Philip Bergqvist

About a year ago, my AwardFares co-founder and I booked round-trip First Class flights to Singapore during the special deal that was being offered by Lufthansa at the time. Our trip was initially booked on code-share Singapore Airlines flights in both directions, however, thanks to a cancellation and schedule change we were able to rebook our outbound flight in order to try SWISS First as well.

A true bucket list item, and one of the best cabins in the sky. Here’s a detailed summary of our recent experience on Singapore Airlines’ First Class Suites from Singapore to Frankfurt.

Delta now offers quite a few routes to Tokyo, including Seattle (SEA), Los Angeles (LAX), Minneapolis (MSP), Detroit (DTW), Atlanta (ATL), and Honolulu (HNL). All routes fly to Haneda (HND). However, the new Delta One Suites are only available on two planes Delta flies: the Airbus A350-900 and the Airbus A330-900neo. On the routes crossing the Pacific to Asia, Australia, and Oceania, you’re basically guaranteed to be on a plane with the new Delta One Suites. For other routes, you’ll have to check carefully what aircraft/cabin is being used!

On a recent trip out of Tokyo Haneda (HND) airport, I had a chance to visit the Delta Sky Club for the first time. Their lounge in Tokyo is actually the only international location offered by Delta, and it might be one of the best Delta Sky Club lounges I’ve visited.

With the upcoming transition for SAS from Star Alliance to SkyTeam, there are opportunities to keep your status with Star Alliance by status matching your current EuroBonus status to other programs. One of the best options is the Miles & More status match offered by Lufthansa.

On a recent trip between Tokyo and the US west coast, I tried ZIPAIR for the first time. The airline is a low-cost carrier owned by Japan Airlines (JAL). However, what makes ZIPAIR extra interesting (compared to other LCCs) is that they offer premium seating options with full-flat “Business class” seats.

I had to make a last-minute flight booking on a recent trip between Taipei and Tokyo. There are many airlines on this route, with Japanese airlines like ANA and JAL and Taiwanese carriers like EVA Air, China Airlines, and STARLUX. Unfortunately, STARLUX tickets are usually much more expensive, but the prices were roughly the same on this occasion, so it was a perfect time to finally get to try STARLUX. The narrow-body A321neo was the cheapest option, but STARLUX actually operates all of their different aircraft types on this route, including the A350 and A330-300neo.

I was looking to book a flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Copenhagen (CPH) and remembered I still had some miles in my Delta SkyMiles account. Luckily, it was just enough for a one-way Economy redemption on KLM, which I found thanks to the new Delta SkyMiles integration in AwardFares.

I had been monitoring award availability to fly back to Europe for Christmas. During the middle of October (two months before the departure date), some Business class seats opened up on SK984, the SAS flight from Haneda (HND) to Copenhagen (CPH).

During the past couple of months it’s been especially difficult finding Business Class redemptions between Europe and Tokyo. However, thanks to one of my AwardFares alerts, I was lucky to discover one day that there were 2 seats available from CPH to HND via BKK, which I snagged immediately!

I recently booked a last minute award trip from Europe to Tokyo. On hand I was very happy that my AwardFares alert notified me that two business class seats became available on the date I wanted. However, on the other hand, it was with Lufthansa, a business class product I haven’t really heard great things about. In any case, I’m always happy to try something new!

I recently had a very long journey back to Europe from Taipei. Due to lack of any better award availability, I ended up booking a route taking me from Taipei to Barcelona via Vienna and Frankfurt. While definitely not the quickest route, it at least gave me a chance to try a nice variety of airlines (EVA Air, Austrian, and Lufthansa).

On a recent trip to Tokyo I ended up initially booking an economy flight with Finnair. However, I was surprised to see that I was able to upgrade from economy to business for only €350! That was definitely too good to pass up on, especially since I had been looking forward to try Finnair’s new “non-reclining” business class seats.

One of the best ways of booking your perfect award trip is to plan far in advance. While most airlines continuously release new award seats throughout the year, it’s always best to book as soon as you have set dates for your trip. Additionally, most loyalty programs are quite flexible when it comes to award bookings, often allowing you to cancel them with minimal fees. It’s better to have a ticket booked than to leave points idling in your account.

One of the great perks of having Oneworld Emerald status it that gives you access to many great first class lounges around the world. Prior to a late evening Finnair departure out of Haneda I was able to enjoy a couple of hours in the JAL First Class lounge at Haneda (HND) in Tokyo.

After having recently acquired my SkyTeam Elite Plus status, through the Delta Skymiles status-match program (matching my BA Executive Gold), I was looking forward to try my first long-haul SkyTeam flight onboard Taiwan’s state-owned carrier. A long 13.5 hour flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) and then connecting onwards to Tokyo.

Most of far East Asia is unfortunately still closed (Taiwan, Japan, China). However, South Korea is open, and fairly easy to visit now. Before your trip, make sure you apply for your K-ETA online. As of August 2022, you also need a pre-departure COVID test (PCR max 2 days before, or Antigen max 1 day before your flight). You’ll also want to apply for a Q-code online (so that you don’t have to fill out the health declaration by hand). At this time, you also have to take an arrival PCR test. Be sure to make a reservation in advance (read more about that below).

Singapore Airlines (SQ) is a great airline and serves as a major hub in Asia, serving North America, Europe, and Oceania. Finding award redemptions has always been tricky, but since the start of the COVID pandemic, redeeming award flights on Singapore Airlines through partner programs has become even more difficult and with many restrictions.

After a long break during the COVID-19 pandemic, THAI First Class redemptions are finally back to an increasing number of routes. The first route to receive First Class was the London route, back in April of 2022. Now, Tokyo is also available, and Osaka is coming in September 2022.

Some exciting news from EVA Air, who have announced they will be launching a brand new route connecting Taipei and Munich. The Milano route is now also officially resuming after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’re glad to finally release a couple of new features that we’ve been working on for quite a while! Today we’re releasing three brand new features:

EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands program offers fantastic value, but its award redemptions can be quirky. I recently made my first award redemption using their frequent flyer program, and the process was not straightforward, especially since I was booking a flight for two people, myself and a travel companion.

On April 1, 2022 Malaysia completely opened their border to foreign travelers, without any quarantine for those who are fully vaccinated. The process was however much easier said than done. The main requirements are:

For a recent trip in between Vancouver (YVR) and San Francisco (SFO) in March of 2022, I chose to fly with Air Canada in Business on their 737 MAX 8. I wasn’t really sure what to expect for this short Business flight, however my expectations were definitely exceeded.

Earlier this year, in February, SAS announced that they will start to fly from Stockholm (ARN) and Copenhagen (CPH) to Toronto (YYZ). Award tickets were finally released and made available to book!

Recently while trying to book a flight back to Asia from North America I was happy to find that there were a lot of award seats available right now. I mostly checked departures from the West Coast of North America, traveling from Vancouver, San Francisco or Los Angeles, to destinations such as Tokyo, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taipei. Primarily served by United, ANA, EVA, and Air Canada.

Today’s journey started months ago when I read that Taiwan’s flag carrier, China Airlines, would be arranging a special 747 farewell flight as they would be retiring their 747 fleet. Furthermore, this wasn’t just a regular “flight to nowhere”. The goal was to fly to Japan, passing the iconic Mt. Fuji, and then return to Taiwan. Since I’m currently living in Taiwan I thought I would try to get a ticket on this special flight.

A simple tool that helps you analyze and forecast your SAS EuroBonus activity. Simply import your point activity from your EuroBonus profile. All calculations are performed directly in your browser. Your data is kept private and is not uploaded/processed by our servers.

Back in January I flew Japan Airlines (JAL) from Seoul Gimpo (GMP) to Tokyo Haneda (HND). It was definitely one of the better economy flights I’ve experienced recently. From the crew and cabin, to the seat and food, everything was excellent. My only complaint was not being able to choose my seats in advance. Read more about that below.

The recent 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19) is definitely having a large impact on the travel and airlines. Whether you’re currently travelling or planning to travel there are many different aspects that may affect you, including suspended flight services and country travel restrictions.

Many of us have miles sitting unused because finding seats feels overwhelming. That’s why we built AwardFares: to make award travel easy.It doesn’t matter if you’re new to the world of points and miles or you are planning your hundredth redemption, this guide shows you how to search smarter, set alerts, plan trips, and see exactly what’s available before you book.

Haneda International Airport in Tokyo offers tours of the aircraft maintenance facilities. There are two tours available, one operated by ANA and the other by their main competitor JAL. Both are free but you need to make a reservation ahead of time. Note that the tours are in Japanese only but are still suitable for non-Japanese speakers.

After flying economy to New Zealand I decided it was worth to spend some miles on a business class flight back to Europe. With some luck I managed to find a routing via Taipei and Paris. The first leg of the journey from Auckland to Taipei was an Air New Zealand flight in a 787-9 Dreamliner in Business Premier.

This was my first time flying Qatar Airways and it was probably the longest economy flight I had ever taken. The trip consisted a 6 hour flight to Doha followed by a 16 hour flight to Auckland.