Today I’ve heard about an interesting fare out of Johannesburg. It means that you either have to be in South Africa or you have to fly there to get started.
Emirates airlines has a special offer in First Class from Johannesburg to South America. You can fly to Sao Paolo, Rio or Buenos Aires. If you decide to fly to Sao Paolo, you get to fly on the Airbus 380 all the way. Whereas if you decide to fly to Rio or Buenos Aires, it’s on the Boeing 777. Keep in mind that the flight to Buenos Aires stops in Rio.
The fun thing with the Airbus 380 is the inflight shower. Yes you can take a shower at 40,000 ft.
On top of this, you can get unlimited stopover. So you could fly from Johannesburg to Dubai and stay there for a while; then from Dubai to Rio and also stay there for a while; and then from Rio to Buenos Aires before heading back the same route (with or without stopping in Rio and Dubai).
I did not even talk about the chauffeur service, the lounges and the food… Really worth it!
This is how it would look on the map:
For that trip we’re looking at about 50 hours on a plane. In some of the best first class seats you can find.
And Emirates sells this for only USD 4,600. It’s still a big chunk of money, but it could work for some people.
But wait, there’s more. As this books in First class, you will get miles for this trip. And you should credit your flights to your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan card. Here is why.
With Alaska Airlines, you will get status miles computed as 3.5 times the flown distance when flying Emirates First Class.
| Segment | Flight duration |
Distance (Miles) |
Elite miles | Bonus miles | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88,165 | 101,380 | ||||
| JNB-DXB | 08:05 | 3,970 | 13,895 | 13,895 | Member |
| DXB-GIG | 14:20 | 7,385 | 25,848 | 25,848 | Member |
| GIG-EZE | 03:30 | 1,240 | 4,340 | 4,960 | MVP |
| EZE-GIG | 02:50 | 1,240 | 4,340 | 5,580 | MVP Gold | GIG-DXB | 14:00 | 7,385 | 25,848 | 33,233 | MVP Gold |
| DXB-JNB | 08:10 | 3,970 | 13,895 | 17,865 | MVP Gold |
As you see, this trip gives you 88,000 status miles. You even gain status during your trip. It gets you only 2,000 miles away from Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan’s top status: MVP Gold 75K. One option to get 2,000 miles is to fly two return trips between Dubai and Muscat, Oman. When you reach MVP Gold 75K, you get 50,000 extra bonus miles.
Now let say you did the flight above and the extra 2,000 miles. You will have roughly 150,000 miles in your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account. This is enough for a return ticket in First Class on Cathay Pacific between Paris and Hong Kong.
Now you should realise that for USD 4,600, you’re not only getting 50 hours on Emirates First Class, but also 24 hours on Cathay Pacific.
Is it worth it? It depends on your situation, but it’s quite fun.
H/T: YHBU