Recently, I shared how I’m taking a trip to Iceland later this month, which has been on my bucket list for quite some time. I’m flying Icelandair from New York (JFK) to Keflavik (KEF), and then after a stopover, I’m continuing to London (LHR). That will allow me review Icelandair’s Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A321LR Saga Class.
As I hinted at, the reason I’m flying to London is because I’m kicking off a review trip from there, and I think some of y’all will really like what I have planned. Let me explain what I have booked so far, in chronological order.
In this post:
The first flight is on Etihad’s Airbus A321LR, which has the world’s quirkiest first class cabin. There are just two first class seats at the front of the cabin, and I’m very curious to see what first class is like on a narrow body plane.
Then on the connection, I’ll be flying Etihad’s Airbus A380 The Residence. I last flew The Residence eight years ago, when it was a dedicated product that cost as much as a car (back when they’d give you a signed picture of Shawn Mendes with turndown service… or was that just for me?). Nowadays it’s available as an upgrade option for first class passengers, so that upgrade cost around $1,600.
So, how did I book this ticket? The first class fare from Phnom Penh to Paris was round $2,700. So I actually used Chase points at the rate of 1.5 cents each (before that opportunity is discontinued), meaning I spent just 180,000 points on the ticket, without a dime in taxes and fees. Ironically enough, even if there had been saver award availability on the routing, it would’ve cost a lot more points.
And then I’m flying Aer Lingus’ A330 business class, I think
While I’m not 100% committed to this, for the last portion of my trip, I’ve booked Aer Lingus’ A330 business class from Dublin (DUB) to Boston (BOS), which I booked for 45,000 Alaska Atmos Rewards points.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
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