Making a run for Platinum

[Bundy Bear]

I had always thought that I would one day reach the lofty heights of Qantas Platinum but never thought I would get there so soon. I thought I might make it with a carefully planned DONE4 (Round the World ticket in Business class), something I had planned for 2011. I guess we all have plans to do stuff during our lives; something like those bucket lists we hear about, but if you don’t take the opportunity to do it then you might never get around to it. The phrase” Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.” springs to mind.

From August 2002, I had been relegated to a Qantas bronze member; I had been silver for 2 and a bit years due to a British Airways business class to London and back, but for the past 8 years I had been the lowly Qantas Bronze member. In 2003 I signed up for Qantas Club life membership so at least Qantas would treat me with some respect, but interesting the only upgrade I had ever received was on a Japan Airlines flight back to Australia. To reach silver you needed 350 Status Credits which is the equivalent of 18 return trips to Sydney in discount economy. I like Sydney a lot but not that much to want to go there 18 times, and as I was already a Qantas Club member then silver really gave me no extra benefit.

During 2009 a few people had commented that I must be Qantas silver due to all the flying I had done over the past 12 months. My major trip in 2008 was an economy Round the world ticket using 144,000 Qantas miles, so that didn’t help with status, and all the other short haul economy flights really doesn’t earn much in gaining status.

The start of a new membership year for me was August 1 when I lost 155 Status credits the previous day 31 July, yeah I really did a lot of flying last membership year. NOT and I thought that with a trip to Europe in planned for November 2009 and a planned trip to USA in June 2010 I might actually crack silver. My trip to Europe I was trying for a mixture of airlines so this wasn't really going to add that many to the status credits total. Here the preview to that trip. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....stions/suggestions-bne-syd-hkg-lhr-19840.html

January 2010 rolls around and I have only just made it to 220 Status credits with 80 from a Lan Chile AKL-SYD flight which whos flight had not credited, trip report from that one can be found here so really I was at 140SCs, I had 45SCs planned during January to get me back from Singapore; I got myself an award ticket to Singapore. I was going to be struggling to make it to silver.

I had another trip to New Zealand planned for February 2010 that trip was only going to get me 20 status credits, you can read about the adventure here,

I had trip to Melbourne planned for another 20SCs, Adelaide for end of May was likely to get me 50 SCs, if I routed my flying via Melbourne. I really wanted to crack silver at least for the AA segments which would save me on baggage fees.

So with 355 Status Credits of flying planned and with my US trip I thought Gold might be possible.

Then that all changed when I started to read this thread. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ogram/170-scs-hit-gold-suggestions-21056.html, this wasn’t the only thread that had mentioned of the great special to Fiji, as it was also mentioned on FT, and then I started to search for some dates that would suit. The great thing with the Fiji sale was that I could start and finish the trip in Brisbane so I wasn’t wasting time or money to get to another location. With this deal I could be Gold before went to the US, a nice bonus to the mileage balance with a 50% loading which is handy on the 7,000 miles across the Pacific. Anat0l was also interested in some status credits, and Wunala Dreaming said that dates suited him so the 3 of us made a booking. Wunala Dreaming did a nice trip report of the outbound journey to Fiji, http://www.australianfrequentflyer....hotos/bula-fiji-air-pacific-qantas-22319.html, I am not going to try and copy that effort.

As I needed every Status Credit I could find Anat0l and I booked the flight marathon back Fiji-Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane. We were lucky as if we had stayed another day Cyclone Tomas was bearing down on Fiji so this would effect flights. Interesting our Air Pacific 747 to Sydney did not make the return journey.

It is rather strange being in Sydney and you still had to fly to Melbourne before going to Brisbane, but when you can earn 100SCs in an afternoon in business class that is not so bad.

Soon after my miles posted for the trip to Fiji I started to seriously think about my US trip. http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/your-questions/usa-in-june-things-see-22045.html, Could Qantas platinum be just around the corner.

After a bit of reading on AFF http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/your-questions/yupps-and-kupps-16648.html on the YUP and KUP fare classes, and that you could now book those fares in Australia gave me hope in reaching Qantas Platinum.

In April, Anat0l, Samh004 and myself flew to Melbourne for a bit of lounging, a fabulous trip report from Anat0l can be found here. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ekend-2010-whole-lot-22909.html?daysprune=100

Another thing while I was looking at with the planning of crazy routings and such I didn’t want to have to worry about checked luggage, so this thread made for some good reading.
http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../great-hand-luggage-only-challenge-10900.html, I could plan a mileage run but carry the bag with me. Having visited the US about 5 times in the last 8 years I know the carry on luggage rules are very generous compared to Australia.

So what started out as a way to save on baggage fees by reaching Qantas Silver ended up being making a run for platinum?

So after a bit of planning and flying I present the following trip reports.

 

[hollydavid69]

Bundy, good write up .

I want to go to Fiji now :shock:.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Ozfest Adelaide,

Accommodation specials were released in January and so the cheap accommodation had to be locked in before the 31 January deadline and the price to stay 4 nights was the same if I stayed for 3 nights so I booked for 4 nights. This timing gave me almost 4 months to plan flights.

Qantas now run 4 direct flights a day from Brisbane to Adelaide but there are any number of indirect options so with a mixture of purchase and points I found a multi stop to Adelaide.

I also found that Aeropelican was now part of the Qantas frequent flyer program I could book the Newcastle-Sydney route, booking 4 months in advance as some advantages.

With 4 nights in Adelaide I had a spare day. I knew that Alliance Airlines now flies 3 times daily to Olympic Dam on the Fokker50. Originally Alliance code shared with Virgin Blue but then the code share was swapped to Qantas so now you could book flights with Alliance through the Qantas website.

I booked a Sydney-Adelaide flight on Qantas, and I had the option to BPay or use credit card and then I thought could I add an Adelaide-Olympic Dam on the same ticket spreading the $7.70 fee over 3 flights instead of 1. Surprising the times I wanted to travel meant that I was able to find an Adelaide-Olympic Dam-Adelaide same day return for just over $100 each way, and not just same day but a straight turn around.

I booked a standard Qantas flight back to Brisbane via Melbourne, 25status credits as I had originally planned 4 months ago.

27 May 2010
BNE-NTL QF2425 Qantaslink Dash 8-300 VH-TQL Seat 2A

Now that Aeropelican has joined the Qantas frequent flyer program you can now redeem flights on that airline and the Qantas website has a nice feature that you can book a Brisbane-Newcastle-Sydney flight for 8,000 points and about $13.00 in tax, the standard Brisbane-Sydney flight is 8,000 points so with a few hours spare I could fly via a different airport all on the same ticket.

The Qantas flight to Newcastle was the standard Dash8-300 with an afternoon tea snack with water and tea and coffee. Not a lot to report on the flight down to Newcastle.

We arrived into Newcastle and I had almost 90 minutes between flights. My oversized bag; well it was only 7kgs but oversized for prop jets was tagged from Brisbane to Sydney with a transfer on the tag; but knowing that Newcastle almost never sees transfer tags after deboarding the flight I went to the baggage carousel to find my bag on the carousel. I guess the baggage handlers didn’t want to hold onto it so I got it back.

NTL-SYD OT5020 Aeropelican Jetstream 32 VH-TJL Seat 7A

After lunch and a browse through the book shop I went and waited for Aeropelican check in to open up and then gave them my bag with the bag already tagged. This flight was on a Jetstream 32; I had previously flown on the larger Jetstream 41 but it was good to add another aircraft type to my list.

The flight was a little late in arriving from Sydney and then proceeded to the plane, as the plane is a Jetstream 32 then there is almost no room for carry on baggage, so anything more than about 1 kg had to be gate checked so there was a row of 10 bags. I don’t check computers of any kind so I had to gate check my smaller bag.

The flight took off from Newcastle and followed the coast down to Sydney and flew over Sydney and direct into Sydney airport.

Aeropelican uses the main runway into Sydney which means it’s less than 5 minute taxi to the stand.

I collected my bag from the Aeropelican baggage carousel in T2 the terminal that is used by Aeropelican and Virgin Blue and proceeded to T3 the terminal used by Qantas. It’s a 10 minute walk between the terminals which is under ground, you follow the path to the airport train station and keep walking through to the other terminal.

SYD-ADL QF743 Qantas 737-400 VH-TJL 18D

I had used the Qantas new mobile phone boarding pass, you can use the Qantas Iphone application to check in and then a text message is sent to your phone with a link to your boarding pass. The only problem with this method is that you cannot select a better seat during the check in process, so I ended up with a seat in the back of the plane. I have never had a seat that far back in a 737 is ages. As this flight was a jet flight then there was no need for me to check in any luggage.

I can usually pick when a flight is going to be late usually it is when I decide not to go to the lounge and instead head straight to the gate. Flight left 15 minutes late.

The Flight was fighting a strong head wind as there were a few bumps at a cruising altitude of 26,000 feet, so we were never going to catch up on time.

One thing I love about Qantas meal flights is that you get a good size meal with your choice of beer or wine on flights after 4:00pm on weekdays.

Flight arrived into Adelaide and caught a taxi to the hotel with Fifa & GemGem who were on the same flight.

28 May 2010
ADL-OLP QF2604 Alliance Fokker50 VH-FKW 13F

I was up at 5:00am to head back to the airport to go flying on the Fokker 50. Alliance Airlines run the flight and Qantas market the flight as their own. So I was able to book the flight with a QF flight number, which would give me 1,000 points and I could reach Qantas Gold(Oneworld Sapphire) after the return trip.

I got the boarding passese from an agent and then proceed through security and headed to the Qantas lounge for breakfast. I wasn’t sure what to expect on the flight so thought I should get a hot drink and breakfast cereal. Flight was called at 6:10am and I headed down to the prop gate area

When I reached the gate area I was handed a new boarding pass. My original seat 2A was changed due to the light load of the flight.

A breakfast was served on the flight of cereal and yoghurt. Tea and coffee was served after the small serving trays were distributed. With the small amount of turbulence and the fact I had already eaten I didn’t touch any of the cereal.

The weather was overcast most of the way so there wasn’t a lot too see. The Fokker50 reminded me of a Dash 8 turbo prop.

Inside the lightly loaded Fokker50.

Descent into Olympic Dam; I can’t be sure of the view during the flight as we were above the cloud.

OLP-ADL QF2605 Alliance Fokker50 VH-FKW Seat 4A

Everyone got off the flight in Olympic Dam and as I had already received a boarding pass for both flights I just walked around and waited for everyones bags to be loaded on so we could re-board.

The flight was 100% full on the way back and the morning breakfast was exactly the same as on the way up.

Flight was a bit smoother and quicker I guess we were going with the wind, and we arrived back into Adelaide just before 10:00am.

I had to get back before lunch so I could get to the Adelaide Zoo.

Thanks to thewinchester for suggesting a visit to the zoo.

31 May 2010
ADL-MEL QF674 Qantas 737-800 VH-VZC Seat 15C

6 O’clock in the morning and, yes it was Monday. Time to get up and catch a flight back to Brisbane, I was in the cab by 6:25am heading towards the airport. Check in was smooth and the boarding passes printed included my new Qantas status; Qantas Gold Oneworld Sapphire.

As it was almost 7:00am I went through security and the gate. I had already spent 30 minutes in the lounge on Friday morning and as I knew the flight to Melbourne was a breakfast flight then I didn’t really need to eat any more.

The breakfast on todays flight, was apple; cereal, bread roll, juice and tea and coffee, I would have included an image except I already got to 6.

The flight arrived at 9:00am and this is when I realized the same plane would be taking me to Brisbane. I did a quick stop via the lounge for a drink before heading back to the gate and the same aircraft for the flight up to Brisbane.

MEL-BNE QF612 Qantas 737-800 VH-VZC Seat 6C

Flight departed 5 minutes early at 10:00am, not much to report on this flight standard morning snack of a plum muffin or biscuit with juice or water. Tea and coffee was served after the snack. This flight was quiet a bit emptier as I was able to get a seat in row 6 and 6B remained open. Flight landed just before 12:00pm after flying at 38,000 feet.

Yes I keep good notes plus a few photos. I guess I get side tracked in trying to reach status; especially when I find an interesting aircraft to go flying in. I was very fortunate that flights on Alliance Airlines can earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points.

Next up my US trip.

 

[samh004]

Loving the report so far

 

[docjames]

Great report sofar.

Aeropelican uses the main runway into Sydney which means it’s less than 5 minute taxi to the stand.

This seems crazy to me - surely E the E/W or 3rd would be more appropriate.

I wonder if it's because of seperation issues with 737/320/767s etc using the 3rd runway, and the "main" NS runway has less overall movements?

Anyone know?

 

[markis10]

Great report sofar.



This seems crazy to me - surely E the E/W or 3rd would be more appropriate.

I wonder if it's because of seperation issues with 737/320/767s etc using the 3rd runway, and the "main" NS runway has less overall movements?

Anyone know?

It all depends on traffic, note 07/25 conflicts with both north south runways as separation standards take into account go arounds, with the Jetstream Aeropelican operate controllers can bring it in on a close left or right base approach and slip it in where a jet would require a longer approach, and it uses less runway so it gets out of the way quick.

 

[Alanslegal]

Great write up BB

You will requal for WP if you continue on your

...carefully planned DONE4 (Round the World ticket in Business class), something I had planned for 2011.

and if timed right, give you a head start for requal 2012.

 

[Bundy Bear]

I got back to work on a Monday afternoon so I had 5 days to get work done before heading of to the US on the Saturday. I was going to be away from work for 2 weeks, I had planned it that with the middle weekend was the Queens birthday long weekend so I would only be away from work for 9 days.


BNE-LAX QF015 Y Seat 67G B747-438 VH-OJI

Even though I am now Qantas Gold(Oneworld Sapphire) I thought that Qantas wouldn’t have the nerve to reallocate my seat just because I didn’t get to the airport until 90 minutes before the flight. Well they did; I think there is a word for that.

So after check in and filling out the departure form I went through security and headed to the lounge. The lounge was rather full not just with the imminent departure of Qantas to LAX but there were the premium passengers from other airlines who use the lounge. I found a seat, the Wifi was free and the drinks were free so why should I complain. About 45 minutes before the flight boarding is called so I head down to the gate.

I guess you all know what a Qantas 747 should look like by now.

I get word from some Australian friends(they know who they are) that the seat next to me is occupied so I really should look at moving. It’s a seat on a plane and most seats are the same so I had no reason to move. The passenger sitting next to me was on his return to Seattle and seemed like nice enough seat mate, I am just glad that I still had an aisle seat or I really would have complained.

Take off was on time the IFE started up and I started on a movie marathon. Lunch was served about an hour after take off

[FONT=&quot]2 choice lunch from menu I had the beef and the ice cream came around later then chocolate with snack pack including water some light chop around lunch seat belt sign has been on for a while although at 6:39 to go it has smoothed out watched 2 movies it's complicated (chick flick) and then “PS I love you” another chick flick. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The fact that economy was crowded I wasn’t able to get any rest and Hawaii can be especially bad due to the regular bumps [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I managed a 5 movie marathon with periodic checks of the inflight map display. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Lights on at 2 hours to go where breakfast is served, I had the hot breakfast option which included bowl of fruit, a bread roll, juice sausage, egg and pancake with tea and coffee also available. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]

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[FONT=&quot]Sunrise[/FONT][FONT=&quot] over the Pacific you know you are getting closer to LA. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We landed at 6:58am in fog. [/FONT]

LAX-DFW AA2428 Y 11C (NOT)

Passport control took for ages and when I had reached T4 where a security guard decided to weigh and check my second bag, it was going to pass I was never in doubt this is America after all where you can carry on the kitchen sink. Check in is downstairs but the security check point is upstairs.

I was surprised at the speed through security took less than 5 minutes which I was most surprised at. So it was 9:00am and I was cutting it fine to get onboard. American has these boards with all their flights with gate information for the day in city order to find the word CANCELLED next to my flight. This is where your Qantas Club membership comes in handy went to the lounge to get on a new flight.

LAX-DFW AA2436 Y Seat 12E 757-200 N678AA

At the lounge you had to go to a separate lounge attendant who looks after your bookings and they say I was rerouted through San Diego but the departure for that flight was 9:15am so I was going to miss that. I was put on standby for the 11:00am departure, seems like with the 9:15am departure cancelled the 10:15am departure was going to be full so I figured 90 minutes in the AA lounge wasn’t going to kill me.

At about 10:15am thought I should go downstairs in search of the gate and make sure I am at the gate when they start handing out confirmed seat assignments. This is one thing you don’t see in Australia where the gate agent has to do the last minute seat assignments for cancelled flights and those passengers who want an upgrade or an earlier flight or both.

Names are called out and I get myself a new boarding pass. The new boarding pass shows priority boarding so I don’t have to wait for a number meaning I don’t have to fight for overhead bin space.

Flight went out full and on time; even for a big airport it’s only about 15 minutes from departing the gate to taking off. Onboard is a drink with nuts and with a B.O.B. menu; as it was lunch I thought I should buy the chicken sandwich.

One thing that they announce on US flights is the cruise altitude and the estimated time of arrival. Flight was scheduled for just over 2hours with a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet with a landing at 3:45pm (Dallas is in the Central Time Zone). Smooth flight; with radio on the IFE, I think they were playing a movie but the picture was terrible so I gave that a miss.

757s are a rare sight in Australia.

[FONT=&quot]I spent 3 days in Dallas catching up with my cousin and her family. [/FONT]

DAL-MDW(STL) WN20 Y Seat 3E 737-700 N386WN

[FONT=&quot]On Tuesday I headed to the other Dallas Airport, Dallas Love Field, this airport is dominated by Southwest Airlines who up until a few years ago were only able to sell flights to passengers from Dallas Love Field to airports in Texas and neighboring states. Read about the Wright amendment here. [/FONT]


Who are Southwest Airlines, well they are the biggest low fare airline in the world. They offer free seating, so you have to line up in rows to get a good seat. A few rival airlines make jokes about their herding of passengers. This is a recent advert from Airtran Airways.

YouTube - Skip the Stampede. Fly AirTran Airways.


[FONT=&quot]Dallas Love field has about 16 gates in an L shape, I think Continental is the only other airline at this airport. Found lots of canyon blue planes didn't see any of the older brown planes. I used one of the check in kiosks which was rather easy and as I wasn’t checking in bags I headed through security. Security took about 15 minutes not too long but longer than Australia. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Original scheduled departure was 12:20pm but departure was delayed until 1:00pm due to weather in St Louis our first stop on the way to Chicago. Southwest route network is full of 1 and 2 stop with single flight numbers. There schedule is geared towards lots of short flights without really using a central hub airport although places like Chicago and Baltimore has lots of connections available. The Wright amendment also meant that that Southwest can’t schedule direct flights out Dallas Field, those restrictions will be eased in 2014. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Southwest has free seating so you have to line up in rows according to when you checked in. I received a group 3 ticket so I would be waiting awhile. Even after waiting for more than halve the plane to board I got myself a seat in Row 3. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It wouldn't be Southwest without nuts and your choice of drink sprite, Coke, water or juice; landing was at 2:35pm, definitely no B.O.B. on Southwest. The departing crew did a head count with 46 continuing passengers with the departing cabin crew off to Omaha. [/FONT]

STL-MDW WN20 Y Seat 2F 737-700 N386WN Part 2

So in the change, I moved to a window seat 2F yes I could have probably gone and found an exit row but my bag already had a spot so didn’t want to have to move that as well. Another quick service no nuts just water, with a flying time of 38 minutes at 27,000 feet.

There was still some rain about in St Louis with a few bumps and it was cloudy on the way to Chicago so really didn’t see a lot except lots of cloud.

We landed at 4:01pm and were at the gate B5 at 4:04pm, try doing that at Chicago O’hare.

MDW-DTW 1148 Y Seat 21B 737-700 N457WN

I had about 45 minutes in Chicago with the gate just on the other side of the same concourse at B8.

Flight departed at 5:01pm with expected flight time of 35 minutes flying at 21,000 feet with the cloudy weather we were advised to expect bumps and there was likely to be no cabin service.

Descent began at 5:19pm but we didn’t land until after 6:00pm (7:00pm) Detroit time. Yes Detroit is in the Eastern Time zone the message played on the loud speakers every 5 minutes in case you forgot.

On the shuttle bus to the hotel I was talking to one of the passengers who were connecting in Detroit to go onto Florida and Delta did a gate switch on him, so he missed the connecting flight. Something for me to constantly check to make sure Delta don’t do a gate switch on me.

I spent 2 nights in Detroit with one full day dedicated to seeing the Henry Ford Museum

I also got a ticket to go and visit the Ford Rouge plant tour; where Ford still builds the F150.

The Henry Ford Museum had a few interesting exhibits, the bus that was a part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery Bus Boycott - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and the car that JFK rode in when he was shot in Dallas. As expected there quite a few cars and strangely farm equipment. Another interesting exhibit was the Ford Trimotor.

DTW-EWR DL2120 Y Seat 9D DC9-50 N778NC

[FONT=&quot]I got a boarding pass from the kiosk and then went through security which took less than 5 minutes. I was very impressed with security on this trip. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I rode the train to the north gates and then walked back to make sure I knew where the gate was. No plane in sight which wasn’t a good thing. With over an hour before departure went and got some breakfast from National Coney Island bar & grill, place reminded me of Dennys or IHOP. Got to love American cooked breakfast, with breakfast finished I went back to the gate to find that I had a parked next to the gate.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
The DC9-50 series aircraft Delta were keeping for the time being and so these aircraft were being repainted. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Next door was a real Northwest DC9, one that Delta had not got to repainting. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]

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[FONT=&quot]The smaller series DC9-20 and DC9-30s stayed in Northwest Airlines paint as these aircraft were retired completely from service in September. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]At least it was a DC9 and there was no gate switch and it looks like boarding would start 30 minutes so we would get a close to on time departure. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Even though I checked in at the airport I got a group 3 boarding pass so as soon as group 2 was called I got inline so by the time group 3 was called was only 1 person away from the boarding pass reader. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In Australia boarding is by seat numbers, so on a 737 boarding would be rows 15-30 and then the rest of the plane could then board, business class boarding at any time. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Group 3 boarding allowed me some bin space above my row which was nice. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Full flight, take off 10:55 thank you for your attention and welcome aboard ended the safety announcement, probably a newly scripted cabin announcement with the merger of Delta and Northwest. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Coke, sprite Ginger ale with dry roasted peanuts, some bumps seat belt on the whole time. The weather was clear taking off but cloudy getting towards NYC with the landing at 12:03pm. One thing I love about the US airlines is the arriving gate information; baggage carousel number and any connecting gate information. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Delta flies into Terminal B and then it was 2 stops on the airtrain to the parking and hotel shuttle pick up point where I found the Hilton Newark Penn station shuttle straight away. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After checking into the hotel I then took the train into New York.

New York needs a post all to itself.
[/FONT]

 

[Bundy Bear]

[FONT=&quot]I had planned to spend the weekend in New York City. [/FONT]I had planned to catch a flight from Detroit to NYC to either of the 3 airports as long as it was on a DC9. Doing some research into accommodation I found the rates very expensive and Tom911 from FT found a very cheap Hilton rate at Newark Penn Station in New Jersey. The rates at this hotel were half the price of what was available in NYC. This hotel was also useful for trying to do a Hilton Fasttrack Program, which I found out about on AFF.

[FONT=&quot]The only catch with the Hotels location is that I would have to catch the train into NYC, the train station was just across the road from the Hotel. Newark Penn station is served by a number of train companies, including PATH.
[/FONT]
The only problem I found is that I caught New Jersey transit which required a different ticket and which stopped at 34th street.

I spent a few hours walking around NYC, visiting Times Square Grand Central station and a few other places. I then caught a subway train to catch up with Jerseyvics, Russ had spent 2009 in Australia and some of you would have met him during Ozfest in Cairns.

We had a look at Ground Zero and did a walk across part of the Brooklyn Bridge, before we caught the train to the first FT Do of the weekend.

The 1st Annual "DDD" DO, NYC Thread June 10th, 2010

The restaurant served food from the Dominican Republic, but it was also a good to catch up with old and new Flyertalk members.

[FONT=&quot]Dinner finished and then a group of us went for a drink. I didn't make it back to the hotel until 12;00am. I somehow got lost on the way between transferring from the New York Subway to the PATH. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On Friday I met up with TOM911 where we did a ferry to Staten Island and back mainly to get a close up look at the Statue of Liberty.
[/FONT]

Next stop was the Intrepid Air & Space Museum.

There are a few photos from Tom of the 2010 Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York City - tom911's Photos, the highlight for me was getting a close up look of the British Airways Concorde.

After spending a few hours at the Intrepid Air & Space Museum I wanted to go and visit the Empire State Building, $42.00 later I was at the top.

Friday night was another dinner organized by another famous Flyertalker. Catman,

Soup DO 7 in NYC: Fri, June 11, 2010

Friday night I didn't get lost getting back to the hotel so I was in bed before midnight.

Saturday was the Brooklyn Reality Tour where we hoped on a bus at 46th street and rode around Brooklyn for the day.

10th Annual Brooklyn Reality Tour. Saturday June 12, 2010

Tom has a few pictures from the tour, yes one AFF member flew to the US for the weekend just for the miles, maybe there was other reasons.

Sunday I was able to sleep in; went for a walk and had a quick look at a few other places around NYC before catching up with a friend from another board for lunch. Sunday night was another dinner, with the main feature was the wine.

WineDo 3 - Sunday June 13, 2010 New York City - Greenwich Village

Each person had to bring wine, I was lucky in that lili who attended Ozfest was able to get my wine to NYC without me having to incur baggage fees. I found a nice wine during the Sunday winery tour during Ozfest; my choice of wine was a Langmeil 2008 Valley Floor Shiraz,

The meal was finished rather late; I made it back to the hotel around midnight, no I didn't get lost this time but we had a lot of wine to get through.

Next up some more flying.

 

[Bundy Bear]

This set of flights got me closer towards Qantas Platinum oneworld Emerald. These tickets were brought on American Airlines | Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations and are discounted First Class tickets. You are buying an instant upgradable Economy ticket usually P class which gets you to fly first class in the USA and Qantas treat them as first class tickets so good for status, and the cookies weren't to bad either.

EWR-ORD AA2317 F Seat 5F MD80 N410AA

I was up at 5:30am to get the first shuttle to the airport at 6:00am; I was able to check in at the First Class line and go through security in 10 minutes. Newark has an Admirals Clu where I was able to use the computers and get myself a hot drink. As flights commended boarding at 40 minutes before departure so at the appointed time I went in search of the gate.

My first flight in American Airlines travelling in first class, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and a pre-departure drink was offered. For some reason the front row is row 3, which I got wrong, I was too lazy too move so I stayed where I was while the other person moved to the row 3. The boarding pass didn’t show my Qantas frequent flyer number so I thought, oh no here we go I have to argue with Qantas to get my points.

During boarding the flight was oversold by 1 with $300 to go on the next flight at 10:20.

The flight departed on time but we were 11th inline for take off we eventually got away at 8:12am. Flight time was 1hr 55 minutes at 26,000 feet, part of those American Airlines cabin announcements.

Not that much different to a Qantas Y breakfast; well there was more; the presentation was better, with a metal knife.

A bread roll and tea or coffee was also served.

Chicago is in the central time zone(1 hour behind the east coast) Landing was at 9:05am, but we weren’t at the gate for over 15 minutes, why couldn't they put the runway next to the terminal

ORD-TPA AA1502 F SEAT 3A MD80 N426AA

Another AA MD80; I had previously flown an Alaska Airlines MD80 so it was a bit of a novelty to be flying 2 on the same day.

It was very foggy outside, gate K4 was not that far from where we landed and only a few minutes walk from the Chicago Admirals Club. I really didn’t have a good look around the airport. Flight departed on time at 11:05am but we didn’t take off until 11:29am. This flight had Gogo in-flight wireless internet, never did bother to play with it as we would be getting lunch. I also had planned for the lack of IFE on the MD80s as I had purchased a book. I did think to pay for the wifi if only to announce to my facebook and twitter friends that I was flying at 33,000 feet.

Service started with hot nuts;

Does this remind anyone of where I am heading, maybe readers of the other board might catch the joke, never did get to meet up with the nuts guy; maybe he is just nuts.

Lunch was this; well the main course anyway.

Which was followed by a coffee and a choc chip biscuit?

Got to love flying AA first class if only for the choc chip biscuits and the Qantas status credits of course.

The MD80s are rather noisy so it was good that the flight wasn’t too long, landing was at 2:40pm(Eastern time zone.

As we were deplaning the crew mentioned that with storm clouds in the area that baggage may be a bit slow. Lucky I had carry on only.

I had chosen another Hilton Property on my quest for Hilton Gold. I had hoped that the hotel would have a washing machine but it didn’t so I was out of luck there. I used the sink with some washing powder to at least wash a shirt.

TPA-MIA AA983 F Seat 6A 737-800 N932AN

I was up at 7:00am for breakfast as I had purchased a rate that included breakfast, it was one of the poorer breakfast selections of the trip.

Shuttle back to the airport, another $1.00 handed over. Check in was quick but security was very slow and to reach the departure gates a tram is used.

A flight from Tampa to Miami is only 40 minutes at 21,000 feet, service in the front cabin would be a drink even an alcoholic drink was available at this early hour with departure at 10:20am.

One noticeable difference to the AA737s to the AA MD80s is the IFE onboard so each First class seat had head phones, the other thing noticeable was I found the 737s quieter than the MD80s.

MIA-DCA AA1070 F Seat 6E 737-800 N952AA

Arrival was at E4 with departure on the other concourse D29, first stop was another Admirals Club. Qantas Club life membership is paying off very nicely on this trip. Another reason to stop by the lounge is that I had the address of where my hotel was but I hadn’t properly worked out where it was in relation to the Washington Metro.

I think I should be able to drink my way through my membership fees in no time. Boarding was at 12:20pm after drinking the 2 drink chits in the AA AC.

Flight was scheduled for 2 hours and 4 minutes at 39,000 feet; we were 2nd inline for take off with an expected arrival at 3:10pm.

Surprisingly there was no pre-departure drink, once the flight was underway drinks and nuts were served before a 2 choice lunch, either salmon or 4 cheese enchiladas. FEBO was at work with a terrible flight attendant looking after first class.

Landing was 3:08pm and for the only time in the whole trip I left the camera under the seat in front of me. Thankfully I realized as I was walking up the jetway that my back pack didn’t feel quiet heavy enough. One of the airline staff in the jet way was able to fetch it for me.

I take a lot of random plane shots and surprisingly this one qualified for one of Anat0ls AFF Scavenger Hunt II.

I caught the Washington Metro to the hotel Doubletree Inn, another Hilton property. This property had washing facilities. Although it was over $200 a night I was treated very well by all the staff.

I had dinner with a group of friends, not all flyertalkers, and this group of friends I met last time I was in DC in 2002.



Next up in and around DC.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Wednesday

On Wednesday I went and visited the Air & Space Museum near Dulles Airport. I caught the Metro to Rosslyn then the 5A bus to Dulles airport then another bus on Virginia Regional Transit, who says the US doesn’t have public transport.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport is the companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall. The building opened in December, 2003, and provides enough space for the Smithsonian to display the thousands of aviation and space artifacts that cannot be exhibited on the National Mall. The two sites together showcase the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world.
​

There is 2 museums one on the Mall and the other near Dulles Airport, I had previously been the one on the Mall in 2002.

I spent at least 5 hours looking at the different exhibits which included an Air France Concorde.

And a Boeing 707.

Another major exhibition was the Enterprise Shuttle.

The first Space Shuttle orbiter, "Enterprise," is a full-scale test vehicle used for flights in the atmosphere and tests on the ground; it is not equipped for spaceflight.
​

In the evening I caught up with those from Flyertalk; as part of The 2010 DC Area Happy Hour Thread.

Recognize anyone.

Thursday

On Thursday morning I got up early to go and line up to get a ticket for the Washington Monument; yes you can reserve a ticket in advance but of course I only found out about that one week after the deadline had passed. Thankfully you could line up for them. The ticket booth opened at 8:30am so I decided to get up at 7:00am and I made it to the line by 8:00am. I was happy to get a ticket for 3:00pm.

I guess while I was standing around I thought I should take a photo.


In the mean time I visited the Museum of American History, more pictures from Tom911 who visited the Museum of American History in September. The museum was one of a number of museums which is on the mall. I also walked via the White House and the Lincoln Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

I got to the top at about 3:00pm in the afternoon.

I collected my bags and caught the Metro to Union Station and caught MARC up to BWI. I had read about Marc and I was able to get a chance to ride on it. The cheaper tickets are available from the machine but it didn’t like my Australian credit card but the train ticket inspector only charged me for the machine price.

My choice of hotel was the Holiday Inn near BWI, I was able to get a free room via a Priority Club points break so it only cost me 5,000 points. My other US hotel stays were with Hilton and those stays qualified me for Hilton Gold via a fasttrack program that was offered. I have no idea how I will re-qualify next year.

Next up the flights home.

 

[Bundy Bear]

BWI-DFW AA1277 F Seat 3A MD80 N249AA

First class checkin was good and fast. I checked in my bag for the 4 flight 10,406 mile journey home.

With no Admirals Club in Baltimore I had to slum it in the terminal.

More random photos.

An AA ERJ 140 another entry for the AFF Scavenger Hunt II

During my research for this trip it was possible to book NYC-BWI on ERJ 140 for 8,000 Qantas miles + $2.50 in tax.

AA1277 BWI-DFW N249AA was MD-82 (DC-9-82) manufactured in 1984

BWI is dominated by Southwest Airlines, one reason the airfares are cheaper than from the other Washington area airports. One other advantage for flying from BWI to DFW is that BWI-DFW in distance is just over 1200 miles so nice status earner on Qantas Frequent Flyer program.

The flight departed a few minutes early with an expected flight time of 2:41 minutes at 32,000 feet. Lunch was served on this flight. FEBO(front even back odd for food service) at work again, maybe I should have preselected my seat. The service started with more hot nuts with apple juice in a can.

The main course was a salad with salmon rice and beans and more of those pita chips with humus which I ignored,

Another picture of the meal; with a metal knife which got me another entry on AFF Scavenger Hunt II

The choice of wine was chardonnay or red cab/merlo, I think I opted for the chardonnay.

The seat belt sign was on most of the way with lots of cloud and a bit of high cloud every so often, but the flight remained relatively smooth.

Australia is such a long way away according to the flight attendant who is going to Tulsa. Our landing was at Gate C4 and the staff was nice enough to advice of connecting gate information.

The connecting flight was at the other end of the same concourse so I did a one stop on the Skylink before heading over to the Admirals Club in Terminal C,

The Skylink operates bi-directional and operates inside the secure area. This system replaced the Airtran which operated from 1974-2005 operated outside the secure areas.

Another stop by the Admirals Club for another drink chit and a use of the lounge computer. I think after a few lounge visits I seemed to have a pattern; walk to lounge ask the attendance where is the bar and the computers, after I got the 2 drinks chits of course.

DFW-LAX AA2457 F Seat 5B MD80 N433AA

Another full flight what a surprise we get pre-departure drink juice or water.

Nuts were again available but I was over the nuts. Dinner was a choice of pepper steak or cheese tortellini.

This was probably the best inflight meal I had of the entire trip.

A South African 2008 cab/merlot was available with the meal. Thankfully there was no sighting of the Pita chips.

An ice cream was served after the meal with tea or coffee.

The flight time was 2:47 at 26000 feet 4:14 take off landing in LA at 5:10pm, there is 2 hours time difference between Dallas in the Central time zone and LAX in the Pacific time zone. The flight was operated N433AA a 23 year old DC9-83.

After the 7 flights with American Airline a few things that stood out. A crew can make a boring flight a great one. If you didn’t get a chatty flight attendant who served you pre-departure drinks you knew that the FA was going to do a sub standard performance. Another thing that was obvious was that there was such a gap between economy and first class, it was like night and day and no wonder everyone crowds around the podium to get that elusive upgrade.

Next the Qantas flights home.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Love it Bundy

We are all the more richer for reading it!

 

[oz_mark]

Love it bunny. We are all the more richer for reading it!

Henceforth, at all gatherings going forward, Bundy Bear will be known as Bunny.

Back on topic - it is a good read.

 

[anat0l]

Henceforth, at all gatherings going forward, Bundy Bear will be known as Bunny.

Errr.... maybe only when he's drunk :mrgreen:

 

[oz_mark]

Errr.... maybe only when he's drunk :mrgreen:

"...and isn't that all the time."

(borrowing from the old Benson & Hedges ads)

 

[Princess Fiona]

This is a great trip report, photos and useful info on AA.
Thanks

 

[straitman]

Thanks Bunny Bear.

A great read.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Thanks Bunny Bear.

A great read.

Thanks; the damage is done now, I will get back to the story in a bit; determined to get it finished today, although the crash from the Bundy Red Racing car was spectacular.

 

[straitman]

Thanks; the damage is done now, I will get back to the story in a bit; determined to get it finished today, although the crash from the Bundy Red Racing car was spectacular.

Missed that one unfortunately though I'm sure they will replay it.