The best First class I’ve flown to-date is...Etihad A380 First Apartments

In my role and expertise with maximising reward points travel, I am in a unique and gracious position to have the flexibility and ability to travel often in the pointy-end.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to ‘walk the talk’ and experience the best available in commercial flight.

To-date, I have travelled on so many airlines that I’ve forgotten, but the memorable are (not in any order):

• ANA First
• Asiana First and Business
• Qantas First and Business
• United First
• Cathay Business
• Emirates First Suite and Business
• Swiss First and Business
• Thai First
• Malaysia Business
• Virgin Business
• British Airways First
• Singapore First Suites, First seat and Business
• And last week - Etihad 777 First class and Etihad A380 First Apartments

Every airline and cabin has its own special quirks and benefits, it is hard to directly compare because of different levels of service experiences on the ground and in the air.

I normally don’t bother to write a trip report, because there is already so much content written by others on blogs and on YouTube, that there is no point duplicating the information, but for this flight there was FOUR key experiences which impressed me.

First, here is a blurb on the Etihad A380 First Class Apartments - Nov 2014.

“For the first time on a wide-body aircraft cabin, a single aisle configuration has been used in the upper deck First Class section, allowing the airline to install the 39 sq ft luxurious space with a 'walk-in' living areas which include an armchair and separate 80.5 inch long bed, storage, a full length wardrobe, chilled mini-bar and a vanity unit.”

There are the four experiences that raised my eyebrows:

1. Huge internal private space, 39 sq ft (nearly 4 sqm), with a separate full-flat bed and reclining chair, manual sliding screen door and for the first time that I’ve seen, a little poem card on the pillow of my flat-bed.
2. Three touch screens (1 large main screen and two smaller handheld screens), each can show different content. Three large windows with two stage electronic blinds, with a chilled mini-bar and a vanity mirror.
3. The service was highly personal, very polite but not over the top, and a real feeling they were there to look after you and make your journey sweet.
4. Live TV, which was broadcasting the World Cup Live, making it a unique memorable experience while flying over the Equator.

All this made me think about how lucky I was to be that position and have regular access to such a beautiful cocoon of luxury.

With a bit of thinking time onboard, I realised the strong role that I play. That via my company, together with my team, we are in the special position to be an enabler - to help others to gain access, to experience for themselves, and/or share it with their friends and family that would normally be out of reach.

For everyone who shuns reward points, and thinks that collecting them is not worth the hassle or that it is a scam. I feel my role's work is to encourage them to get onboard, stay ontrack and stick with collecting the points. So all up, I can help them to experience for themselves the same feelings that I feel when I'm flying - that this is the best thing since sliced bread.

In one word - The flight experience was WOW.

Well done to the Etihad crew on my flight.

Route: Paris via Abu Dhabi to Sydney (one-way)

Points: 203,000* Virgin Velocity points and ticket taxes of $984.08 (DIY booking or $1750 via iFLYflat).

(*I had converted my AMEX points at a recent 40% bonus Velocity. All up, it represented just $72,500 of spend paying bills on certain expense categories that earns 2x per $1) [(203000/1.4/2)]

Cash Price equivalent: AUD $7,544 (per Kayak search)

ROI Value per $1 paid on cards: 9% [(7544-984.08)/72500)]

PS, at this date: I’ve yet to fly on the new Singapore Airlines A380 First class Suites or the new Emirates 777 fully-enclosed First Class private suites.