Flight Dublin-Sydney Update – 11 hours in Lufthansa New First Class!

• Big Changes are Coming! New Job, Dublin, and Auckland Marathon!
• Dublin Marathon 2013 Trip Introduction
• Flight Dublin-Sydney Update – 11 hours in Lufthansa New First Class!
• Layover at CDG, The Louvre and iPass Lounge CDG
• The Louvre in Paris
• Diverted Flight and First 24 hours in Dublin
• Dublin Marathon 2013 Expo and Packet Pickup
• Temple Bar, Guinness Factory, Old Jameson Distillery
• Cheap Eats: Hot Wok and The Italian Connection
• Dublin Marathon 2013 Race Day and Review
• Irish Food: Quay’s Restaurant and Oneil’s Pub
• National Museum of Ireland
• Clarion IFSC Dublin Hotel Review
• Clarion Dublin Airport Review

Flights

I wanted to try to find an alternative to to MUC-PEK on business on Air China so I started searching last week as it was two weeks before my flight (13 days exactly). I ended up finding a lot of availability on LH, but to Osaka (KIX) and Narita (NRT).

For both of those flights, LH FRA-KIX or NRT had both business and first class space available. The regularly scheduled flights for both of these routes have the new First class in it as well! Both flights are about 11 hours.

This is the link to check which LH first class you have on your flight.

The issue is the connection from KIX or NRT to PEK for my original business class flight out of PEK to SYD. The PEK-SYD in business was the only flight that would get into SYD Friday morning, as opposed to Friday night by other airlines. There was only coach availability for KIX-PEK, which is fine for a 4 hour daytime flight. However, according to the rules, I should not have access to Star Alliance lounges as I’ll be flying out of KIX on coach.

I decided on KIX as that was my first option. However, looking back on it, I should have chosen NRT as it’s a bigger airport.

FRA-KIX has a scheduled flying time of 11 hours, which is great as I want to spend it reviewing the seat and hopefully the plane if i can get on it early. With the extra flying, I will now land in China three hours before my next flight which means that I won’t have time to go into the city. I will spend most of my time trying out different lounges at PEK if possible.

Trip Itinerary

So was my original itinerary from Dublin to Sydney

• Oct 30th: DUB-FRA-MUC Business on LH (Intra-European)
• Oct 30th: MUC-PEK-SYD Business on Air China A330
• Nov 1st: SYD-AKL-SYD paid coach (Virgin Australia, operated by Air NZ)

New itinerary from Dublin to Sydney

• Oct 30th: DUB-FRA- Business on LH (Intra-European)
• Oct 30th: MUC-KIX- LH First class on the new First Class
• Oct 31st: KIX-PEK- ANA Coach (daytime flight)
• Oct 31st: PEK-SYD Business on Air China A330
• Nov 1st: SYD-AKL-SYD paid coach (Virgin Australia, operated by Air NZ)

As I was not an United elite member, I had a $100 change fee and had to pay another 15k United miles as this is a first class ticket. I could have gotten more value out of it by flying on Thai First as well, but I have a tight timeline and didn’t want to waste anytime during overnight layovers.