I want to start doing things a bit differently on Sunday. While I love writing posts reviewing airlines, lounges, hotels, and credit cards I don’t think it helps me connect with you (the reader). So, going forward on Sundays I want to write posts that help you better get to know me and pull back the curtains behind how I plan my trips and what I think about them before hand. If you couldn’t tell by the title of this post, I think I may have overdone it this time around.
Planning A Trip To London, Ended Up In… Stockholm
A little over a month ago a friend of mine mentioned taking a trip to London. He thought he’d have a chance to visit London for a long weekend (Thurs through Sunday). When he mentioned this to me I figured why not try to join him. After all I needed a few more long-haul trips to qualify for Executive Platinum again in 2018.
At that point I began looking for flights to London. As we were looking to book within a month of our trip it was hard to find much for less than $750 on OneWorld carriers with AA flight numbers. However, I did notice that trips to/from New York tend to cost at least $200 less than Chicago, especially with short notice. So, I preemptively booked a one-way trip from JFK to Chicago. While out plans for London weren’t yet set in stone I figured in a worse case scenario I could at least visit some friends in New York that weekend.
About a week and a half later my friend regrettably informed me that he couldn’t go to London that weekend. I however had the idea in my head of going abroad that weekend and I was going to give in that easily.
After several more days of searching I eventually uncovered a fantastic round-trip open jaw fare from Stockholm to New York and then Chicago to Munich. Even better, the dates worked out as such that I return to Munich the same weekend I had already booked a business class fare from Munich back to Chicago. What luck!
Well, How Do I Get To Stockholm?
Yep, in order to get the above booking started I first need to get to Stockholm. Again, I began by searching for discount economy class tickets with AA flight numbers. Unfortunately after several days of looking I kept coming up empty. I could get to Stockholm fairly inexpensively, but I couldn’t find a return trip that made sense.
Then, one night when I was looking for flights I decided, “why not fly Lufthansa First Class!?” Ah, such a simple idea, I’d transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United and then book a Lufthansa First Class flight to Germany.
Again, once this idea was in my head it was stuck. I kept my other options open (using AA miles), but I was pretty set on flying LH First. The only flaw with this plan is that Lufthansa doesn’t open up award space until 2 weeks prior to departure. Even then, it’s extremely difficult to find award space that works in First Class.
Eventually though after several days and attempts to find the perfect award space I finally found a seat on Lufthansa First from Chicago to Frankfurt with a connecting flight to Stockholm.
At this point I have my flights prepared for my upcoming #WeekendWarrior (MonkeyMiles) trip to Stockholm.
What It All Looks Like… No, I Never Said This Was Normal!
So, if you’ve been following along I’ve manage to Frankeinstein a weekend trip to Stockholm together which eventually turns into the beginning of another trip. Here’s what it all looks like when it’s all said and done.
I depart Chicago at 10PM on Friday evening in Lufthansa First Class on the 747-8i to Frankfurt. I arrive in Frankfurt Saturday morning and have about a 3 hour layover. While in Frankfurt I hope to exit the terminal and walk over to the First Class Terminal. From there I’ll hopefully catch a ride to my afternoon flight to Stockholm.
In Stockholm I will spend one night at a hotel (I should figure that out) before heading back to the United States on Sunday morning. From Stockholm I’ll be flying Finnair to Helsinki to catch my Helsinki to New York flight back to the States. I chose Finnair because it was inexpensive, but also because I’ve been wanting to visit the Finnair lounge and sauna for some time.
Once back in New York I’ll have a little bit of time to check out the new Flagship Lounge in JFK before heading to Charlotte and then onto Chicago.
That’s right, if you’ve been counting, in a weekend I’ll be taking 6 flights and stopping in 4 countries! That’s where I’m starting to ponder if I’ve gone to far. If any one of these flights is delayed or canceled I’m toast!
Have You Thought This Through?
Yes, here’s why I’m not all that concerned. I’m sitting on a hefty pile of American Airlines AAdvantage miles. While I hate holding onto miles I love having them as a backup plan. If for example I end up getting stuck in Frankfurt I should be able to use AA miles to get home. If I get stuck in Stockholm again I can use AA miles to get home. Lastly, if my New York to Charlotte to Chicago flights get messed up, I can find a way home with AA miles.
Sure I don’t like using miles if I don’t have to but using miles should be significantly less expensive than having to pay for a same-day international ticket from Europe back to the United States.
What Is The Point?
Oh yeah, I almost left this portion out. See, each year my goal is to fly about 100,000 miles and earn at least $12,000 AAdvantage EQD. However, I have no interest in spending $12,000 of my own money to make that happen. As a result I try to find flights that cost a low number of actual dollars yet earn a high amount of Elite Qualifying Dollars. I typically try to earn 2 EQD per actual $1 spent.
So far each of these trips have met that threshold. With each of these trips I’ll earn about 22,000 Elite Qualifying Miles and at least $3,000 EQD. That coupled with the EQD and EQM I’ve already earned this year puts me in a great place to qualify for Executive Platinum in 2018. Hopefully thanks to all of the trips I already have planned this year I won’t have to go to Vietnam 4 times again in November and December, as much as I would like that.
Final Thoughts
It’s hard to say which one of my insane mileage run trips has been the most insane yet. My Qatar Airways flights to/from Vietnam last year were ambitious to say the least. However, with those flights I had several 8+ hour layovers in which if something went wrong I could figure something out.
With this upcoming trip I don’t have that luxury. I have to get to Stockholm to begin my second round-trip which begins my third round-trip. If this upcoming trip goes poorly it could have a chain reaction that will cause a lot of problems. If this weekend doesn’t go to plan it potentially throws off my plans for the remainder of the year.
Is this crazy, absolutely. But I love doing it. There is an adrenaline rush that comes with doing all this and to be honest it never gets old. If I don’t get 8 hours of sleep on most nights I wake up tired and cranky before going into the office. With these trips though I can easily survive on 2-3 hours of sleep for the weekend because I have the adrenaline to keep me going.
So, that’s that. For those who follow me on Instagram expect to see several glasses of Champagne in the near future as I once again lounge hope around the globe.
