Andrew.Goodwin
Junior Member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2012
- Posts
- 27
Greetings to all fellow FF'ers,
Having read many a trip report over the past few years I thought it only fair for me to contribute back to those like me who voyeuristically enjoy reading and seeing the adventures of others, and what better way to do this than via this trip - taking advantage of a great fare that I don’t think is widely known or used - the Circle Pacific – the fare that takes you between Asia, the US and the Pacific - at a considerable discount.
Before the trip gets started, I’ll share my thoughts on the routing pain of the fare via OW - and what I am looking forward to - and not, and I’ll see how that compares to reality as the trip progresses!
The Flying
I ultimately have 4 destinations, however given the routing (13 legs) you'd be correct in thinking I'm taking the long way! The base fare is a DCIR26 - that's the One World Circle Pacific 26k Mile fare, and ex-KUL its priced at MYR 23,824 (A$8,400, US$6,700) - which is probably half the cost of the individual flights - noting however ex-SYD is 30% higher to A$11,099. Whilst both Star Alliance and One World offer the fare, given I am QF WP it’s an easy choice - however this brings with it the routing pain. You see OW has very poor coverage in Seattle - one of my destinations, which makes things a real pain.
Austin: The first pain point however is my need to get from Kuala Lumpur to Austin, for dinner - which seems innocuous enough, however far from it. Getting to the US from Asia Eastbound generally lands you stateside late evening (once you get to AUS/Central), and the only option that works is via Narita. Not a problem I thought! Unfortunately the DCIRxx fare, like other RTW’s, use discounted fare buckets, and getting a D fare KUL/NRT was impossible - as it turns out the day I am traveling is a peak holiday return day in Japan, so wait listed (then confirmed) to HKG, then to NRT, to catch the NRT-DFW flight. That means 4 flights and 31 hours to get to AUS, Awesome.
Seattle: Getting into SEA isn’t too painful – a short hop to DFW then direct to SEA. OW coverage is poor, and whilst most OW carriers have codeshare agreements with AS, you can’t book the AS fares on the RTW's - so that leaves me connecting via PHX to get to LAX to get on the QF flight to SYD. I can’t recall ever enjoying domestic US travel - on the plus side it'll all be in F. Domestic US F though which is IMHO worse that Australian Domestic J.
Sydney: Last time I flew QF12 I upgraded to F and enjoyed the degustation menu option and I had hoped to do the same this time - however it wasn’t to be! QF's A380 routes have been modified in the past week to substitute 747's given a recent mishap with a maintenance jack, so no F on this flight! On the plus side it’s the refurbished 747 with the same J seats - and I still love the 747 more so than the 380, so it’s not all bad! Actually a little Awesome.
Auckland: Booked separately to the circle fare given I'd be over my 26k mile limit - so its Y for a quick dash over the Tasman, nothing too special here. No awesomeness here.
FF Stats
Total miles: 24,960
QF Miles earned: 70,114
QF Status Credits earned: 1,020
The Hotels
Gone are the days of my HH Diamond, back to Gold I am. Austin is at a Homewood suite and Seattle is the Hilton – both of which will be a bed and not much more. I love the W in Seattle however moving away from SPG to HH some time back, the HH Status keeps me loyal. In Sydney (my original home) I normally end up at the Quest North Ryde, given I rent a car and its quite central for me – many people loath this hotel – I actually like it – its, functional. Auckland I’ve booked into the Hilton on the waterfront – don’t recall being there before, and it looks nice – so that’ll round out the trip for me well.
Expectations
There isn’t too much exciting or new in this trip, in fact I have flown a lot of it before. Having said that, this will be my first time through NRT and first time on US Airways.
CX KUL/HKG is via their new regional product on the A333 - it’s a short flight and it looks like a nice product to start the journey with - especially given its downhill for a while after this! I'll likely use the small CX lounge in KUL given I always use the MH F lounge - however from memory it’s pretty poor.
CX HKG/NRT is a prelude to the poor flights to come I think, this is on their non-upgraded B773 - if I can pass out pre-take off and wake up as the wheels touch the ground I’ll be a happy camper. Looking forward to seeing the upgraded The Wing lounge in HKG though as it’s been a while since I last was in HKG.
AA NRT/DFW I think this will be the worst on this trip - even versus domestic US flights. It’s an old B772 and I last flew one of these ex-CDG, needless to say the food scraps between the seat cushions and the grumpy AA service on that flight left me wondering how AA survive. On the plus side a first visit to NRT will be an interesting change.
Domestic US Flights are never fun, however it will be interesting to compare AA to US, having never flown US before. I often read reports of people enjoying the lounges in the US - I think we are spoilt in Australia/Asia, specifically with the QF F lounges in SYD/MEL. Nothing to look forward to here.
Not expecting anything good or bad from the rest of the trip either, however a couple of visits to the SYD QF F lounge will be enjoyable as always.
So you’ve made it this far – what can you expect from my trip report over the coming 16 days you ask?
Well, I’ll be taking photos of lounges, planes, meals and hotels – don’t expect any sight-seeing photos – this is not that kind of holiday blog report!
I’ll rate each part with an awesomeness rating, because – well, that’s just what I do.
And for my own amusement I’ll be adding a +/- weight where possible (scales permitting) – you see traveling has a very bad habit of putting extra weight into my stomach, it’s all that damn food and beverage that kills me – so as a motivator to eat more responsibility – I’ll be tracking the inevitable excess baggage along the way!
Having read many a trip report over the past few years I thought it only fair for me to contribute back to those like me who voyeuristically enjoy reading and seeing the adventures of others, and what better way to do this than via this trip - taking advantage of a great fare that I don’t think is widely known or used - the Circle Pacific – the fare that takes you between Asia, the US and the Pacific - at a considerable discount.
Before the trip gets started, I’ll share my thoughts on the routing pain of the fare via OW - and what I am looking forward to - and not, and I’ll see how that compares to reality as the trip progresses!
The Flying
I ultimately have 4 destinations, however given the routing (13 legs) you'd be correct in thinking I'm taking the long way! The base fare is a DCIR26 - that's the One World Circle Pacific 26k Mile fare, and ex-KUL its priced at MYR 23,824 (A$8,400, US$6,700) - which is probably half the cost of the individual flights - noting however ex-SYD is 30% higher to A$11,099. Whilst both Star Alliance and One World offer the fare, given I am QF WP it’s an easy choice - however this brings with it the routing pain. You see OW has very poor coverage in Seattle - one of my destinations, which makes things a real pain.
Austin: The first pain point however is my need to get from Kuala Lumpur to Austin, for dinner - which seems innocuous enough, however far from it. Getting to the US from Asia Eastbound generally lands you stateside late evening (once you get to AUS/Central), and the only option that works is via Narita. Not a problem I thought! Unfortunately the DCIRxx fare, like other RTW’s, use discounted fare buckets, and getting a D fare KUL/NRT was impossible - as it turns out the day I am traveling is a peak holiday return day in Japan, so wait listed (then confirmed) to HKG, then to NRT, to catch the NRT-DFW flight. That means 4 flights and 31 hours to get to AUS, Awesome.
Seattle: Getting into SEA isn’t too painful – a short hop to DFW then direct to SEA. OW coverage is poor, and whilst most OW carriers have codeshare agreements with AS, you can’t book the AS fares on the RTW's - so that leaves me connecting via PHX to get to LAX to get on the QF flight to SYD. I can’t recall ever enjoying domestic US travel - on the plus side it'll all be in F. Domestic US F though which is IMHO worse that Australian Domestic J.
Sydney: Last time I flew QF12 I upgraded to F and enjoyed the degustation menu option and I had hoped to do the same this time - however it wasn’t to be! QF's A380 routes have been modified in the past week to substitute 747's given a recent mishap with a maintenance jack, so no F on this flight! On the plus side it’s the refurbished 747 with the same J seats - and I still love the 747 more so than the 380, so it’s not all bad! Actually a little Awesome.
Auckland: Booked separately to the circle fare given I'd be over my 26k mile limit - so its Y for a quick dash over the Tasman, nothing too special here. No awesomeness here.
FF Stats
Total miles: 24,960
QF Miles earned: 70,114
QF Status Credits earned: 1,020
The Hotels
Gone are the days of my HH Diamond, back to Gold I am. Austin is at a Homewood suite and Seattle is the Hilton – both of which will be a bed and not much more. I love the W in Seattle however moving away from SPG to HH some time back, the HH Status keeps me loyal. In Sydney (my original home) I normally end up at the Quest North Ryde, given I rent a car and its quite central for me – many people loath this hotel – I actually like it – its, functional. Auckland I’ve booked into the Hilton on the waterfront – don’t recall being there before, and it looks nice – so that’ll round out the trip for me well.
Expectations
There isn’t too much exciting or new in this trip, in fact I have flown a lot of it before. Having said that, this will be my first time through NRT and first time on US Airways.
CX KUL/HKG is via their new regional product on the A333 - it’s a short flight and it looks like a nice product to start the journey with - especially given its downhill for a while after this! I'll likely use the small CX lounge in KUL given I always use the MH F lounge - however from memory it’s pretty poor.
CX HKG/NRT is a prelude to the poor flights to come I think, this is on their non-upgraded B773 - if I can pass out pre-take off and wake up as the wheels touch the ground I’ll be a happy camper. Looking forward to seeing the upgraded The Wing lounge in HKG though as it’s been a while since I last was in HKG.
AA NRT/DFW I think this will be the worst on this trip - even versus domestic US flights. It’s an old B772 and I last flew one of these ex-CDG, needless to say the food scraps between the seat cushions and the grumpy AA service on that flight left me wondering how AA survive. On the plus side a first visit to NRT will be an interesting change.
Domestic US Flights are never fun, however it will be interesting to compare AA to US, having never flown US before. I often read reports of people enjoying the lounges in the US - I think we are spoilt in Australia/Asia, specifically with the QF F lounges in SYD/MEL. Nothing to look forward to here.
Not expecting anything good or bad from the rest of the trip either, however a couple of visits to the SYD QF F lounge will be enjoyable as always.
So you’ve made it this far – what can you expect from my trip report over the coming 16 days you ask?
Well, I’ll be taking photos of lounges, planes, meals and hotels – don’t expect any sight-seeing photos – this is not that kind of holiday blog report!
I’ll rate each part with an awesomeness rating, because – well, that’s just what I do.
And for my own amusement I’ll be adding a +/- weight where possible (scales permitting) – you see traveling has a very bad habit of putting extra weight into my stomach, it’s all that damn food and beverage that kills me – so as a motivator to eat more responsibility – I’ll be tracking the inevitable excess baggage along the way!
