Trip Overview and Award Booking Strategy

Hey everyone — I’m a chronic procrastinator, so here’s a very belated trip report from my 2023 summer trip back to China in business class. Hopefully this is helpful. I made the decision to go back on fairly short notice, so I had to be ready to pack and leave at any time. I transferred MR points to AC and used two sets of 87,500 miles to book my outbound itinerary from Chicago to Shanghai Pudong via Zurich, operated by SWISS. For the return to the U.S., I flew from Beijing to Chicago via Munich, operated by Lufthansa. In practice, SWISS, Lufthansa, and Austrian Airlines are all part of the Lufthansa Group, basically like a parent company and subsidiaries, so I’m combining them into one post.

Even in the post-pandemic era, going back to China still hasn’t returned to the pre-pandemic level of convenience. For example, Chicago, where I work now, still has not restored nonstop service to Beijing. I won’t get into the reasons. Since a connection was unavoidable anyway, and cash fares during summer were not going to be cheap, I decided to search AC for last-minute business-class seats connecting in Europe 1-4 days before departure and just lie-flat all the way back to China. My outbound ticket was not too hard to find, because the mid-July peak for travel back to China had already died down. About 4 days before departure, I found an itinerary leaving from Chicago ORD, connecting in Zurich for about 3 hours, then continuing to Shanghai Pudong Airport PVG. On the way back to the U.S., unfortunately I had to compete with families traveling before the school year started, because I needed to return before some day at the end of August for an important meeting. I only found that ticket 12 hours before departure, again using AC miles, for a flight from Beijing with about a 14-hour connection in Munich, including an overnight, before returning to Chicago. So this round trip ended up costing 175,000 Air Canada miles total, plus taxes and fuel surcharges and other fees (98.3 CAD in taxes/fees on the China-bound trip, 157.7 CAD on the U.S.-bound trip). All of the points came from AMEX MR points.

One small side story: a few hours before I finally booked the Lufthansa flight back to the U.S., I was so worried that I would not find a suitable business-class seat that I had already redeemed 65000 UA miles for a premium economy seat from Tokyo Haneda to Chicago, and then paid 808 dollars through AMEX Travel for a separate ticket from Beijing to Haneda, planning to through-check my bags. The Beijing-to-Tokyo segment was outrageously expensive, but at that point I did not have many options. Fortunately, Lufthansa did release award space at the last minute and basically saved my life as a working person. Since the Beijing-Tokyo and Tokyo-Chicago tickets were booked separately — one as an award ticket and one through AMEX Travel — both were canceled within 24 hours, and both the refund and mileage redeposit went very smoothly.

SAS lounge on the way back to China

Since Chicago O'Hare does not have any lounges that can be accessed with Priority Pass, I took advantage of the business-class perks this time and tried the SAS lounge. My overall impression was pretty average: the food was mediocre, and it was fairly crowded. I liked it less than the AA flagship lounge I used the day before. (You can also look forward to my next post about flying Japan Airlines business class.) The SAS lounge does not open until noon, and because the space is fairly small, it filled up quickly right after opening. Below are photos of the SAS lounge entrance, the interior, and the food selection. Please ignore my huge appetite.

Since it has been almost half a year since this flight, my rough recollection is that this lounge did not have hot food. There were cheap instant noodles that you could prepare with hot water, though, so I guess that sort of counts as hot food.

SWISS from Chicago to Zurich

Next came boarding, settling into the seat, and being offered drinks by the lovely flight attendants. Below is the business-class cabin on the SWISS Chicago-to-Zurich segment on the Airbus A333, aka the A330-300. Please ignore my short legs, haha. The seat goes fully flat to 180 degrees, and there was also a massage function around the lower back area.

This was a fairly long flight, so they served two meals on board. Standard business-class three-course service both times: appetizer, main course, and dessert. The photos below include both the menu and the meals. I actually picked the wrong main course — it was intended for vegetarians, and since I am very much a meat eater, the flavor really did not work for my Chinese palate. Breakfast was a typical Western breakfast: bread, cheese, milk, and so on.

Below is the breakfast served shortly before landing.

I think this redemption for my trip back to China worked out pretty well. Although the total travel time was long overall, because flights could not use Russian airspace, the connection was only 3 hours, so I barely had any time to keep eating and drinking during the layover anyway — which was probably for the best, because I was already too full. Every trip back to China feels like a rehearsal for gaining 10 pounds. Below is one photo from inside Zurich Airport, plus a photo of sunrise over Switzerland taken from outside the lounge. It was really beautiful. Of course, compared with major cities in China, it still felt very small-town, haha.

Zurich to Shanghai

The second segment was from Zurich to Pudong Airport on a Boeing 77W (777-300ER). I chose a window seat, but honestly it was not very convenient. Every time I needed to get out, I had to bother the gentleman sitting next to me to stand up, so privacy was not great either. Here are another seat photo and some meal photos, in order: the first meal and the breakfast served before landing.

My overall impression of SWISS on this trip was that the food was not especially enjoyable, but they definitely made sure you were well fed. Honestly, once I landed, I was ready to fast for a day and let my stomach rest. Embarrassing, haha. Service on SWISS was also very good, and the flight attendants on both segments were as friendly as ever.

Return to the U.S.: Beijing -- Munich -- Chicago

For Lufthansa business class departing from Beijing, passengers were directed to use the Air China First Class Lounge in Terminal 3 at Capital Airport. From what I remembered, this lounge had also been accessible with Priority Pass before, so readers of this blog may already be familiar with it. As for the food, it absolutely blows most U.S. lounges out of the water. I especially remember a hot and sour beef dish that I highly recommend, so I had to include a photo.

As I mentioned in the earlier overview, I had to rebook this trip in a huge rush, with a hard requirement to be back by a certain date, right in the middle of the back-to-school travel surge. So this itinerary really is not ideal for readers traveling with family. The flight from Beijing to Munich was 12 hours long (and since flights still cannot enter Russian airspace, it takes much longer than before), followed by another 9.5 hours from Munich to Chicago. I also had a 14-hour overnight layover en route, arriving at around 7 pm and departing at 9 am the next morning. As a result, the journey back to the US felt endless, and it took nearly 2 full days before I finally made it back to where I work. Both segments were operated by the A350, specifically the A350-900, and I chose aisle seats. Below are the seat maps and menus for both flights—followed, of course, by more food photos, haha. Guilty as charged for being a foodie.

Overnight layover experience in Munich

I do not have a Schengen visa—mostly because I was too lazy to deal with it—but one advantage of connecting in Munich is that they do not kick people out of the airport in the middle of the night, so you can stay there until the lounge opens the next morning. At the time, I looked up some overnight layover reports in Munich online. Some people said you could book a capsule hotel for a few hours, but they are barely soundproof and usually require advance reservations, so I did not go that route. I had assumed I would get enough sleep on the Beijing-to-Munich flight and then just start remote work right at the airport. But, of course, reality won. I did not sleep at all on the Beijing-to-Munich segment, and by the time I got to the airport, I was absolutely exhausted around midnight local time. I dozed off in one of the gate-area seats for less than an hour before waking up in pain because the seats were so hard. So my advice is: be nicer to yourself and either book a capsule hotel or claim a spot in the nearby rest area early. Otherwise, you may end up like me with an aching back and sore waist.

The Lufthansa business class lounge opened right on time at 6 am. Germans really are punctual—they would not open even one minute early. Naturally, I was the first one in. The lounge was quite large, the food was good, and the shower rooms were very clean. Hardly anyone showed up for quite a while after I got there, so it was actually a great place to take photos. Below are some pictures of the lounge interior and the food.

Final thoughts

This was actually my first international trip in business class, and I am very grateful to all the friends who generously shared tips and advice, from award rebooking strategies to all kinds of practical experience. The biggest takeaway for me is that now that I am older, I really do not want to go back to flying economy ever again, haha. Once you get used to luxury, it is hard to go back.

So coming soon, I will also share my just-completed Japan Airlines-operated business class flight from Chicago to Beijing. Once again, it was a nonstop eating marathon and I felt like my stomach was about to explode, but the overall experience was even more impressive than SWISS/Lufthansa. Finally, happy New Year in advance, and I hope everyone has a wonderful time eating, drinking, traveling, and enjoying life!