Mission Accomplished! (Greg’s Million Mile Madness trip journal)

Today I flew home on Japan Airlines (JAL) first class, and I accomplished my secret mission. No, it wasn’t the flight itself, it was the whiskey. What does that mean? Read below for the full scoop…

November 17th: Flying Home in Style

Hibiki 100th

A couple of years ago, the entire Frequent Miler team flew ANA first class as a “party of 5”. We had the entire first class cabin to ourselves! While the whole flight was fantastic (party in the sky!), one memory really stands out above the others. As a group, we taste tested ANA’s entire selection of onboard whiskeys. Stephen declared that the Johnny Walker Blue was crap. And, indeed, compared to the topiest top shelf option, Hibiki 17, it was crap. The Hibiki was amazing. It’s also amazingly expensive and so that was both my first and last time trying Hibiki 17.

Recently I learned about Hibiki’s 100th Anniversary Suntory Whiskey. Hibiki created this special blend that is only available for purchase for first class passengers onboard one of the two main Japanese airlines: ANA or JAL. Talk about exclusive! Confusingly, there’s another Hibiki 100th Anniversary blend (Hibiki Harmony 100th Anniversary Limited Edition) which is available in select stores, but that blend is not considered nearly as good as the exclusive blend available only for purchase by first class passengers.

When I started developing my plans for the Million Mile Madness challenge, the Hibiki idea took root immediately. How cool would it be if I could end my challenge with a first class flight where I’d buy this special bottle? Our team has an in-person meeting coming up in January. How cool would it be to open the bottle there and share with the team? Talk about style points!

I designed my entire trip so that I would finish the 15 SkyTeam carriers in Japan so that I could then fly home on either ANA or JAL first class. Of course, I couldn’t literally fly all the way home: neither carrier flies to Detroit. The hope was to fly to the United States in first class and then connect to another airline to fly home from there. I set alerts for every destination to which ANA and JAL fly first class to the United States: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and even Honolulu. Chicago was always my top choice since it’s closest to home, but I would have gladly flown to any of those destinations.

The problem with my plan was that neither airline released first class before my trip started. Nor did they release it in the days that followed. One exception: I had found and booked JAL first class Tokyo to Paris, but that made my return trip much longer than I’d hoped. After flying nonstop for 4 or 5 days I decided to cancel that booking. I was really tired of flying by then! By Friday, when award space still hadn’t opened in first class, I gave up and booked a business class flight home for Saturday evening. Hibiki just wasn’t in the cards.

Then… Finally, finally, finally!… On Saturday afternoon a friend messaged me: JAL first class to Chicago was open Sunday morning!!!! I grabbed it and canceled my other plans.

A fantastic flight

Flying JAL first class has been such a treat. The experience started at the airport where I was escorted through a new first-class-only security entrance; and I barely slowed down for the airport’s automated immigration system; and then I entered JAL’s first class lounge.

On board, the flight service and catering have been phenomenal. JAL does first class right!

I had purposely picked a seat that had an empty seat across the aisle. The reason? So that when it came time for my bed to be made up, they could make the empty seat my bedroom and I could keep my original seat as my living room for the duration of the flight. As expected, that was exactly what happened. That’s very convenient in case you want to alternate between napping and being upright.

Here are a few more photos from the flight. Good bye for now. It’s time for me to take a nap…

My final stats

Here are the details about all of the flights I took for this round-the-world adventure. Flights where I’ve already earned SAS miles are underlined below:

• Detroit to LaGuardia on Delta (1) for $325
• JFK to London on Virgin Atlantic (2) for $243
• London to Copenhagen on SAS (3) for $107
• Copenhagen to Amsterdam to Bucharest on KLM (4) for $168
• Bucharest to Madrid on TAROM (5) for $181
• Madrid to Amsterdam on Air Europa (6) for $228
• Amsterdam to Paris on Air France (7) for $265
• AA Award Flight: 62,500 AA miles + $142.93
  • Paris to Abu Dhabi on Etihad First Apartments (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
  • Abu Dhabi to Jeddah on Etihad business class (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Jeddah to Riyadh on Saudia (8) for $98
• AA Award Flight2: 40,000 AA miles + $75
  • Riyad to Doha to Jakarta on Qatar business class (non-SAS-qualifying flights)
• Jakarta to Bangkok on Garuda Indonesia (9) for $335
• Bangkok to Guangzhou on Kenya Airways (10) for $262 + $195 for biz upgrade
• Guangzhou to Hanoi on China Southern (non-SAS-qualifying flight) for $142
• Hanoi to Hong Kong on Vietnam Airlines (11) for $129
• Hong Kong to Hangzhou on China Eastern (12) for $170
• Hangzhou to Taipei on Xiamen Airlines (13) for $236 in business class
• Taipei to Seoul on China Airlines (14) for $239
• Seoul to Tokyo on Korean Air (15) for $271
• AA Award Flight: 80,000 AA miles + $43
  • Tokyo to Chicago on Japan Airlines first class (non-SAS-qualifying flights)
• Delta Award Flight: 25,500 Delta miles + $5.60
  • Chicago to Detroit on Delta Comfort+ (non-SAS-qualifying flights)

Previous Journal Entries

November 16th: Enjoying Tokyo & Changing Plans

Today was, by far, the most relaxing day of my trip. I didn’t have a single flight! Rather than rushing back and forth to airports (as has been my life for the past 7 days), I spent today enjoying Tokyo with a friend who happened to be in town at the same time. This morning, I thought that I would head home tonight, but thanks to a late-breaking tip, I decided to stay a second night in Tokyo. Read all about it, below…

A leisurely day

I arrived in Tokyo late last night on my final flight required to earn 1 million SAS miles. I then checked in to the elegant Conrad Tokyo hotel (see video here) and dove into bed… without setting an alarm. It’s hard to describe how wonderful it was to know that I didn’t have to wake up early to catch a flight!

I slept until 8am then made my way downstairs to meet my friend for breakfast (which is free for Hilton Gold and Diamond members). At breakfast, I took my time enjoying coffee and multiple items from both the restaurant’s menu and buffet, all while gazing at the beautiful view of Tokyo Bay.

At 12:30, we walked the half mile or so to Tsukiji Outer Market where we had booked a Sushi making class! I thought they did a fantastic job with this class. Our host spoke perfect English and doubled as a teacher about sushi basics and as an interpreter for the sushi master who demonstrated his sushi making skills. I was surprised to learn that I was pretty good at making sushi! Best of all, we got to eat the sushi at the end and it was fantastic. Here’s a link to the class for anyone interested (this is not an affiliate link).

Next, we Uber-ed to the Hedgehog Cafe where we fed and held adorable little hedgehogs. They also had a Meerkat we could pet. I felt bad for the latter. While the hedgehogs seemed happy enough in that environment, it didn’t seem like the meerkat was living his best life there.

We then returned to the Conrad Tokyo and enjoyed afternoon tea while once again overlooking Tokyo Bay. Afterwards, since the Conrad was sold out for Saturday night, we collected our bags that we had checked at the desk, and moved to Hyatt’s Hotel Toranomon Hills where I’m currently writing this update. The hotel is great, but not quite Conrad-great. I was initially excited to learn that they had an open club lounge, but found it to be disappointing: it offered only very light snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.

A big change of plans

Just as I was heading out for the sushi class today, I received a hot tip from a reader. An award flight I had been hoping to book had finally opened up! I didn’t have time to do anything about it until I returned to the Conrad later in the afternoon. There, I changed my plans. Previously I had used United miles to book ANA business class to Seattle, and separately booked Delta to Detroit. Those flights would have left late Saturday evening, Japan time, and I would have arrived in Detroit late Saturday evening, Eastern-US time.

At the risk of giving my competitors a chance to catch up to me speed-wise, I cancelled my Saturday night flights and instead booked Sunday morning flights. Both United and Delta offer free cancellations, so there was no downside to doing this other than arriving home a bit later than planned.

Tomorrow, if all goes well, I’ll unveil details about the flight that I changed to. Here’s a small hint: the purpose is not to fly a particular first class or business class that I haven’t flown before; nor is the purpose to return to a particular first or business class that I’ve previously enjoyed. I have something else entirely in mind for earning massive Style points. Anyone have any guesses?

More tomorrow. Cheers.

November 15: 15th completed on the 15th

Today I flew three more qualifying carriers for a grand total of 15 which, not coincidentally, is the number of SkyTeam airlines required to earn 1 million SAS miles! I wish I could say that I planned to complete my 15th flight on November 15th — that does seem like the kind of thing I’d do — but, no, that was just a happy coincidence. See details of my final flights, and my experience with a 24 hour China transit visa below…

Obtaining the 24 hour transit visa

Last night I flew China Eastern to Hangzhou, China. I thought I’d arrive early enough to take in the Wulin night market, but it wasn’t meant to be. I don’t have a current visa for China, so I was counting on getting a 24 hour transit visa on arrival. That process was brutally slow. The Hangzhou airport had a big desk that appeared to be set up for this process, but no one was there. I was then directed to fill out an arrival card. I waited in the very slow immigration line and when I finally made it to the front I was told that I had filled out the wrong card. There was a special card for transits. And so the process started all over again. The immigration officer didn’t seem to like the idea of Taipei being my next destination so I pointed out that the plan was to immediately go from their to Seoul. That seemed to comfort her enough to let me enter the country. Cool.

I used the Didi app to hail a car to take me to my hotel: Canopy by Hilton Hangzhou West Lake. I couldn’t get the app to work with a credit card, so I eventually installed Alipay and was able to connect Alipay to my credit card and then pay Didi with Alipay. That was all a bit of a pain but it worked out.

West Lake

Since I only had the one night available in West Lake, I went ahead and walked to the Wulin night market even though I was pretty sure it was too late. And it was. The market was almost completely empty. Still, it was interesting walking through town and viewing the sights.

The hotel, Canopy by Hilton Hangzhou West Lake, was great. Weird, but great. I entered the lobby and thought I was in one of those concept hotels that are designed for the Gen Y crowd. There was a bar, an ice-cream trolly, a robot, lights flashing everywhere, and quirky and fun decorations. But then I went up to my room and found that it was beautiful and elegant. A few whimsical design elements made it clear that this wasn’t a Conrad or Waldorf hotel, but it was very nice. I had a delightful stay there!

In the morning I rose early and walked to the lake to take in the scenic beauty. Unfortunately, most of that beauty was hidden behind fog. Bummer.

The torn passport

My next scheduled flight was Xiamen Airlines to Taipei. At the check-in desk, the agent pointed out that my passport had a small tear in it. That’s been there for years and I’ve never had any trouble. But she very much didn’t like it. She contacted Taiwan immigration to ask if they would accept my torn passport for entry. This took a while, but eventually their response was “try scanning it. if it scans, it’s fine.” So she scanned it and everything was fine.

Xiamen Airlines business class to Taipei

I had booked my Xiamen Airlines flight to Taipei in business class. And it was very nice! The flight was less than 2 hours long and yet we were given full meal service. Blankets and slippers were also provided. Service was excellent. I found it hilarious that the flight attendant asked me if I’d like to be woken for the meal just like on an overnight flight.

China Airlines economy to Seoul

My next step was a short flight to Seoul on China Airlines. The flight was fine. They served us a full meal and I napped before and after the meal.

Korean Air economy to Tokyo

I’m actually writing this post at the gate before boarding this flight, but several hours before publication. By scheduling this post to publish I’m making the assumption that everything went okay with this final flight.

My path to 15 qualifying airlines

Flights where I’ve already earned SAS miles are underlined below…

• Detroit to LaGuardia on Delta (1)
• JFK to London on Virgin Atlantic (2)
• London to Copenhagen on SAS (3)
• Copenhagen to Amsterdam to Bucharest on KLM (4)
• Bucharest to Madrid on TAROM (5)
• Madrid to Amsterdam on Air Europa (6)
• Amsterdam to Paris on Air France (7)
• Paris to Abu Dhabi on Etihad First Apartments (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Abu Dhabi to Jeddah on Etihad business class (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Jeddah to Riyadh on Saudia (8)
• Riyad to Doha to Jakarta on Qatar business class (non-SAS-qualifying flights)
• Jakarta to Bangkok on Garuda Indonesia (9)
• Bangkok to Guangzhou on Kenya Airways (10)
• Guangzhou to Hanoi on China Southern (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Hanoi to Hong Kong on Vietnam Airlines (11)
• Hong Kong to Hangzhou on China Eastern (12)
• Hangzhou to Taipei on Xiamen Airlines (13)
• Taipei to Seoul on China Airlines (14)
• Seoul to Tokyo on Korean Air (15)

November 13 & 14: Jakarta to Bangkok to Guangzhou to Hanoi to Hong Kong

The Vietnam visa problem

My plan for Wednesday was to fly Garuda Indonesia from Jakarta to Bangkok; then fly Kenya Airways from Bangkok to Guangzhou; then take a positioning flight on China Southern from Guangzhou to Hanoi, Vietnam. I had what looked like a tight connection in Bangkok, so I had spent quite a bit of time coming up with backup scenarios in case I missed the next flight. It turned out that I needn’t have bothered. My Garuda flight departed a bit late, but they made up for most of it in the air. And transiting in Bangkok was a breeze (it would be more complicated if checked-luggage was involved). At the Bangkok airport, Nick and I met up yet again! We had the same Kenya Airways flight to Guangzhou.

Nick and I didn’t sit near each other on this flight. I had bid $195 (the minimum bid) to upgrade to business class and the upgrade came through. Even though this was a short 2-hour-ish flight, I enjoyed taking a nap on the big lay-flat seats!

In Guangzhou I immediately went to the transfers area to transfer to my flight to Hanoi. That’s where things took a turn for the worse. They asked to see my visa for entering Vietnam and it turned out that it was wrong: the dates on my visa were November 12 to 13 rather than 13 to 14. Yikes! At first I was told that I couldn’t take my flight to Hanoi, but a supervisor eventually figured out that technically we’d land before midnight on the 13th so my visa would still be valid. Great, right? Except now I was left to worry about what would happen once I arrived in Vietnam. Would they let me in? There are sleep pods at the airport, which would have been a good solution if needed, but they were sold out that night. And only one lounge was open overnight and it didn’t have any adequate sleeping options. So, I sweated the problem throughout the flight to Hanoi and while waiting in line at immigration. And then I really sweated when the immigration guy said no, I couldn’t come in. Eventually a supervisor got involved and rushed me from one spot to another. I didn’t know what was going on at first, but then I realized that he was trying to get me into the country before the clock struck midnight (yes, just like a fairytale), and he did it! With only 2 minutes to spare, I was admitted into the country!

Return to China

I overnighted at the Sheraton Hanoi West. The next morning I returned to the airport extra early. I was worried now that they wouldn’t let me out of the country as my visa had by then definitely expired. Luckily the guy at the visa counter took pity on me and stamped his approval on my passport. Success!

Next, I had an uneventful flight on Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi to Hong Kong. I had an amazing amount of legroom in an aisle seat behind… um… I’m not sure what (see image above). And I had a lovely time chatting with the German couple that sat next to me.

Once in the Hong Kong airport, I went to the transfers desk to get my boarding pass to fly to Hangzhou China on China Eastern and I verified with them that my SAS number was already on the reservation (I had previously been able to attach the number by emailing China Eastern here: infosyd@chinaeastern.com.au).

I’m now writing this update from the Kyra lounge in Hong Kong thanks to Priority Pass. Next up today I’ll fly to Hangzhou on China Eastern and stay at the Canopy by Hilton Hangzhou West Lake. More tomorrow!

Qualifying and non-qualifying flights I’ve taken so far…

• Detroit to LaGuardia on Delta
• JFK to London on Virgin Atlantic
• London to Copenhagen on SAS
• Copenhagen to Amsterdam to Bucharest on KLM
• Bucharest to Madrid on TAROM
• Madrid to Amsterdam on Air Europa
• Amsterdam to Paris on Air France
• Paris to Abu Dhabi on Etihad First Apartments (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Abu Dhabi to Jeddah on Etihad business class (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Jeddah to Riyad on Saudia
• Riyad to Doha to Jakarta on Qatar business class (non-SAS-qualifying flights)
• Jakarta to Bangkok on Garuda Indonesia
• Bangkok to Guangzhou on Kenya Airways
• Guangzhou to Hanoi on China Southern (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Hanoi to Hong Kong on Vietnam Airlines
• Hong Kong to Hangzhou on China Eastern

Airlines remaining to-do:

• China Airlines
• Korean Air
• Xiamen

November 12: My all-out sprint to the gate in Jeddah

I knew that my one-hour connection in Jeddah was a huge gamble, but I booked it anyway. After all, it was a key piece of the puzzle that tied together two fantastic award flights. Read below about that and a surprise meet-up along the way…

After my incredibly awesome flight on Etihad First Apartments from Paris to Abu Dhabi, I spent some time in Etihad’s new first class lounge and then continued onward to Jeddah in Etihad business class. That was a short, but very nice flight.

Things got crazy in Jeddah. I had a very tight 1 hour connection and the passport and visa control lines were slooooooow. I had purchased my visa online in advance, so at least I had that going for me, but that didn’t shorten the lines. When I received a text from Saudia saying that boarding gates would close soon, I got really nervous. I started politely asking people to let me cut in front of them. Most people graciously allowed it and I eventually got through. After that ordeal, I tried to rush through security but forgot that my Air Pods were in my pocket. If you ever wondered whether Air Pods would set off metal detectors in Saudia Arabia, the question was answered. They did. I had to wait for some giggling teenagers to load their stuff through the security belt before I could put my Air Pods through. Finally I was on the other side and started dashing towards my gate. A2 must be close by, right? Nope. Only A1 was farther away. I literally ran the half mile with my backpack on my back and my carry-on roller at my side. Sweating buckets, I made it to the gate just in time!

Yes, it was crazy to book a one hour layover — especially one where I knew I’d have to go through immigration! But I did have a back-up plan. There was an identical flight an hour later. If I missed the first, I’m sure Saudia would have let me fly the second. Of course, then that would have reduced the layover on the other side from a leisurely 2.5 hours to only 1.5 hours, but at least it would have been possible to make my connections. Fortunately, I never had to find out.

The short 1 hour-ish Saudia flight to Riyad was pleasant. For some reason, despite having booked regular economy, I had been put into something like premium economy on the huge 777-300 aircraft. No idea why, but I’ll take it! That Saudia flight marked my 8th qualifying flight for this challenge. Only 7 more to go!

In the Riyad airport I took a transfer bus to the international terminal for my next flight. I had spent only 40,000 AA miles to fly Qatar business class from Riyad to Doha and then onward to Jakarta. In the international terminal I went to the lounge and unbelievably ran into Nick Reyes! We had booked the same sweet-spot award (business class from the middle east to Asia for only 40,000 AA miles) and we were on the same Qatar flight to Doha! That flight was really nice, but also really short. We arrived in Doha in no time.

In the Doha airport, Nick and I went to the awesome Qatar business class lounge. I used one of their spacious shower rooms to freshen up (sorely needed after that sweaty-mad-dash through the Jeddah airport!). When I came out, I couldn’t find Nick (I think maybe he was showering at that time), and I had to leave for my next flight and so didn’t have a chance to say goodbye except by text.

Next I flew 8 hours in Qatar business class from Doha to Jakarta. This delightful flight was on their A350 aircraft. As usual, Qatar’s catering and service were top notch. And I found the seat to be very comfortable. In fact, I slept like a baby for at least half the flight.

In Jakarta I went via hotel shuttle to the Sheraton Jakarta Airport Hotel. They have their own airport shuttle but it operates upon request instead of running back and forth on a set schedule the way many other hotels do. This airport hotel was beautiful — it seemed more like a fancy resort than an airport hotel! I got a great night’s sleep and enjoyed breakfast the next morning before heading back to the airport for my next adventure.

Qualifying and non-qualifying flights I’ve taken so far…

• Detroit to LaGuardia on Delta
• JFK to London on Virgin Atlantic
• London to Copenhagen on SAS
• Copenhagen to Amsterdam to Bucharest on KLM
• Bucharest to Madrid on TAROM
• Madrid to Amsterdam on Air Europa
• Amsterdam to Paris on Air France
• Paris to Abu Dhabi on Etihad First Apartments (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Abu Dhabi to Jeddah on Etihad business class (non-SAS-qualifying flight)
• Jeddah to Riyad on Saudia
• Riyad to Doha to Jakarta on Qatar business class (non-SAS-qualifying flights)

November 11: Etihad First Apartments!

One of my favorite flights ever was in 2019 when I first flew Etihad First Apartments. Beyond the fact that first class customers get basically their own room with a separate captain’s chair and bed; and beyond the excellent food and wine; the service was spectacular. That flight came once our 40K to Far Away challenge was done and I flew Etihad First Apartments from Abu Dhabi to London overnight. The only thing I didn’t love about that flight was the fact that I slept through most of it! So, when I saw that I could fly Etihad First Apartments in the daytime as part of the Million Mile Madness challenge, I was beyond giddy!

Wow, wow, wow, wow. What’s not to love about this experience? Well, actually there is one thing… the ground experience at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris is a minor nightmare. Make sure to get there early! Anyway, that isn’t Etihad’s fault. The experience from the time I entered the plane was nearly faultless. The attentive service, specifically, was out of this world good. The flight took off around 10am. I’m still working towards catching up on sleep so the first thing I did was ask to have my bed made up. After a delicious 45 minute nap, I got to work doing one of my favorite things: eating! I ordered the caviar plate, followed by the lobster tail appetizer, then the fillet main course, and finally the apple tarte dessert. All of the food was wonderful. I especially loved the caviar and lobster courses! And with the lobster course, I did a wine tasting of the 4 white wines they serve on board. With the fillet, I sampled their red wines. Check out the videos on Instagram to see which of the wines I liked best. After dessert I tried a whiskey: Royal Salute 2YO Blended. It was very good, but it was no Hibiki 17 (which our entire team got to enjoy on ANA first class, during the Party of 5 Challenge).

After eating, I showered. I didn’t need to shower — I had last showered maybe 8 hours earlier at my hotel in Paris. No, I did it because I could. If you get a chance to shower in the sky, take it. It was wonderfully refreshing!

Overall, the only negative about the flight was that some of the hardware needs attention. Various cabinets and drawers wouldn’t close properly without slamming them very hard and very loudly. The only other negative was that the flight wasn’t long enough. The flight was scheduled for 6 hours and 40 minutes. I would have happily enjoyed the flight for many additional hours if I could.

This ticket, Etihad First Apartments from Paris to Abu Dhabi, with an onward business class flight to Jeddah cost 62,500 AA miles plus $142.93 in fees. With the RRV for AA miles at 1.3 cents per point, this flight will be judged as costing $955.43. That’s an incredible price for such an incredible experience.

For the challenge, the purpose of this flight was to position me from Europe to Saudi Arabia where, if all goes well, I’ll take a short Saudia Airlines flight and then dart off to Asia for the rest of my itinerary. Stay tuned!

November 10: From Bucharest to Paris, via Madrid and Amsterdam

Final 3 European carriers

Today I completed all of the Europe-based SAS-qualifying carriers! I flew Bucharest to Madrid on TAROM, Madrid to Amsterdam on Air Europa, and Amsterdam to Paris on Air France. J’ai fini! I’m now relaxing overnight in the Hôtel Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Believe it or not, this was a relaxing day. I slept nearly the entire 4 hour flight from Bucharest to Madrid. Then I hung out and had lunch in the Sala VIP Puerta Del Sol lounge before flying onward to Amsterdam on Air Europa. For that flight, I watched a movie I had downloaded to my phone. At the Amsterdam Airport, I was able to easily switch my late night Air France flight to Paris to an earlier flight, and I slept most of the way on that one too! Finally, at the CDG airport, I took the airport train shuttle to terminal 3 and walked the short distance to the Hilton.

(Some) problems solved

A few issues have come up that I’ve either dealt with or still need to handle. Here’s the status of each:

• Unable to check-in to my Saudia flight. Somehow my birthdate and passport expiration date were listed incorrectly online and the system therefore wouldn’t let me check in. The website has an option to edit those fields, but when I pressed “save” the hourglass would just spin forever without resolving the issue. I tried calling and they claimed to have fixed the dates, but the wrong dates were still there and I still couldn’t check in. Finally, I downloaded the Saudia app to my phone and checked in that way — during the check-in process in the app I was able to set those dates new and I checked-in smoothly!
• Problem assigning my SAS number to my Xiamen flight. I tried many ways to get my SAS number onto that reservation, but nothing at first worked. One reader reported success using TAROM’s website to do that, but it didn’t work for me. Still, I tried nearly every SkyTeam airline’s website to see if any would work, but no luck. Finally I emailed Xiamen at mf@xiamenair.com and they say that they’ve attached the number!
• Problem assigning my SAS number to my China Eastern flight. This one is still pending, but I got a great tip from a reader: they said that even at the check-in gate the China Eastern agents weren’t able to assign the SAS number until they prepended the number with SAS’ two letter code “SK”. So, for example, if your SAS number is EBB123456, you should ask then to assign SKEBB123456. Apparently this trick worked for Xiamen Air as well!
• Finding award space for my final flight home. I have a particular flight that I’m trying to get and it still hasn’t opened up for awards. That’s OK: I have a perfectly fine backup plan. Still, I really want this to happen. I’m betting that if the space opens at all, it will happen only a day or two before it flies. We’ll see!

Friday November 9: Party of 3 in Copenhagen and late night in Bucharest’s old town.

Virgin Atlantic JFK to London, with Nick

At the time of my last journal post, I had flown Delta to NYC and I was in the Virgin Atlantic lounge at JFK getting ready to fly Virgin Atlantic to London. It turned out that Nick was on the same flight. That wasn’t too surprising since I knew that, like me, he was starting his journey on Friday. But he did startle me when he snuck up on me at the gate! Unfortunately our seats weren’t anywhere near each other so we only saw each other before and after the flight.

SAS London to Copenhagen, with Nick, Stephen, and more

The big surprise came in London when Nick and I learned that both of us would be flying onward on the same SAS flight to Copenhagen. More startling: we ran into Stephen at the Priority Pass lounge. He was going on the same flight! Also, on the terminal transfer bus, we met others who were also doing the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire deal. I expect that we’ll meet more fellow SAS seekers as we go.

Party of 3 in Copenhagen

Stephen, Nick and I spent a really nice afternoon together in Copenhagen checking out a giant troll, wandering Christiania, and eating delicious pastries. Then it was back to the airport for Stephen and I. Nick was on a much later flight, so he stayed in town to enjoy the town more. Stephen and I weren’t on the same departing flight. For transport from and back to the airport, I used the Viggo rideshare app. Uber isn’t available in Copenhagen. We would have taken public transport instead, but Google Maps thought that would have taken much longer and I didn’t have a very long layover as it was.

KLM to Bucharest via Amsterdam, all alone

I left Copenhagen before the other guys. I flew KLM to Amsterdam and then onward to Bucharest, arriving at my hotel, Hilton Garden Inn Old Town, around 2 in the morning. Even though my trip from JFK to here was grueling, I wanted to see a bit of the city. So, after checking in, I walked the old town to experience a bit of Bucharest’s Saturday night scene. It was hoping!

My path towards 15 qualifying airlines, so far, has been as follows:

1. Detroit to LaGuardia on Delta
2. JFK to London on Virgin Atlantic
3. London to Copenhagen on SAS
4. Copenhagen to Amsterdam to Bucharest on KLM

So far, knock on wood, all flights have gone roughly on time and I haven’t had any trouble making my connections. But the trip has been extremely tiring. I didn’t get much sleep on the overnight to London, and napped only maybe half an hour at a time on my flights around Europe. Hopefully I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight because I’ll be back in the air tomorrow to continue my race around Europe. Stay tuned!

Friday November 8: Detroit to New York to London

One flight left to book

I’m on my way! On Wednesday I finally booked the rest of the 15 qualifying flights needed to earn 1 million SAS miles. What I hadn’t yet done, and I still haven’t done, is book the final flight home. I’m waiting for a specific award flight to open up. If it works out I think it will make a great nightcap for this whole adventure.

One hotel booked so far

As to hotels… so far I’ve only booked one. But that was a fun one. Some will remember that during the Flying by the Seat of our Points challenge, I redeemed Capital One Shopping rewards for a Hotels.com gift card, but that gift card didn’t arrive in time for me to use it in Croatia. Well, just by luck, the one hotel I decided to book so far for this trip came to exactly 65 cents more than the value of that gift card! I had almost forgotten about that gift card so this feels like a free stay.

Delta to New York

I scored my first qualifying airline this morning when I flew Delta from Detroit to LaGuardia. Even though I have Delta Diamond status, I sat in economy along with the other boarding group 7 folks. The reason was that I had my SAS number on the booking instead of my Delta number. And it was fine. I had an aisle seat and the flight was quick.

Delta SkyClub LaGuardia

I used my Amex Platinum card both in Detroit and LaGuardia to enter Delta SkyClubs before and after my Delta flight. Delta’s club at LaGuardia is beautiful. I had a nice lunch and then was on my way downtown…

Equinox Spa massage

My Platinum card came in handy again today! Consumer Platinum cards offer rebates on Equinox membership fees, but we’ve learned that its possible to trigger those credits with spa services as well! I got a terrific full body massage. I really needed it after all the stress that this challenge has caused!

Helicopter to JFK

Next, my buddy Julian Kheel met me at the Equinox gym and we walked together to BLADE Lounge East (BLADE has two heliports in NYC, east and west). On a past trip to New York, my wife and I flew BLADE for free thanks to a JetBlue status match. This time, I flew BLADE for free thanks to Bilt Rewards which offers a free BLADE flight each year for Platinum elite members. This trip was just as awesome as the first. I arrived at my terminal at JFK only 10 minutes after boarding the helicopter!

Breezed through security at JFK

I was very happy to see that there was virtually no line at all at CLEAR PreCheck! I was through security in minutes. I had actually pre-reserved a time in the regular non-Precheck area, but this was clearly way faster so I went through here.

Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Lounge

I wasn’t sure if I could get into the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse lounge. I’m not flying business class tonight. And, while I do have Delta Diamond status (which is more than enough to get in), my Delta number wasn’t on the booking (my SAS number was). Anyway, it wasn’t a problem. They looked up my Delta number to verify my status and I was in! I could have even invited a guest in. Service and food in the lounge is terrific!

On my way to London!

I’m now getting ready to soon board my Virgin Atlantic flight to London. That will mark my second qualifying flight for this adventure. Only 13 more to go!

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