Emkay
Intern
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2006
- Posts
- 73
- Qantas
- LT Gold
Yesterday I started a DONE4 itinerary taking me to a professionally-related 3 day conference in Seattle next week, so here's the start of a report.
I initially considered buying a simple J class return ticket (BNE-LAX-SEA-LAX-BNE) but the Qantas price was about $16K, which I considered somewhat excessive. I am way past being willing to endure a quick turnaround return across the Pacific in economy. I imagine I'm not alone in thinking that the Aus-LAX flights are the most gruelling single sectors in existence. I just detest them in economy – typically leaving BNE/SYD/MEL one morning and arriving in LAX slightly earlier the same morning, after a night in which it gets dark for only a couple of hours, and most of the passengers don't seem interested in sleeping as it's too early on their Aus-time body clocks. So in economy you are closely surrounded by people jumping up and down, talking loudly, and headphone audio leakage in full operation otherwise, so trying to sleep doesn't usually have much effect apart from on one's temper. To minimise jet-lag, I have a firm rule that I don't bed down in the new time zone before the usual time at the destination, which leaves me struggling to make it through that first day in the US. OK, I'm the wrong side of my 50s, and I don't cope like I once did, so I'm prepared to cough up a few more $$ for a more tolerable experience. But $16K?
Actually, there was a $12K discount business return fare on offer but only for departures before March 31, which would have left me cooling my heels on the west coast of the US for 5 days before the conference, and it's not my favourite region for recreation. So I took a oneWorld Explorer round the world (DONE4) fare for about $11.5K, travelling in my favoured westerly direction. Under the rules, I still had to be away from home for more than the conference demanded, but at least I can choose to take my recreation break in a place where I want to be.
The DONE4 also gives me an opportunity to ensure that I retain my Platinum status next year. I chose the routing to earn me 1000 SCs, and I will easily earn the other 200 required to re-qualify for WP on my planned discount economy domestic travel. Here is the itinerary (OK, it does have a few zigs and zags, but in J seats and in First lounges, I can live with the additional flying and connection time):
QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0507 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 29MAR11 BRISBANE 0635 ARRIVE 29MAR11 SYDNEY 0910 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL D ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0127 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 29MAR11 SYDNEY 1145 ARRIVE 29MAR11 HONG KONG 1750 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- CATHAY PACIFIC CX0635 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 30MAR11 HONG KONG 1525 ARRIVE 30MAR11 SIN CHANGI 1910 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0031 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 30MAR11 SIN CHANGI 2359 ARRIVE 31MAR11 LONDON LHR 0635 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA0087 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 04APR11 LONDON LHR 1015 ARRIVE 04APR11 CHICAGO ORD 1310 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 3 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA0425 FIRST (A) CONFIRMED DEPART 04APR11 CHICAGO ORD 1555 ARRIVE 04APR11 SEATTLE TACOMA 1825 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA1598 FIRST (A) CONFIRMED DEPART 08APR11 SEATTLE TACOMA 1045 ARRIVE 08APR11 DALLAS FORT WORTH ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA2473 FIRST (A) CONFIRMED DEPART 08APR11 DALLAS FORT WORTH 1845 ARRIVE 08APR11 LOS ANGELES 2005 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 4 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0094 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 08APR11 LOS ANGELES 2330 ARRIVE 10APR11 MELBOURNE 0820 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL B ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0612 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 10APR11 MELBOURNE 1005 ARRIVE 10APR11 BRISBANE 1215 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL D
So I have a day in Hong Kong and 4 days in London for my recreation, which ideally suits my interests right now.
When you get out the calculator, it's fairly easy to justify paying $11,500 for J over say $2500 in discount economy. First, the conference is for my ongoing professional development (well, maybe 'maintenance' would be more appropriate at my stage of career, but I am still working in the field and have a few years of practice and income and tax-paying ahead of me), so the expenditure is tax deductible – I will get about $4500 back in my next tax refund. Then there's the frequent flyer points. I know they have no formal value, but with the status and cabin bonuses and the extra 5000 you get for every 500 SC earned, the trip will net me over 100,000 pts. This is about 40% of the pts required to get my wife a J award seat next to me on my next RTW itinerary. So, at the $11,5K I would have had to pay for her, the >100,000 pts would be worth another $4500 or so. These returns on the investment cut the real cost back from $11,500 to about $2,500, and then there's the additional points I will earn next year because I have retained Platinum status – it's a no-brainer really, as long as you can afford the initial investment. And as long as the Qantas FF bank doesn't crash before I have a chance to withdraw my deposit.
Left home planning to breakfast in the excellent a la carte dining area in the Qantas First lounge at Sydney International. I resisted everything in the BNE lounge before departure, but (having risen at 4:30AM) couldn't resist trying just the J class toasted muesli on the 737 to SYD – it was very good. That easily saw me through to the First lounge, where I confirmed my good opinions of the place.
QF127 (747-400) left SYD and arrived HKG on time without the slightest incident. My seat was on the upper deck – more quiet and relaxed than the main J cabin below, and no comparison with the back of the bus (where I have been more times than I care to remember – see my report of a LONE4++ itinerary I endured in economy a year ago on this site at:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-photos/new-record-lunacy-my-lone4-22503.html
Lunch was fairly forgettable. Had a short sleep and watched the second and third of 'The girl who ….' trilogy, which certainly helped to pass the time.
By the way, I am travelling without check-in luggage again. I did this for the first time on my LONE4 ride last year, as I had a few excessively tight connections and no spare time in the itinerary to make up for any misses. It taught me to travel light, so this year I have taken a 55cm Delsey roll-aboard and a smallish lightweight laptop case with enough space for my 10” Toshiba notebook, a hardcover book (LeCarre's The Night Manager'), mouse, compact camera, Cowon X7 media player, cables & chargers and travel docs. I think I have enough clothes to get me right around. In HKG I found that my Blackberry just hooked back up to Telstra, surprising me because the last time I visited (a year ago) I had to select from a list of local carriers. That's some coverage from Telstra in Oz! Or presumably, they are operating in HK now, as is ANZ. I withdrew some HKD cash from my ANZ account (without transaction fee) from the ANZ ATM in the airport express station and topped up my old HK MTR Octopus card. Used it to take the Express to Kowloon station (HKD90), changed to the Tung Chun Line platform, and went back up the line one stop to Olympic station (no charge). Walked 10 minutes to my accommodation at Cosmo Kowloon, using covered elevated walkway all the way from Olympic, apart from the final 100m or so. Found this relatively new, clean hotel on Booking.com the week before, at an incredible HKD780 + 10% tax for a standard superior room. I gather these are quite small (as expected for a new hotel in most big cities) but they upgraded me to a suite on the 23rd floor (which was still a bit small for a suite, but fantastic value for the price I paid). Hit the hay early and got up early this morning; walked to Mong Kok MTR (15 minutes), zipped over to Central on Hong Kong side (HKD9 on the Octopus), had a poke around the lower and mid levels, Hollywood Rd, etc as the shops opened, back on the MTR from Hong Kong station to Olympic, explored some of the back streets of Mong Kok that I hadn't seen before, a couple of shopping centres, and back to check out by noon. Walked back to Olympic, caught the MTR four stops out to Tsing Ye, crossed to the Airport Express, and back to the airport. Fare from Olympic to Airport this way was HKD65 or so, and about the same amount of time as via Kowloon the night before.
Lunched leisurely on the unspectacular buffet in the Cathay First Lounge and caught CX635 (777-300), left a little late but made most of it up enroute to Singapore, where I am now relaxing in the Qantas lounge keenly awaiting my QF31 first flight on the A380. This was a factor in my picking this routing and flight. I am expecting the RR engines will be on their best behaviour for this flight back to their home country where they might have to face their own engineers and maintenance men if they play up, and that I will be able to provide a report of that flight sometime during my time in London.
But it looks like I am getting even more of a treat than I expected - my boarding pass says First and the seat is 5F. Surely not - the first time I ever got an upgrade to First, if it's not just a cruel hoax. Can't type any more - all trembly, go to go!
I initially considered buying a simple J class return ticket (BNE-LAX-SEA-LAX-BNE) but the Qantas price was about $16K, which I considered somewhat excessive. I am way past being willing to endure a quick turnaround return across the Pacific in economy. I imagine I'm not alone in thinking that the Aus-LAX flights are the most gruelling single sectors in existence. I just detest them in economy – typically leaving BNE/SYD/MEL one morning and arriving in LAX slightly earlier the same morning, after a night in which it gets dark for only a couple of hours, and most of the passengers don't seem interested in sleeping as it's too early on their Aus-time body clocks. So in economy you are closely surrounded by people jumping up and down, talking loudly, and headphone audio leakage in full operation otherwise, so trying to sleep doesn't usually have much effect apart from on one's temper. To minimise jet-lag, I have a firm rule that I don't bed down in the new time zone before the usual time at the destination, which leaves me struggling to make it through that first day in the US. OK, I'm the wrong side of my 50s, and I don't cope like I once did, so I'm prepared to cough up a few more $$ for a more tolerable experience. But $16K?
Actually, there was a $12K discount business return fare on offer but only for departures before March 31, which would have left me cooling my heels on the west coast of the US for 5 days before the conference, and it's not my favourite region for recreation. So I took a oneWorld Explorer round the world (DONE4) fare for about $11.5K, travelling in my favoured westerly direction. Under the rules, I still had to be away from home for more than the conference demanded, but at least I can choose to take my recreation break in a place where I want to be.
The DONE4 also gives me an opportunity to ensure that I retain my Platinum status next year. I chose the routing to earn me 1000 SCs, and I will easily earn the other 200 required to re-qualify for WP on my planned discount economy domestic travel. Here is the itinerary (OK, it does have a few zigs and zags, but in J seats and in First lounges, I can live with the additional flying and connection time):
QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0507 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 29MAR11 BRISBANE 0635 ARRIVE 29MAR11 SYDNEY 0910 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL D ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0127 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 29MAR11 SYDNEY 1145 ARRIVE 29MAR11 HONG KONG 1750 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- CATHAY PACIFIC CX0635 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 30MAR11 HONG KONG 1525 ARRIVE 30MAR11 SIN CHANGI 1910 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0031 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 30MAR11 SIN CHANGI 2359 ARRIVE 31MAR11 LONDON LHR 0635 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA0087 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 04APR11 LONDON LHR 1015 ARRIVE 04APR11 CHICAGO ORD 1310 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 3 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA0425 FIRST (A) CONFIRMED DEPART 04APR11 CHICAGO ORD 1555 ARRIVE 04APR11 SEATTLE TACOMA 1825 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA1598 FIRST (A) CONFIRMED DEPART 08APR11 SEATTLE TACOMA 1045 ARRIVE 08APR11 DALLAS FORT WORTH ----------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICAN AIRLINES AA2473 FIRST (A) CONFIRMED DEPART 08APR11 DALLAS FORT WORTH 1845 ARRIVE 08APR11 LOS ANGELES 2005 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 4 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0094 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 08APR11 LOS ANGELES 2330 ARRIVE 10APR11 MELBOURNE 0820 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL B ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- QANTAS AIRWAYS QF0612 BUSINESS CLASS (D) CONFIRMED DEPART 10APR11 MELBOURNE 1005 ARRIVE 10APR11 BRISBANE 1215 DEPARTS FROM:TERMINAL 1 ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL D
So I have a day in Hong Kong and 4 days in London for my recreation, which ideally suits my interests right now.
When you get out the calculator, it's fairly easy to justify paying $11,500 for J over say $2500 in discount economy. First, the conference is for my ongoing professional development (well, maybe 'maintenance' would be more appropriate at my stage of career, but I am still working in the field and have a few years of practice and income and tax-paying ahead of me), so the expenditure is tax deductible – I will get about $4500 back in my next tax refund. Then there's the frequent flyer points. I know they have no formal value, but with the status and cabin bonuses and the extra 5000 you get for every 500 SC earned, the trip will net me over 100,000 pts. This is about 40% of the pts required to get my wife a J award seat next to me on my next RTW itinerary. So, at the $11,5K I would have had to pay for her, the >100,000 pts would be worth another $4500 or so. These returns on the investment cut the real cost back from $11,500 to about $2,500, and then there's the additional points I will earn next year because I have retained Platinum status – it's a no-brainer really, as long as you can afford the initial investment. And as long as the Qantas FF bank doesn't crash before I have a chance to withdraw my deposit.
Left home planning to breakfast in the excellent a la carte dining area in the Qantas First lounge at Sydney International. I resisted everything in the BNE lounge before departure, but (having risen at 4:30AM) couldn't resist trying just the J class toasted muesli on the 737 to SYD – it was very good. That easily saw me through to the First lounge, where I confirmed my good opinions of the place.
QF127 (747-400) left SYD and arrived HKG on time without the slightest incident. My seat was on the upper deck – more quiet and relaxed than the main J cabin below, and no comparison with the back of the bus (where I have been more times than I care to remember – see my report of a LONE4++ itinerary I endured in economy a year ago on this site at:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-photos/new-record-lunacy-my-lone4-22503.html
Lunch was fairly forgettable. Had a short sleep and watched the second and third of 'The girl who ….' trilogy, which certainly helped to pass the time.
By the way, I am travelling without check-in luggage again. I did this for the first time on my LONE4 ride last year, as I had a few excessively tight connections and no spare time in the itinerary to make up for any misses. It taught me to travel light, so this year I have taken a 55cm Delsey roll-aboard and a smallish lightweight laptop case with enough space for my 10” Toshiba notebook, a hardcover book (LeCarre's The Night Manager'), mouse, compact camera, Cowon X7 media player, cables & chargers and travel docs. I think I have enough clothes to get me right around. In HKG I found that my Blackberry just hooked back up to Telstra, surprising me because the last time I visited (a year ago) I had to select from a list of local carriers. That's some coverage from Telstra in Oz! Or presumably, they are operating in HK now, as is ANZ. I withdrew some HKD cash from my ANZ account (without transaction fee) from the ANZ ATM in the airport express station and topped up my old HK MTR Octopus card. Used it to take the Express to Kowloon station (HKD90), changed to the Tung Chun Line platform, and went back up the line one stop to Olympic station (no charge). Walked 10 minutes to my accommodation at Cosmo Kowloon, using covered elevated walkway all the way from Olympic, apart from the final 100m or so. Found this relatively new, clean hotel on Booking.com the week before, at an incredible HKD780 + 10% tax for a standard superior room. I gather these are quite small (as expected for a new hotel in most big cities) but they upgraded me to a suite on the 23rd floor (which was still a bit small for a suite, but fantastic value for the price I paid). Hit the hay early and got up early this morning; walked to Mong Kok MTR (15 minutes), zipped over to Central on Hong Kong side (HKD9 on the Octopus), had a poke around the lower and mid levels, Hollywood Rd, etc as the shops opened, back on the MTR from Hong Kong station to Olympic, explored some of the back streets of Mong Kok that I hadn't seen before, a couple of shopping centres, and back to check out by noon. Walked back to Olympic, caught the MTR four stops out to Tsing Ye, crossed to the Airport Express, and back to the airport. Fare from Olympic to Airport this way was HKD65 or so, and about the same amount of time as via Kowloon the night before.
Lunched leisurely on the unspectacular buffet in the Cathay First Lounge and caught CX635 (777-300), left a little late but made most of it up enroute to Singapore, where I am now relaxing in the Qantas lounge keenly awaiting my QF31 first flight on the A380. This was a factor in my picking this routing and flight. I am expecting the RR engines will be on their best behaviour for this flight back to their home country where they might have to face their own engineers and maintenance men if they play up, and that I will be able to provide a report of that flight sometime during my time in London.
But it looks like I am getting even more of a treat than I expected - my boarding pass says First and the seat is 5F. Surely not - the first time I ever got an upgrade to First, if it's not just a cruel hoax. Can't type any more - all trembly, go to go!