Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

Back in May I had the opportunity to fly first class on the Qantas Airbus 380 (see this trip report), and ever since I’ve been obsessed. I remember first seeing pictures of the Airbus 380 when it was in production and thinking “okay, what’s the big deal?” It wasn’t until after I flew it that I realized just how passenger-friendly the plane is. Not only is it spacious and does it usually have cutting edge first class products, but what really sets it apart for me is how quiet the plane is and the awesome tail camera, which takes the flying experience to a whole new level.

The thing is, I’m not just obsessed with first class, miles, and travel, but my first passion was actually aviation and planes. I started working on my private pilot’s license at the age of 14, and my love for planes hasn’t died off one bit since.

So I’ve made it a personal mission to stalk fly the Airbus 380 every opportunity I get, at least in a premium cabin. Hell, if there were an Airbus 380 with first class award availability flying to Topeka with a forced six day layover I’d take it in a heartbeat.

Which brings me to this trip. With the exception of Qantas, no airline consistently releases first class award space on the Airbus 380 to partner loyalty programs. That doesn’t stop me from looking hourly every now and then to see if there’s a mistake or change in policy. During one of my late night sessions with the ANA tool and Continental award search tool, I happened to stumble upon some Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class award space between Frankfurt and Tokyo. It was a complete coincidence, though woke me up pretty quickly. I was actually shocked to see that most dates in late December and early January had multiple first class award seats on the Airbus 380.

I assumed it was a glitch, so opened a different browser to verify availability with ANA, Aeroplan, and Continental. Yep, the space was actually there.

Now, admittedly there’s probably a reason there was first class award space to Tokyo right after Christmas — Tokyo isn’t exactly the warmest place that time of year. But still, this trip was about the Airbus 380, and even if it would be cold in Tokyo, I’d deal with it and still enjoy the city.

After playing around with availability I found a flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo with first class award space, and then two days after arriving a flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt with first class award space. Since there were two seats, I convinced a friend to come along.

I should mention that this all occurred just three days before departure, so there wasn’t all that much time to plan. Now the challenge became finding award space between the US and Germany. Since I was only planning a few days in advance I was confident the space would open up, as Lufthansa is great about opening up unsold first class seats to awards last minute. So for the time being I just held the flights between Frankfurt and Tokyo using US Airways miles. They allow a three day courtesy hold, so I left the reservation like that until Christmas Day, the day before I knew we’d have to depart.

And sure enough, award space did open up that day between the US and Europe. For the outbound, Swiss had space between Chicago and Zurich in first class (their new product no less!), while Lufthansa opened up award space from Frankfurt to Orlando for the return. I really lucked out with that, since US Airways doesn’t allow any changes after the original departure flight, and that return award space opened up literally the night before I was leaving. The stars had aligned and it was meant to be… or something like that.

In the end my itinerary looked as follows:

12/26 Swiss 9 Chicago to Zurich departing at 7:10PM and arriving at 10:55AM (+1 day)
12/27 Lufthansa 1191 Zurich to Frankfurt departing at 1:45PM and arriving at 2:50PM
12/28 Lufthansa 710 Frankfurt to Tokyo departing at 1:25PM and arriving at 8:35AM (+1 day)
12/31 Lufthansa 711 Tokyo to Frankfurt departing at 10:25AM and arriving at 2:15PM
01/01 Lufthansa 464 Frankfurt to Orlando departing at 1:35PM and arriving at 5:55PM

Given that we were looking at travel the day after Christmas, it’s no surprise that there was no award space to Chicago. However, as some of you may remember, I was 13 miles short of requalifying for Executive Platinum with American, so this worked out perfectly. While American charged $200 for the one-way ticket from Tampa to Chicago, it was well worth it to lock in Executive Platinum status for the following year.

My favorite thing about the whole trip was the cost. I used just 120,000 US Airways miles, which I had purchased through one of their mileage purchase promotions for under $1,800. Taxes and fees were roughly $200, so I paid about $2,000 for four longhaul international first class segments on some of my favorite airlines, including two on the Airbus 380. I always live in fear of US Airways devaluing their award chart, so this was a nice way to burn some miles guilt free.

As far as hotels go, in Tokyo I redeemed 22,000 Gold Passport points per night for the Park Hyatt Tokyo — an absolute no brainer, given the number of good things I’ve heard about this place (and it didn’t disappoint). We also had two overnights in Frankfurt, one in each direction. I decided to book the InterContinental for our outbound stay at a rate of 107 Euros, and the Westin Grand Frankfurt on the return at a rate of 129 Euros.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy, and see you in Chicago tomorrow.

I’m not going to lie, my heart almost stopped beating for a second when I got an email in my inbox entitled “Dividend Miles program changes.” I’m sure I’m not the only one with a (small) stash of US Airways miles that’s waiting for the day they double the price of premium cabin Star Alliance awards.

But they made a change, which kicks in on February 15, 2012, that’s not actually half bad. Basically, instead of charging 15,000 miles for any upgrade to first class in the lower 48, they now charge based on the distance, as follows:

Best of all, those co-pays are waived if you’re a Preferred member or traveling on a full fare ticket.

So for elite members, this is actually a nice improvement, since in all cases this translates to a discounted upgrade.

For non-elites, it means you’re paying fewer miles to upgrade, but also paying an upgrade fee. On shorter flights it’s definitely a better value, though.

Anyway, on the whole I’ll say it’s a pretty neutral change. Now here’s to hoping that their Star Alliance award chart doesn’t change anytime soon…

As was leaked last week (accidentally, it would seem), US Airways has announced a 100% bonus on purchased miles through December 31, 2011.

Through this promotion you’re essentially paying 1.87 cents per mile, including tax. The deal used to be better, as the normal cost of miles was 2.75 cents per mile, before raising the cost to 3.5 cents per mile.

Another restriction this year is that they’ve limited the bonus to the first 40,000 miles purchased, meaning you can buy a total of 80,000 miles at the discounted price through this promotion. In the past the bonus applied to the first 50,000 miles purchased, meaning you could buy 100,000 miles at a cheap cost, which is enough miles for a trip to Europe, North Asia, etc. Obviously this is an attempt by US Airways to sell you miles as much as possible without you actually redeeming them, given that they probably expect people will buy the remaining miles for 3.5 cents each, plus tax.

As always, Dividend Miles accounts have to be at least 12 days old to take advantage of this promotion.

While the promotion is still a good deal, it’s not quite a “steal” anymore. I’d say take advantage of it if you have a specific use in mind and the numbers work out, though otherwise I probably wouldn’t just speculatively buy miles through this promotion anymore.

US Airways has announced that they’ll be running a 100% bonus on purchased miles for the entire month of December. This is interesting on a couple of levels.

First of all, this is the first time I can recall that they’ve announced a buy miles promotion in advance.

Second of all, this is the first time they’re running a bonus on purchased miles since they raised the cost from 2.75 cents per mile to 3.5 cents per mile back in October.

So with the 100% bonus you’re paying 1.75 cents per mile, plus the 7.5% excise tax on purchased miles, for a grand total of 1.87 cents per mile.

This is still a great deal if the alternative is to book a paid business or first class ticket.

In the past the cost of purchased miles came out to just under 1.5 cents per mile all-in, and at the time I suggested people buy miles even without a specific purpose in mind. While 1.87 cents per mile is still a good deal, I’d say it’s no longer worth buying miles “just because,” but instead worth buying them with a particular redemption in mind.

Business class from the US to North Asia still costs only 90,000 miles, so even at 1.87 cents per mile that’s only ~$1,680 for a business class ticket to Asia, and they even let you route via Europe.

As always they have the restriction in place saying accounts have to be at least 12 days old to participate in the promotion. Furthermore, the summary this time suggests that the maximum bonus will be 40,000 miles, compared to 50,000 miles in the past (for a total of 100,000 miles). This would be an interesting development and certainly wouldn’t surprise me — they want you to buy miles, but not enough for an international longhaul premium cabin award.

So I’m definitely excited to see the promotion return, though it’s not as exciting as in the past.

Through November 18, US Airways is offering a discount on membership in their US Airways Club. Those that use promotion code CLB30 will get the $50 initiation fee waived, plus bring down the cost of an annual membership to only $325. Furthermore, if you use that promotion code you’ll earn 3,000 elite qualifying miles.

The annual membership fee is usually $450 ($375 for Silver/Gold/Platinum members and $325 for Chairmans Preferred members), so this is a substantial discount. Keep in mind that US Airways participates in Priority Pass and American Express Platinum, though the key benefit here is that this will get you into the United Club as well.

United charges anywhere from $375 to $475 for a United Club membership, so this is a way of getting a minimum of a $50 discount.

If you’re in the market for a membership, I’d say this is a good enough offer to join.

As reported by Gary, US Airways has raised the price of purchased miles from 2.75 cents per mile to 3.5 cents per mile, which is a 27% increase.

For a couple of years now US Airways has offered a 100% bonus on purchased miles pretty regularly in one form or another. It’s an amazing deal, and many asked when they would stop with such a generous promotion.

Well, I guess we know the answer now. I suspect they’ll continue offering a 100% mileage bonus on purchased miles, though I doubt they’ll go above that.

So while purchasing miles with a 100% bonus could still be a good deal in many circumstances, especially for first class redemptions, it’s not nearly the steal it used to be.

Trip Report Index

My dad dropped me off at Tampa Airport 60 minutes before departure, which is earlier than I’d usually arrive, but I had decided to check a bag for this trip. I proceeded to US Airways check-in where I got in the first class check-in line. Instead of helping me, the agent directed me to one of the kiosks (which I really wasn’t interested in using given how complicated my itinerary was and that I was checking a bag).

US Airways check-in

Sure enough the kiosk only wanted to check my bag as far as Frankfurt, when my real destination was Bangkok. I explained this to the agent, though instead of helping me he brought me to another kiosk and typed in the confirmation number. This is always so frustrating to me since they just end up doing exactly what you did and have the same issue.

In a way it’s funny to me, because it has been a general trend over the past couple of years that check-in agents always want to force you to use the kiosk. I can’t help but want to point out every time “you realize that machine is replacing the need for your job, right?” Of course instead I just stand there and smile. And they wonder why a third of the jobs in the US airline industry have been cut over the past decade…

After taking me to the check-in desk and looking at my itinerary (“Wow, you’re flying Singapore Airlines first class, I hear that’s real nice”) I experienced a first – the agent pulled out a blank baggage tag. He literally wrote all of my segments on there without any of it being printed as it usually is, because he said the computer wasn’t wanting to check my bag all the way through. At that point I said to myself “that’s the last time I’ll ever see of that bag,” though I hoped for the best since there wasn’t much of an alternative.

I went up the escalator to the main terminal where I took the train to the F concourse. Security lines there were short and I managed to avoid the full body scanner, so I was through in no time and headed to the US Airways Club with time to spare.

There I was checked in by a friendly agent named Charlotte. What a fitting name for a US Airways agent, eh? I don’t remember the last time I had a United agent named Chicago or Delta agent named Detroit, though I guess she was born to work for US Airways.

I’ve been to the US Airways Club a million times before and it had the usual “spread” (or lack thereof), including muffins, danishes, yogurt, oatmeal, etc. After surfing the web for a few minutes it was time to head to my gate for boarding.

US Airways Club

Breakfast spread

Breakfast spread

Snacks

Within a few minutes of getting there first class boarding was announced.

Plane

US Airways 1822
Tampa (TPA) – Charlotte (CLT)
Tuesday, July 26
Depart: 8:30AM
Arrive: 10:11AM
Duration: 1hr41min
Aircraft: Airbus 321
Seat: 2C (First Class)

Once onboard I settled into my seat in row two. It has been a while since I’ve flown US Airways, and the first class legroom was a lot tighter than I recalled. The pitch was almost uncomfortably tight.

First class seat

Waiting for me at my seat was a pillow and thin (basically see through) blanket.

Pillow and blanket

As boarding finished up pre-departure beverages were offered, and I went with water.

At this point I overheard an interesting conversation between the purser and captain. The purser had the snack basket that was supposed to be used for first class in her hand (the actual basket was in a trash bag, so the contents weren’t visible) as she spoke with the captain. All I overheard was the captain saying “just take it, I’ll take the blame for it, don’t worry about it.”

I immediately thought “really, they’ll go that low? They’re really stealing snacks from the plane?” I didn’t realize the times in the airline industry were that tough.

Once we leveled off I found out the real story, though I spent the first 30 minutes shaking my head at the crew.

As we pushed back the captain announced our flight time of 1hr30min, anticipating an on-time arrival.

We taxied to the south end of the airport where we were quickly airborne.

Since this flight was operated by an Airbus 321 it featured wifi, which I gladly purchased for $4.95.

When I took the tray table out to start working on my laptop I noticed US Airways has tray table ads. I knew they had them in coach, but even in first class? Wow…

Classy tray table

Once we leveled off the flight attendant passed through the cabin with a beverage service, and I went with a glass (or in the case of US Airways, cup) of water.

Then I found out the real story behind the snack basket. As it turns out catering forgot to load the snacks for the first class snack basket, so the flight attendant filled the basket with the buy on board snacks from coach.

I couldn’t help but laugh after previously thinking the crew was stealing snacks. I was actually impressed by their creativity when they could have just as easily said “sorry, they forgot to cater the snacks.”

I went with some pretzel M&Ms. I was saving my hunger for the Singapore flight later in the day so didn’t actually eat them, though instead stashed them in my bag. I knew I’d get to them eventually while jetlagged in a hotel room somewhere.

Water and M&Ms

30 minutes before arrival we began our descent and the seatbelt sign was turned on. Despite a quick descent and otherwise early arrival, we had to wait for our gate to be ready. I don’t think the captain could have communicated the slight delay any less eloquently – “um, we’re waiting for our gate, or the alley way, or whatever you want to call it, to free up.”

Upon landing I headed to the US Airways Club, where I presented my Singapore Airlines boarding pass and ID, and was promptly admitted.

The club itself was surprisingly nice, with plenty of seating and one of the better snack selections I’ve seen for a US airline. And by “better” I really mean a snack selection that’s easy to swipe.

US Airways Club Charlotte

They had baked chips with salsa, cookies, and snack mix. It always cracks me up how many people in airline lounges put snacks in their bags to take with them. There was a lady standing there who was almost constantly having to replace the packaged snacks. I told her “looks like they’re keeping you busy,” to which she responded “yeah, I love it, it keeps me employed – take all the snacks you want!”

Snacks

Snacks

Cookies

Snacks

After spending a couple of hours in the lounge I headed to my departure gate for my fight to JFK. Boarding started a few minutes late.

Charlotte Airport

Airplane to JFK

US Airways 374
Charlotte (CLT) – New York (JFK)
Tuesday, July 26
Depart: 1:05PM
Arrive: 3:02PM
Duration: 1hr57min
Aircraft: Airbus 320
Seat: 3C (First Class)

Once onboard I was welcomed by two blonde, big-haired Southern ladies that couldn’t have been friendlier.

Legroom

As boarding finished up pre-departure beverages were offered. I once again went with water. Blog readers often remind me they know what water looks like, so I’ll refrain from posting a picture.

We started our push back right on-time though there was a bit of a queue for takeoff.

Service began about 30 minutes after we were airborne, starting with drinks. This time around I went with a Diet Coke with lime and a few items from the snack basket.

Diet Coke with lime and snacks

Seated in front of me was a 14-year-old boy that was headed to Finland. As we approached New York he asked the flight attendant “excuse me, do you know how I can get my boarding pass for my connecting flight on Air Finland?” She looked at him and said “aren’t you too young to be going to Finland alone?” He explained he was visiting a friend for a few weeks, and she said “wow, I wish I had rich parents like that.”

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed in New York right on time.

Ultimately US Airways is fine up and down the East Coast, though I don’t really have any desire to fly with them on longer flights. That being said, all the employees I interacted with were incredibly friendly, my flights were on-time, and the aircraft were all fairly clean.

Now it’s time for the real fun!

This is just a quick reminder that US Airways’ current 100% bonus promotion on purchased Dividend Miles expires tomorrow, September 15. Through this promotion you can buy a maximum of 50,000 miles per account and receive 50,000 bonus miles, for a total of 100,000 miles for about $1,478 ($1,375, plus the federal excise tax). The major restriction is that a Dividend Miles account has to be at least 12 days old in order to take advantage of this promotion.

This is a great value, given that 100,000 miles is enough for a business class ticket to Europe, North Asia, and plenty of other places.

It’s also worth noting that registration opened today for US Airways’ Grand Slam promotion, which offers you a “hit” for purchasing Dividend Miles. I’ll be taking advantage of the “buy miles” promotion this time around, and intentionally waited until today so that I could at least get a “hit” out of the Grand Slam promotion as well.

US Airways has just announced their annual “Grand Slam” promotion, which will run from September 14 through November 14 this year (registration required). This promotion offers bonus miles for completing certain “hits.” The more “hits” you rack up, the more bonus miles you earn, with a maximum of 110,000 miles. The earnings schedule is as follows:

4 hits: 3,000 miles
8 hits: 10,000 miles
12 hits: 15,000 miles
16 hits: 25,000 miles (2,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying miles)
20 hits: 35,000 miles
24 hits: 45,000 miles (5,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying miles)
28 hits: 60,000 miles
32 hits: 80,000 miles
36 hits: 100,000 miles
40 hits*: 110,000 miles (10,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying miles)

You can earn miles for all kinds of activities, from using a US Airways credit card to transferring hotel points to buying up to Preferred status to shopping through US Airways’ shopping mall, to buying miles.

Rather than recap everything here, take a look at US Airways’ website, which does a good job of laying everything out.

Now here’s my scary confession — I haven’t participated in the Grand Slam promotion in the past, and I don’t think I will this year either. I think the big question is, should I?

Let me put it this way — US Airways miles can be purchased for less than 1.5 cents each, so 100,000 miles would cost me $1,500 if I purchased them outright.

So if I went all out on this promotion, how much would I still end up spending to earn 100,000 miles?

Yes, there are some activities that are easy, so I’ll likely go for a few “hits” — do a search on their toolbar, buy miles I’d buy anyway, etc. But for the rest, what am I going to do? Buy one of those hideous garden gnomes from the SkyMall catalog to earn a hit? Get an ADT security system for my hot nut cupboard? Buy wine I’ll likely use to water my plants? Get an annual membership to LifeLock?

I guess I could credit a few hotel stays to US Airways, but I’d have to factor in the miles/points I would be losing out on by doing that. If I credit a Hyatt stay to US Airways, I’d be giving up the 2,500 Aeroplan miles I could otherwise earn. So there’s definitely a huge opportunity cost to that.

I’m not judging the promo one way or another, though I think the big question is — can one actually get real value out of this?

Feel free to share your thoughts, and I’ll be doing my own research too. If I find a way to earn 100,000 miles with an investment of maybe $500 and a bit of time, I’m in!

US Airways is once again offering a 100% bonus on purchased miles (in increments of 10,000 miles) through September 15. Through this promotion you can purchase 100,000 miles for under $1,500 (including the excise tax on miles). That’s enough miles for a business class award ticket to Europe or North Asia, which is an amazing value.

Accounts have to be at least 12 days old to be eligible, and as usual, you can only earn a maximum of 100,000 miles through this promotion (50,000 purchased miles plus the 50,000 bonus miles).

(Tip of the hat to Gary)