V-Flyer

My original plans for this winter did not include any significant travel. That is to say, I had no plans to leave North America. I did have two weeks worth of mileage runs booked for late January, and later in March Ive got to be in Colorado for surgery and rehab on my hand. Beyond that, I had no plans other than doing the occasional odd job, relaxing and enjoying a nice cold Alaskan winter up at latitude 65N.

Its been a pretty cold winter, too. January temperatures in Fairbanks were in the 10_ to 35_ Fahrenheit range all month. Thats right ~ it never really got much warmer than about 10_ Fahrenheit over the entire month of January. Truth be known, the seasonal norms for this time of year are in the 25_ to 0_F range, so although it was pretty darned cold by most peoples standards, it really wasnt much of an imposition on local Fairbanksans.

To be sure, it wasnt like January of 1989 when the mercury plunged into the -50_ to -65_ range and stayed there for three weeks. Thankfully I was in New Zealand for that cold snap but I heard about it on the world news each night. A few years later however, I was in town for a prolonged cold snap during which temperatures stayed in the -40_ to -50_ range for a couple of weeks. I distinctly remember how thrilled we all were when the weatherman promised that it would warm up to -25_F over the weekend. For what its worth, the coldest temperature Ive ever experienced in Fairbanks was -67_F.

Most cold snaps only stick around a week or two before moving on. The fact that this one decided to stay with us all month made it that much easier to give serious consideration to burning a few of my award miles for a short February trip. After all, by the time I finished my upcoming mileage runs and returned to Fairbanks in early February, Id have over 400,000 miles in my Mileage Plan account. Id only have a month before I had to be down in Colorado, so why not go somewhere during the interim?

Id been toying with the idea of trying out Northwests World Business Class over to Singapore, whereupon Id catch the train north to Kuala Lumpur and beyond to Butterworth, Bangkok and Chang Mai. There was no set timetable for this trip I gave equal consideration to doing it either this winter or possibly even next autumn.

Two things happened that put the Asia trip on the back burner. First I received a couple of emails from friends working down in Antarctica. Their seasonal contracts with Raytheon Support Services at McMurdo Sound would be ending soon and so theyd be heading up to Christchurch in mid-February. Perhaps we might get together for a bit of traveling about the South Island?

The second thing that influenced my decision to head back to the Southwest Pacific was British Airways announced plans to discontinue service to Melbourne as of March 28th. Reports are also surfacing that BA is strongly considering dropping its service into Sydney as well, choosing instead to focus on the London to Singapore market and allow fellow OneWorld partner Qantas to transport via codeshare any Australia bound passengers beyond Singapore.

I truly believe that the British Airways First Class Award to Australia, as offered per Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, is one of the great air travel bargains available today. It requires the redemption of only 150,000 miles and from North America to Australia routes through London and Singapore, both of which are excellent hubs for inexpensive travel into either Europe or Asia. With one stopover allowed on this award, a stopover in either London or Singapore allows one to also visit either Asia or Europe in addition to Australia.

No doubt, the more pragmatic amongst us would consider BAs marathon routing to Australia unthinkable for travel originating in North America. Certainly, I could have taken Qantas First Class for only 135,000 miles, but on those rare instances when I get to travel in International First Class, I get every bit as excited about getting there as I am about being there. From a service standpoint, theres just not that much offered aboard those late night nonstops to New Zealand or Australia. For me, the highlight of any trip in First Class is the meal service and on those late night trans-Pacific nonstops you get a late supper and a full breakfast. Thats it. Your international First Class experience to Australia is over after only fourteen hours, much of which you slept through anyway. I want more. Over the course of the trip Ill be served three dinners and three breakfasts. As an added bonus, Ill have plenty of time to indulge in the comfort and amenities of three different First Class lounges, including BAs superlative Concorde Room at Heathrows Terminal 4.

Flying British Airways between North America and Australia allows me to enjoy almost 32,000 miles and 60 hours of a First Class product that has earned a reputation as one of the finest services aloft. No doubt its lost a bit of its luster over the past five years, but it remains ranked amongst the top ten in the world and is still light years ahead of anything offered by US carriers. Indeed, most cognoscenti also rate BAs FIRST ahead of Qantas.

The only downside to this trip is that I wont be able to spend any time in Australia. My connection on to Christchurch is relatively short both on the outbound and on the return. Though I had no problem coordinating my reservations between British Airways and JetStar on the outbound, it was a little more difficult matching dates and flight availability on the return. Im actually returning about a week earlier than Id like due to quite limited First Class availability between Melbourne and London. While I was fortunate to find a decently priced ticket back to Melbourne that matched up (barely) with my BA flight on to London, I was unable to find any decently priced seats on the day or two prior to my departure from Melbourne. Interestingly, the Emirates website showed a $116.00 one way special out of Auckland, but I was never able to get through to the reservations page on the Emirates website. Two phone calls to Emirates reservations produced the equivalent of a blank stare. Too bad. I would like to have flown on their A340-500, if only for a chance to have gotten a look at that magnificent First Class cabin. As for New Zealand, Ill get to spend all of sixteen days there.

So then, enough of this lengthy preamble. Lets head on out to the airport and get this trip underway. Weve got over 20,000 miles to travel across twenty-two time zones. Food service will be minimal between Fairbanks and Phoenix, so you might want to grab a sandwich and a beer now. Save some room though, because canap_s and cocktails will be served out of Phoenix, followed by a six-course dinner. Bon apetite!

By the way, pictures of all the food can be found HERE