After finding some Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class award space to Tokyo over the holidays, I couldn’t help but take a quick trip to one of my favorite cities. Unfortunately availability dictated that I would only have two full days in Tokyo, though I was fine with that.

While I’ll talk a bit about what I did in Tokyo in a future post, there’s one thing that made an already amazing Airbus 380 flight even better – I had the same (beyond) top notch crew in both directions. I guess that’s one of the benefits of staying at a destination for as long as the crew does.

While I’ve had the same crews when doing a direct turnaround flight or will often run into a flight attendant again after a few months, I’ve never had exactly the same crew a couple of days apart after being at my destination for as long as them.

But seriously, this crew wasn’t just great, but *spectacular*.

One of the flight attendants working first class was actually a flight attendant trainer and rarely actually flies, though was doing one of his two monthly trips. It’s clear the future of Lufthansa is in good hands if this guy is training the new hires. Then also working first class was a Japanese flight attendant (who didn’t speak German), who was working first class for the first time ever. She was so friendly and her smile was contagious. I wanted to tell her what a contagious smile she had, but figured she might misunderstand me and instead put on one of those surgical masks that many Japanese people seem to wear when flying.

The funniest part must have been when we boarded the return flight. The purser immediately welcomed me and said “it’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Lucky.” The look from the passenger seated across from me (who was a HON Circle member) was priceless, since he had no clue how I knew the crew so well.

And one last example of how great the crew was. The flight out was so empty that I couldn’t help but mention to the purser “you must love having flights this empty.” She responded with “are you kidding? We make no money this way.” Now that’s an employee taking an interest in their company, as opposed to the typical “I just work here” attitude on many other airlines.

Anyway, just another reason Lufthansa is probably my favorite airline out there. The flight attendants are consistently attentive, personable, and professional, without being overbearing in any one area.

A couple of days ago I wrote about how impressed I was by the Park Hyatt Tokyo, and how it’s the small things that separate a good hotel from a great hotel. In the case of my arrival, the fact that they had a light breakfast waiting for me in my room (without asking) was amazing, and blew me away, as minor as it might be. I figured it was an anomaly, but the service I experienced at this hotel (on a points stay no less) was unlike anything I’ve experienced anywhere else.

While I’ll save most of the details for the trip report, here are just a few more examples of the little touches that blew me away:

• In the restaurant we were seated and the waitress addressed me by name and explained to us the breakfast we were entitled to due to Gold Passport Diamond status, which I expected. However, a completely separate waiter who later served me my omelet addressed me by name as well, without any prior interaction.
• Every time I left the hotel to go sightseeing, the bellman offered me bottled water to take with me.
• The hotel’s lobby is on the 41st floor, while the entrance is on the 2nd floor. After checking out on the 41st floor I took the elevator down to the 2nd floor, where I was addressed by name by the bellman, who handed me my airport bus ticket without asking for my name.
• I took the elevator from my room on the 48th floor to the lobby on the 41st floor. The elevator stopped on the 45th floor, and stupidly I tried to get out, thinking it was the 41st floor. As it turns out an employee was getting on the elevator, so I apologized for almost running into him. He apologized, and after he got off on the 44th floor he stood just outside the elevator and bowed until the door fully closed.

On a somewhat unrelated note I shared the elevator at the Park Hyatt with at least two pretty well known people, including a certain founder of Facebook and a certain start of “The Office.” The latter even commented “they’re so friendly and they won’t even let me tip them.” Hah, oh boy…

If you have the chance to experience the Park Hyatt, you absolutely must. Staying at this hotel should be required for anyone looking to work in the hotel industry, in my opinion.

Introduction
Etihad Check-in & The Lounge JFK
Etihad Airways First Class New York to Abu Dhabi
Park Hyatt Dubai
Exploring Dubai
Afternoon Tea at the Burj Al Arab
InterContinental Abu Dhabi
Touring the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Etihad Check-in & First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Abu Dhabi to New York
Conclusion

As I mentioned in the intro, I had booked the Park Hyatt for 18,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points per night for my three night stay.

As I pulled up to the Park Hyatt I was immediately impressed, since it has a very secluded and understated feel to it, unlike most of the other overly-glitzy hotels in Dubai. At the door my bags were taken by one of the bellman, who directed me towards check-in.

Exterior

Once in the lobby I proceeded to check-in, which was efficient. The front desk agent had the bellman escort me to my room, given that it can be a fairly long and complicated walk to get to the rooms due to the design of the hotel. The bellman was from Kenya (as were most of them). One of the most interesting things about the UAE is that almost all of the “workers” are foreigners, so I loved interacting with them, finding out where they’re from, how they like Dubai, etc.

Lobby

Hallway

Read More…

Good morning from Tokyo! While a full trip report will be coming in a bit, I couldn’t help but share a few pictures of Lufthansa’s Airbus 380 first class, after flying it from Frankfurt to Tokyo.

As evidenced by the pictures, this was one of the emptiest flights I’ve ever been on, especially in business class, where they ended up having a higher flight attendant to passenger ratio than in first class! Seven flight attendants for 14 passengers (out of 98 seats).

Yes, the picture above is business class in-flight…

Starwood has just announced the details of their first quarter 2012 promotion, “Better By the Night,” which runs from January 9 to April 8, 2012. Through this promotion they’re offering two bonus points per dollar spent on stays of at least two nights, and three bonus points per dollar spent on stays of at least three nights.

As a Starwood member you earn two points per dollar, plus you earn one bonus point per dollar if you’re a Gold or Platinum member, for a total of three points per dollar. Then if you use the Starwood American Express you earn another two points per dollar spent.

Therefore through this promotion you’re earning seven points per dollar on a two night stay if you’re an elite member paying with the Starwood American Express, or eight points per dollar on a three or more night stay. Starwood points are worth at least two cents each, so that’s a return of at least 14-16%.

Lastly, there’s a pretty big list of excluded hotels, which The Points Guy posted here. That’s one thing that really irks me about Starwood. So many of their hotels seem to only participate in SPG very half-a$$ed, be it regarding participation in promotions or taking good care of elite members.

Better than nothing, though I’ll be curious to see what Hyatt comes up with…

Check out my weekly column over at TravelSort.com. This week, as the year comes to an end, I share my best and worst in travel for 2011.