Introduction: A Return To East Asia On A Very Special New Aircraft

Welcome to my next trip report, which will recount my recent brief trip to Japan and South Korea. The entire trip was built around one flight: flying in first class on the brand-new JAL A350-1000. Yet I managed to maximize my few days away from home with additional flights and two excellent hotel stays. 

JAL A350-1000 Trip Report

I had been tracking award space closely between New York (JFK) and Tokyo (HND) for several days and all of a sudden, there it was: a first class award seat on the new A350-1000, JAL’s flagship product. For only 80,000 miles I was able to secure this award—a ticket that retails for well over $10K. I was even able to add a connection to Seoul (GMP) for no extra miles, giving me the chance to review JAL’s 787-9 as well.

As I outlined earlier, my hope was to fly home in Korean Air First Class, either on the A380-800 or 748-8i. I’m still sitting on 80,000 miles from when Korean SkyPass was a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner and I’d love to use those before they expire.

Unfortunately, Korean Air has apparently blocked all first class space after Korean regulators essentially forced Korean Air to rescind its plans to devalue its award chart. Thus, the price may still be “only” 80K but there is no award space at all and my waitlists to Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta failed to clear despite many open seats (Korean allows you to waitlist for awards, but does not clear them…).

With no Korean Air space home, I looked into fly home via San Francisco on United Airlines or taking ZipAir to Tokyo (a new airline to review) and then staying a night using a Hyatt free night certificate at the Andaz Toranomon Hills (a property I have yet to review) or even at the famed Park Hyatt in its final week of operation before it closed for refurbishment.

Ultimately, I chose to get home a day earlier and fly via Seoul since I had already sat around for two days waiting for Korean Air award space to open.

Thus, I bought a last-minute one-way ticket on United Airlines in premium economy ($1221) and upgraded to Polaris business class for 30 PlusPoints. That turned out to be a lovely flight with the best crew of the year thus far (and I’ve had several excellent crews).

I spent two nights in Seoul—my first time back in over a decade—and quite enjoyed both the Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt.

By the way, AA’s award routing rules are generous, but not overly generous. There was “saver – U class” business class space from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York which I tried to add onto the JFK-HND-GMP award, but the system would not price it and the rate desk deemed it an invalid award.

Thus, I bought a $180 ticket on JetBlue from Burbank (BUR) to New York on the Airbus A220 (a route JetBlue will abandon this autumn). A redeye flight in coach is never ideal, but I figured I’d be getting on a 14-hour journey in first class a few hours after landing and could catch up on rest.

You can look forward to the following segments in this trip report:

• JetBlue A220 Economy Class (BUR-JFK)
• Why My First Stop At JFK After A Redeye Is The TWA Hotel
• Greenwich Lounge New York (JFK)
• JAL A350-1000 First Class (JFK-HND)
• JAL First Class Lounge Tokyo Haneda (HND)
• JAL 787-9 Business Class (HND-GMP)
• Grand Hyatt Seoul
• Great Coffee In Seoul
• Taco Bell In Seoul (yeah, yeah…)
• Park Hyatt Seoul
• My Stressful Bus Trip To Seoul Incheon Airport
• Singapore Airlines Lounge Seoul (ICN)
• Asiana Business Lounge Seoul (ICN)
• United Airlines 787-9 Business Class (ICN-SFO)

I won’t review my final leg from San Francisco to Burbank, which was uneventful (and my upgrade did not clear).

As always, thank you for reading and do let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to focus on.

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