When SAS announced their initial A350 route and it was Chicago, I immediately searched for reward flights

The 3rd leg of 4 to rate who has the best trans Atlantic A350 service. This on Virgin Atlantic’s new A350-1K with a new (for them) business class seat.

In late 2019 I booked 4 trips on A350s to/from Europe to see which I liked best. The first was Air France’s A350-9 from Toronto to Paris. This trip was a return back to North American which happened to be Toronto as well on British Airway’s A350-1k.

This trip began the European carrier A350 tour. A350’s to be flown over this and two subsequent trips are; Air France, British Airways, Virgin Airways and SAS. And what better way to begin than to tour the Airbus factory!

This trip went through a million changes as is typical with me. It had settled as an Air France R/T to Europe. Then Lufthansa got in the way.

So now I would be on a 787-9 with Super Diamond seats, probably my favorite J class seat. It killed my try different things plan but a 787 with a great seat was nothing to pout about.

This flight would the first from Singapore to San Francisco using the A350ULR.

A Singapore Airlines agent met me at the jetway and escorted me to the combined Singapore First and Business class lounge which was across the hall from our arrival gate.

Maybe the perfect flight.

This time there was no disappointment.

The whole purpose of being in Paris on this day to catch a Qatar airways flight was to experience Q-suites. Such are the perils of making reservations a year in advance.

Booking a year out is when many great reward seats are available. In this case I had the choice of flying KLM in their 747 or Air France in their A330. Easy.

Knowing Delta's intentions were to replace the 747's with their new Airbus A350, I set another aircraft change alert.

Traveling on a carrier who doesn't fly to the USA is always an anticipated experience for me, especially on one with a great reputation for premium service. 

For avgeek anticipation what could be better than boarding a 3 week old 777-300 flying its 13th international flight with the brand new Polaris Business class seats?

Yes I had wanted to try Lufthansa in business, especially on the 747-8i in the upper deck. At least I can scratch it off the bucket list.

It's always important to leave on a positive note, pajamas in business class. 

Tokyo to New Delhi was a day flight, meaning eat and watch movies, so the question I pondered was if this flight would be up to the task.

Fortunately my stomach chose to be hungry this day. It picked the right day to do that. So a few hours after this incredible meal I decided to have another look.

It doesn't get any better than this. At least I can't image a better all around flight for the price. You be the judge.

Would the final 4,272 miles of an 11 flight 32,382 mile around the world adventure be the best of them all? One thing is for sure, it was great to see ORD from above as home would now be only a few miles away.

Out of the 6 different carriers on this journey, ANA,Thai, Singapore, Air New Zealand, Swiss and SAS, I was most excited to fly the new highly vaunted Swiss 777-300ER. 

 I remember having a choice. The early flight on a 777-300 with 1x2x1 business class seating, or the A330 with 2x2x2 seating later on. The choice was obvious, and wrong. 

With much anticipation to fly a long haul flight on Singapore Airlines in business class, would my expectations be exceeded?

I admit being very excited to fly on a 787 for an extended period.  I wanted to see how the lower pressurization  in the 787 cabin affected me. 

SAS Scandinavian Airlines has recently undergone a complete revamp of their long haul product including business class hard and soft products. They have done a fantastic job.

My second flight on Austrian reaffirmed the fondness I've acquired for this airline. Are they perfect?

From my perspective, Austrian gets top grades in comfort, food service and entertainment. And that's the trifecta when spending 8 plus hours on a plane.  

After the main meal a dessert and cheese cart is wheeled out, which can be most dangerous as it was stacked with goodies! Finally the Turkish Coffee cart is brought out with a large selection of coffee and tea as well as a SECOND dessert.

This was a great flight on a world class airline. It hits all marks for what you want with international travel. From a beautiful comfortable cabin, to delicious food, great entertainment and courteous friendly flight attendants, ANA scores high on all.