9 days away

When you book a return flight to Australia that originates in Oslo

 This creates one minor detail - The need to get to Oslo to meet the departure. 

It's nice to have a problem such as this. Below is what I pieced together for a 9 day jaunt from Cairns to Norway and back using a business class fare on Qatar Airlines traveling on there B787 & A380 and using Avianca's LifeMiles to do the rest outside of Australia.

To start the journey was a last minute purchase 2 days out from departure. A Jetstar flight from Cairns to Narita. The most I have ever paid for this sector. What made it even worse was the price either side of the date I had to purchase was 1/2 the price. I have never ever paid this amount for Cairns Narita return.

Thats my last beef about highway robbery and price gouging by an airline and there were 50 plus seats empty on the plane. 
(I guess they had to get me one day for all the cheap flights I purchased to Japan previously)   

The itinerary and costing

23 Feb 2018  :  JQ25 Cairns - Narita  - Yconomy B787           AUD$719

24 Feb 2018  :  NH231 Narita - Brussels - Business B787      AUD$1489
                       (75,000 LifeMiles used - Value AUD$1425) 

26 Feb 2018   : SN2283 Brussels - Oslo - Business A319       AUD$386 
                        (8,500 LifeMiles used - Value AUD$161)

02 Mar 2018  : QR180 Oslo - Doha - Business B787               AUD$1743
                        R904 Doha - Melbourne - Business A380

04 Mar 2018 : VA1291 Melbourne - Cairns - Yconomy B737   AUD$238

The total cost was AUD$4575 
less the JQ & VA cost the international fare was $3618 
Now that's very very good & the in-flight product on both ANA and Qatar was brilliant.

A planned yet secret trip to Vancouver

33,750 Km's

Reasons?

There were several ... 

Surprise my parents at the end of there tour

Make use of Avianca LifeMiles

Fly ANA's 777 in 1st class Haneda to LA

Fly ANA's 787 business class


Achieved

The surprise was a winner

LifeMiles always allows me to travel in comfort!!!

ANA's 777 1st class - Sensational 

ANA's 787 : fantastic service and style

To see how I made this trip affordable 



As you will see if you push the button I had flights from Tokyo through to Vancouver and back to Sydney. To complete the journey I needed to get from Cairns to Japan and Sydney to Cairns. Jetstar had a special on - buy one way and get the return free - So I did, A$319 up to Narita in June and back in November. You know what that means, I now have to go to Japan late October to use the return flight Narita to Cairns. 

Already in the planning - Hong Kong Airlines have great fares Cairns to Hong Kong. I have a Ramen eating plan for 3 days in Hong Kong and then onto Kogashima. Ready to try the satsuma cuisine..!! and then make my way up to Tokyo for that Free flight home.

The flight from Sydney to Cairns was the 2nd half of a Free return flight I received as part of a deal with the American Express Velocity Platinum Card. 

Now onto ANA's 1st class experience. I had high expectations and they did not disappoint. From the moment I checked in my ever so small piece of checked luggage (5 days in Vancouver I didn't need much) it just got better. Up the escalators and you then enter the Suite Lounge, passed the mighty large Stainless Steel Doors.

 

    

As it was a late departure I headed for the Restaurant, ordered dinner, a glass of Champagne Collet was offered while I waited.

On Board and all the pre-departure preparation was in play. The funky / Sexy Samsonite amenities pack was handed to me and a glass of Krug... AH ... I am lovin this ....  

Moving right along - in flight - I'll let the pictures tell the story.. This can be a never ending story - All food was on request, so I happily managed to use my time wisely.   

A little over 10 hrs later 

A transit in LA for 2.5 hrs and then Air Canada flight to Vancouver business class on a A320, a 3 hour flight. As you have to collect your luggage and clear customs it's oh so nice to find that someone has collected your luggage off the carousel and has it waiting for you in LAX. 

Air Canada's flight from LAX to YVR  was a very average cramped 3 hours on what I call a short domestic Business class product. We arrived on time, exited the Airport and in a Taxi to my accommodation. The whole process was swift 

  

Cost evaluation for my most recent Avianca LifeMiles spend.

Tokyo - Los Angeles : ANA in first

Los Angeles - Vancouver : Air Canada in business 

Vancouver - Tokyo : ANA in business 

Tokyo - Sydney : ANA in Business 

The Miles I am using were purchased in December 2014
They cost A$17.45 / 1,000 to purchase (OZ dollar was much better then)
The cost to purchase miles as part of this transaction was approximately A$21.20 / 1,000 

Ticket 1: 

Tokyo - Los Angeles : ANA in first 
Los Angeles - Vancouver : Air Canada in business 

The cost to purchase in LifeMiles solely is 90,000 + taxes + booking fee

I did a part purchase using 56,000 LifeMiles and paying A$818.40 (US$579.76)
US$44.76 Taxes, US$25.00 booking fee, US$510.00 to purchase 34,000 LifeMiles 

Total ticket cost : A$1795.60

Ticket 2: 

Vancouver - Tokyo : ANA in business 

Tokyo - Sydney : ANA in business 

The cost to purchase in LifeMiles solely is 80,000 + taxes + booking fee

I did a part purchase using 49,000 LifeMiles and paying A$787.59 (US$556.43)
US$66.43 Taxes, US$25.00 booking fee, US$465.00 to purchase 31,000 LifeMiles

Total ticket cost : A$1642.64

All up so far is A$3438.24

The only thing left to do is purchase a economy seat from Cairns to Tokyo and Sydney to Cairns. I never use miles/points to purchase any type of Jetstar flight or domestic flights in Australia, I can't see the value in this as Qantas requires so many miles/points and also an overly high fee on top to buy a seat on JQ.   

This seems to be one of my favorite miles collecting programs as they always are throwing deals around that add up......!!

More importantly I needed to top up the account after a little bit of miles usage.

Just booked the award components of a trip to Vancouver BC with 4 days on the ground

Tokyo - Los Angeles : ANA in first class on a  B777

Los Angeles - Vancouver : Air Canada in business on a A320 

Vancouver - Tokyo : ANA in business on a B787

Tokyo - Sydney : ANA in business on a B787

There most recent deal being transferring miles from one account to another at a rate of US$15 per 1,000 transferred, the receiver gets 2,000 - a bonus of 100%. Not to shabby given the USD - AUD exchange is crap at the moment. This is putting it at just above AUD$20 per 1,000, this takes into account what I purchased the original 1,000 for.

I also did a test of 3 different credit cards to see the value of the conversion + fees.

Transferring 10,000 miles per card  @ US$150.

The cards:

NAB (National Australia Bank) American Express - A$214.32

28 Degrees MasterCard - A$208.33

American Express - A$218.67

Once all cards have loaded the transaction and fees (if charged) I will update this page. As you may be aware when a transaction hits your account some institutions show a variation from the charge date to the settlement date. So far this has happened with 28 Degrees (to my benefit) this time. 

This is how the 3 cards converted US$150 including all fees. They all settled by 26 February 2016

  

Planning a trip to Japan

Way back in June Jetstar had airfares out for about A$500 return which included checked luggage and credit card fee. A short think, I like Japan - People, food, culture & countryside, I took up this offer. Part of the catalyst was I always tell my mother about this country and whats there and she seems to always hear about it and that's as far as it goes. My farther has no interest in going, a quick decision and a ticket was purchased. The stars must have aligned as cheap fares from Adelaide to Cairns also came up so that go mother to Cairns for the little adventure at a good price as well.

I travel independently but in the last few years I also do it well organised - all accommodation and travel is prearranged and booked before I leave. So when we get to our destination there is no time deciding where and when to stay saving a hugh amount of time particularly if your time is limited.

  

We were set to travel in November. All internal accommodation is booked  mostly Ryokans some with Onsens (one of those little pleasures, I look forward to in Japan). some with meal plans (breakfast and dinner). These Ryokans are small and family run so real Japanese home cooking. 

I used this website to plan all train travel :  http://www.hyperdia.com. And it is a brilliant tool. I worked out the cost of all travel we would do including reservations and I found that it was nearly the same as a 7 day ordinary JR Pass. 

  

So I decided to buy the passes as this must be done before you enter Japan and you must have a voucher to exchange for the pass when you enter Japan. So I did my hunt around the web to find the best priced authorized agent to buy the pass from. The price quoted on the official Japan Rail Website was 29,110 YEN which is about A$332.00 per pass. the company I eventually purchased from was : http://www.japan-rail-pass.com

A UK based company, the passes are sent via FedEx International Priority and so far the purchase system and delivery is running seamlessly. The passes have boarded a plane in 

26 OCTOBER : ROISSY CHARLES DE GAULLE CEDEX, FRANCE

and they are on there way..
27 OCTOBER : 5:12 pm - In transit - DUBAI AE
28 OCTOBER : 11;23 pm - Shipment released - ALEXANDRIA AU

Attempted delivery 1 November by Startrack 
which was not really attempted just carded as I was at home all day.!!!
Australia Post are so UN reliable & UN trustworthy

A trip to the local post office on 2 November to collect 
Great service until FEDEX gave it to STARTRACK
The postage was FREE but the service provided was suppose to be premium door to door

Free delivery, JR map, timetable & travel guide

All this for A$330 per pass

When I have them in my hand I will update this blog

  

Email from InsideFlyer This is the email I received recently to clarify the confusion that came from the Lifemiles Website AND The best thing that came with this is the price. I logged into LifeMiles and found that the price per 1,000 miles to purchase was US$33 NOT US$38.94  My lifeMiles membership is based in Australia On todays exchange rate US$33 cost AU$45 per 1,000 miles you purchase but with the bonus miles you get 2,500 so the real cost per 1,000 is AU$18 And I think the 1st trip I will take is with ANA Sydney to Tokyo on there 787 and do it Business Class of course Cheers and happy travelling LifeMiles Update.   * Elimination of the 24-hour purchase rule and an extension of the date to register by. Greetings and thank you for your early support of the relaunch of Milepoint >> InsideFlyer. It seems you like what we are doing for our members so please encourage us to do more. There was some confusing instructions for this program at its beginning and for those of you who clicked to the LifeMiles website, you know that the confusion started there ... we were just the messengers! SO, InsideFlyer worked almost all day on Monday to negotiation some better terms for ours members. Effective immediately LifeMiles has agreed to rescind the 24-hour purchase rule. This means that you will have until October 12 to pay for the miles you are interested in. This is a bonus for members like me that are waiting for the loan papers at the bank to come through to pay for these miles. AND we have more good news. We were able to get an extension of the date for which you have to register with us for this promotion. Initially they wanted us to only make available registration for two days. We argued the point that with all that was going on with the relaunch that we thought it fair to have a total of four days which they finally agreed to and now we have been able to get them to six days. If you know a member (or a fellow traveler >> this is your time to be a best friend to someone) who was on the fence for purchasing these miles, please let them know that through Thursday they can register with us to purchase LifeMiles and still be eligible for the discounted Star Alliance partner awards. For your patience, things got better for you. As for payment, once LifeMiles has you in their system as registered by InsideFlyer (we send files twice a day to LifeMiles), they will contact you with confirmation and payment instructions. InsideFlyer does not get involved in that part of the promotion. We hope this helps clarify and update a few things for you. As always, we stand by to assist you and feel free to contact us at any time about any thing. You can contact us HERE. Sincerely, the founders and the members of InsideFlyer