Seven lounges, three airlines, and 17,797 miles flown up front for less than $208

Qatar Airway's Al Mourjan Business Lounge in Doha

If the title of this blogpost intrigues you, please read on because maybe I can inspire you to start playing the miles & points game yourself. As we all know, nothing in life is truly free, but there are a few hacks that can transform traveling from an often stressful endeavor into a truly rewarding experience.

Snacking in AA's Flagship Lounge in DFW

When I booked my recent flight to Doha, it quickly became clear that this trip was not just about architecture and cultural experiences at my destination in Qatar (see my previous post). For once, the journey itself—in other words, the getting there and back—became a second focal point. 

Many, if not most, of my trips start out with a thought that I have on the bike and a subsequent visit of aa.com, American Airlines' website, to see how much flights may cost to a particular destination. Toward the end of the year—when elite qualification has been wrapped up—"cost" often is not expressed in dollars but in award miles required to get a free flight. I do sit on a tidy heap of miles that I have accumulated over the years through credit cards, the occasional complaint about equipment, a delay, or crappy service, and of course flying on paid-for flights. The latter method of accumulating miles has been severely curtailed over the past few years, with airlines becoming increasingly stingy in how they award miles to even their so-called most-valuable customers. For example, just five years ago an economy flight to Munich that might cost me, say, $1,000 would have yielded just shy of 25,000 award miles; nowadays, even with my top-tier frequent flier status with AA, I  will earn less than half of that for my $1,000, 12,000 miles. And the earning rate decreases the farther down the elite ladder you go.  The days of Up in the Air with George Clooney are definitely over. At the same time, airlines have done away with redemption charts and gone to something that's called "dynamic pricing." Example: In the past, an off-season roundtrip flight to Europe in Business would have cost 40,000 miles, but now the same flight may cost you between 90,000, if you're really lucky, to more than 300,000 miles, depending on what the booking load is at the time you purchase the ticket with your miles. Yet, sometimes you can still get surprisingly good deals with your miles.

Flying light with carry-on only

It took me a while to piece together my itinerary, playing with the dates of travel and the routing I might take, but in the end all the work paid off. For award travel I always try to ticket one-way flights to facilitate possible changes at a later time since 50% fewer flights in the overall itinerary would be affected. (As an Executive Platinum flier I can make changes for free if a better award fare happens to open up, and if needed, I can cancel any award flight until right before departure for a full refund of miles plus the taxes and fees I had paid. That may now be one of the biggest advantages of being at the top of the pecking order since mid- and lower-tier AAdvantage members do not have the same privilege.)

Capital One Lounge in DFW, terminal D

For my trip to Doha I found two one-ways, each costing 57,500 miles for First/Business Class travel. (Domestically, the front of the cabin is called First Class; internationally, Business Class is the area where you will find lie-flat seats and the fancier meals and beverages. International First Class (at least for US carriers) is a quickly dying breed that resembles the Business Class cabin with even fewer seats that are wider by a couple of inches and where you have a choice of six wines instead of "just" four. I have flown in International First on a few occasions over the years, and it is the gold standard. For my itinerary, no planes featured First across the ponds.) In addition to the miles I also had to pay taxes and fees, something that 30 years ago was part of your truly free mileage award ticket. Ah, the golden years of being a frequent flier! My cash layout was exactly $14.65 ex-US and $193.15 coming back. This significant difference is a function of much higher "luxury" taxes one has to pay for flying in Business from foreign airports. So, don't complain about the US as being tax heavy—people who have an issue with our tax system should educate themselves by looking at what people in other countries are paying.

American's Flagship Lounge in DFW

Going to Qatar, I had stopovers in Dallas and Helsinki before my last flight to Doha. Finnair operates a direct flight from DFW to HEL, and it also has a direct HEL to DOH flight. Thus I got to sample two airlines on the outbound. On the way back I was able to build in a two-night stay in Barcelona: DOH to BCN on Qatar Airways, and then two days later BCN to Miami, then onward to DFW and finally to LBB on American.

I had never flown on either Finnair or Qatar and was really excited to be able to compare their product to not only American but also British Airways and Iberia, another two OneWorld Alliance members. (I had recently had the misfortune to fly from London back to Philadelphia on one of BA's huge 380s; the upper-deck seat, the "best" option after carefully consulting the SeatGuru website—which provides a complete layout and seat descriptions of any airline's various aircraft—was the absolutely worst Business Class seat I had ever flown in: incredibly narrow, without any decent storage space, exposed to the rest of the cabin as there were no "cubicle" walls. During take-off and landing you are face-to-face with the passenger on the other side of the flimsy partition. If you sit on the window side, you either have to climb over the next passenger or are being climbed over to reach the loo. Yes, those 380s use a 2-2-2 configuration instead of 1-2-1. OMG!

BA's totally inferior seats on their 380, coming back from France
 a couple of months ago; at least the dividing screen
to the dude on the other side worked

When frequent fliers talk about an airline's "product" they use the word as an umbrella for the soft and hard product. Under soft we think of aspects such as the boarding experience (check-in and gate agents' demeanor? on time? dedicated boarding for premium passengers?) as well as onboard service ranging from the pre-departure beverage, hot-towel service, meal services, general flight-attendant attitude, and help converting your seat into a lie-flat bed, all the way to the wake-up routine before landing. The hard product encompasses the seats and their immediate surrounding personal space, the entertainment system, bathrooms, amenities, quality and tastiness of the various meals, beverage selections, and of course the general appearance of the plane: general cleanliness, scuffed corners, and heaven forbid duct-tape that appears to hold the fuselage together.

Recent examples of what you do not want to see

I was not surprised by AA's so-so food and some FA attitude issues; even in Business some of them still haven't gotten the message that we're paying a ton of money for their service (yes, I know about the "we're here primarily for your safety" spiel). If you really don't like your job, please find a different one. Admittedly, the bad apples are far fewer up front than in what we like to refer to as the Kettle Class (cattle, get it?, which sounds so similar to Mr. and Mrs. Kettle and their two screaming children in the back). Finnair's flight attendants, on the other hand displayed much more genuine friendliness with just a touch of Scandinavian austerity that actually serves to emphasize the genuineness of how they come across. And having flight attendants who were born after the fall of the Berlin Wall certainly is preferable to dealing with heavy-set matrons who have been flying since well before Apollo 11's landing on the moon. Just think about that safety factor here, and I'm not trying to be ugly.

I asked this friendly BA flight attendant on a recent flight
whether I could take her photo. Be careful about taking
pics of employees without permission!

That leaves Qatar Airways, an airline that was founded just 21 years ago, yet has been voted World's Best Airline EIGHT times since 2011! Google for AA's international awards, and there's simply nothing; Google national rankings and you find anything from 4th to 8th out of ten domestic carriers. Finnair has been voted Best Airline in Northern Europe 14 years in a row, but if you compete against SAS, Ryanair, and EasyJet, well, the bar hasn't been set too high, or has it? Qatar is simply on a very special level when it comes to customer service, starting with the check-in area in Doha, the boarding process, and the über-attentive flight attendants. AA's in-flight meal service evokes memories of cafeteria food, while Finnair had a tasty, appealing menu. Qatar? It's mind blowing. QR's check-in experience in a vast, totally uncrowded dedicated Business and First area was smooth and friendly. When I got on the plane. my personal attendant, Ahmed, brought me a glass of champagne—not the $15 sparkling wine that AA serves up, in a plastic container, but rather the French Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale Brut, which you can find on the internet for about $45 to $55 a bottle. And did I mention that it is served in a glass glass? 

The meal service was impeccable, not rushed and on my time. Ahmed carried the various courses to my seat. American uses carts to serve initial beverages and the meal, meaning that the aisle is clogged in case you want to go to the facilites. Finnair does the same. If you fly in First Class on American, no carts are being used. It's all a function of the cabin size, and apparently Qatar's FAs don't mind adding a few steps to their Fitbits.

A faux candle only adds to the ambiance of luxury

The quality of the food rivals that of a decent restaurant. There was a choice of three starters and four main courses, plus an excellent cheese selection that was not so cold that you had to let it warm up for half an hour. The wine list featured three whites and three reds, plus a desert wine as well as a port. The consumables are well above AA's First Class standards, which does not differentiate between First and Business menus, just a slightly larger wine selection.

From the top, AA, Finnair, and Qatar Business Class

I had been able to book myself into the vaunted Q-Suites. If you have never heard of this type of cabin arrangement, hold on: Instead of being exposed to the aisle you can choose to shut a sliding door, slightly curved to the outside so that you're suddenly in a cocoon. Sure, it is still possible to look over the top of this partition, but it creates a feeling of privacy that you don't expect on a plane. The seats are of course fully lie-flat, something that Finnair eschews by having a non-adjustable seatback but more room in the foot well so that one can lie down, flat. But not being able to infinitely adjust the back and lumbar portions of the seat makes for a disappointingly uncomfortable seat. For that reason I will try to avoid Finnair's Business Class in the future. AA has very comfortable seats with electronic controls, so the nod here—among the runners-up—definitely goes to American.

Finnair's extended foot well that allows to lie flat
despite the seatback's being immovable

I could continue to gush but rather skip to the final section of this post: a brief review of the seven lounges that I visited. Let me simply rank them from the least desirable (relatively speaking, since pretty much any lounge beats the heck out of sitting in the general boarding area) to the crème de la crème.

• Number 7: Capital One Lounge in DFW's terminal D, right next door to the Flagship lounge. For some reason I had access to that lounge and since I had never visited it I left the FL to check it out. I don't know what the big hullaballoo is: The place has a very limited footprint with few bright windows, was extremely crowded, and had food and beverage offerings similar to a basic AA Admirals Club. After 15 minutes I went back to the FL.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Number 6: Joan Miró VIP Lounge in Barcelona. Unfortunately, it is located relatively far away from the OneWorld gates and not easy to find (up on the mezzanine level). It is fairly spacious but has no windows to the outside of the terminal. I didn't have any issues finding a seat with power outlets, but it the lounge was fairly busy. I visited during the morning, and it had a lot of the breakfast items that I love—nice cheese, different Iberian hams, salami, olives, good bread. I'd say definitely a step above an Admirals Club, and a good place to relax before your connection to the US.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Number 5: Flagship Lounge in Miami's terminal D. AA has a handful of FLs and they all pretty much serve the same fare. All of them have appealing shower facilities, and after the transatlantic hop I took advantage of that. The lounge has a bit of a weird layout, with lots of smaller rooms and corners, and there are not many windows looking out upon the tarmac. For those who happen to fly on a First Class ticket there is à la carte dining, which biz pax cannot access. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Number 4: Flagship Lounge in DFW's terminal D. This one is my "home lounge" since I fly so often through DFW internationally. (By the way, even passengers who are not booked into the Business cabin can access the FLs if their AA frequent flier status is at least Platinum. Additionally, the same privilege is extended to PLT or higher in all OneWorld airline lounges. A nice chichi for those with status. For the past decade I have been Executive Platinum, the highest rung, but even if I don't meet the requalification I have PLT Lifetime Status by virtue of being a 2-million miler and thus will get to enjoy this benefit, at least until the next devaluation of the AAdvantage frequent flier program.) 
  
  
  
  
  The Flagship Lounge in DFW is bright, looking onto the west runway. It's just fun to watch the big birds coming in and docking or leaving. The photo above is taken from the FL and shows a Qatar plane taxiing—nice coincident. Otherwise, the facilites and offerings are essentially the same as in Miami.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Number 3: Finnair Platinum Corner in Helsinki's non-Schengen area. This is a brand-new lounge, and it shows. If you're not booked into biz (or higher), you will have to make do with the Finnair Business Lounge nextdoor, regardless of status. The decor of the lounge is just so refreshingly clean and modern, so Nordic yet not stark. Lighting, tables, the central bar area (look at that amazing Gin & Tonic!), the buffet and its offerings—it's visually and from a culinary standpoint stunning! When I arrived at the lounge around 11:00 a.m., few passengers were present yet staff were just all over us. This lounge also offers à la carte dining that with AA is reserved for First Class pax only. (In all fairness, it is not the same experience as AA's exclusive Flagship Dining.) The dishes rotate throughout the day, and service is prompt.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  But the real kicker in regard to the Platinum Corner is that this lounge, in what is a first, features a beautiful Finnish sauna! Probably bowing to international mores it is not co-ed. But otherwise, it has everything that you need: changing room, toilet and shower area, fluffy towels, and a quiet area once you come out of the sweat paradise. Thankfully, I had made sure that I would have a long layover in Helsinki (close to six hours), and this experience puts this lounge near the very top of what I experienced. Simply wonderful.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Number 2: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge – The Garden in Doha Hamad International Airport's Concourse C. This is a Business Class lounge that puts any other First Class lounge I have been to (Sydney, London, Dallas) to shame. When you enter The Garden you leave the Louis Vitton Lounge (no access for me) to the right and go into a habitat that is sun-filled, with an airy dome, and trees and plants growing from the concourse's lower floor. It is hard to guestimate the size because of this open concept. It feels as if you're in a large botanical garden the size of a football field!!!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Obviously, all the amenities are stunning; the central bar is beautiful, the restrooms make you want to linger, and the food and beverage options are worthy of a five-star restaurant. Its overall character—almost too bright and open, and with an obvious background murmur of waterfalls but also sounds from the concourse—is the reason why I didn't put it in place number one. But really, who can quibble with that? Just like with two perfect children there are differences, and it is OK to have a favorite.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Number 1: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge – South in Doha Hamad International Airport's Concourse C. Qatar Airways describes this lounge in mid-Eastern superlatives, and that's the only way to do it any kind of justice. Vetting for lounge entry takes place at the bottom of a long escalator that takes you to a reception area that's stunning in its scope, size, and execution. Friendly personnel greet you and quietly inquire whether this is your first time to visit this lounge, and then they proceed to explain the highlights. After putting my roll-aboard into a high-tech locker I slowly walked into the lounge proper, which is visually owned by a large reflecting pool. That pool alone is probably three times the size of the entire Finnair lounge! 

Private seating areas with opulent upholstery as well as more open tables close to the buffet and bar (where four servers were boring themselves thanks to the lack of passengers but sprang into immediate attentiveness) give you the feeling of a luxury hotel. The separate sit-down dining area—reached via a wide circular staircase—overlooks the main part of the Al Mourjan below. No wonder that this lounge is often regarded as the best airport lounge in the world for Business fliers—I cannot even start imagining what the Al Safwa First Lounge nextdoor could add to this. Now I just have to find an award flight in First so I can cross Al Safwa off the bucket list.

If you're still with me after all this text and all those pics you have shown that you enjoy traveling, or at least thinking what might become reality on your next trip. Most people (me included) will not sink $10,000+ into a First Class ticket, or $5,000 into one in biz. But there are some who do, and I say all the power to them. If you see me siting up front then you know I did a lot of planning to live this lifestyle of the two-percenters. The one percenters have their own planes!

Jürgen