After flying numerous Viking fares I had gotten used to seeing my American friends numerous times within the space of a year.
I even got Global Entry, as I figured that the amount of time I spent at US customs and immigration would easily warrant the investment.
Then bit by bit a realisation dawned on me: although I was now an executive Platinum on AA, I didn’t have any cheap trips to the US to look forward to.
I also had started to get a bit bored of just flying AA and BA over and over. I wanted to try something new.
Thankfully, as if on cue, a new post appeared on the Flyertalk Premium fare deals forum: CPH to the USA on a number of Star Alliance carriers, in business class, starting at £550.
This was more expensive than the original Viking Fare but still much cheaper than what you generally expect in trans-Atlantic business class, particularly when you are headed to the West Coast.
Whilst people were focusing on United and Lufthansa, I started trying to piece together a valid itinerary with two particular products in mind: SWISS Business Class on their new 777 and the new Business Class seats on the Air Canada Dreamliner. Having never flown either of these airlines before I was really psyched to try them regardless, but the idea of sampling their latest flagship products really made the whole trip all the more exciting!
After much switching of dates and playing around with layovers, I was able to call AC and get this ticketed:
| Route | Airline | Cabin | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPH-ZRH | SWISS | Business | A321 |
| ZRH-LAX | SWISS | Business | B77W |
| LAX-SEA | United | First | E7W |
| SEA-YVR | AC Express Jazz | Economy | DH3 |
| YVR-LHR | Air Canada | Business | B789 |
Ordinarily I would avoid calling the airline for an airfare this cheap, for fear of them pulling the plug on the fare. However there was no way to get this to price out on momondo, farefreaks, priceline etc. and others were already commenting online, saying that they had called to get ticketed…
Whilst the fare wasn’t technically valid with LAX as the destination, I was able to tweak the timings so that it became my longest port of call, despite this officially being a ticket to Seattle.
The total price for 12,200 miles in premium airplane cabins? (plus 123 miles in economy from SEA-YVR)
£657.37
Having previously been to LA on a number of occasions I was both aware of the traffic heading into the city on a weekend and also happy to forego Hollywood for the relative tranquility of Long Beach. Besides trying new airplane cabins I only had one key goal for my trip to the West Coast. I needed to eat at In ‘N’ Out burger… and Long Beach has one of those ?
I booked one night at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach for $152 and applied a Diamond Suite Upgrade to get myself a 684 sq ft Harbor Suite.
Positioning
In order to get to my starting point I bought a flight from LGW to CPH on Norwegian, which cost me £50. I also booked one night at the Park Inn Copenhagen airport for around £100.
The Total Cost for the entire trip came in at under £1000 (including my extravagant meal at In ‘N’ Out).
If you’re particularly attentive you’ll have noticed that the itinerary above doesn’t match the chapter summary below. That is because everything did not go exactly according to plan…
…although a lot of things certainly did!
- Part 1:
- Park Inn Copenhagen Airport CPH
- Part 2:
- SAS : Business Class Lounge – Copenhagen CPH
- Part 3:
- SWISS : Business Class – A321 – Copenhagen to Zurich
- Part 4:
- SWISS : Senator Lounge – Zurich E Gates
- Part 5:
- SWISS : Business Class – B777 – Zurich to Los Angeles
- Part 6:
- Hyatt Regency Long Beach : Harbor Suite
- Part 7:
- Star Alliance Lounge – Los Angeles LAX
- Part 8:
- Air Canada : Business Class – A321 – Los Angeles to Vancouver
- Part 9:
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge – Vancouver
- Part 10:
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver
- Part 11:
- Air Canada : Business Class – B789 – Vancouver to London Heathrow
5 Comments
Yup the excitement and curiosity of trying new products, complete with a reposition and funky routing is too good to pass up. I got TG F and OZ F coming up heading home from Songkran. Lose out on EQMs and EQDs, but the chance to try something new other than the same AA, QR, and CX routes I always fly was too good to pass up.
Yeah, it does feel weird stepping away from your usual carriers but it’s always an enlightening and fun experience, so much better than just doing the same old thing over and over!
TG and OZ are both spectacular in F, my recommendation would be to avoid ordering the lobster on TG though and instead go for one of the special Thai banquet menus, sooooooo much better ?
If you haven’t already you should read my review of the time I flew the new TG 747 cabin in F ?
Interesting. I had my mind set on the lobster. Maybe I’ll try and do both 😉
Well this F experience is out. I’ve been TG’d. Swapped to an a350 for my BKK-ICN flight. No lobster or Thai banquet menu for me 🙁
Oh man, just saw this comment – that totally sucks.
I feel like getting TG’d is just something we all have to go through sooner or later.
I wear my TG-ings like a badge of honour ?