It is now getting closer to my first Tier Point Run (TP) this year in order to get Emerald status (Gold) with British Airways. This is my first post on this thread and here I will describe the route I am going to take. I will of course update this thread with pictures and more information as I finish the different flights on the trip. I booked this trip in september 2017 when BA had a promotion to Las Vegas. The good thing about this promotion is that the fare rules allowed for routing via Helsinki in order to maximize the TP. I spent some time finding the perfect route and flights and then I called BA to book the ticket. Since this ticket could not be bought online they waived the booking fee. The total price for this ticket was 1600£ or around 16.500 NOK. This gives a TP ratio of 1.56 which is quite good in my opinion. I have read that everything below 3 is a good ratio so I am happy with this. And when I booked the ticket the system let me book the A321T flight in A (First) The rules have later been changed so bookings now will go into (I) which is business class. The A321T has 3 classes: First, Business and Economy. I will also earn around 38.000 Avios on this trip. That is enough for 3 return tickets from OSL to LHR. Here is the route I am going to fly soon: 1. Oslo (OSL) - Helsinki (HEL) Finnair (AY) A319 business class (I) - 40 TP 2. HEL - London (LHR) Finnair (AY) A350 business (BA marketed) (I) - 80 TP https://www.finnair.com/no/gb/a350 3. LHR - New York (JFK) American Airlines (AA) 777-200 business (BA marketed) (I) 140 TP https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/seats/flagship-business-international.jsp 4. JFK - Los Angeles (LAX) AA A321T First class (BA marketed) (A) 210 TP https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/seats/flagship-first-transcontinental.jsp 5. LAX - Las Vegas (LAS) AA 737 business (I) 40 TP 6. LAS - LAX AA 737 (I) business 40 TP 7. LAX - JFK AA A321T (A) First (BA marketed) 210 TP 8. JFK - LHR BA 777-300 (I) business (140 TP) 9. LHR - HEL AY A350 (I) business (BA marketed) 80 TP 10. HEL - OSL AY A320 (I) business 40 TP In total the trip will give 510TP + 510TP = 1020TP. In order to achieve Gold on BA I need 1500TP. I already have 280 TP and I will have a flight to Singapore in the summer with Qatar in C which will give me 280 TP one way and then I will over the 1500 TP limit. And I am also going to fly the A350 between HEL and LHR which is a 3h flight. I think that is one of the better planes / seats you can get in business on a European short flight I am also looking forward to trying some of the lounges on the way. Especially the American Airlines Flagship First Dining in JFK and LAX. As you can see above, I tried to book all my flights as BA marketed since this will give me more Avios points. BA has a 50% bonus on Avios with Silver but with AA marketed flight they give 25%, the TP amount is the same. But I have also found out that access to the Flagship First Dining is that you amongst other fly on the A321T in First Class which I am doing. But the second rule is that the flight is AA marketed (I have a BA number) So maybe I will not get access to the lounge since I am flying with AA but my ticket has a BA number, but I will try my luck at the lounge. Here are some links to the lounges: Finnair Premium Lounge (HEL) - Usually only for Emerald but Sapphire sometimes also get access. https://www.finnair.com/no/no/information-services/at-the-airport/lounges American Airlines Flagship First Dining (JFK and LAX) - Only for First Class https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/dining/flagship-first-dining.jsp Cathay Pacific Lounge at T3 Heathrow https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en...lounges/london-lhr/cathay-pacific-lounge.html Qantas Lounge at T3 Heathrow https://www.qantas.com/travel/airli...nal-lounge-the-qantas-london-lounge/global/en I am also going to Seattle while I am in Las Vegas. I had some points on Delta so I booked a separate ticket with points from LAS to SEA (Seattle) in First Class (I) and I paid 10 USD + points for the ticket. My goal of going to Seattle is to visit the Boeing factory and Museum of Flight so I am looking forward to that part of the trip also. As you have noticed I write this in English since I have people who cannot read Norwegian who will read this trip report and then I do not need to translate it. Feel free to answer in English or in Norwegian if that is better.
Awesome route A350 business class intra-europe will be quite spectacular and rare. My airline in Oneworld is Qatar, however I think this route would give quite a lot of Qpoints there too, so it is interesting to see which possibilities we have from Norway looking forward to see the pictures!
I've been to Seattle several times, but for reasons I don't get, I haven't been to the Boeng site. Hopefully you'll post some pictures and thoughts on that part of your trip too Fly safe!
Yes, I will post a lot of pictures. Next update to my thread is coming soon I will go down to the Seattle harbour also and maybe I get lucky and meet some of the fishermen from Deadliest Catch
my first leg of the TP run is finished. I flew from OSL to HEL with AY. I arrived a bit early to the airport since tunnel between Drammen and Asker was closed so I had to take bus to Lysaker and the airport express train from there. The Finnair check in opened up 2.5h before departure. The girl who did the check in was looking long at the screen before she finally asked me why I did so many flights I also got a First Class luggage tag since I am flying F between JFK and LAX. Since AY now moved their check in desks, it means that the priority lane for security is in the opposide side of the airport. Not a problem, but I passed 2 other fast track on the way and was a bit confused which one to use. It was wednesday before Easter so I was expecting long queues, but there where no queues. After security I went straight to the OSL Premium lounge. I have visited all the lounges in OSL and I must say this is the best of them in my opinion. They have a quite good selection of cold and warm food and same with the wine and liquor. OSL also have another lounge for those who pays to get entry which is not so good when it comes to food and drinks. The lounge was maybe 40% full. After a while in the lounge it was time to go to the plane. Finnair are good with priority boarding through the automatic gates. Business class was called after people with young children which worked fine. I knew before the flight that we where only 4 people in C since I have access to Experflyer. I had 2D but I changed to 1C since this seat gives more space for the legs which you can see below The flight was 1h20m and it went very well. I talked a lot to the purser regarding mileage run and points The food was quite good also for such a short flight. And of course they had Champagne I usually don’t drink hard liquor anymore on trips but the purser came and gave a small bottle of Finnish Vodka and said I had to try, so to be nice I gave in.. When I arrived in HEL it was only around 10m walk from the plane to the hotel. Hilton was a good hotel perfect as a airport hotel close to airport. I woke up early since my next flight is in the morning with the A350 to LHR which I am looking forward to Finnair has 2 lounger, one for business class and one for Premium passengers. The Premium part is for Emerald status holders only so C ticket does not give you access. But they used to give access to Sapphire when it is quiet, but they changed the rules so I was shown to the business lounge. In my opinion the Premium lounge is far better so this gives me another reason to avhieve Emerald soon Next part of my thread will be after I arrive in the US. I have only around 1h connection in LHR to my next flight with AA to JFK.
I have been in the US for a few days now and I have been busy with activities all the days I have been here. But here is the trip report on the Finnair A350 between HEL and LHR. I fly a lot between OSL and LHR but after this trip I think I always will fly on the A350 to LHR instead Finnair had priority boarding and we where waiting in a seperate area. When the boarding started I found my seat 1L. The seats are quite ok, but I found them a bit more narrow than the seats on Qatar A350, but for a flight of 3 hours it was great The crew was very good and attentive through the whole flight. I found the food to be quite good also and they always refilled me with a new bottle of Champagne They had a good selection of movies also so I really enjoyed this flight. We where delayed from HEL so it meant that I had to rush in LHR to make my next flight to JFK.
My next flight was with American Airlines from LHR to JFK. Since my AY flight was delayed I had to rush through LHR in order to reach the next flight with AA, but I made it. After a few security questions in LHR I was let onboard the 777-200 in seat 1L. I had a really nice crew on the flight. They also had a big toilet in business so it was easy to change into my LH F pyjamas for this flight The seats where quite similar to the AY seats, but I found them to be a bit short when lying flat for sleeping. The amenity kit was ok with the normal content. The stewardess serving me was very nice and she had also heard of the term mileage runs The food was ok and the dessert great. I managed to watch 1 movie and sleep for a few hours before reaching JFK. We where delayed from LHR so it meant that I had a short connection in JFK also. If you have been to JFK, it is not the airport you want to have a short connection... I was given a Express Connection pass when landing so it speeded up the Immigration a bit. But we where a lot of people with Express passes so all where fighting to be first in line for Immigration. Then my luggage took a long time to arrrive. Then I gave the luggage to the onward connections in JFK. Since I was flying First Class to LAX I was able to use the Flagship First Class check in in JFK after leaving my luggage. The good thing about this is that the girl then escorted me to the front of the security line Here are some pictures
I arrived a bit late to JFK and had only 2h connection time in JFK. When I excited the plane I got an Express connection which supposedly should make things go faster. But as usual, it was a lot of people in the immigration lines and no seperate queues for those with a short connection. But finally I was able to find an employee who escorted us to a special line for those with a short connection. After immigration, I had to wait for the luggage and then re check it again to LAS. Since I now had exited the airport I had to go upstairs again and go through the security. Since I was flying First Class to LAX I was able to use the Flagship Check in. Actually I did not need to check in again, but a benefit of the Flagship is that they will escort you to the front of the security line, so I saved a lot of time there. Passengers in F on AA Transcon are allowed entry into Flagship First Class Dining both in JFK and LAX on arrival so I went up to check the lounge. I only had about 20m until boarding for LAX so no time to eat this time. But I managed a couple of drinks. I think this FFCD is very nice, they had about 50 seats but we where only 3 people there at JFK. They have a full service restaurant and bar with Champagne and cocktails. And they do not expect tips The FFCD also had a great view of the apron. Then it was time for my next flight to LAX. I was really looking forward to this leg of the trip. As mentioned, I was going to fly the A321T which is configured in a 3 class configuration. First, business and economy. In First, they had 5 rows with 1 seat on each side of the aisle. The seats was very comfortable and spacious. Service was also very good in my opinion and the food was of good quality also. This is the first time I had such a good seat on a narrow body airplane My next post will be from the FFCD in Los Angeles which I used on arrival in LAX before my next flight to LAS
Kult opplegg med denne A321T. Vil dog si at FFCD ser litt mye diner ut med disse sofabenkene i motsetning til eksempelvis Lufthansa Wine&Dine på JFK. Gleder meg til å lese mer
Here is my next post which starts in LAX. As a first class passenger on the A321T I had access to the Flagship First Class Dining on arrival in LAX before my next flight to LAS. When you arrive they will first check that you are eligeble for entry and they will then escort you to the FFCD. In LAX they have a full bar with a bartender on the left and dining tables to the right. Since I was going to eat so I sat at the tables which had a great view of the planes. M Actually the FFCD is a lounge within the Flagship Lounge where you can have access if you are a OneWorld Sapphire or Emerald or flying business overseas. AA status members flying Y do not have access. They also have many showers available which I used before using the FFCD. I actually liked the FFCD. In LAX they had seats for around 60-70 people. I was the only one there for most of the time. The waiters was very nice and attentive and they had a full bar with a bartender that could make most cocktails. They also had Champagne of course. Of course you cannot compare FFCD to Frankfurt First Class terminal since they are 2 different products in my opinion. If I would like to chat with someone I could also sit in the bar where they had bar chairs. In general, I think that both the business and first class lounges in America have improved a lot, especially the AA Flagship Lounges which you can enter as a Sapphire and Emerald in Y. Later I will post about the new lounges in LHR T3 where they amongst other things had Moet Champagne and Noodle bar in the Cathay business lounge Next post will be from Las Vegas and Seattle.
Ja, A321T flyturen var veldig bra. Vi var bare 10 stykker i F og maten og servicen var også veldig bra. Fikk noen lammelår som var veldig gode med mye smak. Som nevnt i innlegget mitt har du valget mellom å sitte i sofaen, stoler eller du kan også sitte i baren slik vi kan gjøre på Frankfurt. Ønsker du å sitte i sofaer er det bare å gå ut av FFCD og til Flagship Lounge som ligger rett på utsiden. Der har de buffet mat og bra utvalg av drikke. Men dette området er da self service. Men med sølvkort på BA kommer man inn på Flagship Lounge og denne loungen er mye bedre enn mange av de loungene jeg har vært på i Europa etter min mening (utenom loungene på LHR T2 og T3) Er det noen andre som har flydd A321T i F og har noen erfaringer å dele også?
