Travel Planning: Fall in Asia
Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge
Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT
Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
Recap: Time in Tokyo
Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge
Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP
Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul
Recap: Time in Seoul
Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG
Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
Recap: Time in Hong Kong
Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO


Background

We knew we wanted to visit Asia this fall since I had never been, and we had a few ideas of where we would like to visit, but in the end, we booked our trip solely around the premium award availability we were able to find on Singapore Airlines and on Cathay Pacific. We worked with Alex over at Points Pros and he did an amazing job - he booked us on our top two preferred awards - Singapore Airlines Suites class and Cathay Pacific First Class. Both are consistently chosen as the best international first class products in the world, so we were extremely excited, to say the least. 

Our Suites tickets were booked out of LAX instead of our home airport of SFO because Suites are only available on Singapore's A380 jets, which unfortunately don't currently fly out of SFO. It wasn't too difficult for us to make the hour flight down to LAX, so we were happy to leave from there. 

Many of you have probably seen the Suites class article on Medium that went viral, where the author mentioned that a one-way Suites class ticket can go for as much as $20,000 and up. This is where travel hacking really shines - we were able to book our tickets for 74,375 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles and $172.80 each in taxes and fees. A steal. Since we don't often fly Singapore Airlines (by often, I mean never), we transferred the points directly from Chase Ultimate Rewards, which recently added KrisFlyer as a transfer partner. Booking this amazing flight is really even easier than you would imagine! The hardest part is really just finding availability. 

The Flight

Disclaimer: Admittedly, this post may make me sound like a bit of a snob. I would like to preface my review by saying that many articles have simply presented all of the positive aspects of flying Singapore Suites, while leaving out anything that might not have been up to par. While this was absolutely one of the best flights I have ever taken in my life, I still want to present a review that is unbiased and honest.

Singapore Airlines #11
Los Angeles (LAX) – Tokyo Narita (NRT)
Saturday, September 27th, 2014
3:45 PM – 7:15 PM (+1) : 11 hours, 30 minutes
Airbus A380-800: Suite 3D (Suites Class)

After months of anticipation, we arrived at LAX around 12:30 PM for our 3:45 PM departure. Admittedly, we were a bit early, but we wanted to be sure we had enough time to settle in at the Star Alliance First Class lounge prior to boarding. We arrived at the Singapore Airlines check-in desk, but unfortunately there was no one covering the Suites line. One of the Business class attendants offered to check us in and even switched out the ticket machine to feed in the special Suites class boarding passes. We were checked in quickly, received our invitation to the Star Alliance First Class Lounge along with our boarding passes, and were directed to the priority line for security. I was honestly a bit disappointed at this point, because almost anyone who has reviewed this flight mentioned that they received an escort to the front of the security line when flying Suites class. Since we were so early, it really didn't matter, but even in the priority security line, we still waited about 20 minutes. Once we made it through security, we proceeded to the first class lounge until it was time for boarding. 

We arrived at the gate a bit early to get a picture of the plane and to make sure we could be the first to board in order to get some photos of the cabin without awkward looks from the rest of the passengers. This was my second flight ever on an A380 and I really love flying on these planes. It's amazing how incredibly big the airplane is and you really don't even feel anything during takeoff or landing as a result. Singapore situates the Suites class on the first floor in the nose of the aircraft, so we were below the cockpit. Then, economy class was behind us and business class takes up the entire top floor. Suites had its own jet bridge, so once boarding began, it was incredibly efficient. 

Once we boarded, I did my best to get a few photos of the cabin. Our flight had an older version of the seats, which I think look a bit more plush than the new version (although the new version looks a bit nicer aesthetically). I really have to say, the Suites were amazing. Seriously, I spent a good 10 minutes just trying to believe where I was sitting at that moment - that, and take a million photos. 

The Suites have a full sliding door and window shades that pull down, although all of those must remain open during takeoff and landing. I really enjoyed the privacy that the Suites offered, but only had the doors and window shades closed when I went to sleep. The rest of the time, I didn't mind having them open since the cabin wasn't completely full and no one was in the Suite next to mine. It seems to me that Suites class is quite empty on most flights, but we had a fairly full cabin on our flight - out of the 14 Suites in the cabin, 8 of them filled up. It's also important to note that the window shades aren't fully "closed" and that there is an open area both at the top and bottom, so really anyone walking by could see directly into the Suite. This does limit you in exactly how much privacy you might have while you're in the Suite. 

Once we sat down and I felt like I had enough photos, the cabin crew came around and introduced themselves. We were offered quite a few newspaper choices and pre-flight drinks. Like an idiot, I panicked and ordered a water, but Chris was on the ball and requested a glass of Dom. 

They also brought around our amenity kits, which were Salvatore Ferragamo branded and each actually had a full sized perfume/cologne inside as well as some lotion and a few other products. Honestly, I wouldn't really call them amenity kits - they were more like product placement for Ferragamo or one of those "free with perfume purchase" things you get from Nordstrom. There was also a pair of socks and an eye mask. We would get our pajamas later. 

Travel Planning: Fall in Asia
Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge
Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT
Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
Recap: Time in Tokyo
Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge
Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP
Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul
Recap: Time in Seoul
Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG
Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
Recap: Time in Hong Kong
Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO


As of January 1 this year, my total country count is at 21. I've been aggressively crossing countries to visit off my list since I graduated from college and I'm really fortunate and proud to have seen all that I have so far. But if you looked at a map of where I've been, you'll notice the entire Eastern Hemisphere is completely blank. I'm so excited to finally be changing that in September!

I usually plan one big trip a year and some of my traveling friends and I joke about my "two country minimum". If I can't hit at least two countries in a given trip, I'm not going. It's actually the sole reason why I went to Bolivia last year. We knew that we wanted to go to Machu Picchu, but I couldn't possibly plan a trip and only see one country. We thought about Ecuador, but a trip to the Galapagos is insanely expensive! For Brazil, you need a visa, but I noticed that Bolivia was close by and might be interesting (ergo, my blog's header of Salar de Uyuni). The rest is history!

This year, we haven't completely hammered out the details, but I know for sure we're going to Tokyo and Hong Kong. We're undecided about where we are going in between, but we're considering Seoul, Taiwan, and Singapore. I really could not be more excited, especially because this has all come up so fast!

The best, best part of this whole trip though will be the flights to and from Asia. Chris and I are about to experience the best that travel hacking has to offer - the international first class award ticket. Our flights were a huge coup and we couldn't have done it without Alex over at Points Pros. Side note: did you know that you can actually pay people to book award tickets for you? You might ask why anyone would ever do that. The answer is, award booking is actually really hard for things like this. Most airlines don't release much award availability and they certainly don't make those awards easy to find. Then, there's the fact that you often need to transfer points from multiple accounts in order to actually use them for the airline you've chosen. It's a real mess, but Alex made it a total breeze!

Anyways, here is what we managed to get: 

LAX > NRT (need to get to LAX from SFO)
Singapore Airlines, A380 Suites

First of all, I have never flown on an A380 and as much as it pains me to say it (former Boeing employee here), I have been dying to! Second, Singapore Suites is supposed to be absolutely amazing. We landed middle seats in Suites and while the middle seat is usually the worst spot on the plane in any other situation, on Singapore Suites, it transforms into this:

HKG > SFO 
Cathay Pacific, First Class

Cathay was actually just named the wold's best airline for the fourth time. As the only airline to receive that honor four times, I expect great things! I think what I am most excited about is the pajamas they give you on the flight:

LOVE the look of these PJs and I hear they are super comfy!

Anyways, there will be tons of content on the blog once we're back from our trip and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures! Now that the flight's out of the way, I just need to plan what to do when we get there! If you have any thoughts on must-dos in Hong Kong or Tokyo or on which of the other cities we shouldn't miss, I would love to hear them in the comments!

Part I: Credit Cards
Part II: Points and Miles
Part III: Aspirations, Earn and Burn

So far, we've covered earning all of these awesome miles and points, but now we need to cover the fun part - spending them!

Aspirations

One of the most awesome parts of travel hacking is the aspirational travel you can achieve. Have you ever taken one of those long international flights in an economy class middle seat directly in front of a kicking, screaming three year old? Have you considered how much better that flight would be in a first class lie-flat bed with bottomless champagne? Have you ever considered paying tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade?

My guess is that you answered “yes” to the first two questions and a resounding “no” to the third question. First class does cost an incredible amount more (in some cases, up to $20,000 for one international ticket), but once you start travel hacking and earning miles and points, you could be traveling in style - totally free!

Here are a few of my aspirational travel goals:

Fly first class on Emirates Airlines

Did you know they have a shower? On the plane? While you’re flying? Enough said.

I priced out a sample fare on December 1, 2014:

Example flight: SFO > Dubai, First Class

Cost (in dollars): $23,327.90
Cost (in miles): 90,000