|

IAD-ORD-HKG-CGK-SIN-BKK-MNL-BKK-KUL-BKK-NRT-IAD: 2 Weeks and 25,692 miles later…

No, this was not a crazy mileage-run, nor did I lose a bet. I just did this crazy business trip to South-East Asia, covering 5 countries in 2 weeks. It did add over 33k RDM to my mileage balance and almost 28k EQM towards Elite status! The flights were all Star Alliance (yay!), except for one leg on Cathay Pacific. 25,692 was the actual BIS (butt-in-seat) miles flown. All but the Chicago – Hong Kong flights were in non-lie-flat seats (yes, my back hurts just thinking about it).Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 5.11.42 PM.png

It was a series of firsts for me – first trip to South-East Asia, first trip South of the equator (Jakarta), first trip on a Asian airline that was not from India (Cathay Pacific), first 15 hour plus flight (ORD-HKG), First Trans-Pacific flight (ORD-HKG) and first time crossing the international date line. And of course, first time earning what would be Silver status in just two weeks.

Here is a list of my flights:

Leg 1: Washington Dulles (IAD) to Jakarta (CGK) – IAD-ORD-HKG-CGK:

Washington Dulles – Chicago O’Hare: IAD-ORD: United – 589 Miles flown – 1030 RDM – 883 EQM (B fare – CPU upgraded)

Chicago O’Hare – Hong Kong: ORD-HKG: United – 7787 Miles flown – 13,626 RDM – 11,680 EQM (B fare – GPU upgraded)

Hong Kong – Jakarta: HKG – CGK: Cathay Pacific – 2015 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on British Airways)

Leg 2: Jakarta (CGK) to Singapore (SIN) – CGK-SIN:

Jakarta – Singapore: CGK – SIN: Singapore Airlines – 555 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Leg 3: Singapore (SIN) to Bangkok (BKK) – SIN-BKK:

Singapore – Bangkok: SIN-BKK: Singapore Airlines – 898 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 5.11.53 PM.png

Leg 4: Bangkok (BKK) to Manila (MNL) – BKK-MNL:

Bangkok – Manila: BKK-MNL: THAI International – 1369 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Leg 5: Manila (MNL) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – MNL-BKK-KUL:

Manila – Bangkok: MNL-BKK: THAI International – 1369 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Bangkok – Kuala Lumpur: BKK-KUL: THAI International – 771 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Leg 6: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Washington Dulles (IAD) – KUL-BKK-NRT-IAD:

Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok: KUL-BKK: THAI International – 771 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Bangkok – Tokyo Narita: BKK-NRT: THAI International – 2887 Miles flown/RDM/EQM (Earned on United)

Tokyo Narita – Washington Dulles: NRT-IAD: ANA – 6753 Miles flown – 11,817 RDM – 6753 EQM (Earned on United)

Whew! I am getting tired just typing that up. The flights were across two weeks with a nights spent in Jakarta (2 nights), Singapore (1 night), Bangkok (3 nights), Manila (2 nights) and Kuala Lumpur (3 nights).

The trip got me to Platinum Elite on United and to over 84k EQM for the year, setting me up for 1K. This will be the first time I will hit 1K in a non-DEQM (Double Elite Qualifying Mile) promotion year! I will review some of these flights and hotel stays in future posts. I have already posted pictures of planes I took at Hong Kong airport during my stop-over there. Enjoy!

Have you taken a crazy trip like this? What has been your most complex trip? Share by leaving a comment.

Check out the latest Credit Card Offers on my dedicated Credit Card page.

Subscribe to get updates via email. Subscribe to get updates via RSS.

Join more than 6,500 followers we have on Twitter and Facebook and get regular updates on Airline Miles, the Airline Industry and other travel related stuff.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

5 Comments

  1. @H, the only upgraded flights were IAD-ORD in dom First and ORD-HKG in lie-flot Biz. Rest were all economy. Tried real hard to get BKK-NRT and NRT-IAD upgraded using Star Alliance upgrade award, but no luck

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *