Trip Reports

On one of my recent trips, I had the chance to plan a quick stopover in Amsterdam, a city I love. I was looking for a hotel near Schiphol Airport, as my flights were both landing late at night and departing very early in the morning. That’s something I’ve done many times, and there are plenty of options to choose from, even inside the airport terminal. However, this time one caught my attention: Corendon Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, a Tribute Portfolio hotel that was recently opened, and has a large 747-400 sitting in its yard. Without overthinking, I booked it right away and got excited about testing this out. Here’s my experience, let’s dive in!

This is one of KLM’s fifth freedom flights that runs 7x a week between Buenos Aires and Santiago. I had to go to Chile for business. When considering all the options, I was not only curious to try KLM’s service on this route and compare it to the long-haul version, but I also saw that there was a lot of availability on these flights with EuroBonus points. At a great rate, given that EB still has a region-based award chart, you can pretty much travel across the entire South America for the same price.

Japan Airlines markets its Business Class as “Sky Suites,” a name that promises privacy and luxury. But on a long-haul flight from Tokyo to Helsinki, does this flagship product live up to the hype, or is it falling behind competitors? I put it to the test to find out.

In this trip report, I share the details of my recent flight from Copenhagen to Paris with Air France. Interestingly, they switched the plane last minute from an A320 to a 318, so I got the chance to fly this shorter version. Overall, my experience was good and smooth. Let’s dive in!

A summary of my flight from London to Copenhagen with SAS in Economy Class (SAS Go) aboard their A320neo. As I was connecting internationally from the US, I had to switch terminals at LHR, and go through security. I also managed to try the Plaza Premium Lounge while I was waiting for my plane to board. Here’s a quick rundown of my experience.

Air Europa is one of the few carriers that operate the 787 on short-haul flights within Europe, from Madrid to Amsterdam, Barcelona, and a few other destinations. As part of my EuroBonus Millionaire challenge, I could do a quick back-and-forth to Madrid and test out their Economy Class cabin on their 787-9 and their 737-800. Here’s a quick roundup of my experience, comparing the service and comfort.

On my recent trip pursuing the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire challenge, I had to fly back from Jakarta to Seoul with Vietnam Airlines. The stopovers and schedules were not the best, with options via both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. I went for the latter one, given that I could get the chance to try both their A321 and 787-10, a variant I’ve never tried before. Here’s a detailed recap of my experience with Vietnam Airlines, from Jakarta (CGK) to Ho Chi Minh (SGN) on an A321-200. You can check the review of the second flight here. Let’s start!

Here’s a detailed recap of my experience on Vietnam Airlines’ 787-10, the first time I tried this variant, from Ho Chi Minh (SGN) to Seoul Incheon (ICN). This flight was the second leg of my itinerary from Jakarta to Seoul with Vietnam Airlines (as part of my SAS EuroBonus Millionaire challenge). You can check the review of the previous flight here. Let’s start!

Here’s a summary of my recent flight with China Eastern from Beijing (PEK) to Shanghai (SHA). Despite being a short flight (~1 hour), I was surprised they operated it using a massive 777-300ER. The flight was cheap, departed, and arrived on time, and the service was solid. They even gave us a hot meal with coffee or tea. Kudos to the China Eastern team! Let’s dive into the details.

Here’s a recap of my recent experience on a long domestic flight with Aerolíneas Argentinas from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia (the southernmost city in the world). I flew this route in Premium Economy (domestic Business Class) many times. This time I was flying Economy. The plan was full, as it was close to Christmas, and plenty of people were traveling for the holidays. The overall experience was smooth and nothing surprising. The crew was warm and friendly. I didn’t get any of the spectacular views this time because it was cloudy on arrival.

Trying Xiamen AIR was not something at the top o my wishlist, but I had to reprioritize that as part of my EuroBonus Millionaire challenge: it was one of SkyTeam airlines that I needed to fly. From all the airlines in China, Xiamen was the ones I was the least excited about, especially after the few reviews I saw online. Also because I was flying domestic instead of long-haul, it made it even less exciting. However, and despite it wasn’t the most glamorous experience, the airline was solid and everything went smooth. Here’s a detailed recap of my experience.

With Korean Air, this short hop from Seoul to Beijing was a breeze. I had a great time onboard; the plane was spotless, the crew was overly attentive, the meal was delicious, and the on-time performance made it a solid option. Plus, the experience at Seoul Incheon was smooth and efficient. Here are all the details.

Here’s my recent experience flying Kenya Airways’ fifth-freedom route from Guangzhou (CAN), China, to Bangkok (BKK), Thailand, in Economy Class. This late-night 2.5-hour flight serves as a technical stop before continuing to Nairobi (NBO). I took this flight as part of my ambitious challenge to earn one million EuroBonus points with SAS and SkyTeam by flying 23 flights across 16 SkyTeam airlines in just 14 days.

In my quest to earn one million EuroBonus Points with SAS and SkyTeam, I flew from Bangkok (BKK) to Jakarta (CGK) on Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 737-800, taking advantage of a last-minute Business Class upgrade for around $90 USD. It was worth every cent. Garuda Indonesia delivered an impressive experience, living up to their reputation for world-class hospitality.

Here’s my recent experience on SWISS First Class from Zurich to Singapore. I was excited to try SWISS service on their 777-300ER and compare it to Lufthansa’s First, which I’ve flown a few times in the past.

As the final leg of my EuroBonus Millionaire adventure, I was flying Aeromexico’s Business Class from Mexico City to Buenos Aires on their newer Boeing 787-9. I was excited to try out this cabin, compare it to their 787-8, and see their renowned Sky Bar. Here’s a full breakdown of how it went—from check-in to landing in Buenos Aires.

Long-haul flights are always a mix of excitement and curiosity, and this one didn’t disappoint. As part of my EuroBonus Millionaire trip, I got the chance to fly Aeromexico’s Business Class from Seoul to Mexico City on their Boeing 787 Dreamliner. What made it even cooler was being able to try out both the 787-8 and 787-9 cabins, complete with their famous Sky Bar. For 114.000 EuroBonus points, I was all set for this epic journey, which included a quick stop in Mexico City before heading to Buenos Aires.

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.

China Airlines is Taiwan’s largest airline, known for its friendly service and solid network of routes across Asia and beyond. The airline has over 15 Airbus A350s in its fleet (some of them with the ex-SAS Business cabin) and was recognized several times for their comfort and high standards of service.

For the second leg of my EuroBonus Millionaire challenge, I had to fly with Virgin Atlantic. I saw some extremely low fares (that counted towards the promotion) from New York to London, with a quick stop at Washington Dulles (IAD).

Right after the arrival of the first flight of my SAS EuroBonus Millionaire challenge, I had the chance to pay a long visit to the newly opened Delta One Lounge (flagship lounge) at New York JFK. The lounge was opened in July 2024, with only 3 of these opened so far (LAX and one more launching in Boston BOS on December 11). I was blown away by its comfort, level of service, and services provided.

Since 2024, Delta has operated their A330-900neo with Delta One Suites on their daily nonstop service from Buenos Aires (EZE) to New York (JFK), which makes perfect sense as the route is nearly 11 hours and serves plenty of business travelers between the two cosmopolitan cities.

Traveling back from Japan recently I had the opportunity to fly Finnair’s Premium Economy from Tokyo Narita to Helsinki. Here’s a review of my experience.

Overall, my experience with Cathay Pacific was good. There are some highlights and some odd downsides. The cabin is comfortable, although not in the greatest of layouts. The food is very good, and the staff is friendly and courteous, although service can sometimes feel a bit rushed. The IFE is really bad on their older 777 models, although it’s been improved on newer planes. They offer plenty of options on board for both food and drinks, all of them of great quality.

When looking for return flights after my summer holidays, I explored several routing options on both SAS and partner airlines using EuroBonus points. I knew this would probably be one of my last redemptions on Star Alliance, so I carefully looked into interesting flights and cabins. Finally, I decided to book on SAS due to the convenient pricing and the free upgrade thanks to the FlyPremium benefit.

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 journey back from Japan, I was excited to fly with All Nippon Airways (ANA) for the first time. Although I didn’t manage to try The Room, I was looking forward to experiencing ANA’s hospitality and particularly comparing it to my recent flight with JAL in the A350-1000. When I arrived at the gate, I found that my 787-9 had a special Star Wars livery, which made the trip extra special. Here’s a recap of my flight.

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.

While Lufthansa recently started the rollout of their Allegris product, it’s far from done, and in fact, the First Class cabin still needs to be updated. That being said, the current Lufthansa First Class is still a great product, and I was lucky enough to fly it from Munich to Boston.

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 recently had the chance to make my first round-the-world trip, starting from the south of Argentina, going to Tokyo and back. As I was assembling the itinerary, I realized there was an opportunity to go via New York (JFK) and take Japan Airlines to Tokyo Haneda, operated by their new flagship, A350-1000. The flight runs daily, but some days are still operated by a 777, so even though the plan was exciting, there was still a chance that they changed the equipment last minute.

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.

This review is a bit unusual as we usually review airlines. Still, we figured it would fit the blog since China Rail offers a Business Class product on their high-speed trains, intended to compete with domestic air travel.

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).

United recently finished their Polaris Business rollout to all planes in their fleet. It’s a new concept for their business class product spanning everything from lounges to cabins to food and drink. I recently tried it out on a flight from Washington to São Paulo.

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.

With great fanfare, SAS opened a new route from CPH to JFK and I was able to snag a seat in business class on their opening night. This route is part of SAS’ new strategy of flying more point-to-point routes to the US with their smaller A321LR (Long Range). They use this plane on routes from Gothenburg and Aalborg to Newark as well as on several routes from the Nordics to Washington DC and Toronto. The aircraft offers a full 3 class configuration even though it’s a relatively small single aisle aircraft. This has some pros and cons as you will see in this review.

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.

Earlier this year I was trying to book a flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I was checking AwardFares for seats available using my SAS EuroBonus points. I saw two seats available in Business Class with Copa Airlines, and I booked them right away.

After many cancellations and with the latest crunch on Eurobonus award seats to the US this trip was close to not being possible at all. But as luck would have it Austrian had some availability in business class on one of their shorter long haul routes to Montreal. I had not heard much about this airline’s business class service so my expectations were not very high, but I was happy to find they were greatly surpassed!

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).

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.

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.

On a trip back in March I was able to upgrade from their premium economy (SAS Plus) for a relatively low cost (About 20 000 Eurobonus points). I’ve flown SAS Business a number of times before and as a result this review will be a mix of my different experiences, however with focus on the latest flight.

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.

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.

I was recently offered a surprise operational upgrade on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon. This gave me a great opportunity to try out Lufthansa’s short haul business class. Since this was a surprise upgrade, and the business class part of the cabin is the same as the economy class, the review will be a bit shorter than usual.

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.

I recently had the opportunity to try Lufthansa’s Premium Economy in their A380 between Munich and Hong Kong. This is a brief review of the flight (Both there an back in combination).