Tag Archives for first class.
I just wrote about $675 roundtrip from Vietnam to the US in Cathay Pacific business class. Even if you just book a one way award ticket to Asia and use this for your flight back to the U.S. it’s an amazing steal.
However there are amazing (even better!) first class fares, too.
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Steve Harvey offers life advice. If you go through life without knowing what’s possible you aren’t going have anything to strive for. You’ll be satisfied where you are.
If you expand your horizons, watch what successful people do, and change your behavior. Part of that is.. flying first class.
I was super excited for this flight because it’s an aircraft and a first class I hadn’t ever flown before. This would be the second of three Gulf carrier Airbus A380s I’d get to sample on this trip, which was exciting in itself for me. It wasn’t just one airline, it was all three of the Gulf carriers and sampling literally the best of what each had to offer over the course of about a week.
This would be the shortest of the flights, costing 45,000 miles and $22.35 in taxes apiece. Bangkok – Doha is less than seven hours. Qatar Airways only offers first class on their A380, and has only regularly scheduled the plane on medium-haul routes like London and Paris in the past. (There’s an A380 scheduled to Sydney starting in mid-September, but Melbourne and Auckland remain on Boeing 777s and US routes are either on 777s or Airbus A350s.)
The Thai Airways first class lounge that most people are familiar with is on the airport’s D concourse and it’s right across the corridor from the airline’s spa.
Qatar Airways arranges lounge access through Thai, but their flight departs from the E concourse. As a result they arrange first class lounge access in the E concourse first class lounge — which is basically a big deserted room inside the Royal Orchid (business class) lounge.
The flight was sort of a ‘freebie’ since I was already booking Houston – Dubai anyway under Alaska Airlines’ pre-devaluation pricing it was only 10,000 miles more to go to Bangkok. And I was getting that in first class. On an A380.
I decided to test booking planeside meet-and-greet through Bangkok Flight Services with a golf cart from the plane to immigration. Here’s what they offer:
I’ve been remiss in writing the details of my trip to the Mideast and Asia redeeming miles for first class on the Airbus A380s of all 3 of the big Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar.
It’s was a great quick trip to eat in Bangkok and see the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, and I’m determined to return to sharing it with you.
Etihad has opened its new first class lounge at their Abu Dhabi airport home. First class passengers no longer need to use the ‘roped off section’ of the business class lounge, that’s no really different than the rest of the lounge except that a staff member will bring you drinks (and your spa treatment is free).
There’s there’s cooked to order food including a tasting menu. There’s a cigar lounge (unclear whether cigars are complimentary or paid) with recommendations on pairing each cigar with whiskey or cognac. There’s both a Six Senses Spa and Style & Shave as well as a fitness room.
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Eating South Indian Food in Chennai Chennai – Abu Dhabi, Etihad Business Class Transit security entering terminal 3, just like the regular security queue after passport control for Abu Dhabi-originating passengers, drops you off right in front of Etihad’s business and first class lounges (which share a common entrance). The lounges are upstairs, so you can either take an elevator up or a stairway where you’re greeted by Etihad agents ready to check your credentials, guide you to the appropriate lounge, and encourage you to make a spa booking. I visited this Etihad First Class lounge earlier in the…
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles I flew Etihad first class earlier this year both New York JFK – Abu Dhabi and also Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf. In some ways this Etihad first class flight was better than either of those, though my return flight to DC would be better still. Etihad’s premium cabin award availability, certainly booking far in advance, is amazing. At times they’ve seemed to go through cycles where their entire first class cabin or at least the majority of it on both the New York and Washington DC routes has been open for awards. Most of the time there are 2 first class award seats. And from the US they partner only with American, which means the bulk of demand for the seats comes from American’s frequent…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
