Note: This flight was taken in February 2022. Certain travel restrictions and service protocols described in this review may not be reflective of the current state of travel.
Introduction
This is the introduction to a round-the-world trip I took in early 2022. Yes, this trip report is a year overdue. I apologise for the tardiness with these reviews, and I admit some of the content may no longer be relevant, but I hope they will still be of interest to some.
In early 2022, I found myself with some free time for travel and ended up scouring for some travel options. What I eventually found, was the opportunity to fly ANA First Class transpacific to the USA. This was extremely exciting for me, I had been chasing ANA first class for nearly 3 years at that point. A flight in 2019 had to be canned when I had to find an alternative route to get home early due to a family emergency. A round–the-world (RTW) trip in April 2020 got the axe as well, for obvious reasons.
The problem with flying ANA first class then though, was that I would run afoul of Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) that were in effect then. Japan not being a VTL country meant I would either have to spend 14 days overseas after the Japan transit, or be subject to 7-days Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) upon my return. The former option was not particularly tempting, but the latter SHN option actually had a useful side effect. As result of the aforementioned 2020 RTW not happening, I also had an expiring voucher from TAP Air Portugal burning in my email. Since both Japan and Portugal were both not VTL countries at that point, why not build transits into both to get rid of my voucher and scratch a 3-year itch, while only serving a single 7-day SHN? That sounded sensible, so that’s what I did.
My Itinerary
With a trans-Pacific crossing on ANA and a trans-Atlantic crossing on TAP set, I focused on trying to incorporate an additional element: the new Jetblue Mint suite, only available on the new A321neos on transatlantic and selected coast-to-coast flights. I’d done old Mint before, and I considered one of the best and most value-for-money ways of getting across the continental United States. This turned out to be possible, and for a reasonable price. My final itinerary worked out like this:
- SIN-NRT: ANA 787-9 Business Class
- NRT-SFO: ANA 777-300ER ‘The Suite’ First Class
- SFO-LAX: Alaska Airlines First Class (no review)
- LAX-JFK: Jetblue A321neo Mint suite
- JFK-LIS: TAP Air Portugal A330-900neo Business Class
- LIS-LGW: TAP Air Portugal A319 Business Class
- LHR-SIN: Singapore Airlines 777-300ER Business Class (no review)
Along the way, I would spend 3 nights in the Hilton San Francisco, 1 night in the Conrad New York Downtown, and 3 nights in the Conrad London St James. While I was not looking forward to the 7-day SHN at the end of the trip, I was excited to finish end a 3-year chase for ANA First Class, and Mint suites as well.
I won’t go into the details of how the trip went right, and the experience of each product, but I really did enjoy every segment. Ok I did get Covid somewhere near the end of it, but almost everyone was bound to get it eventually? It took me three years to finally get my ANA First class flight, and it was just absolutely fantastic. It was probably the first time ever I was really reluctant to have to disembark, and wished the flight was longer. Even Singapore Airlines Suites/ First never had that effect. Mint was good, and even the TAP flight was quite pleasant.
I’ll be posting the various reviews in the coming days, so keep an eye out for each instalment!