to wait long as it was pretty quiet in the morning J After customs, we lined up at the TRS and collected our GST back on a whole heap of purchases. Now it really is F time!

We were greeted with a huge smile after we showed our boarding passes to the F staff at the entrance. One of the F hosts asked if we have been there before and after both of us answering no she gave us a tour of the lounge. One odd thing was she said there is the day spa, but its fully booked and directed us to the restaurant. Surely she would have known that as F passengers, we would have booked treatments the day earlier? Anyhoo after the tour, we walked to the day spa to find out what time the treatments were, as I forgot what we agreed on yesterday! 1:50pm he said to our delight, as it gave us a full hour to have lunch at the restaurant!
My wife has never been to the Qantas F lounge before, and was loving what she saw. I was lucky enough to visit the Sydney F lounge last year with my mum. The Melbourne lounge is significantly smaller than its Sydney sibling, and is definitely less “wow” on the eyes. But it is very cosy, isn’t as busy and does the job nicely J So after making our way to the restaurant, a nice waiter directed us to our table. Menus were offered and they asked what we’d like to drink. After reading all the posts about the F lounge on AFF I didn’t hesitate and requested 2 glasses of tattinger to the waiters delight!

We shared the salt and pepper squid and the salmon sashimi for entrees, then I had the legendary club sandwich and my wife ordered the pasta. The club sandwich was really filling and sadly I couldn’t order any more food! We didn’t have time to have dessert, so we made our way to the day spa after mains. I originally planned to have a back massage and my wife a facial, but when inside, my treatment lady offered me a neck, shoulder, arms massage and facial. Never having a facial before I said theres a first time for everything, lets do that. I must admit it is a bit strange having all these creams put on my face, but it was nice all the same.

After the treatment, we went back to the restaurant to have our desserts. We got a bit greedy looking at the menu, and ordered the salt and pepper squid and the sashimi again to share. We also ordered another 2 glasses of tattinger to wash it all down. After the second round of entrees, it was dessert time, and we ordered the pavlova and some lychee sorbert to share. It was amazing! After our meal, we had showers before boarding. Our flight was slightly delayed (30 minutes), but we ticked off everything that we wanted to do in the lounge so we made our way to the plane.

It was so exciting making our way to the plane and turning left into F instead of turning right into economy. We were directed to our seat, made some small chat with the FAs. They genuinely congratulated us on our marriage and asked us questions about our honeymoon trip. The wife and I were blown away by how nice everyone was. More bubbles were supplied and by this time the wife and I had about 5 glasses each. I think it’s a record! The flight was a delayed a bit further as we were waiting for some passengers from Adelaide where their flight was delayed. We didn’t mind one bit enjoying the bubbles supplied!

After take off menus were presented and shortly after orders taken. After eating so much in the F lounge we couldn’t do the tasting menu, so we just ordered off the menu. The standard, taste, quality and presentation of the food was the best I’ve ever had on a plane. It will be interesting to see how CX and BA F compare. I ordered the soup, steak sandwich, and steamed snapper, while my wife ordered the prawns and steamed snapper. I somehow managed to eat all my food, plus some of my wife’s and 2 glasses of wine J We had the crepes for dessert, and some peppermint tea. By this time I couldn’t drink any more alcohol without getting sick, and my wife was already in tipsy land. After the meal service, all I could do was sleep. The lovely FAs made my bed, and it is the most comfortable I’ve ever been on a plane. I slept like a baby for 2 hours before waking up. 8 hours to go and I think its movie time

 

[Danger UXB]

Love the TR. I wouldn't call myself a whisky master but I do like a little malt so if you get the chance please comment on the malt offerings. Last time I went BA F they had Highland park 18 yr old a particular favourite of mine. You will love the Maldives. Enjoy

 

[Pumbaa]

@ jason_c: I don't think I can beat this, but like Barney would say ... "challenge accepted!"

@ Lady_C: Thanks The Qantas F flight is already the best flight we've ever been on!

@ Danger UXB: I'm not much of a whisky drinker, but its never too late to start! I'll make some inquires and let you know