Scandi Running Part 1- So This Is How It All Begins

Da Plane...

Get the background: The Scandi Run- Preview

I'm a big proponent of 'firsts.'  I love first tries, first place, first class.  That makes this weekend fit right in.  It's the first of at least three mileage runs that follow more or less the same pattern.  It's good then, that right after firsts with me, comes familiarity.  I'm aiming to have this thing down to a science by October. A kind of science that, sure, will be thrown way out of whack by weather, crew delays, and loose bolts, but there's a science to all that as well when you think about it.

It's a first for the Scandi run, and also a first inasmuch as it's going to be cold.  The potential level of cold really didn't hit home until today when I saw a picture of the ice burgs currently floating past Nyhavn canal.  Until this point, I'd been way to confident in my ability to suck it up for a couple days.  I've lived in Boston before, I survived, it's in the 30's, come on...

After that, I threw in an extra (couple of) coats, stopped at REI to buy better, more waterproof, and less 'I don't remember what snow looks like' gloves (REI in Los Angeles is the most pathetic place to buy winter gloves, FIY.), and pretty well gave up on my romantic and responsible goal of running a 5k through Norreboro the morning after I arrived.

Granted, the 30 degree weather may be considered by the Danes to be a 'heat wave' this time of year, but I'm a cold pansy at this point, and I'm pretty much going to have to come to terms with it.

I love to be invited...

I'm currently sitting at the bar (as one does) at the Qantas First Lounge in LAX awaiting my flight to London.  It's delightful as per always, and not yet overcrowded as I'm several hours before the late night flights to Sydney, Melbourne, and such.  So far, all's well.  As I've realized it's a published EXP benefit, I tried out the LAX Flagship Check in for the first time, and it was all kinds of line cutting fun.



This season, the Qantas lounge is doing lovely things with radicchio...Is a sentence I never thought I'd type...

Compared to CLEAR, it's basically a nicer version with a dedicated ticketing counter, and a concierge who rolls your luggage for you to the front of the pre-check screening.  It definitely saved me a few minutes, but it was more about the experience. With elite benefits being axed left and right, it's still a nice gesture.

With my several hours before boarding, I have to actively hold back and pace myself as I work through the menu.  I'd prefer not to admit that I also had a stop at the Flagship Lounge in T4 on the way here for a bowl of pho, but I will admit it, because mileage run, and that stuff was tasty.  Pro-tip- if you like it spicy, there's siracha on the bar by the bloody mary fixings. 

T-2 hours, and my incoming flight is about to land, the weather in the vicinity of London and Copenhagen airport looks passable, and so far I've only forgotten my power cube (remote power bank), so things are looking good to go.  Plus, I've got a lovely bartender serving me something called the 'Garden Party' which has mint leaves in it.  Granted, I've already expended my first flyer acquaintance, possibly by unnervingly confusing him by trying to explain what, exactly, I was actually seeking to accomplish by flying to Denmark 3 times for now reason, but that's not really a huge concern.  And really, he's here to 'talk about bonds,' so what does he know.  Besides, it happens more often, or possibly exactly as often, as you might think.

BA 747 "Queen of the Skies," in repose in the background.

Come on, let's go....

~CruisingAltitude

The Flagship We've All Been Waiting For

You see this view??  This used to be my view each and every stop through LAX.  Now, NOT SO MUCH!

You know what?  I'm mad.  Do you want to know why I'm mad?  I know you don't really, but this is my blog and so I'm going to tell you anyway.  Prepare to be humble bragged within an inch of your life!

Yes, you're seeing this.  There's bacon.

The new Flagship Lounge at LAX's Terminal 4 is too nice.  Yes, dammit, you heard me. There is good food, and not just in the exclusive 'flagship dining' area, but on offer to everyone else as well.  There's an impressive self serve bar with Grey Goose, Hangar 1, Black Label, Woodford, Bombay, and all manner of fun options, as well as a bloody mary station, and non-alcoholic beverages including cold brew and an espresso maker.  Plus this week- custom, made to order Pho.  In case anyone was wondering- they had me at NOODLES.



Décor like JFK, food much better.

It's quite a bit better than the location at JFK, and that's saying something because JFK isn't at all shabby.


Frikkin' pho station.  For serious.

 

Food....

....And more food.

And here's why that makes me mad.  I'm mad because I've been carefully cultivating my disgruntlement with the new renovations to the terminal 4 Admiral's club for months.  MONTHS, I tell you.  Despite opening a new location in terminal 5, the loss of square footage in terminal 4 has been severely detrimental to the customer experience, and that's putting it lightly.  It's overcrowded, overrun, and not relaxing at all. 

You could go down to terminal 5, sure, but that's a decent hike, and even that has been crowded of late.  Instead, I've been taking the new connector over to TBIT and hitting up the KAL lounge on my priority pass.  This is no hardship, as I'm addicted to the (free) $1.99 spicy noodles there.  However, access there isn't open until 12pm, and Mrs. CruisingAltitude isn't a fan of the food offerings. 

This is all to say that now I'm left in a frustrating, angry-ifying quandary- the new lounge is legitimately wonderful, not quite beating out the Qantas lounge, but definitely trying to.  However, I'm only allowed in a few times a year, when I'm flying internationally since I'm perpetually buying double-deep-discount tickets to everywhere.

Livid, I am.  So.... I angry-scarfed down my custom made pho, maliciously drank (a couple) glasses of Bollinger champagne, and finally belligerently swiped a few bottled beverages from the self serve fridge, and eventually wandered out to face up to the Qantas lounge dragons at TBIT.

My diamond shoes are definitely a little tight, and I fully admit this is all ridiculous, but so is flying to Hong Kong for 48 hours, so what do you want from me?

More on all of that soon....

~CruisingAltitude

Then Go East....Far East....

Welcome to 2018, we're glad you're here! Before we get in the air, we'd like to go over some important features of 2017.**

It was a year full of new adventures, and not just a few miles flown.  As per usual, I went considerably out of my way to get my American/Oneworld status done, racking up those 100,000 miles.  It was a year for circling the world (quite literally), exploring foreign countries that are not so far off, plenty that actually are, and sharing travel experiences with family. 

 

If you're interested, you can check out some of the adventures here:

 

Havana Running (Cuba, of course)

 

Around the World in 80 Hours (Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Doha)

 

Yes, This Is Real Life (Doha, Amman, Colombo)

Whenever I'm questioning my plans, or debating which itineraries I might actually sort out, I put in the 'pro' column if I'll get to add a country to my 'visited' map I keep in my head.  Since I'm usually at the mercy of the major Oneworld deals and routes, I tend to wind up in the same places repeatedly- Hong Kong, Doha, Tokyo, etc.  So it can be exciting when there's someplace brand new.  

This year I added Cuba, Jordan (airport, it was quick), Finland, Estonia (check these out on Baby Flyer Blog), and Sri Lanka.  Not bad at all.

 

Sometimes, however, it's nice to play the hits.  That's why when I saw an impressive deal back to one of my favorites, and on the last weekend before last year's upgrades expired, I jumped on it.  36 hours in Hong Kong, here I come.  I'm even really taking this one 'old school,' and back-tracking to Dallas to catch the longest flight in American's network direct to HKG. 

 

I'm currently sitting in the lovely Qantas 1st class lounge in LAX before my flight, enjoying some Hamachi crudo and minute steak.  Life could be worse.  As an aside, I stopped by the NEW LAX Flagship Lounge as well.  Review of this soon!

 

 

As per usual, I'm playing the upgrade waitlist game for the outbound, but for a nice treat I was able to book the return via Tokyo Narita right into business class on my SWU upgrade!  So no matter what, I'll arrive back home in good shape.

 

So, what's a girl to do with two nights and a day in this fine city?  A few options come to mind...

 

 

I'm staying (again) at the Sheraton Kowloon, which has a top floor restaurant bar and lounge with a great view.  For what it's worth, people are always looking down on the Sheraton because in a strict sense it's outclassed by some of the other major chain offerings in Hong Kong- the Ritz, the JW Marriott, Conrad, and so on.  However, it keeps being my go-to for a few night's stay for a few reasons.  First- it's right on the Metro at Tim Sha Tsui, and has a shuttle from the Airport Express station at Kowloon.  Second- Even though it's sold as two hotels (the towers and regular rooms) you can usually use points to cheaply upgrade into a Towers room that comes with a high floor lounge with a very nice evening reception.  Third- There is a rooftop pool and spas that are great even in the rain.  Lastly- it's generally CHEAPER than the competition.  That alone puts it right up there. 

 

My suite at the Sheraton last time around.

This is all to say that setting up shop in Kowloon gives me some easy options before even going outside.  However, I fully intend to go outside.  I usually try to get out and take a hike or jog thought one of the parks each time I'm here.  In the past, I've done a morning jog around The Peak.  This time I may branch out....who knows. 

 

 

 And then there's the food...oh, the food....  This time, I'm in the market for some dim sum (of course), and want to find some traditional congee as well.  I think I've located a place that's near the hotel, and open until 2am.  This seems like a strange criteria, but here's the thing- flying to Hong Kong from the US essentially makes you nocturnal on arrival.  Your internal clock 'wakes up' around midnight, and if you're not looking to adjust, places open until 2 am are key.  Plus, Hong Kong is one of those "never sleeps" places.

 

So.... the bars are open until 2 or 3, congee until 2, and I think I found a dim sum place that opens for the day at 4.  Done and done.  A bit of day sleeping, some time in the pool, and it'll be time to head on out.

 

Thank various deities for international Uber.

 

As it turns out, I'm also not the only frequent flyer to think that this weekend is a great time to be in Hong Kong, so I'm looking forward to some meetups with other travelers and acquaintances.  All in all, it promises to be a good time....once I survive the 17 hour flight, of course.  Fingers crossed for the upgrade!!

 

Travel well,

 

~CruisingAltitude.

 

**Kudos to you if you get this reference.  

 

Havana Running Part 1: A ReLAXing Start

Six pretty birds, all in a row...

It begins!

The adventure is already underway- complete with unexpected perks, slight delAAys, and one extremely confused check in agent.  So basically- Friday.

Rolled into the WallyPark garage a couple hours ago to a scene of light chaos.  I booked a discount stay for Mrs. CruisingAltitude’s car for the duration, and just assumed due to the great last minute price that the place must be empty.  Whelp…no, as it turns out.  Pulled in and found out ‘they’re full.’

So….but….but…my reservation??

Nope, full in self park. But would I be okay with a free upgrade to valet?  Um…yes, yes I would. 

Onwards to LAX we go.  In the shuttle, in the traffic.  Now, as you probably may not be entirely painfully aware, LAX is undergoing about a decade of renovations and construction.  And unlike most of what’s said around here, this isn’t all that much of an exaggeration.  This leads to chronic congestion of traffic through the terminals, and I’d assume, many missed flights.  As the other occupants on my shuttle put it “this is like… Mumbai traffic”  and I’m pretty sure they were even from there, so yeah….

Many long minutes later I got to check in, and promptly hit my next slow down.  However, this was due to asking a beleaguered check-in agent to try and give me my boarding passes all the way through Havana.  He was confused- why in the name of all that’s good in the world would someone fly to Seattle from Los Angeles….to Dallas….to Miami to get to Havana.  There are one stops, there are even NONSTOPS, for crying out loud. 

Heh…yeah I know…Print me the boarding passes, and stop looking at me with your judg-y eyes please. 

Mine.  All mine.

He did (eventually), and I will say that aside from this bit of disbelief, the actual process of getting a boarding pass for Havana was pretty easy.  A perfunctory question about what category I was traveling under, and instructions to get my boarding pass stamped in Miami and I was on my way!

As per always, the next stop before a successful mileage run is the club of the day.  As Havana is considered “Carribbean” it doesn’t qualify for ‘international’ status for lounge access.  I really think an exception is due here.  Anyone who jumps through the hoops to go to Cuba in this day and age really is going to consider it an INTERNATIONAL trip.  I’m pretty sure I’d feel more at ‘home’ in Jakarta at this point….and you all know how I feel about that place.

But, rules are rules. 

However, if we’ve learned anything from politics recently- rules are only rules until you know the right people.  In this case, a friend who happened to have access to the Flagship Lounge side of the Admiral’s club on this particular day.  And the rules clearly state – one guest, as long as that guest is flying onward on an Oneworld marketed and operated flight.  Boom. Champagne.

About an hour of kicking back and watching planes out the window with a glass of bubbly, and wrapping up some last minute work details before being incommunicado for a couple days, I headed to the gate.

Some might be aware of the great airline shuffle happening this month at LAX which, if you didn’t know better, would seem like airline-pocalypse.  However, it’s been going smoothly as far as I can tell, at least as far as Oneworld is concerned.  AA now has consolidated down to T4, T5, and some scattered gates at the international terminal, while Qatar has been moved over to the proper gates at TBIT, rescuing it from the reject terminal at T2.  No complaints, and minimal confusion that I could tell.  They’re even planning a new Admiral’s Club in T5 which is badly needed.

Selfies with idols en-route to T5

Speaking of T5, my slightly delayed flight left from there this afternoon and why did no one tell me they opened a Lemonade restaurant there?!?  That’s ALMOST worth paying airport food prices for….almost.  So far, so good on the flight currently.  No pre-departure beverage to speak of though, which is every nit-picky traveler’s pet peeve.  Now, just looking forward to dinner & hopefully a smooth touch down in Seattle.  After that I’ve got a 5-ish hour layover to contend with, part of which I plan to spend trying to sign up for the newest TSA-avoidance gimmick “Clear.”  I’ve done the online part, and now just have to show up in person at the enrollment center, as long as it’s still open when I get there.  I’ll let you know….

Until the next segment, wish me luck.

-CruisingAltitude

 

The Last Mileage Run of 2016 Part 9: Over St. Louis

If you're just tuning in:

Part 1- Famous Last Words

Part 2- So...Yeah...Um...

Part 3- Miami Elemental

Parts 4 and 5- Over and Out

Part 6- So..Quito...

Part 7- Early Returns

Part 8- How did we get on the Zurich flight??

And now the conclusion....

Well friends another year, another 100,000 miles.  I'm pretty sure I've just about crossed over St. Louis, which by my calculations means I've gotten to my requalification for the year.  It's proved to have been a long day of flying, but that's pretty much what we're going for here.

When we last caught up, our brave mileage runners were landing in JFK, so let's back up a minute and talk about the new JFK Flagship Lounge.  It's only been open a few weeks at most, so I was excited to check it out.  We had about 3 hours, which as it turned out was still not quite enough time to use the lounge entirely.....but that's just how I feel about it.

The space is redone to make the seating more plentiful, and the décor more modern.  It feels like a real first class lounge.  Maybe not as opulent as JAL's Sakura or Qatar's Al Safwa lounges, but probably the best AA has to offer in the US.  It keeps up with BA's and MH's offerings, and beats some of the others, which is an improvement.

 

There's a certain feeling to getting ready to board the last mileage flight of the year.  Just one more jetbridge, one more seat, one more runway, one more takeoff.  You're finally heading home, and delays or no, it looks like you'll get there.  Of course, there's always room for a few more airplane hiccups.  This one was no exception. 

We boarded pretty much on time, even if we personally were a little late to the gate...possibly on account of a completely reasonable amount of free Tattinger on offer at the lounge.  We got safely to our seats, which by a stroke of good luck in routing, were the very comfortable business class on AA's 321-T. 

Then, just as they're finished boarding and preparing to push back...the lights went out.  I don't mean the quick off and on when the plane changes from ground power to regular...it went black, and for awhile.

Let me just illustrate with a real-time photo, shall I?

This is the actual photo I took.  Yes, I took a photo of this.

 

So...um...yeah.

 

This goes on for the better part of a few minutes, then the lights come back up, and the captain announces we have a mechanical issue.  Cue the collective sigh from the cabin.  We then proceed to wait at the gate for more than an hour getting the issue resolved and the sign offs done.  Honestly though, it didn't seem all that long given the rest of the trip.  They weren't seeming shifty about cancellation, so this plane was getting to LAX tonight, dammit. 

 

Update:  And, eventually, it did.  We touched down more than an hour behind schedule, putting us on the gate close to 1am.  Tired, but accomplished, it was finally time to get out of airports and head for home. 

 

In all honesty, if you set out to fly 5 flights to Quito and back in the course of 3 days, including the Northeast in the winter, and you arrive home safely and only one hour late, I think you can feel pretty successful. 

 

Thanks 2016, it's been a trip.  Literally. I've been the equivalent of around the world 4 times, visited new countries, cities, and of course airports.  I've even made some friends along the way.  Can't wait to see what 2017 has in store.  Spoiler alert- it involves more airplanes.

 

Fly Well & Land Safely,

 

~CruisingAltitude

 



Oneworld, Three Days Part I: The One Where I Crossed an Ocean For a Drink With a Lampshade...

777-300ER, parked at T3 in LHR

 

It occurs to me, as I book the first flight of the 2014 mileage season, that I have some considerable (daunting, even) catching up to do around here.  As I’ve written, 2013 closed with some epic mileage runs and lasting memories.  Despite some close calls with bad weather and serious jetlag, all went well.  However, I’ve neglected my trip reports, badly.  So, while I (probably futilely) sit and wait for AA to match the UA and DL fare deal to Hong Kong for this fall again, I’ll do my best to remedy that. Bear with me though, as 38,000 miles across 4 continents is going to take more than one chapter.  Some information may overlap with other entries already posted, but I’ll do my best.  

In the interest of keeping things relevant, I'll note that this run is likely to be available this year again for somewhere around the 5cpm range.  Recently, it was available on BA metal out of LAX, and I'd expect the AA metal version to come up in the fall.  Also interesting, for those willing to go a few more CPM in the name of comfort, is a WT+ fare in the low $2000 all in on BA planes that is upgradable on Avios to Club World.  I've seen these fares for scattered dates throughout the fall and winter.  This trip in their lie-flat a380 cabin would be a wonderfully comfortable 22k mileage run!

So, here we go....

They say when writing to ‘begin at the beginning, go on until you get to the end, and then stop.’  Let’s call the beginning of this story my arrival at LAX to start the journey, as all the plotting, agonizing, and rationalizing has already been posted here before.  See? and See?  

Though this flight was transatlantic, it was operated by American on the new 777-300ER and so departed from LAX Terminal 4, rather than the newly renovated Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT, if you’re the acronym-loving type).  

As an EXP/ Oneworld Emerald, even flying economy I had access to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge, which is co-located with the Admiral’s Club.  This trip was my first time in the FL side of the T4 AC.  It’s significantly smaller than the main side, but also has much better offerings: Open (self serve) bar with decent choices in both beer/wine and the harder stuff (yes 3 white tequilas, as previously highlighted), buffet sufficient enough to make a light meal- chicken, salad, rice, pasta, small desserts, etc., and bottled drinks and water (great to grab and take with you for the flight).  The lounge does have access to showers, but they’re shared with the AC, and in my opinion, the view is somewhat lacking in comparison to the AC side.  In particular, this evening I crossed back over to get some great shots of the sunset to the West.  

The food.

The Drinks

Now, a note about the plane.  It’s my favorite plane of all the planes.  The 777-300ER is American’s new long-haul aircraft, and is geared well toward the current trends in bookings.  It comes with 4 classes of service- First, Business, Main Cabin Extra, and Economy.  Now, I’ll qualify my love letter here with the admission that if I wasn’t EXP or PLT with American, this might not be my favorite plane of all the planes.  The main cabin seats are tight- 10 across in a 3-4-3 configuration, which, even on this widebody jet is cramped.  Honestly, if I didn't have status to get a Main Cabin Extra seat, I'd probably fly a codeshare on a different carrier.  Main Cabin Extra is 9 across in a 3-3-3 configuration with some extra legroom, making it a decent choice.  It also has a whopping 52 business class seats with all-aisle access and fully flat beds, making it the best business class product in the fleet, and just 8 First class open suites up front.

 

10 Across in 'Sardine Class'

For the 12 hour outbound LAX-LHR, I had seat 18F, which is a MCE aisle seat.  I’m not all that tall, so I found the legroom to be sufficient.  Though, they could take a lesson from the Qantas a380 product and put in a footrest.  The seat width also would have been fine, but the person who boarded late and took the middle seat next to me took up a bit more space, and I found myself on multiple occasions during the flight a little more up close and personal with her...and her coat,  blanket...hair….than I would have liked.  On the positive side, each seat has personal screens with a decent amount of IFE, enough to get through dinner and put you to sleep.  As for seat-tips, go for row 16, which has even more legroom due to being an exit/bulkhead row.  The only downside here is the lack of under-seat storage.  

Speaking of dinner, mine was a standard chicken-something meal.  Not terrible, but not memorable either.  A note on MCE service- they do serve you first in that cabin (in my case, just in time to get knocked around by some decent chop while trying to not spill my airplane wine), but there was no printed menu or upgraded choices like is offered in BA WT+ or QF premium economy.  You’re just basically getting a bigger seat, closer to the pointy end of the plane.      

Now, let me back up for a moment here and give a nod to the amazing group I ended up traveling with for this weekend.  Since this trip was such a monster deal, and simply netted so friggin' many miles, quite a few mileage runners signed up, so we decided to meet up along the way.  We started all over the US- 4 of us from LAX, and others from JFK, DFW, IAH, etc.  Due to the number of AA and BA flights that run on this routing, we weren’t all on the same exact flights, but kept meeting up with more and more of us at various points until we were all in one place finally in JNB.  It made the trip even better to be traveling with this group.  I don’t think I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet such a diverse, interesting and capable group of people on such a unique basis.  If you get the chance, don’t pass it up.   

The flight passed as well as any 12 hour flight does, no big complaints.  We taxiied to Heathrow’s Terminal 3, where American’s gates are located.  It then takes a hike, a bus, a train, and another hike to make the transfer and get to the (much anticipated) T5 Galleries First lounge.  It might have been the low travel season, a well-timed bus arrival, and definitely having access to the fast track lanes for customs/security as a OW Emerald, but it actually only took about 30 minutes point to point. 

The lounge itself is well worth planning a layover for.  There are actually 3 premium lounges in T5- Business class “Terraces” (Paid J cabin ticket holders, OW Sapphire), First Class “Galleries” (F cabin tickets, OW Emerald) and the Concorde Room (First class international...various high rollers…the Queen, probably...).  All have access to shower facilities, food, and drink.  

Once you complete the trek from T3 and find the lounges in the first place, watch out for the lounge dragons on the way in.  They do strictly enforce the entrance and one guest only policies.  I’ve gotten away with several guests at some ACs state-side, “this is my Mother...Sister...Brother in Law...BFF...etc.” Don’t even try it here, they scan your boarding pass and note who’s with you. Once you get by them, though, you’re next greeted by a couple of horses with lampshades on their heads.  They’ve apparently been hanging around the 5 or so self-serve bars a little too long, but I just flew across the Atlantic for no reason, so I’m not about to judge.

My new friend.  I will call him AArnold.

This lounge is one of those reasons your clothes always shrink a size by the end of a trip.  There’s food everywhere, including a complimentary made to order menu, and an entire section of the dessert bar dedicated just to scones.  

Yes, you heard me- just scones. 

As if that wasn’t enough, a walk through, on your way to, say, check out the open-air terrace that overlooks a row of a380s, you’ll also find a couple gold-rimmed champagne bars full of Taittinger on ice. 

Make that 2 sizes of clothes-shrinkage.  

Okay, okay, clothes shrinkage, and if you’re doing really well, inspiration to take a selfie with one of those lampshade horses on the way out.

Self-Serve Bar(s) Note- The ginger ale is addictive.

My brave new traveling friends and I took over some prime real estate in this frequent flyer promised land, and spent some time getting to know each other a little better.  Oh, one thing this lounge could use more of is power outlets.  But, never fear, mileage runners come prepared.  Yes, we did also have a contingency plan for evacuating the room quietly if having a power strip, plugged into another power strip, plugged into a converter, with about 6 devices on it were to blow out the lounge fuses.  Spoiler alert- no electrical circuits were harmed in the making of this mileage run.  

Voltage abuse

All too soon though, we were showered, (well) fed, (over) indulged, and ready to board the next 11 hour flight from LHR-JNB.  At this point, I have a vague (there was also 18yr scotch at the bar) memory of the group of us realizing we missed the start of pre-boarding (the horror), somewhat inelegantly charging through a duty-free shop as a shortcut to the gate, and plunging through the several hundred passengers waiting, to reach the priority lane and ensure our all-important overhead space rights.  Maybe not my smoothest airport moment, but I’ve done worse.  A lot worse. But, that’s a story for another post…





Up next: The trials of a second redeye 11 hour flight in economy, navigating Jo’burg, and lions...lots and lots of lions.

~CruisingAltitude

No, I will not make a 'long face' joke...I won't....