My favorite luxury flight experiences (all booked with miles)

The entire Frequent Miler team recently flew together on ANA’s new first class called “The Suite.”  The five of us had the entire first class cabin to ourselves.  It was undoubtedly the most fun flight I’ve ever flown (You can read about the experience here).  Both the cabin and service were stellar.  That said, other than the fun factor, “The Suite” experience didn’t quite reach the highs that I’ve experienced (thanks to points!) on other airlines and so I decided to assemble here my favorite luxury flight experiences.

The points and miles game unlocks experiences usually reserved for the ultra-rich.  Since immersing myself in this hobby starting in 2011, nearly all of my international flights have been in business or first class with lie flat seats and free flowing champagne.  That’s incredible in itself, but some of these experiences have far surpassed others.  Below you’ll find my favorite luxury flights and along with brief explanations for how to use miles to book these yourself…

Etihad First Apartments (most awesome suite & service)

In 2019, I flew Etihad First Apartments from Abu Dhabi to London.  The suite itself was amazing.  I had endless space to sit, stretch out, or even pace around, and it was completely private with walls that reached nearly to the ceiling.  Additionally, while it wasn’t in my suite, there was a shower available for first class passengers!  And, as much as I was wowed by the physical space, the service was almost unbelievable.  I never thought service could surpass what I had previously experienced on Singapore Suites, but it did!  This was helped in no small part by the on-board chef who met with me to discuss meals and who prepared a delicious off-menu breakfast for me when I was unhappy with my first choice.

Read my review here: Etihad First Apartment — Simply Awesome

How to book Etihad First Apartments with miles: Etihad Apartments are found only on their A380 aircraft.  Currently Etihad is flying the A380 only on the route between London and Abu Dhabi.  Use one of these tools to find award availability.  Book with ~140,000 Etihad miles; 65,000 Air Canada miles; or 62,500 AA miles.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

Singapore Suites (incredible service & most comfortable bed)

My first ever experience flying international first class was in 2013 when I flew around the world using miles to book various first class flights.  My first flights (Lufthansa First, Thai First) were unremarkable.  I thought they were better than business class but not by a wide margin.  Then I flew Singapore Suites from Hong Kong to San Francisco (they no longer fly that route with Suites) and I was blown away.  This was so much better than business class!  It was in a whole different league.  The actual suite was great (although I found the seat itself slightly uncomfortable) and when it was converted to a bed, it was incredible.  I think it was one of the most comfortable beds I had ever slept in!

Even more memorable than the suite itself was the service.  The flight attendants seemed to know what I wanted before I did.  And if I told one flight attendant about a preference, I found that they all knew going forward.  That was impressive!

Today, Singapore Airlines flies both the above old-style suites and a new much bigger suite that contains both a captains chair and bed.  I haven’t yet flown the new suites, but I’m sure I’d love the experience.

How to book Singapore Suites with miles: Singapore doesn’t release first class to partners so you have to book with Singapore’s own miles.  Use Singapore’s own website or one of these tools to find award availability.   Award pricing varies based on the route flown.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

Luftansa First Class (best ground services)

I’ve flown Lufthansa First Class several times, and while the in-flight experience is good, what I’ve really loved are the ground services.  In other words, the airport experience is where Lufthansa really shined.

My most notable experience with Lufthansa’s ground services was when my family flew Lufthansa first class from Toronto to Munich and onward to Paris (in European business class).  The exceptional service started in Toronto when we were escorted to the gate and onto the plane while all other passengers waited in line.  And they kicked it up two notches in Munich: when we got off the plane, we were immediately directed to a nearby first class lounge.  In the lounge, they took our passports to handle the pesky immigration stuff that ordinary people line up for, and we were free to enjoy the lounge’s luxury (great food with table service, private bathrooms with showers and tubs).  When it was time to fly onward to Paris, our passports were returned to us and we were led to a door to the outside where a driver was waiting with a Mercedes to drive us across the tarmac to our flight.  On the plane, everyone else was already seated and waiting for us to board.  I bet many were wondering if we were movie stars or something.  When we returned from Paris to go home, the same happened in reverse.  We were met at the plane by the driver and taken to the lounge.  The whole experience was incredible (and slightly embarrassing).

How to book Lufthansa First Class with miles: Lufthansa flights are best booked with partners that don’t impose fuel surcharges on award tickets.  This includes Avianca LifeMiles, Air Canada Aeroplan, and United MileagePlus.  The only problem is that Lufthansa waits until two weeks before the flight to release award space to partners, so it’s a great idea to have a freely (or cheaply) cancelable backup flight booked in case space doesn’t appear.  Use United.com, Aircanada.com, lifemiles.com, or one of these tools to find award availability.  Award pricing varies, but generally you can expect Avianca LifeMiles to have the best prices, followed by Air Canada Aeroplan, and finally United.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

Emirates First (good at everything, plus the most bling)

Emirates has a new first class suite which is even bigger and better than their standard first class, but believe me when I say that their standard “old” first class is awesome.  As you can see above, the suites are richly appointed (some may be turned off by the extreme bling, but I didn’t mind!) and offer plenty of space.  Both the service and food were excellent: not as amazing as what I experienced on Etihad First Apartments or Singapore Suites, but it was close!  I’d very happily fly Emirates again any day.

The trick to finding Emirates first class award space

The best way to find award availability on Emirates first class is with Seats.Aero.  With the free version of the tool you can see awards only for the next couple of months, but with the paid version, you can see farther out.  Here’s an example of finding award space from North America to Dubai:

1. On the top menu, select Explore… Emirates Skywards
2. Select Show flights from North America, to Asia (Seats.Aero includes the middle east in Asia)
3. If you subscribe to the paid version of Seats.aero, click the box to show extended availability.
4. Sort by “First”.  The results in Green, if any, are what you want.
5. Optionally search for your departing airport of interest.
6. To find return flights, repeat all of the above, but change the “Show flights” section to from Asia, to North America.

The Emirates upgrade trick

If you can’t find the award space you want, another great trick is to find and book business class and then use miles to upgrade at the airport.  See Ben’s post here for full details: The Trick To Upgrading Emirates Flights With Miles

How to book Emirates first class

If you’re flying entirely on Emirates, booking directly with Emirates miles may be your best option, but it’s worth checking prices with Qantas and Air Canada too, to see which is cheapest.

Emirates award price: Use the Emirates Miles Calculator to find the price they’ll charge in miles (or hover over the green box in Seats.Aero).  For example, one-way first class from Washington DC to Dubai currently costs 163,500 miles.  You’ll also be on the hook for some amount of fuel surcharge fees which change fairly often.

If booking through Qantas, the award will be priced according to Qantas’ distance-based Partner Classic Flight Reward table.

If booking through Air Canada, there’s no good way to know the price other than to search for the award through Air Canada’s website to see how much they’ll charge.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

ANA First Class “The Suite” (most fun flight ever)

ANA’s flagship business class is called “THE Room,” and their flagship first class is called “THE Suite”.  Both products are great, but THE Suite is the only one I’ve tried so far.  In fact, the entire Frequent Miler team tried out THE Suite as part of our Party of 5 Team Challenge.  You can read about our in-flight experience here, but here were my notes for those who don’t want to click through:

• Beautiful cabin!
• Suites are very large: plenty of room for two people to dine together, or for a giant like Tim to stretch out very comfortably.
• Service was excellent
• Food catering was disappointing.  Only “light dishes anytime” were offered on this particular flight (note that this was due to us having a very late night and relatively short flight).
• Drink options were excellent: Krug 2004; Hibiki Suntory Whisky 17 Years Old (fantastic)
• In flight entertainment screen is huge and beautiful
• Flight attendants proactively offered to make up our beds with padding and blankets.
• The bed was awesome (mostly).  The only downside was that even with the extra padding the bed was harder than I’d prefer.  Otherwise, there was endless room for stretching out.  And I loved that the cabin was plenty dark enough and quiet enough to sleep without eye shades or earplugs!
• Wi-fi was free, but awfully slow.  When I last flew across the pacific in the other direction on a United flight from San Francisco to Tokyo, the internet was blazing fast and so I know that it’s possible to have fast wi-fi on this route.

In summary, ANA’s THE Suite was excellent, but it didn’t quite reach the heights of some of the other luxury flights I’ve experienced (as described earlier in this post), except for one thing: it was the most fun flight ever.  It was unbelievably fun having the whole first class cabin to ourselves.  I imagine that may have been true on any airline where we had the whole cabin to ourselves, but it certainly helped that the suites were spacious enough for us to sit together (with one standing).

How to find ANA THE Suite routes

ANA offers the new suites only on 777 aircraft.  Unfortunately, it’s not on all of their 777 aircraft.  One Mile at a Time reports that it is on 9 of their 15 777s and that you can click through the following links to see the routes they’ve been flying:

• JA784A
• JA785A
• JA788A
• JA793A
• JA794A
• JA795A
• JA796A
• JA797A
• JA798A

The best way to determine if a particular flight features the new product is to find the ANA business or first class flight on Google Flights, and expand the detail to see if it shows the words “individual suite” (hat tip: Thrifty Traveler).  If so, it’s THE Room (business class) or THE Suite (first class).  If it simply says “lie flat seat” then it’s the old product.  Another option is to pretend to book a paid first class flight on ANA’s website.  ANA will show that the flight features THE Suite in the search results.

The trick to finding ANA first class award space

To find ANA award availability from the U.S. to Japan, use Seats.Aero.  With the free version of the tool you can see awards only for the next couple of months, but with the paid version, you can see farther out.

1. On the menu select Explore… United (or Avianca) in the top-right selector
2. Select Show flights from North America, to Asia
3. If you subscribe to the paid version of Seats.aero, click the box to show extended availability.
4. Put HND into the search box, then sort by “First”.  Investigate each of the results in green to see if any offer the new first class.
5. Change the search box from HND to NRT. Investigate each of the results in green to see if any offer the new first class.
6. To find return flights, repeat all of the above, but change the “Show flights” section to from Asia, to North America.

Another trick for finding ANA first class is to use SeatSpy to look for United First Class on routes that United and ANA have in common.  Details here.

How to book ANA first class

ANA itself charges 150,000 or 165,000 (peak dates) for round-trip first class between North America and Japan.  This can be a very compelling option both because it requires fewer miles than other options but also because ANA sometimes opens more award space to its own member than to partner airlines.  Additionally, ANA charges only 3,000 points to cancel an award.  The primary downsides are that ANA charges fuel surcharges and requires round-trip travel.

Another good option is to book with Virgin Atlantic miles for 72,500 miles one way between Tokyo and west coast North America or 85,000 miles between Tokyo and central or eastern North America.  Unfortunately, Virgin Atlantic also adds fuel surcharges to these awards.  Another downside is that you must call Virgin to book these awards.

The next best option is to use Air Canada Aeroplan miles.  For flights between Tokyo and North America, Aeroplan will usually charge 110,000 miles one-way for first class (unless you have a long routing that causes the total distance to exceed 7,500 miles).  The great thing about this option is that Aeroplan doesn’t impose fuel surcharges on awards.  So while the point price will be higher than the other two options above, the cash component will be much less.

Finally, if you want a freely changeable and refundable ticket, you can book with United Airlines miles for 121,000 miles one-way.  You can alternatively use Avianca LifeMiles for around the same price (120,000 miles one-way), but LifeMiles has steep change and cancellation fees.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

Qatar Business Class (first class food, service, and amenities)

Everyone says that Qatar QSuites business class is very much like first class.  Unfortunately for me, I’ve never flown QSuites (or maybe that’s good for me because I have something great to look forward too!), but I did fly Qatar’s “regular” 787 business class from Saigon to Doha and loved it.  While there was nothing particularly special about the business class seats, the food and service were extraordinary and definitely seemed more like first class than business class!

The trick to finding Qatar business class award space

To find Qatar award availability from the U.S. to Doha (Qatar’s hub), use Seats.Aero.  With the free version of the tool you can see awards only for the next couple of months, but with the paid version, you can see farther out.

1. From the menu, select Tools… Qatar Qsuites Finder
2. Select Show flights from North America, to Asia
3. If you subscribe to the paid version of Seats.aero, click the box to show extended availability.
4. The results in green are non-stop flights with award availability.
5. When you find a flight that looks promising, click the info box on the far right to see more information and for seats.aero to refresh results.
6. To find return flights, repeat all of the above, but change the “Show flights” section to from Asia, to North America.

If you want to fly beyond Doha, such as to the Maldives, you can use the approach above to find likely dates and starting airports but then I recommend switching to AA.com to find availability.  Details here: How to find Qatar Q-Suites award space.

How to book Qatar business class

American Airlines has great award prices for flying Qatar business class.  For example, you can fly between the U.S. and Doha (or even onward to the Maldives) for only 70,000 miles one-way.  Or, fly all the way to South Africa for only 75,000 miles one-way!

If you don’t have enough AA miles, another good option is to use Qatar or British Airways Avios.  Qatar and BA charge just 70,000 Avios one-way between North America and Doha.  Unfortunately, they’ll charge extra for each leg added on beyond that.  One advantage to booking with Qatar itself is that you can then pay more Avios to book a flight that isn’t available to Qatar’s partners.  For example, I can easily find business class from Philadelphia to Doha available for 140,000 points one-way on almost any date I look.  This can be a great solution when flying during peak travel dates or when you have little to no schedule flexibility.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

Turkish Airlines Short-Haul Business Class (amazing catering)

In the U.S., flights under 90 minutes long often don’t even get drink service let alone a meal.  And in Europe, business class is usually just economy but in-front and with middle seats blocked off.  But Turkish Airlines isn’t having any of that.  On a short 80 minute flight from Sofia Bulgaria to Istanbul on a 737-8 Max, Turkish provided plush spacious seats and a complete (and delicious) meal.  I was impressed!  I haven’t yet flown far on Turkish Airlines, but I’m very much looking forward to it.  Starting November 15, Turkish will fly 3 times weekly between Detroit (my home airport) and Istanbul.  I can’t wait!

How to book Turkish Business Class with miles: Turkish flights can be booked with miles from any Star Alliance airline or with Turkish Miles & Smiles (which may offer better award availability to its own members).  Use one of these tools to find award availability.

Here are some of the relevant point transfer options:

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