After the lack-lustre experience in the lounge we got to the gate a few minutes before boarding, it was the usual A380 gate chaos with people everywhere. The gate had a fantastic view of our A380 waiting on the tarmac, something about the shape and size of A380's is just surreal. We made our way towards the front of the crowd just as priority boarding was called at 22:40.

While we have been lucky enough to fly Emirates first class before it was on two shorter flights, so I was keen to give the experience a longer overnight flight and get to try the bed out properly. We were shown to our seats and I am not quite sure why, maybe we didn't look surprised or shocked enough, but the stewardess said 'oh I don't think you need me to explain the seat to you as you have flown Emirates first before?' and then offered us a pre-departure beverage and checked what size pyjamas we wanted. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were still serving Dom Perignon P2 on-board so I could hardly say no to a glass before we took off :)

Shortly afterwards, the cabin manager came and introduced himself. Interestingly his tablet was reflecting that we started our journey in CTS so somehow the bookings got linked when the check-in agent at Sapporo checked our baggage through. He also offered us a top-up of champagne, how could I say no to another glass of P2.

We were each given a nice tote bag that contained our pyjamas, slippers and our amenity kits. The pyjamas came in a felt case which while a little over the top was a nice touch.

Both the male and female amenity kits were Bvlgari and had both a male and female Bvlgari perfume as well as the usual toiletries.

The Emirates first-class cabin is a fantastic use of space with 12 seats in the same area that Etihad put nine seats. However, despite fitting more seats in, each seat still feels very spacious and with the doors closed very private.

The seat itself is large and very comfortable. Unfortunately, we had a plane that had the older fit-out. Essentially both fit-outs are almost identical except the newer fit-out has a larger TV and a newer tablet that is considerably more responsive.

My one complaint about the Emirates seat is that there are no real hardware buttons to control the seat; you need to use the touchscreen. On the newer seat that has a more responsive touchscreen, this isn't too bad, but on the older one, it is finicky and can get annoying.

I still don't quite get the point of the retractable bar in each suite as it is not cooled and the drinks aren't placed in there cold it seems kinda pointless, but it looks cool I suppose and makes for a good Instagram shot :)

There was a pair of Bowers & Wilkins noise-cancelling headphones in the suite that were comfortable, sounded good and provided reasonable noise cancellation. Headphones are something that so many airlines seem to cost cut on, and it is good to see that Emirates still have decent noise-cancelling headphones on offer in first class.

It seemed to be a reasonably full flight, and boarding took awhile, but we pushed back from the gate on time at 23:20, and after a short taxi, we were in the air. I do appreciate that Emirates inflight entertainment is gate to gate, so you can watch a movie while taking off and waiting for the seatbelt sign to switch off.

Once airborne, the crew jumped into action and offered us another drink along with some warm nuts and explained the menu. As the bottle of P2 was open, it seemed like the logical choice :)

Emirates first class offer a dine on demand concept allowing you to order and eat whenever you please throughout the flight. The menu had both western and Japenese options for dinner and breakfast.

And the drinks menu was as follows.

We asked to have dinner straight away as we hadn't eaten in the lounge, and Mrs B was keen to get some sleep. I wasn't hugely hungry so just ordered the Katsu Curry and Mrs B went for the Kaiseki Japanese menu.

It wasn't long (2 more glasses of P2 to be precise) and dinner was ready, my table was set with a giant breadbasket that included some delicious garlic bread as well as two different types of bread rolls.

My dinner was served as I heard the familiar POP of another bottle of P2 being opened :). The Katsu curry didn't necessarily look that impressive, but it was really tasty. The Katsu crumbing still had plenty of crunch, which considering it was warmed up on the plane was pretty impressive.

Mrs B enjoyed her meal but said it lacked in flavour a little, which surprised me as I was expecting the Japanese meal to be fantastic departing out of Osaka.

With a fresh glass of P2 in hand (yes I was up to number 6, at least it think it was number 6...) I went for a wander to the bar at the back of the business class section. Unfortunately, I forgot my phone, so I didn't snap any photos. The bar was busy, and I didn't stay long. The gentleman behind the bar did offer to go and get a bottle of P2 for me if I wanted a top-up, but instead, I just headed back to my seat. I finished the night off with a glass of Dalmore King Alexander single malt while I waited for the shower to be free.

The shower spa on board the Emirates A380 is something else, no matter how many times you have seen it, it still manages to amaze and what is crazy is that there are two of these suites on each A380!

Time to crank up that heated floor, 5 will simply not do!

The shower suite has a full complement of amenities located within, so you really don't need to venture into the provided amenity kit at all.

When not being used as a shower, the suites are the regular bathrooms for first-class passengers. There is a little bench that folds down to hide the toilette when not in use.

The actual shower operates the same way as the Etihad one and has a little illuminated ring that tells you how much time you have left. You get 5 minutes of water in total, and the shower will automatically shut off when you have ~1 minute left to give you a warning you are almost out of water.

After finishing my shower, I came back to my seat, and the bed was nicely made with a small fruit platter waiting on the table. There was a thick mattress topper as well as a quilt and pillow. The bed was large and comfortable, and the mattress pad did a lot to help make the seat feel like a flatbed, however, the seat still felt like it was a small angle down. With the doors closed, the bed felt very private without feeling claustrophobic at all. I was honestly surprised how much space there was in the suite.

I slept pretty well and got a little over 6 hours of sleep, waking up with just under 2 hours left in flight time. I ordered some coffee while I looked at the breakfast menu.

For breakfast, I ordered the Duxelle Omelette and some freshly squeezed orange juice. My table was set with a lovely bread basket that had some fresh pastries and croissants.

The omelette was ok, it wasn't the best breakfast I've had on a plane, but it was pretty good.

Before I knew it, we were on our descent into Dubai, and the cabin crew were coming through to clear the cabin. They encourage you to take as many of the snacks from the snack basket as you would like, which is a nice touch.

Overall Impressions

I enjoyed this flight, it was a good mix of enjoying the Emirates dining service as well as being able to get some rest in a comfortable bed, and the bar on the A380 always makes for a fun flight. I think overall I still prefer Etihad Apartments, but Emirates is a close contender.

Emirates first class is still one of the best uses of Qantas points in Australia. The product and experience are far superior to Qantas in every way, especially if you fly on the A380 with the shower suites.

We ended up with more time in Osaka Kansai international airport than I initially thought we would have thanks to a very helpful check-in agent in Sapporo who insisted that she could check our luggage all the way through to Dubai, despite our domestic Sapporo to Osaka JAL ticket being on a different booking number to our Osaka to Dubai flight, after much furious typing she did it and gave us bag tags all the way through to DXB.

I am not going to review the JAL flight, but we did manage to once again use the JAL $10 upgrade to change our seats to J class. It is a good trick to remember and always check on JAL domestic flights for J class availability when checking in.

After landing in Osaka, we exited the terminal and went up to level 4 to check-in for our Emirates flight. The process was easy and quick, thanks to the fact that we didn't have to collect luggage. The check-in agent directed us towards the fast-track security line and gave us instructions on how to find the JAL Sakura lounge.

After looking at the shops in the main terminal area, we caught the train to the satellite terminal we were departing from, which is also where the JAL Sakura lounge is located. The Sakura Lounge is a contract lounge that several airlines use, at the time we were there there was a Singapore airlines, Emirates and Air China flight departing.

Just after entering the lounge, there is a large locker room with free lockers secured by a pin to store any luggage you are carrying. I love it when lounges have lockers and am always surprised that more lounges do not offer this facility.

The main areas of the lounge were divided into two main sections. The first had several tables, chairs and benches around the buffet area, and the second was a large seating area. This part of the lounge was packed thanks to the three flights departing at the same time. I only managed to grab a few pictures as a result.

There was a secondary seating area around the corner that was relatively empty.

There were a couple of large massage chairs in this seating section, although one of them seemed to be broken so I didn't get to give them a try.

In terms of food, the lounge had a small hot buffet that didn't look overly appealing, so we skipped the meal in favour of eating on the plane.

There was a good selection of drinks with spirits, plum wine, wine, soft drink and one of the awesome Japanese beer machines that somehow manages to pour a perfect beer no matter what.

There was also a small business center with some desks and a printer.

Overall Impression

The Sukaru lounge was fairly lacklustre with a limited food selection lots of people thanks to the shared nature of the contract lounge. I can't help but feel that as airport terminals get better and better offering a wide variety of seating areas as well as good food options, lounges like this will become a thing of the past as it is honestly more comfortable to sit in the general terminal.  Thankfully we didn't have too much time to kill so didn't end up staying very long.

We have visited Niseko several times before, but always with a large group of friends and hence we have always rented a house when there. This time it was just the two of us, so we looked for hotel options instead.

Niseko is becoming quite a popular skiing destination, and prices are only going up. In the end, we settled on booking the Niseko Hilton, which was a relatively economical option due to the fact it is located in Niseko Village rather than the central area of Niseko.

Our bus transfer from Sapporo airport dropped us straight at the hotel, and I was immediately reminded just how great the location was, the hotel is right at the base of Niseko Village. It is true ski-in / ski-out, the gondola is less than 15m from the hotel door!

The hotel lobby has a large lounge/bar area with plenty of seating that is perfect for a post-ski baileys hot chocolate :)

Check-in went quickly, and as a Diamond HHonors member, I was 'upgraded' to a Mt Yotie view room. The Hilton Niseko doesn't have any suites, and they only have three types of rooms from what I could tell, one with no view, one with a view of Mt Yotie and one on the corner that is ever so slightly bigger. They also don't have an executive club, so instead Diamond member are offered free breakfast in the regular restaurant and given a drink voucher for each night of your stay.

Our room was on the 8th floor and certainly wasn't large, but it was very functional and did indeed have a fanatic view! The hotel provided a free ski valet, which meant that you didn't need to store skis and boots in the room, which was fantastic.

The view from the room in the mornings was amazing, and we were treated to several clear sunrises over Mt Yotei

There was also a gym that included free weights and exercise machines located on the ground floor.

The hotel had a fantastic Japenese onsen that had both an indoor and outdoor section. Having the onsen located in the hotel was really convenient and made for a great way to end a hard day skiing!

Hotel Restaurants

The hotel had several restaurant options, but all of them were fairly pricey in comparison to food available in Grand Hirafu and Niseko Village itself. As a diamond member, we had complimentary breakfast included each morning which was located in the main buffet restaurant, Melt bar and grill, on level 2. Melt was a long restaurant that followed the curve of the building and offered a panoramic view of the snow-covered mountain.

The buffet offered a large selection of Japanese and western breakfast options.

There was also coffee machines, juice, cereal and a great variety of baked pastries.

In the back corner there was a chef station that offered fresh cooked omelettes, eggs and rice onigiri.

For dinner, we only ended up trying Ezo, which was the bar/pub as it was the cheapest dinner option.

Ezo also had private Kareoke rooms for rent which could be fun if you had a large group.

The menu at Ezo was a mix of western and Japanese food and reasonably priced. We tried the burgers and the katsu curry, and both were very good and better than your average pub food back home.

Niseko Village vs. Grand Hirafu

Niseko ski resort is made up of four ski areas, with the main town and development based around Grand Hirafu. Niseko Village is the next ski area located to the left of Grand Hirafu as you look at the mountain. You can ski between all the ski areas at the top of the mountain, and there is a free shuttle bus service that runs on a regular schedule between the bases of the various ski areas.

The main drawback to staying at Niseko Village was the limited food options, as we were limited to the restaurants in the hotel and the few restaurants in the Niseko Village area, all of which seem to charge a premium due to the captive audience.

In saying that, the free shuttle provided an easy 15min trip to the Grand Hirafu area and ran up until midnight each day. This made it easy to venture out to Grand Hirafu at night and explore the many different restaurant options available with the main Niseko town area. We ended up heading out a couple of nights and tried a few different restaurants that we haven't previously been too. There are dozens of great places to eat in Grand Hirafu, so would highly recommend you head there even if you are staying at the base of one of the other ski areas.

And of course, if you haven't tried them before make sure you grab a Niseko Cheese tart for dessert on the way home, they are delicious!

Interestingly the food trucks seem to have expanded, and there is now an entire car park area with several different food truck options if you are after a quick cheap eat.

Overall Impression

The Hilton Niseko impressed me, and overall I thought it was pretty good value for money. At ~$450 AUD per night, it was cheap for ski in ski out accommodation on the mountain and much cheaper than a comparable hotel in Grand Hirafu. Staying in Niseko Village defiantly has its downsides, but the free shuttle made it easy to get to and from Grand Hirafu when we wanted to go out. For a short trip to Niseko that is focused on spending time on the mountain, it was a great place to stay.

I booked this flight with 50,000 Lifemiles that were purchased during a Lifemiles promotion at ~1.3c per mile (USD), so all up the flight cost ~$1,100 AUD including taxes, which I thought was a pretty good deal. I have never flown ANA internationally before and haven't flown ANA business class so was looking forward to giving it a try.

We got to the gate around 9 pm and boarding was scheduled to start at 9:10 pm. Like many Japanese airlines, ANA has a very strict boarding process that always begins precisely on time. For our flight boarding was split up into three groups, Diamond Tier members, Business class / Platinum tier members and everyone else. Each group is boarded in its entirety, and then the next group begins. Sure enough at 9:11 pm boarding commenced, starting with group 1. I was surprised by how many Diamond members there were, it must have been at least 20 people in group 1. This foiled my usual strategy of trying to be one of the first on the plane to be able to take some photos of the empty cabin.

ANA flies a 787-9 from Sydney to Haneda that is configured with 246-seats. There are 40 Business Class, 14 Premium Economy, and 192 Economy Class seats. The business class cabin is split across the main cabin with eight rows and a mini-cabin with 2/3 rows.

As we booked last minuted our seat choices were somewhat limited, I selected 11A and 10E in the mini-cabin as I wanted seats with more privacy for the night time flight. By the time we boarded the business class cabin was already 50% full, so getting photos was a little challenging. ANA seats have a very utilitarian look about them and don't really have a WOW factor, but they looked comfy, and that's the main thing.

The seat was quite a decent size, and the footwell also had plenty of space and didn't seem to narrow down to a small point which some business class seats do (more on this below when the seat was in bed mode). Each seat had an 18" touch screen for the entertainment system that had a reasonable selection of movies and TV shows in both English and Japanese. As this was an overnight flight, I only watched one movie.

The entertainment remote was on the side seat panel along with a power socket and USB port for charging devices. The side table provided a nice storage area; however, there were no other pockets or storage areas in the seat which I found frustrating. I ended up with a pile of stuff (laptop, book, passport wallet and phone) all just sitting on the bench, if we hit any turbulence I am sure it would have all gone flying!

Waiting on the seat was an amenity kit, blanket, mattress pad and some slippers. The amenity kit was uni-sex and contained a toothbrush, earplugs, eye mask, face cream, cleanser and body lotion.

Mrs B was sitting in 11A, which was one of the window seats closest to the window providing more privacy and better views out the massive 787 windows! I am always taken back how big the 787 windows are.

ANA has a staggered config for business class each seat has a large flat table surface, which is essentially the top of the footwell from the seat behind. For windows seats, A and K are the seats closest to the window, and for the middle seats, E and F have the large table between the seat and the isle providing more privacy. I would highly recommend you pick a seat that is A, K E or F to get a little more privacy for the night time flight, the below photos show the difference between the two options.

As the cabin was reasonably full when we boarded thanks to ANA's efficient priority boarding system (Australian airlines could learn a thing or two). As I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the empty business class cabin,  I snapped a few later on in the flight.

The business class mini-cabin would be my pick on this flight as it felt far less crowded.

Boarding was completed very quickly, and we settled into our seats and were offered a pre-departure beverage which surprised me as I had read that ANA doesn't usually do this. We had a long taxi out to runway 34L before a smooth takeoff, and we were on our way.

Once airborne and the seat belt sign was turned off, we were given the menus for the flight and offered another drink. While the Hibiki on the menu tempted me, I figured it was a little much for a pre-dinner drink and went with a Sapporo.

The beverage menu was as follows and contained a good selection of wine, spirits and non-alcoholic drinks.

The dinner menu was as follows and had both a Japanese and western option as well as an anytime snack menu. There was no breakfast menu as breakfast wasn't actually served on the flight. Instead, you could order off the anytime menu if you wanted something to eat prior to landing.

For dinner, I went with the Western/International option, service was very efficient, and we weren't waiting long before our meal was served. All three courses were served together on the same tray rather than individual as some airlines do.

The meal was ok it certainly wasn't the best meal I've had on a plane, but it wasn't terrible, it just lacked flavour.

Mrs B went for the Japanese option and had similar feedback.

After dinner I couldn't resist giving the Hibiki a try, I was also curious to see what Hibiki they were serving in business as ANA is still serving Hibiki 21 in first class which is almost impossible to buy these days. Not surprisingly it was Hibiki Japanese Harmony non-age statement, but still delicious.

With just over 7 hours of the flight left and my nightcap finished off, I wanted to try and get some sleep. ANA does not offer turndown service or pyjamas in business class, but they do have a mattress pad which is always a plus, interestingly it wasn't actually long enough to cover the entire bed, but it was still a welcome addition. The layout of the seats meant that the footwell was square and not an odd triangle shape that narrows to a point that you need to jam your feet in to.

The bed was comfy, and I got a pretty good sleep thanks to the cabin being a reasonable temperature and not the usual sauna that planes can be. The seats that were closer to the window and further from the isle certainly provided more privacy than the others but still not that great compared to newer business class products like Delta one suites. I woke up with just over an hour to go before landing and ordered a coffee along with a breakfast ramen, because why not :D The Ippudo instant ramen did not disappoint, it was delicious.

Overall Impressions

I enjoyed our ANA flight, while the seat could have provided a little more privacy it was comfortable and a good way to do the short over-night hop to Japan. The flight was over before we knew it and it certainly made for a much quicker trip than our normal routing through BKK on Thai Airways. Overall this was a fantastic use of 50,000 lifemiles!

We arrived at Sydney airport and made our way to the check in counter. Check in went smoothly, thankfully I had the details of our flight departing Japan as apparently Japan require you to prove you have a booked flight departing the country if you are entering on a one-way ticket.

Murphy's law meant that we had to walk from one end of the departure hall to the other to drop our ski bags off at over-sized luggage counter. I couldn't resist taking a quick photo at the iconic SYD sign. The group next to us seemed very confused when they realised that my snowboard bag was the star of the photo.

After dropping off the over sized luggage we headed through immigration, which was amazingly fast. The airport seemed absolutely empty for a weekday evening. Once in the terminal we browsed some shops and then made our way to the lounge. As ANA is part of Star Alliance, you can access either the Singapore Airlines or the Air New Zealand lounge. As we had been to both of them previously, I figured we would check out the new AMEX lounge that opened last November, which is conveniently located right below both the SQ and NZ lounges.

After entering the lounge it opens up to a large bar with a dinning area to the left and a more traditional seating to the right.

Dining & Food

As it was 7pm we headed straight for the dining area to grab a snack. The area consisted of several tables, booths and larger seating areas.

There is both a buffet area as well as a small a la carte menu that is made to order.

I was impressed with the selection on the menu, considering most other business lounges in Sydney airport only offer a limited selection of hot buffet style food, this was a welcome change.

I only wanted something light as I was planning on having a proper dinner on the flight so I went with the wonton noodle soup. The soup was pretty tasty, it wasn't the best wonton noodle soup I've had, but it wasn't too bad either. With maybe the exception of the lasagna in the QF lounge, I would go as far as to say that it was the best food option I've had in any Sydney business class lounge.

After finishing our food we went to check out the rest of the lounge. The other end of the lounge opens up to a decent sized seating area. There is also a long bench like table that is equipped with plenty of power points if you need to plug in and get some work done.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to check out the shower rooms as they were all in use, but the main bathroom was clean and had plenty of space.

How do you get entry?

As long as you hold one of the eligible cards pictured below and a boarding pass for a departing flight on the same day you will be granted entry.

It should be noted that some of the cards offer unlimited access and some only offer a certain number of entries per membership year. But regardless, it is a pretty good perk to have!

Overall Impressions

Overall I was very impressed with the new AMEX lounge, it is significantly larger than the previous lounge and has much more to offer in the way of facilities and dining options.

I would say that it is better than several other lounges like the Skyteam and Singapore business lounge at Sydney airport. If you have an AMEX card that gives you access, I highly recommend you check it out.

It's no secret that I have a habit of booking holiday's around Miles & Points, and this trip is no different. We were keen to kick the new year off with a holiday and get away before things got too busy. However, we couldn't decide what we wanted to do and what sort of holiday we wanted to have. Did we want a relaxing holiday in a resort or a more active holiday skiing or exploring a new city?

Well, as the title suggests, this holiday ended up being a bit of everything.

Japan (Snow)

We have been lucky enough to visit Japan several times in the past, usually in winter to enjoy the fantastic ski seasons that Japan is famous for. We have always enjoyed our ski holidays there even though 5-7 days of skiing can get exhausting :)

Our initial holiday inspiration for this trip kicked off back in August when a friend of ours said she was visiting Niseko for a week in early Feb and was planning on checking out the Sapporo snow festival for a few days as well. Mrs B and I both thought it sounded like fun, so I did some investigation. I did some searching for flights and couldn't find anything. My usual method of getting to and from Japan is via Thai airways using cheap Lifemiles, but lately it seems they have significantly restricted award availability.

As accommodation can get very expensive at the last minute (not to mention booked out) I decided to pencil in some dates with a fully refundable booking at the Niseko Hilton while we continued to look for flights and decide if we wanted to go or not.

Dubai (Sand)

I am still not quite sure how or why I came up with the idea, but at some point when looking at flights, I had the idea of heading to Dubai after Japan and spending five days in a resort to unwind and relax. Probably not the most normal routing or trip, but getting in and out of the UAE is easy and provided several more flight options. I broached the idea with Mrs B, and she was in.

We started looking into hotels & resorts and decided on The Atlantis at the Palm. As I still didn't have any flights, I booked the hotel but made sure it was also a refundable booking.

Flights

When it came to flights, this holiday was a little different than the previous ones I have written about. Other than the last segment home, I wasn't able to book the flights that I wanted at the time we made our hotel bookings. I ended up booking several of our final flights very close to departure with several backup options -this was my strategy;

Segment 1 - Sydney - Tokyo - Sapporo

Time of booking: 3 weeks out
Airline: ANA
Class: Business
Miles used: 50,000 lifemiles per person
Taxes: $127 per person
Method of booking: Lifemiles partner booking

With my usual method (Thai airways) of getting to Japan unavailable, This was the most laborious flight to get! No matter what I tried, I couldn't find a single thing. I ended up using what I call the 'Bait and Switch' method to secure flights. The 'Bait and Switch' is pretty simple really; you book a refundable economy ticket with the hope of finding award space and cancelling the paid fare. After some quick searching of flights I settled on a one-way premium economy ticket on Qantas, I figured I was hedging my bets that way and purchasing the ticket allowed us to keep locking the holiday plans in.

I set up ExpertFlyer alerts for both ANA and Thai airways and based on the patterns of how they release seats I figured my chances of last minute availability opening up were pretty good.

Sure enough, three weeks before departure ANA released a bunch of availability in business class. Unfortunately, they didn't release any seats on the day we were initially planning on flying, but I could get two seats the day earlier. While not ideal, we were happy to spend an extra night in Japan. I haven't flown on ANA's 787 business class before so looking forward to giving it a go.

Segment 2 - Sapporo - Osaka - Dubai

Time of booking: 5 weeks out!
Airline: Emirates
Class: First
Miles used: 102,600 qantas points per person + 5,000 point change fee
Taxes: $187 per person (interestingly this was $22 cheaper than the taxes for the J ticket)
Method of booking: Qantas partner booking

To get from Sapporo to Dubai, I was aiming to use Qantas points to fly Emirates first, after a quick google I confirmed that Emirates fly into both Tokyo (HND & NRT) and Osaka (KIX). Emirates fly their new first product into HND, but availability is still not available via Qantas :(

This segment was a great example of where it pays to understand the rules of your given frequent flyer program. Qantas uses a zone system based on the number of miles flown to determine how many points an award flight will be. As per the image below for first class travel zone 5 is 102,600 points, and zone 6 is 123,100 points

A quick look at gcmap.com and you can see that kix-dxb is 4,717 miles, but hnd-dxb is 4,940 miles! Considering the internal flights from Sapporo to Tokyo are basically the same prices as Sapporo to Osaka, by flying out of Osaka I saved 41,000 Qantas points!! There was no availability in first class around the dates I wanted, but there was availability in business class. I booked the business class tickets with the aim of keeping an eye out and switching the booking to first class when Emirates released more seats. Emirates are pretty reliable when it comes to  releasing more seats closer to departure; worst case I was more than happy with 12 hours in Emirates A380 business class anyway. For those wondering why I would spend the extra 34,000 points on first class over business class you can read about my logic here

I set up flight alerts in ExpertFlyer and at T-5 weeks to go, I got the alert and managed to change the flights. I did have to move the flights by one day, which meant one less day in Sapporo and one more day in Dubai, which we were okay with. Again, it pays to be flexible :)

Segment 3 - Abu Dhabi - Sydney

Time of booking: 7 months out
Airline: Etihad
Class: First (Etihad Apartments)
Miles used: 203,000 velocity points per person
Taxes: $80 + $441 Etihad booking fee
Method of booking: velocity partner booking via velocity call centre

This was by far the easiest leg to book. In general, I find Etihad to have excellent availability, especially when redeeming miles for first class. I managed to book this flight as soon as we booked the hotels back in August.

This will be our fifth trip in Etihad Apartments but will be the first time we get to spend a decent amount of time in the Abu Dhabi first class lounge. I still believe Etihad apartments is probably the best way to fly, so no doubt it will be an enjoyable flight.

All about refundable bookings

This trip was an interesting exercise in booking a holiday with miles and points. By using refundable bookings, I managed to capitalise on the fact the airlines often release last-minute award availability.

Stay tuned for the upcoming trip posts and don't forget to like our facebook page.

I haven't previously had a chance to check out the Skyteam lounge at Sydney Airport, as I rarely fly Skyteam airlines, so I was interested to see what it was like. I made my way through the terminal towards gate 24, where the lounge is located.

Plaza Premium runs the lounge (like many in Sydney airport). The agent at the desk welcomed me to the lounge and reminded me that I might want to leave a little early as the gate was on the other side of the terminal. I proceeded down the escalator into the lounge. The lounge is basically one large room with different seating areas and a separate dining/buffet areas off to the side of the entrance. There are large windows along one of the walls that offer a great view of the tarmac.

The layout isn't great and really doesn't offer much privacy. All of the seating is just laid out in sections. My perception probably wasn't helped by the fact that the lounge was very full thanks to both Korean Air and Delta having departing flights that morning.

On the plus side every seat had power sockets within reach. In fact there were probably more power sockets than I have ever seen in a lounge before!

There was an odd TV viewing room in the back corner that had several chairs and a single TV.

There was also a small business centre with a few computers and a printer. Interestingly this wasn't a separate room but just located along the sidewall of the lounge.

At the other end of the lounge was the buffet and bar area along with a few small tables to eat at.

The buffet had four different hot dishes for breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon, stir-fried noodles and baked beans. There was also a reasonable selection of cold food as well as cereal and bread.

Behind the buffet was a small bar area with self-serve drinks.

There was a good selection of wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks as well as a coffee machine available.

Overall Impressions

The lounge really didn't wow me, the seating was average and didn't offer any privacy and felt like a domestic lounge more than an International Business lounge. Sydney international airport is really well laid out in the general areas with seating, lounge areas and multiple options for food and drink so other than the free food and drink the lounge didn't offer much especially considering how busy it was. In general, as airports focus more on the customer experience lounges like this become obsolete.

American Express now offer a network of lounges around the world that card holders have access to prior to flights irrespective of what carrier or class they are flying.

The Sydney lounge was opened in late 2014 and was a great addition to the lounges available at Sydney Airport. But it was quite limited for space and could get fairly crowded. As of last week American Express have opened a brand new lounge in Sydney Airport, located near gates 50-63. The new lounge is over 600 square meters and three times the size of the original lounge!

According to American Express the lounge is operated by global premium airport hospitality specialists Plaza Premium Group and offers guests a premium airline lounge experience, including:

• Three shower suites featuring L’Occitane en Provence products;
• Complimentary food and beverages featuring a variety of vegetarian, vegan and wellness options, an exclusive dining area, and live cooking stations;
• Full service bar including a selection of cocktails and wide selection of craft and international tap beers;
• High-speed Wi-Fi and charging stations and quiet resting areas;
• Flight information screens, and a selection of local and international magazines and newspapers.

Interestingly the new lounge features a 'live-cooking' station where guests can order off an a la carte menu as well as dedicated work spaces.

Naysla Edwards, Vice President of Brand, Charge Cards and Experiences at American Express said “Airport lounge access continues to be one of the most valued benefits for our card members and we know from the success of our lounges around the world that travellers appreciate the stress-free environment, complimentary dining, and luxury amenities that our American Express Lounges offer,”

How do you get entry?

As long as you hold one of the eligible cards pictured below and a boarding pass for a departing flight on the same day you will be granted entry.

It should be noted that some of the cards offer unlimited access and some only offer a certain number of entries per membership year. But no matter what it is a pretty good perk to have!

I am looking forward to trying out the new American Express lounge next time I am travelling through Sydney Airport.

After a quick break in the Abu Dhabi first-class lounge, We made our way to the gate and began boarding EY454 to Sydney. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the lounge, but you can see my previous review here.

I have now written about Etihad Apartments a few times (here, here & here) so for this post I thought I would focus a little more on the sleeping arrangements within the Apartments as well as the service. As this was an overnight flight, I tried to spend a large part of it catching up on some sleep before heading home. For this flight I had selected 3K & 4K as our seats. These are the opposite side of the plane to what we have flown previously, and you can tell because the seats are a slightly darker colour.

EY454 is blocked at 14 hours and departs Abu Dhabi at 9:50 pm and arrives into Sydney the next day at 5:30 pm local time. The flight works quite well in terms of adjusting to the Sydney timezone, you can board have a quick meal and then sleep a full 7 hours. Wake up, have some breakfast and then land into Sydney. We boarded the plane, and I took the opportunity to take some photos of areas of the Apartment that I hadn't snapped already like the carry-on storage that is under the bed and the built-in mini-bar! What's impressive is the mini-bar is actually cooled.

The apartments have plenty of other storage locations with a draw above the mini-bar and pop out compartment next to the seat which is perfect for wallets, passports etc.

The other thing I haven't gone in to before is the controls built into the seat. The right armrest of the seat lifts to reveal another storage compartment and a touchscreen control, that controls everything from the lights, seat cushion firmness and massage function.

Just above the armrest, clipped into the wall in the controller for the In-flight Entertainment system. What is cool about the system is the screen on the controller acts as a second screen to the system. So you can be watching a movie on the main monitor and the tail camera on the remote or vice-versa.

Once we were airborne, the in-flight chef came around to take our dinner order as we had previously indicated that we wanted to eat as soon as possible. The menu on this flight had an a la carte dinner option, breakfast and the usual lounge & grill section for snacks.

For dinner, Mrs B ordered the Arabic Mezze and the Chicken Breast, and I ordered the Hokkaido Scallops and the Beef Tenderloin. We requested to dine together and shortly after ordering our meals, the table was set up in my apartment. The ability to dine with your travel companion never gets old!

Our entrees arrived and did not disappoint, the scallops tasted fresh and not overcooked, and the mezze is always a good option on the middle eastern carriers.

By this time, Mrs B wasn't feeling overly well with a large headache, and the food not sitting well, so she retired back to her apartment. The staff were fantastic and immediately noticed something was wrong and asked if everything was ok. We asked them to please make her bed so she could call it a night and they got right to it and even offered to bring her main meal to her in bed.

The second setting was cleared from my table, and I was brought a pallet cleanser which was a tasty lemon sorbet.

My main meal then arrived and once again was cooked perfectly! I will eventually get over eating steak on a plane and order something else :)

By this point I was pretty full, so declined a full desert and just went with a light fruit platter.

After finishing dinner, I was pretty keen to get some sleep, so while having a shower asked if they could set up my bed. I came back from the shower to a cozy-looking bed.

The small touches in the turn-down service like unpacking the headphones, setting up the TV and putting out the eye mask really make it special. To top it off a small note with a Dr. Seuss quote was left on the pillow.

I got into bed and watched a bit of TV before trying to get some sleep. Unfortunately, this is where the flight took a bit of a turn for the worse. For the last several hours there had been a gentleman in 5H who seemed determined to drink the plane dry and was getting quite loud. I can only assume he was watching a movie or something and the loud laughter and ad-lib comments end up waking me up several times. The crew were doing a fantastic job of trying to ration his drinking and get him to quieten down, but it was only doing so much. After getting a few broken hours of sleep, I decided to give up and went back to watching a movie. Considering I was awake, I figured why not have a midnight snack in bed :) and ordered a steak sandwich. The sandwich was fantastic and incredibly flavorful.

After my movie finished I figured I should try and get some more sleep, but the guy in 5K was still making a racket, so I asked for some earplug which helped considerably. The crew member was so apologetic when she gave them to me, and I am fairly sure she then got the cabin supervisor to come and have a word to the guy because he seemed to drop 20db in volume for the remainder of the flight.

After a few hours sleep, I woke back up with just under 2 hours till landing. The crew were very attentive and as soon as they realized I was awake offered to pack my bed up and get me some breakfast. I ordered some scrambled eggs for breakfast which came with a delicious potato rosti and some veal bacon.

I enjoyed my breakfast along with several coffee refills while we flew over Adelaide.

Before I knew it, we were coming in for landing at Sydney, and our 14-hour flight was over. It is incredible how quick the trip goes when you have all the luxuries of a private apartment in the sky!

The crew came around and thanked us for travelling with Etihad and gave us a warm towel and some chocolates just before landing.

Final Impressions

This was our fourth flight in Etihad apartments, and it did not disappoint. Leading up to these flights, I was a little worried that we remembered Etihad Apartments with rose coloured glasses. But I was quickly reminded why we enjoyed Etihad First Class so much...and Etihad is still at the top of my list in terms of First Class product that we have had the pleasure of flying.

One of the most common things I tell people about using miles & points is that using points to upgrade from Economy to Business is always terrible value!

It seems that many years ago, one of the best uses for airline miles & points was to use them to get that elusive upgrade to the pointy end of the plane. But those days are long gone. However, most people still seem to be under the impression that upgrades are the best use of miles & points, so I thought it would be good to go through the pros & cons.

Know Your Programs T&C's

This is probably the most important thing that people gloss over. You need to understand the terms and conditions for the frequent flyer program you are using. Different programs have different T&C's, but it is very common to have conditions specific to the eligibility of upgrading using miles & points. Taking a quick look at the important T&C's of the two major programs in Australia:

Virgin Australia

• You need Gold or Platinum status with Velocity to be able to request an upgrade on an international long-haul flight.
• You must hold a Freedom, Premium or Premium Save fare to be able to request an upgrade to Business Class. Discount economy tickets are not eligible.
• All members booked in a Go Plus, Getaway or Freedom fare can request an upgrade on Virgin Australia international short-haul flights.

Qantas

• Upgrade Rewards from discount Economy classes are not eligible (for example N, Q and O class)
• Qantas issues upgrades in order of status. Chairmans Lounge, Platimum one, Platinum, Gold, Silver then Red. You have a much lower chance if you do not hold high status.

Upgrades Are Never Guaranteed

Another common misconception is that upgrades are easier to get and more guaranteed, this is NOT the case.

In fact, in most cases, upgrades come out of the same inventory class as a full award ticket. So if an upgrade were available at the time of purchase, then a full award seat would have also been available. In most cases, upgrade requests go into a waitlist and are processed 24 hours prior to the departure of the flight. The only exception to this in Australian is that if you hold Platimun one with Qantas, you can request, via the call centre, to release upgrade space.

Let's Look at an Example

For this example, I will use Qantas, but the same goes for Virgin.

But just before we jump into the example, let's have a quick look at the comparison of points required to upgrade from economy to business vs. points needed to purchase a full business award seat. As you can see, there is only 6,000 points difference between an upgrade from semi-flexible economy to a full business rewards.

So now looking at the popular Sydney to Los Angles route on any given day if I was to buy a basic economy ticket if would look something like this.

The important thing to note here is that it tickets into class O, which is classified as a discount economy class. You may recall from above that the rules for Qantas upgrades you need to have an economy ticket in G, K, L, M, S or V class, which would generally be considered semi-flexible economy. So if I was to look at the price for a semi-flexible ticket that falls into class S, the price suddenly jumps to $1,944 or $741 more expensive than the discount economy ticket!

So not only do I have to pay 61% more for my economy ticket upfront with no guarantee of an upgrade, but even if the upgrade does process 24 hours before my flight I will be using almost the same amount of points I could have used to purchase a business reward seat outright!

Does It Ever Make Sense?

Yes - Sometimes it does make sense to upgrade with points. If for example, you happen to have a fully flexible economy fare already or if you are upgrading from premium economy to business.

Another excellent upgrade opportunity with Qantas is upgrading from Business to First if you happen to be flying on an A380.

But in general, using points to upgrade from economy is almost always a bad idea.

Yesterday I posted about a deal Qantas Epiqure has on offer at the moment that gives you 20,000 bonus points when you purchase a half-case of red wine. I was chatting with a friend, and they commented that it was expensive wine and asked why you would buy it? So let's look at a bit of an example.

As a reminder, the particular offer in question was to purchase a half-case of 2017 Heirloom Alcala McLaren Vale Grenache for $384 or $64 per bottle with 20,000 bonus points per case. If you trust online reviews, this is meant to be a decent drop of red.

Fly Emirates A380 for Free!

To put this deal into context, let's say you bought six half-cases of the above wine, a total of 36 bottles of quality red wine. It would set you back $2,304, a decent sum of money by anyone's standards, but you would also get 122,304 Qantas points!

So how do you get the free flight in Emirates amazing first class? Well for 124,000 points you can fly on Emirates A380 from Sydney to Christchurch. This particular route generally has pretty good availability as well.

This flight would be ~$2,947 to purchase, so, all in all, it is a pretty good deal, especially if you are a red wine drinker.

Depending on how you look at it, you basically get a free return flight in first-class, or you get 36 bottles of wine free :) But either way you get to enjoy 7 hours of Emirates pampering.

You can read some reviews of Emirates first class here and here

You would also get to experience a shower at 30,000ft!

Now if you didn't want 36 bottles of wine, you could always only go one-way and buy a cheap economy ticket home.

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you should go out and buy 36 bottles of wine simply to get a free return flight in first class, but I thought it was an interesting example to illustrate the value of deals like this.

If you want to read more about our Emirates first class experience you can check this trip report out and be sure to subscribe to our facebook page to see more deals like this.

I have written about Qantas Epiqure a few times before, it is a great way to top up Qantas points if you are a few short for your next trip.

Epiqure often offers bonuses of up to 10,000 points per case of wine and sometimes even 15,000 points.  Well right now they have a deal that is offering 20,000 bonus points for a case of 6 2017 Heirloom Alcala McLaren Vale Grenache which is a pretty good deal.

Unfortunately, the current 20,000 bonus deal is on a fairly expensive wine at $64 per bottle, but under the right circumstances it is pretty good value.

To put it into context, a half case (6 bottles) of the Heirloom Alcala McLaren Vale Grenache will set you back $384 and you will earn 20,384 points. There are two ways to look at this:

1. If you forget about the wine you are basically buying Qantas points at ~1.9c per point with some free wine

or

1. If you value the points (like I do) at 1.3c, you are effectively getting a $264 discount on some nice wine and only paying $120 for the half case of quality red.

Qantas Epiqure is an excellent way to top up your Qantas point balance if you are in need of some quick points to get that next award flight. If you were to buy 20,000 points via the Qantas top-up method it would set you back $645, so it really is a great deal. Even the normal 10,000 point bonuses on offer are a pretty reasonable option. Especially considering the points usually post to your account in 24 hours.

I firmly believe that Etihad Apartments is one of the best uses of Velocity points and to date it has been our favourite way to fly so we were looking forward to coming home on the EY A380.

As mentioned in my intro post to this Trip Report, this flight and the next were booked using 203,000 velocity points + $903 taxes per person for CDG-AUH-SYD all in Etihad Apartments. The taxes to book Etihad are expensive as you are charged a $300 per segment booking fee, but it is worth it and not all that much more expensive than taxes and fuel surcharges Qantas charge for a similar journey .

We got to the gate quite early thanks to the lounge being overcrowded and having terrible WiFi ...but unfortunately boarding was delayed ~20mins.

Boarding commenced and we were shown to our seats. I was immediately reminded just how massive and spacious Etihad Apartments are, it really is a ridiculous way to fly!

Picking the Best Seats

Whilst all seats in Etihad Apartments are fantastic, there are a few things you should be aware of if you are lucky enough to be flying Etihad Apartments.

Essentially there are two configurations for Apartments, if you look at the seat map above you will see that the seats alternate from being a window seat to being an aisle seat. The aisle seats are very far away from the window and offer slightly less privacy, hence I would high recommend you aim to book seat 4A, 3A, 3K or 4K. The non-aisle seats look something like this.

The other important thing to note if you are travelling as a couple is that you want to book one of the seat pairs, either 3A & 4A or 3K & 4K as they have a divider that comes down over the bed section.

The Flight

After settling in to our seats, we were offered a pre-departure beverage. I always think it would be rude to say no :) I ordered the champagne and Mrs B ordered an orange juice. Our drinks were delivered with a warm face towel and some dates.

I was pleased to see that Etihad is now offering WiFi vouchers to guests travelling in First Class. This was a welcome addition since last time we flew with them. Especially since Etihad have been making more cuts lately to on-board services.

Waiting in our seat was the new amenity kit from Acqua di Parma that was recently launched along with the brand new 'loungewear'. The amenity kit was nice, although fairly basic, with toothbrush, perfume, lip balm, socks and eye mask. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of them, but the new loungewear was excellent and some of the best airline pajamas I have worn.

Boarding was completed fairly quickly and we pushed back from the gate and were on our way to Abu Dhabi. The on-board chef came around while we were taxiing to the runway to explain the menu and dining options on board and offered to get us lunch after we were airborne. Etihad have a dine-on-demand system that allows you to order food whenever you want.

Shortly after the seatbelt sign was turned off we were offered another drink and some snacks. I decided to have another champagne while I perused the menu and decided on lunch.

We both decided to go for items off the lounge and grill menu for lunch rather than getting a three-course meal. I ordered the Steak Frites and Mrs B ordered the Steak Sandwich. The food was delicious and well presented, dining in first class is really quite an experience and far more than just eating a quick meal.

After lunch Mrs B went back to her own apartment to continue reading her book and I turned on the airshow and settled in to get some work done.

This flight was over so quickly, and before we knew it, we were preparing for landing! 7 hours really isn't enough time to enjoy Etihad apartments.

Overall it was a great flight and lived up to our exceptions and memories of our first experience on Etihad.

Our flight was scheduled to depart from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 10:35 am, so we got to the airport around 8 am. Check-in was a breeze with a dedicated desk for first-class passengers.

After making our way through security and border control, we popped out in the middle of a duty-free store, and directly opposite was the entry to the lounges in terminal C.

The four lounges in terminal C are all accessed by the same corridor. At the end of the corridor, there is stairs or a lift to take you up to the second level and lounge entries. The lounge entries are around a balcony that looks back down to the terminal with an impressive hanging sculpture as the centrepiece.

The entrance to the Etihad Lounge looked identical to the lounge entry in Sydney, and it is a combined Business class and First class lounge.

The lounge was quite full given that there was only the one flight out that morning. But I suppose an A380 does have quite a few business class guests, not to mention anyone that had status. With the lounge so crowded it was hard to take photos, so this review will be limited.

The lounge had several seating areas that we broken up by bookcases and semi-hollow walls. There was also a restaurant seating area with tables and chairs, unfortunately I didn't get a photo as it was full of people.

In terms of breakfast options, there was a buffet with a selection of hot and cold food, along with a coffee and tea station. None of the food looked overly appealing so we stuck with coffee and decided we would wait to eat on the plane.

I tried to get some work done in the lounge but the WiFi was absolutely terrible and completely useless. We later discovered that the free WiFi in the terminal was 10x faster.

The lounge had nice bathroom and shower facilities available if you wanted to freshen up before the flight.

These is also a fairly descent play room for kids that is very similar to the one in the Sydney lounge as well as a small business center with two computers and printing facilities.

As Paris is an A380 destination for Etihad, the lounge has a separate room / section at the back that is reserved for any passengers flying in the Residence.

With the lounge so crowded and the crappy WiFi, we left early and explored the terminal whilst we waited for our whalejet to be ready.

During the Paris part of our trip, we ended up staying at a great little hotel called 'The Drawing' in the 1st Arrondissement. My original plan was to stay at the Hilton and try our luck on an upgrade again, but the rates were crazy, the cheapest room started at $650aud a night. I found The Drawing hotel via Agoda and not only was it reasonably priced, but it looked relatively new, which is always a plus.

The hotel had a 24-hour manned reception that was very helpful, we asked them a few times to make bookings for us at restaurants or order a cab, and they were always happy to help.

We booked the standard room, which unsurprisingly was very small but was cosy and well laid out. The only challenge we had was what to do with our large suitcases, but we made it work in the end.

The in-room Nespresso machine was a nice touch!

The bathroom was small, but very functional and clean.

The bar and restaurant on the ground floor did offer a buffet-style breakfast every morning, but we opted to go to a local cafe just up the road called Baguette's cafe. They had this fantastic breakfast special that came with juice, coffee, fresh croissants and baguette. It was so good we ended up spending most of our mornings there.

One of the best things about the hotel was its location. It was nestled in a great spot, close to a metro station and walking distance to the Louvre.

The other great feature of the Drawing hotel was the rooftop patio that was open to all guests. It was a lovely place to have a quiet drink and watch the sunset over the Parisian skyline. We purchased some drinks from a nearby bottle shop, and the bar staff downstairs were quite happy to provide classes and a wine cooler bucket for us to take to the rooftop.

I would happily recommend the Drawing hotel to anyone. It was reasonably priced, new and in a great location.