Flying around the globe is the holy grail of travel. In August and September 2024, I flew 29,099 miles (46,622 km) around the world, mainly in Business Class. My aiming was to use frequent flyer points to cover most of the journey. Many people have been curious about how I managed it, so here we go… My journey started and finished in Sydney, Australia and took me to: Paying outright for a similar round-the-world itinerary in Business Class would have cost between $14,986 and $16,545 USD, not including taxes and fees. For Business Class tickets,…
Qantas
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Two weeks in the Air: My Best and Worst Airlines
Last year, I spent almost two weeks of the 366 days in the air with 29 different airlines. My 99 flights covered 124,000 miles (ca. 200,000 km), taking me to 65 airports across 28 countries. Some trips were memorable for their exceptional service that was so good, I (almost) didn’t want to get off the plane. Others highlighted air travel “challenges”. In my life, I have now logged 3.8 million kilometres in the air (2.4 million miles) with 128 airlines. As I have logged everything, including a rating of every airline, flight, and aircraft I…
Epic Asia Adventure: Four Countries, 16,000 Miles in June
June was a month with a lower number of flights compared to other months! Just eight flights across Australia and Asia for a total of 26,000km (16,000 miles). I spent time in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia; Tokyo in Japan; and Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Here’s my month… Flights City Highlights Airline Experiences Five airlines took me around this month-fewer than the ten I flew with last month (May 2024) Chasing the neworld Dream: Two of my goals for 2024 are to Where did you find yourself in June, 2024? Related Posts
Sydney to Singapore- An unusual flight arrangement in controversial Business seat
Boarding Qantas Flight 291 is a little weird. The flight belongs to Qantas, but Finnair provides the plane, pilots, crew, and service. Meals, amenity kits, and entertainment are all provided by Qantas and carry Qantas branding. The true twist comes with the cabin crew—rather than Finnish, they’re all Singaporean, adding another layer of fascination to this already unconventional flight experience. So you have Finnish pilots flying a Finnish plane with Qantas amenities and a crew that is effectively unrelated to Qantas or Finnair! And right in the middle is the Finnair business seat, which is…
Maximising Qantas Double Status Credit deal to my Benefit
Being an Aussie based flyer, almost one-third of my 1585 flights have been with the Australian carrier, Qantas. In addition I have flown every current and past One World carrier! This volume of flights means that I have achieved Qantas Gold for Life status (equivalent to One World Sapphire) in the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. I have also been Qantas Platinum (One World Emerald) for nine of the last ten years (I slipped one year). This status earns me a level of One World Priority benefits, which includes priority check-in, airport lounge access, priority boarding,…
New Qantas Safety Video-is ten minutes too long?
Qantas, known as “The Spirit of Australia” has been around for more than a century, and in that time it has proven itself to be one of the safest and most dependable airlines in the world. The excellent safety record of Qantas is a reflection of the company’s dedication to safety, which is a core value. Qantas pioneered the long storytelling safety video, and they have now produced a number of them. I have loved them all. As a Qantas passenger who has flown them over 470 times earning me Gold for Life Frequent Flier…
Decoding the Airline Alliances in 2024
I shared last week, that in 2023, I have been around the world five times on 83 flights bringing me to 1580 flights in my lifetime. Over half (46) of my 2023 lights were with one of the airline alliances: These Airline alliances weave an interesting web across the airline industry globe. They allow airlines to expand their local reach and more easily funnel passengers between each other. As a passenger, they allow me to earn points more easily for my “home” airline which make flying easier by allowing me to enjoy the same rewards…
Jetting Through 2023: My Summary and Global Airline Review
I thoroughly review every aspect of travel, including reservations, check-in, meals, entertainment, and in-flight services. This allows me to give every flight, and airline, a score. Yes, I am the nerd who is “wild about travel”! 90%: A Great year for my air travel Using the rating system I give for every flight, I ended up with an overall average of 90% rating for the year. This was despite the disruptions and complaints many others experienced with the airline industry. By comparison: My worst year for air travel was 2002, the first year after September…
Unpacking the safest airlines in the world
I really enjoyed this recent RankingRoyals visualisation of the top 20 safest airlines in the world according to AirlineRatings.com. This is reproduced with their permission. In coming up with its list, the reviewers at airlineratings.com consider a range of factors, including audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies; government audits; aircraft crashes and serious incident records; profitability, industry-leading safety initiatives, and fleet age. It’s also important to keep in mind that airline safety ratings are not absolute measures of an airline’s safety record, and different agencies may have different opinions based on their criteria and…
Pleasant Surprise: A Comprehensive Review of Philippine Airlines Business
My expectations of Philippines Airlines were quite low. My only experience of Philippine Airlines had been a single adequate domestic flight five years ago. Instead, I found that PAL holds their own and offers service that is, overall, currently better than both Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines. As those two airlines’ standards appear to have slipped, PAL has overtaken them. Best of all, I managed to snag business class fares that cost less than a third of those being charged by Singapore Airlines. I got a very comfortable ride. All my flights were marred by…
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