The last part of 2011 was a bit chaotic, contract problems at work, the Thai floods, a nasty cold which would not go away and several other things combined meant a couple of cancellations, no trip report for a couple of Business Class trips and ending up on a mad dash on a Fokker 100 to Zürich to score the last few miles needed for Senator Status for 2012/2013.
Now I am in the position of thinking of spending a few miles, but I have two possibilities in hand.
1) Try to get a Star Alliance First Award for Christmas 2012 in Australia, chances of this are slim to none.
2) Get two business class awards for October 2012 to Singapore, the dilemma being either to use a Senator Companion award and face the slope seats of Lufthansa or try and bag some SQ space from MAN or LHR. The first is fairly available, the second is hard to find.
Obviously First space might open up later to Australia, but it's unlikely and if it didn't I'd be stuck with a high priced ticket. What I may do is look at it using KVSTool and if not I'll be looking at getting a ticket with another airline.
WIth SEN status safe for two years, I can contemplate going to Oz not on a Star Alliance airline, so if the price is right, I may consider something One World-ish. Musts for this time are Sydney and Brisbane, possibles are Hobart, Perth and Auckland (if it's open). Looking at funds, it's likely to be business, as there is a new kitchen calling to me, but I shall look at first as well, just in case.
I'm trying to save my eVIPS for a possible trip to New York in 2013, assuming Lufthansa ever open up First Class space on the A380.
There you go, I shall tell you how my deliberations are going in a few weeks.
