Miles & Points

Part 1: UA950 Business Class: IAD > BRU

NSPdad and I arrived at Dulles Airport about two and a half hours early. I figured I could catch up on some last-minute work in the United Lounge, but it was quickly apparent that despite Business Class and Priority Lanes, Dulles was ill-equipped to handle the 1,000s of middle-school and high-school spring-breakers. Lines were long and moving slow. The TSA Agents had run out of patience with kids keeping their phones and wallets in their pockets and providing lectures instead of just getting them through the full-body scanners. We got through security about an hour and a half later…longest domestic security line I’ve been in for years. Had we not had priority lane access, it would have easily been over two hours.

We made it to the United Lounge and took advantage of the fifteen minutes we had in there.

While domestic lounges typically just provide a nice break from the chaotic action on an airport, we grabbed some snacks, cheese, crackers and Bud Light:

We then headed to our gate to board the plane. A few items of note: NSPdad did not know where our final destination was, and while being a Delta Medallion Gold member for the past few years who has received free domestic first class upgrades, NSPdad had never flown internationally in business or first class. This was also my first international flight on a domestic airline. After United’s mileage devaluation a couple months ago, flying on UA Metal (a flight operated by United) is much cheaper than flying on a partner airline (for example Lufthansa, Air China, Brussels Airlines, etc…). So in order to save almost 25,000 miles, I decided to book the United flight. I was quickly reminded by the difference between US flight service and foreign carrier service when multiple flight attendants barely smiled let alone welcomed us on-board. While food, hard-product (comfort) and flight times are about the same for all carriers, there is a vast disparity in service which wholly changes the flight experience.

Of course, we started with a Champagne toast before take-off:

After takeoff (at about 6pm), I immediately went to the bathroom and changed into my favorite pajamas which had been provided by Cathay Pacific on the flight of my lifetime, as I figured I’d be ready for bed after a couple glasses of wine and dinner. We were promptly served:

I then put down the lie-flat beds, which were very comfortable; put on the eye-mask, which wasn’t comfortable at all, and went to sleep.

I tossed and turned a bit, but probably got around four hours of solid sleep before I was awakened by an announcement that we were landing in 15 minutes. I was glad that I wasn’t woken up for breakfast/coffee, but somewhat surprised. I quickly changed out of my pajamas, and returned to my seat no more than ten minutes before the wheels hit the ground!

All-in-all it was exactly what I had expected: Good product, mediocre service, and a relatively quick flight to Europe. Business Class is always nice, but if it had been a day trip and I didn’t require sleep, I’m not sure it would be worth the additional 20K+ miles.

Part 1: Seven Hours in ORD
Part 2: Cathay Pacific – First Class (CLE > ORD > HKG)
Part 3: Cathay Pacific – Business Class (HKG > BKK)
Part 4: Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel and Bangkok Airways Economy (BKK > USM)
Part 5: Conrad Koh Samui
Part 6: Thai Business Class (USM > BKK) & Singapore Business Class (BKK > SIN)
Part 7: Singapore & The Marina Bay Sands Casino & Hotel
Part 8: Bali: Anika Tailor & Grand Hyatt
Part 9: Bali: A Day with Wayan
Part 10: Bali: The Laguna Resort
Part 11: The Final Stops – Beijing, LA, and Home

It had been a long trip. It started in Cleveland, on November 28th in the wee hours of the morning, continued to Chicago O’hare, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Bangkok again, Singapore and finally, Bali. This all had been within the previous week. Now – it was in First Class, eating cavier, talik salmon, drinking Krug, sleeping in villas off the Gulf of Thailand with private infiniti pools, swimming on 50-story high rooftop pools and 4-star resorts. The total cost had been below $1,000 for two – and if taking into account our gambling wins, under a few hundred. All-in. But it wasn’t enough. We wanted to see and experience more.

We started out in the airport in Bali, and accessed the Priority Pass lounge. While we were in Business Class for our Singapore > Beijing and Beijing > Los Angeles segments, we – queue the horror – had to fly economy for 2.5 hours to get to Singapore. It was rather lame, but the Priority Pass lounge wouldn’t let NSPfiance in because we had an economy segment leaving Bali. $27 – probably not worth it – but it gave us Wifi, drinks, light food and a relaxing place to hang out and wait for our flight.

Despite the word “economy,” our flight was more like US Domestic First, with a free meal and even a newspaper:

When we arrived in Singapore, we went straight to our gate, and shortly after boarded our flight to Beijing:

One thing that I hadn’t checked, was the seats on this flight…unfortunately they were angled-seats, not lie-flat!

The meals were good, not great – but it was late at night (a red-eye flight), and we were anxious to get some sleep.

We booked a layover in Beijing, for seven hours. Why did we spend weeks, if not months, to find a flight that stopped in Beijing, flying Air China, instead of a stopover in Tapei, on Eva Airlines? Well, there were actually two reasons: First, the Eva Airlines flight was on an old 747 with angled seats and not the lie-flats that Air China offered. Second, with a 7-hour layover, we could see the Great Wall!

We landed in Beijing around 6am – and having checked our luggage straight through to Los Angeles, went directly through customs and found the driver which we had booked the day before while we were still in Bali. She took us to the Great Wall, and since it was only 25 degrees, lent me a coat. We were riding up the chairlift just over an hour later, having bought hats and gloves in the market at the base of the wall.

While short, the 45-minute trek on the Great Wall was incredible. It was almost surreal to think about how long this wall was, how a civilization could build it today, let alone over 2,000 years ago.

The views were down-right stunning:

We opted for a toboggan ride back down the mountain, and made in back to the airport with about an hour to spare.

By this point, we were exhausted, and excited to head back home. The airport lounges had lost their luster, staring at the free beer – with it staring back at me – and feeling too tired to pick it up. The free food, sitting in front of me, but without energy to pick up my fork. It was time to head home.

We made our way to our gate, boarded the plane, and sat down heavily. Of course, it didn’t stop NSPfiance or I from having a final farewell toast of Champagne – although not of Krug caliber – strap in, take off, put down the bed and go to sleep.

The menu offered a Chinese option or Western option:

Snacks and dinner were good, but nothing to write home about:

It had been an amazing trip. 10 flights in 11 days. Not a single one delayed – and a few arriving early. That was, until we arrived back in the US. We grabbed our bags and headed to the Southwest check-in counter. Why were we flying Southwest instead of taking a Star Alliance Partner back to Cleveland? Well, new United routing rules dictate that you can only have 4 segments on a one-way award, which we burned from USM > SIN > PEK > LAX. Despite trying multiple agents, this seemed to be a commonly known rule and one the system wouldn’t allow even if an agent tried to put it in the computer.

I had a standard Southwest award still, which mean $2.50/person was the cost to fly across the country, and since Southwest has Wifi, this was also a preferable option so I could catch up on work.

But…Delayed. Multiple hours. We were going to miss our connection in Chicago, and were told we would have to spend the night in LA. That was not what either of us wanted to hear. We started looking through every possible option, and within a few minutes had found we could re-route through Nashville and possibly still make it home that night. Southwest re-ticketed us for free, and we had about an hour and a half to kill. So what to do at LAX, with a 90-minute layover?

That’s right:

For those of you that don’t know this great trick, The Parking Spot in Los Angeles is about 15 yards away from In-N-Out. Jump on the free shuttle, tell the driver that you want to be let off in the “self-park” lot, and you are dropped off about as close as one could be to the front door of In-N-Out Burger:

We experienced a delightful and exhausting lunch, caught the free shuttle back to LAX, and caught our final two legs of the trip: LAX > BNA and BNA > CLE. As we rolled into our house, it was hard to fathom the experience we had just had. All of the places we had been. All of the flights we had taken. And all the memories we had made. Ten hours later, we would be on our way back to work – but despite the tiredness, the journey was certainly worth it.

Now, time to plan our next trip…