Australia trip report: Introduction

This trip was booked last minute. I had planned on visiting Australia in December, until I discovered I’d only accrued about 3 days of vacation. Hardly enough to cover the flight there and back. Nonetheless, my parents were going to visit family and attend my cousin’s wedding so I had to book their flights.

• Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Review
• United Club Lounge + United Global First 747 Honolulu – Tokyo
• Thai Airways First Class A380 Tokyo – Bangkok Review
• Thai Airways Royal First Class Lounge & Spa Bangkok Review
• Thai Airways First Class 747 Bangkok to Sydney Review
• Christmas Eve on Darling Harbour
• Park Hyatt Sydney Opera King Room Review
• Park Hyatt Sydney: Room Service and Breakfast at The Dining Room
• Sydney Opera House and Manly Beach
• Hilton Sydney Review
• Air New Zealand Lounge + United 747 First Class: Sydney – San Francisco
• 6 Observations about Sydney

Award flights to Australia are notoriously hard to find. I’d been searching the United tool since August and the calendar was just blank. As the departure date approached, space started to open up. The best way to get around the lack of availability was to book through Asia. United had great availability in Global First between San Francisco and Tokyo. So I booked my parents on a 747 to Tokyo, where they would have a two-hour layover before continuing on to Bangkok on the Thai Airways A380. After an 8 hour layover, it would be on to Sydney on a Thai Airways 747. I knew they’d enjoy the last two segments of the trip, as Thai Airways’ first class product is supposed to be nice and their Bangkok lounge is one of the best. Plus, with the United devaluation and US Airways merger coming up, it was time to unload those Dividend Miles on an award that wouldn’t be possible come February 1/March 30.

My parents enjoyed it so much, I decided I needed to try it out- especially the A380. Initially, I found a  Business Class seat on the ANA Dreamliner out of San Jose to Tokyo, the Thai Airways A380 to Bangkok (First), and the Thai Airways 747 to Sydney (First). However, getting to San Jose would have been a hassle for whoever was taking me to the airport, and eventually, the seat was taken before I got a chance to put it on hold. In a time crunch, I got the ok from my boss to go on this trip as long as I got my work done. This would mean waking up at 5 AM every morning, but it was better than not going at all. And so, with 135,000 miles roundtrip (after a 5,000 mile discount from the US Airways card), I was all set to fly the following route:

• SFO – HNL (staying overnight) United Global First 777
• HNL – NRT United Global First 747
• NRT – BKK Thai Airways First A380
• BKK – SYD Thai Airways 747
• SYD – SFO United Global First 747

The only downside was that there was no availability for a good two weeks after the New Year and since US Airways doesn’t allow one-way awards (or changes to an itinerary after a trip has started), I had to settle for a December 31 return. I’d miss New Year’s Eve in Sydney, but sometimes when you’re booking on miles, you have to make sacrifices. I had an amazing trip and though I probably won’t be able to repeat it within the Star Alliance network, I’m grateful for the experience. In upcoming posts, I’ll go over each segment, my stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney, my observations of the city, and my desire to move there for good…

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