Here are some of the flights that I really really want to fly on.
- Eva Air 787
I’ve flown Eva Air for a total of… 3 times? Twice in economy and once in premium economy (777 long-haul across the pacific). Every time I get treated really well and the food has always been amazing. Eva Air seems to be every Canadian points & miles person’s first business class redemption, given how easy it is to book (lots of availability) and how it has no YQ. People say BR J long-haul is one of the best AP redemptions, but I have always thought their 777 cabins looked a bit… old? I’ve only heard amazing things about the soft service, but I do like a new cabin.
BR is flying the 787 from YVR — TPE until mid-May 2020, then switching it to SEA. I’m lucky to have found availability for our summer trip (in fact, it’s the reason why I started planning our summer trip!) from SEA-TPE. 12 hours of BR 787 business class as my inaugural business class flight… I really hope I won’t have to cancel this.
Easiest way to book: AP. 75k one-way from NA to Asia 1.
2. ANA 777 “The Room”
One of the airlines that I try as hard as I can to fly on is ANA. Since we don’t have ANA service at YYZ, I make sure to route through HND / NRT when I go to Asia just to experience ANA. I’ve never flown their J product yet, but I have their economy many many times, and I have been impressed every time. Their food and service in Y is already amazing.
Our original trip to Japan for April would’ve concluded in an ANA J flight from HND — YVR — YYZ, but unfortunately we had to cancel it because of COVID-19. I was a bit glad, because that would’ve been my inaugural J flight, and the cabin looked a bit dated as well…
Again, I’m sure it’s stellar soft-service, but I wanted both soft and hard! That’s why when I heard about ANA’s new business class product, The Room, I was so excited that it was flying to JFK!
A much, much more refreshed cabin, with so much privacy, and all the good soft product that would come with it… It looks very like BR’s 787, doesn’t it? I guess I just like new and modern “new-school” fancy instead of the “old-school” fancy.
Easiest way to book: ANA Milage Club, but that’s not really an option here in Canada, so I’ll say AP again. They have availabilities around the year at random times, but usually they open up 2 weeks before departure, so I’ll try to keep an eye out when I come back from our summer trip from PVG, so we could do PVG — HND — JFK — YYZ.
3. Singapore Airlines, anything.
Of course, I want to fly the A380 suites! But honestly, I would take SQ any day for any flight. And lucky for me, since my girlfriend is from Malaysia, we’ll probably have many chances to sample their products. For our summer trip this time, we’re flying SIN — PVG on the 777–300ER.
Clean, modern, sleek, comfortable… just like Singapore. In fact, this is the reason why I’m writing this article. In 2021, I want to fly SQ EWR — SIN in business (at least PY). 17.5 hours; I mean, if we’re gonna do it, might as well do it in J. How are we gonna get there?
Alaska Milage Plan: 100k one-way in J. 2 rounds of each of the Alaska cards.
KrisFlyer: 99k one-way in J. 73k one-way in PY. How to get KrisFlyer in Canada?
a. HSBC, at 25k -> 9k. Thus, 99k would be around 278k HSBC points.
b. Marriott, at 60k -> 25k. Thus, 100k would be around 240k Marriott. This might actually not be a bad idea; since Marriott is usually 1cpp, 240k Marriott would be $2.4k. One-way EWR — SIN in J is (currently, for Dec 9th, 2020) $3650, so that would be 1.5cpp. Not too bad! If I buy point at 0.9cpp, that would equate to $2160 out-of-pocket. Or, 5 nights at a 60k property. Or 2 rounds of Marriott SUB. This is becoming more viable than I thought it would be.
