Wow, time flys! It’s already been 3 months since Qatar commenced the longest flight in the world from Doha to Auckland. I’m in the final stages of planning my trip for the Freddie Awards and I was thinking how I was going to get home. Now obviously I don’t like taking the easiest way home and wanted to get a little bit creative and I came up with a cool idea.

Getting to New York I’ll be taking China Eastern First Class which I’m sure will be something I won’t forget. And to get home, I’ll be flying on Qatar’s A350 from Boston to Doha, having a few days in Abu Dhabi to actually stay and relax for once, then I’m off to Auckland on Qatar’s 777 from Doha on the world’s longest flight.

Availability was a little tight going from the U.S. to Doha but wide open to Auckland, as soon as I saw it match up I immediately booked both.

For the Boston – Doha leg, I used 70,000 AAdvantage miles and for the Doha – Auckland leg I used 80,000 AAdvantage miles. Using AAdvantage miles on Qatar offers quite decent value as those fares are usually very expensive.

I’m still sorting out the other legs getting to Asia but they should be Singapore Airlines First Class on a 777 from Melbourne to Singapore then onto Shanghai. Those flights will cost me 98,000 Krisflyer miles. I wish I had booked them pre-devaluation but that’s reasonable value.

This trip will be a little different as I won’t be flying my usual way through Abu Dhabi but it’ll also be good to review new things that aren’t on the blog.

17 hours on a 777 in 2-2-2 Business Class will be quite interesting but I’m definitely looking forward to it.