For the Outbound flights I used 70,000 United MileagePlus miles for a First Class Star Alliance award to China. I have called United reservation too many times to make changed to my award travel but it is free each time to make a change due to my United Premier 1K status.
First I had this routing: DFW-ORD [United] / ORD-MUC [Lufthansa] / MUC-BKK-CAN [Thai Airways]
Then I found award space on the mythical Airbus 380 and changed to this: DFW-DEN [United] / DEN-FRA-NRT [Lufthansa] / NRT-CAN [All Nippon Airways] (with a 9 hour layover in Tokyo)
Then I found space on the PEK flight on Lufthansa and now have this routing currently: DFW-FRA-PEK [Lufthansa] / PEK-CAN [Air China] with the domestic China flight in Economy seating since the next available flight in First Class was 4 hours later. I get in 7 hours before the ANA flight from Tokyo.
Finally, I found space on a Lufthansa flight from Washington DC to Frankfurt and gets me in 1 hour earlier than the DFW flight and it is also on a Boeing 747 that has the possibility of featuring the New First Class (versus the old First Class with the small TV and blue eats). The only problem was that the DFW-IAD flight on United only had coach space available (note: 2 First Class upgrade space available). I went with the United option instead of the First Class flights with connection through Charlotte on US Airways (one was on a regional jet).
The next morning, I got an email from United to let me know that I was upgraded to First (due to my Chase United MilePlus Explorer Credit Card)! The only thing is that I have a 6 hour layover in Washington DC... which is plenty of time to visit the United GlobalFirst Lounge and the Lufthansa Senator/Business Class lounge. I will also get to board the plane directly from the Lufthansa Lounge.
I am very excited about this opportunity to fly on the "whale of the sky" and hope I also snag a seat from SFO or JFK to FRA and get 2 rides on the A380 in one trip!
The return was an OneWorld Business Class redemption with 55,000 American Airlines miles.
It is on a combination of 3 OneWorld carriers: American Airlines (AA), Cathay Pacific (CX), and Japan Airlines (JL). The flight path is HKG-NRT-LAX-DFW with all the flights departing and arriving on the same date. I am excited to try out a new airline for me (Japan Airlines) as I have flown with their rival earlier this year All Nippon Airways (ANA).
On the HKG-NRT leg, it will be operated by a Cathay Pacific Airbus 330 plane with the old long-haul herringbone Business seating. Cathay Pacific is known to swap aircrafts last minute so hopefully, it will not change as I have not experienced the herringbone seating yet. It's betting than the 2-2-2 regional business class seating CX uses on some other routes. Considering that this is an 4 hour premium market flight, I hope they use the long-haul Business Class seating.
On the NRT-LAX, it will be operated by a Boeing 700-300ER plane featuring the JAL Flat Shell NEO seating (2009 Good Design Awards winner) as is only used on the Tokyo to New York/Los Angeles/Chicago/Jakarta). It looks very nice! It is JAL's newest Executive (Business) Class seating. I got an aisle seat in the middle section of a 2-3-2 configuration. It even features a snack bar area! ot a bad way to spend 10 hours on a plane!
I did request an Executive Platinum agent to ask and see if Revenue Management will release a First Class seat on my AA LAX-DFW flight since 16 out of 22 seats on the 757 is still available. I should know in a few days to see if they will release a seat for me. Otherwise I will have to stalk First Class availability daily until then.
I thought about switching to a direct CX nonstop flight to the US (either LAX/SFO/ORD/JFK) and then continue onwards to DFW on AA... but this routing will let me visit CX First Class lounge at Hong Kong, JL First Class Lounge at Tokyo-Narita, and AA First Class lounge at LAX.
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