Category: Airlines

Seat 11L 0

United Airlines Polaris Business Class: IAD-SFO B777-200

Flying at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic treated me well by being upgraded on United with just Premier Silver status. United was operating their international configured planes for domestic routes and I got lucky to fly their 777-200 (Layout 5) from IAD to SFO featuring their new Polaris Business Class...

Hawaiian First Class A330-200 3

Hawaiian Airlines First Class: HNL-SFO A330-200

I was able to snag a one-way ticket from Sydney, Australia (SYD) to San Francisco (SFO) via Honolulu (HNL) on Hawaiian Airlines for only $360. Using 25,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles I was able to upgrade my HNL-SFO segment to lie-flat First Class. Upgrade availability is based on a First Class...

Seat 11A B787-10 0

Singapore Airlines Business Class: SIN-DPS B787-10

Staying overnight in Singapore after I landed from Tokyo makes it a great stop on the way to Bali. We had 23 hours to explore this amazing city. It was a warm February night, but we were still able to explore the Marina area including Marina Bay Sands. With COVID-19...

SQ A380 97D 2

Singapore Airlines Business Class: NRT-SIN A380

Singapore Airlines introduced their new Business Class seats on their A380 at the end of 2017 and I was lucky to be able to fly it earlier this year before all A380’s were grounded due to COVID-19. I redeemed 95,000 Singapore Airlines miles plus SGD 50 in taxes for Business...

Apartment 3A & 4A 0

Etihad First Apartment Class: AUH-JFK A380

This was our final long haul flight on the way home from our journey to Africa last year which I booked on miles/points. I was only able to secure 2 First Class seats (3A & 4A) at the time of booking which can be very challenging with Etihad, but you...

Caviar & Champagne 0

Cathay Pacific First Class: SFO-HKG B777-300ER

This was our first flight on our journey to Africa last year which I booked on miles/points. I was only able to secure 1 First Class seat at the time of booking, but I set an ExpertFlyer alert in case they opened up a seat closer to departure. Sure enough,...

Tamarama Beach, Sydney 0

2020 Travel Halted: COVID-19

On March 11th, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 Coronavirus as a global pandemic. This has brought global travel to a halt. The entire industry is frozen and we’ve seen flights been reduced by at least 80%. Here are some of the latest developments:   Emirates is now testing all...

Twin Otter DHC-6 400 0

Air Seychelles Economy Class: SEZ-PRI DHC-6 Twin Otter

After arriving from Johannesburg on Air Seychelles brand new A320neo, we connected to Praslin on their small twin otter plane which they use for inter-island (domestic) flights. The plane seats 19 passengers, but given such a late night flight there were only 8 passengers. We boarded the plane from the...

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Air Seychelles Economy Class: JNB-SEZ A320neo

Flying a new airline and a brand new plane to a new country to scratch off my map made this a fun flight. Air Seychelles has a limited route network, but from Johannesburg they offer a flight 5x weekly. They received their first A320neo aircraft in August 2019 so the...

Cape Town 0

South African Airlines Business Class: JNB-CPT A320

South African Airlines offers an option to bid for a Business Class upgrade on your Economy ticket. We decided to give it a try for the 4 of us on the flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town which is a ~2hr flight. The lowest bid was $55 per person so...