Tag Archives: seat

Singapore Airlines First Class: SQ211 to Sydney

Posted on March 16, 2013 | 8 Comments

Fiji Trip Report Index
Introduction: Belgium to Fiji in 13 flights (26561 miles, 42746km)
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur
Grand Suite at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
Singapore Airlines First Class: The Private Room @ Changi Airport
Singapore Airlines First Class: SQ211 Singapore to Sydney B777-300A
Opera King room at Park Hyatt Sydney
Beachfront View room at InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa
Singapore Airlines Business Class: SQ232 Sydney to Singapore
Thai Airways First Class: Royal Orchid Spa, TG920 Bangkok to Frankfurt A380

Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class Seat 1F on Boeing 777-300 (Jan 2013)
Back in July 2012, Singapore Airlines made a mistake while upgrading their booking engine. They took it offline for a weekend long upgrade, but when their systems came back online, for a brief moment (24h), it was possible to book Singapore Airlines Business and First Class awards via frequent flyer programs of Star Alliance partners. This was unintentional, as they normally release longhaul C and F award space exclusively to their own loyalty program, KrisFlyer. I used this opportunity to book Singapore-Sydney-Auckland-Nadi for 45K United miles + $159,70 (€132) Taxes/Fees with SIN-SYD in Singapore Airlines First Class, SYD-AKL in Air New Zealand Business Class and AKL-NAN in Air New Zealand The Works Economy Class. This routing is also a great sweet spot on the United MileagePlus Award Chart: A First Class award ticket from Singapore to Sydney or Auckland normally requires 60K United miles, however routing via Australia and/or New Zealand to anywhere in Oceania is only 45K miles!

Pic: SQ First Class – Givenchy Sleeper Suit and Kiehl’s Amenity kit (Jan 2013)
So how did I get hold of the 45K United MileagePlus miles required for this award? The obvious way would have been by flying, but I haven’t deposited any of my flown miles in my United MileagePlus account in the past two years. Instead I try to buy miles as cheap as possible throughout the year. In this case, I bought 98,000 Wyndham Rewards points for $308 (€237,85) during the yearly U.S. Travel Association “Daily Getaways” campaign and converted them to 39,200 United MileagePlus miles. With 9K miles left in my account from the Continental OnePass and United MileagePlus merger, I had enough miles to cover the remaining 5800 miles required for this award.
Total cost: 39K miles €237,85 + 5800 miles in account + Taxes/Fees €132 =
€369,85 for an award ticket with a revenue value of > €6000!
Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class – Dom Perignon Champagne (Jan 2013)
The retrofitted Boeing 777-300 had 8 seats in First Class of which only two were occupied. As I was the only passenger having Dom Perignon Champagne, the crew continuously refilled my glass, even replacing the glass when it was still half full just to make sure I would only drink perfectly chilled champagne!

Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class – Champagne and Warm Nuts (Jan 2013)
As with every international First Class flight, the menu was extensive:
Lunch menu from Singapore to Sydney (1,2,3)
Cocktails and Aperitifs (1)
Champagne and Wines (1,2)
Spirits and Beers (1)
Non Alcoholic Beverages (1,2)
Coffee Selection (1,2)
Tea Selection (1)

Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class – Chilled Malossol Caviar (Jan 2013)
One of the highlights on a First Class flight: Caviar, just love it!

Pic: Fennel cream soup with mint seared scallop and small pasta (Jan 2013)

Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class Dining – Ceasar Salad (Jan 2013)

Pic: SQ Book the Cook – Wagyu Sirloin with Eringi Mushroom (Jan 2013)
Singapore Airlines offers Business and First Class passengers the possibility to pre-order their main course up to 24h before departure. I used the Book the Cook service to order Wagyu Sirloin with Eringi Mushroom from the Japanese menu. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too impressed with the quality of the meat, next time I’ll go for a Singaporean dish or the Boston Lobster Thermidor.
Pic: Macaroon with Pistachio Cream, Fresh Raspberries & Passionfruit sorbet

Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class – Macaroon and Sorbet Dessert (Jan 2013)
While it was a relatively short (8h) daytime flight from Singapore to Sydney, one of the Singapore Girls had prepared seat 2F in full flat bed mode to allow me to take a nap and watch a movie in all comfort. Having flown a few First Class flights now, I realize being one of the only passengers in the First Class cabin is a big plus!

Pic: Singapore Airlines First Class Bed on Boeing 777-300A (Jan 2013)

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Posted in airlines, trip reports

Tagged B777-300, book the cook, caviar, dom perignon, First Class, full flat bed, fully, krisflyer, mileageplus, pictures, seat, singapore airlines, sydney, united

Thai Airways A380 Royal First Class

Posted on February 12, 2013 | 12 Comments

26600 miles for €129 by combining the Wyndham Rewards 16K Bonus Point Offer and United Hotel Points to Miles Transfer Bonus
26388 miles for €437 using the United Award Accelerator offer
25000 miles for €470 using the United Miles 40% off offer
2000 miles for €50 part of the MilePoint.com Premium membership

Add €103 ($133) in taxes and fees and you end up with a grand total of €1189 for my First Class alternative. Not an amazing award ticket, but still 60% cheaper than buying the ticket.

Pic: Thai Airways First Class – Royal Orchid Spa, Bangkok Airport (Jan 2013)
Upon arrival in Bangkok, a ground staff member was holding a sign with my name at the aircraft door. As the plane was not parked at a gate, I got a private car ride to the terminal followed by a golf cart ride to the Thai Royal First Lounge. Once at the lounge I was offered my own private corner and iPad menu to order whatever food I liked. I was also requested which Spa treatment I preferred and what time would suit me. Flying Thai First Class from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport comes with a unique feature: a 60 minute Full Body Massage at the Royal Orchid Spa. I went for the Touch of Silk Massage (Full Body Oil Massage) which was simply amazing! The treatment rooms were stunning (definitely for an airport facility) and the staff were very welcoming and professional.
Pic: Thai Airways First Class A380 Cabin – Seats 1E and 1F (Jan 2013)
After the massage treatment and some light snacks, my Thai lounge host informed me the aircraft was ready for boarding. Fortunately, I wasn’t offered another golf cart ride to the gate. It was at walking distance from the lounge, and I made it before the other 11 passengers joining me in First Class (all 12 seats in were occupied). I only had 2 minutes before the other passengers arrived, so I quickly snapped some pictures of the empty cabin.

Pic: Thai Airways First Class A380 Cabin – Seats 2E and 2F (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class seat on Airbus A380 (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class A380 Seat Controls (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class A380 Dom Perignon Service (Jan 2013)
After stowing my carry-on luggage and jacket, I was offered a glass of Dom Perignon Vintage 2003 Champagne.
Pic: Thai Airways First Class A380 Dom Perignon (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class A380 Cabin – Seat 2A (Jan 2013)
Beige is the dominant color in the Thai A380 First Class interior which makes me wonder how the cabin will look like in a year from now. The A380 I was flying on was only a few months in service and already I spotted some stains and scratches on the delicate leather surfaces. This is going to be quite a challenge for the cleaning and maintenance crews!

Pic: Thai Airways A380 First Class – Staircase to Business Class (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways A380 First Class – Sky Lounge Seating Area (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways A380 First Class – Sky Lounge Seating Area (Jan 2013)
I didn’t find the Sky Lounge very appealing. I guess nothing beats the Emirates A380 Business Class Bar.

Pic: Thai Airways A380 First Class – Restroom with BVLGARI Toiletries

Pic: Thai Airways A380 First Class – Restroom Seating Area (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways A380 First Class – Restroom Make-Up-Mirror (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class Airbus A380 – Meal Service (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class Airbus A380 – Stolichnaya Vodka (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class Airbus A380 – Calvisius Caviar (Jan 2013)
After we reached our cruising altitude, dinner service started. As my stomach wasn’t recovered yet from the food poisoning, I only had the caviar (nothing will make me skip that!) and dessert. Pictures of the drinks & wine menu (1,2,3) and dinner & breakfast menu (1,2)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class Airbus A380 – Calvisius Caviar (Jan 2013)

Pic: Thai Airways First Class Airbus A380 – Icecream (Jan 2013)
After dinner, it was time to convert my seat in an excellent fully flat bed. The additional mattress combined with my Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones ensured a Smooth As Silk night of sleep…

Pic: Thai Airways First Class Airbus A380 – Fully Flat Bed (Jan 2013)

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Posted in airlines, lounges, trip reports

Tagged A380, Airbus, bangkok, cabin, caviar, champagne, dinner, dom perignon, First Class, frankfurt, fully flat bed, massage, pictures, Royal Orchid Spa, seat, TG, thai airways

Etihad Business Class BKK-AUH B777-300ER

Posted on June 12, 2012 | 6 Comments

Pic: Etihad Airways Business Class Check-in (May 2012)
Early May, Etihad Airways was running a 96h World Sale which included some great fares. Some of those fares became even better if you booked them as open-jaw tickets. And that’s exactly what I did for my recent Thailand trip: Geneva – Abu Dhabi – Bangkok – Abu Dhabi – London Heathrow for 358 Swiss Franc or €307! Of course I still had to get from Brussels to Geneva and from London to Brussels. Flew Easyjet from BRU to GVA for €62 (incl. luggage fee) and took the Eurostar from London to Brussels for free using a compensation ticket. €362 for a return trip Brussels – Bangkok is a great deal, right? Yes, it was, but keep in mind the additional expenses and time lost making ‘detours’. Even though my outbound GVA-AUH flight was only on Wednesday night, I had booked the Easyjet morning flight from Brussels to Geneva. I wanted to avoid missing the Etihad flight, which meant I had a 9h layover at GVA airport. No problem I thought, I will store my luggage at the airport and visit Geneva or work on my laptop during the day. This turned out to be an expensive scenario, as the weather wasn’t too good in Geneva, I decided to stay at the airport. I spent almost €80 on food, drinks and wifi during that layover. Geneva is awfully expensive (fifth most expensive city in the World): 24h wifi €21, Pizza with one beer €22, Starbucks Frappuccino €8. Getting comfortably from LHR airport to St Pancras International station wasn’t cheap either: Heathrow Express train €24, London Underground ticket €5,50. All this additional info to remind you to think twice and to make your calculations before booking open-jaw tickets. Still, I felt I got excellent value out of this trip, primarily because I managed to upgrade on leg of the trip to the fantastic Etihad Pearl Business Class.
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Tagged abu dhabi, airways, B777-300, B777-300ER, bangkok, business class, etihad, etihad airways, food, full flat seat, IFE, lounge, meals, menu, pearl, pearl business class, pictures, review, seat

Brussels Airlines new Business Class JFK-BRU

Posted on June 9, 2012 | 9 Comments

Pic: Brussels Airlines entrance at New York JFK Terminal 1 (Jun 2012)

Pic: Lufthansa Senator Lounge at New York JFK Airport (Jun 2012)
On Friday June 1, I joined inaugural flight SN501 from Brussels to New York JFK. I flew economy class and was seated on the first row (14D) in Y. As frequent Brussels Airlines flyer (almost weekly now thanks to their Flyday promo) and Miles and More Senator, I was upgraded* to business class on the return flight from JFK to BRU. Both the hard and soft product were outstanding. I think my pictures speak for themselves regarding the quality of the hard product. The only two negative experiences I had during the BRU-JFK-BRU journey were out of Brussels Airlines control: A queue of almost three hours (!) at JFK Terminal 1 Immigration to enter the USA and a 1,5 hour queue on the JFK runway before take-off back to BRU. Not sure what’s wrong with JFK airport, but I hope they fix these issues soon!

Pic: Brussels Airlines A330-300ER OO-SFM at JFK Airport (Jun 3, 2012)

Pic: My Brussels Airlines Business Class seat 4K on flight SN502 JFK – BRU

Pic: Brussels Airlines new business class – Seat controls (Jun 2012)

Pic: Brussels Airlines new business class seat in lounge mode (Jun 2012)
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Tagged bed, brussels, brussels airlines, business class, dinner, flat, JFK, menu, new, new york, pictures, review, seat, SN502

Brussels Airlines New Business Class (A330)

Posted on January 11, 2012 | 7 Comments

Brussels Airlines presented the new A330 Business and Economy class cabin at their B.House headquarters in Brussels on Jan 10, 2012. More details about the new cabin on the Brussels Airlines website. Hope you enjoy the pictures I made at the press event!

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Posted in airlines

Tagged 330, A330, Airbus, brussels, brussels airlines, business class, cabin, full flat bed, JFK, new, new york, pictures, seat

New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300

Posted on December 8, 2011 | 7 Comments

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 (Dec 2011)
When boarding flight LH501 (A343) from Rio de Janeiro (GIG) to Frankfurt (FRA) on Tuesday December 6, I expected to see the ‘old’ First Class cabin from my seat 3H in Business Class. To my knowledge, the new Lufthansa First Class cabin was only available on the A380 and some of Lufthansa’s 747 aircraft. One of the pursers must have noticed my interest for First as she immediately approached me after boarding. I told her I was surprised to see the new First Class on this A340-300, I wish I had upgraded using miles, I said. To my surprise, the purser said she could still go back to the gate and request my seat to be upgrade to First. I handed over my Miles and More FTL card and off she went to the gate. A few moments later, a gentleman of the GIG ground staff wearing a United lanyard approached me and addressed me by name. He requested my Miles and More PIN code to confirm the upgrade. Ten minutes had passed and boarding was almost completed. All Business Class seats were taken but only two out of eight First Class seats were in use. The Chief Purser introduced herself and confirmed my upgrade was successful. She handed over my boarding pass with my new seat, 2K. It felt quite awkward to take my bag out of the overhead bin in front of all other business class passengers to then move to First Class.
Pic: New Lufthansa First Class Cabin on A340-300 (Dec 2011)
Pic: New Lufthansa First Class Seats on A340-300 (Dec 2011)

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class Cabin on A340-300 (Dec 2011)
The look and feel of the First Class interior was stunning. A great improvement in design, materials used (a lot of soft leather) and a much better color scheme compared to the old blueish First Class.

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class – Ottoman on A340-300 (Dec 2011)
I wasn’t comfortable taking out my big DSLR camera to start shooting pics of the cabin interior, instead I used my iPhone 4s. Unfortunately boarding was already completed by the time I ended up in First Class, so I had only a few moments to shoot some pics of the cabin interior. As this was a nighttime flight, and one of my fellow First Class passengers wanted to go to bed immediately, the cabin lights were switched off for the whole duration of the flight. This made shooting high quality pictures very hard.

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class Inflight Entertainment on A340-300 (Dec 2011)

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class – Inflight Entertainment (Dec 2011)
The inflight entertainment system offered the exact the same content as in Economy and Business. As I’m a frequent Lufthansa flyer, I had already seen all movies and documentaries of my interest. Too bad the selection in First Class was not more extensive. I also experienced a slow responding menu navigation and found the screen resolution too low for the 21 inch screen.

Pic: Lufthansa First Class – Inflight Entertainment remote (Dec 2011)

Pic: Lufthansa First Class – Seat Controls (Dec 2011)
The seat was very comfortable and controls were intuitive. It also featured a Privacy Screen which I used when in full flat bed mode.

Pic: Lufthansa First Class – Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones (Dec 2011)
The Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones did a great job, I even slept with the headphones on. I found them filtering the noise much better than regular earplugs. On my next trip to the US, I’m going to buy a set of these, as they are retailing for $299 in the US and a whopping €349 ($464!!) in Europe.

Pic: LH First Class – 2000 Champagne Laurent-Perrier Milesime

Pic: LH First Class – 2000 Champagne Laurent-Perrier Milesime
Had two glassed of this excellent champagne. It was the only available brand during this flight, no Krug, Dom Perignon or Louis Roederer Cristal. I don’t know much about wine and didn’t drink it on this flight. A great selection of spirits was available: Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Bushmills Malt 10 Years Old, Cognac Lheraud Cuvee 30, 2002 Alter Birnenbrand, 1998 Etter Zuger Kirsch, 2007 Late Bottled Vintage Port, etc…

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Caviar (Dec 2011)
Another exceptional experience for me was the Caviar. This must be the first time I had real caviar. It was served with traditional garnishes and the best toast ever. Loved it! The Salad with Parmesan was nothing exceptional, the Pan-fried Salmon Trout with Lime Butter, Lentils and Spinach by Chef Alfons Schuhbeck rather disappointing. The Opera Cake, on the other hand, was delicious.

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Opera cake (Dec 2011)

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Restroom (Dec 2011)
Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Red Rose (Dec 2011)

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Restroom (Dec 2011)

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Restroom (Dec 2011)

Pic: Lufthansa First Class – Pajamas, Slippers and Porsche Design Amenity Kit

Pic: Lufthansa First Class – Porsche Design Amenity Kit (Dec 2011)
After dinner, I asked the purser to convert my seat into a full flat bed while I changed into my Lufthansa pajamas in the restroom.
Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Full Flat Bed (Dec 2011)
The bed was very comfortable and offered me the best night of sleep I ever had on a plane. Two hours before arrival in Frankfurt, I requested breakfast to be served.

Pic: New Lufthansa First Class on A340-300 – Breakfast (Dec 2011)
Conclusion: This flight was an amazing experience and I’m up for more. I paid 70K miles for this upgrade (from Z to F) and I’m glad I did. The Lufthansa Business Class product is rather mediocre compared to the First Class product, so whenever I have the opportunity, I’ll upgrade to the new Lufthansa First Class!