Tagging Miles

  • Saverocity
  • Home
  • About
  • Ask Tagging Miles
  • Support Us
  • Store
    • Reselling Tools
  • Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide to Fulfillment By Amazon
      • Start Here
      • Setting up an account
      • Analyzing and adding a product
      • Shipping 101
      • Shipping 201
      • Ungating Product Categories
      • Amazon Seller App
      • Amazon Seller App Part 2
    • Expert’s Guide to Fulfillment By Amazon
      • Dealing with Returns
  • Mile High Reselling Club

Flying the Cycle: A Tale of Many Airport Lounges

August 11, 2016 By Trevor 3 Comments





  • Introduction to Flying the Cycle
  • A tale of Many Airport Lounges
  • 3 business class flights
  • 3 first class flights
  • 3 hotel stays (1 SPG in Milan, Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro, Hyatt Regency DFW International Airport) — Which included varying arrival experiences
  • Conclusion

You may remember my first attempt to fly the Cycle, back in March, that was thwarted by an equipment change from Rio de Janeiro to Miami. Alas, I had received my first ever double upgrade. My wife and I were flying home on an economy ticket, used a Systemwide Upgrade (SWU), to get up to business, and then an aircraft swap put my wife and I in First Class on a 777-200 (pre-refit).

Some background info: A “Cycle” is baseball terminology for hitting a Single, Double, Triple, and Home Run. I figured it was a reasonable simile for flying Economy, Business, and First class. I suppose I could throw Premium Economy in there too, however it is not as prevalent yet. My substitution? Euro Business, which is less than Premium Economy, but more than regular Economy.

Lounges – A variety to say the least

We visited 7 lounges in total.

We started out at the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge at Washington’s Dulles Airport. It was entirely sufficient for its purpose.

Of course, our next lounge was much nicer, the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge at Frankfurt’s Terminal A, which was the nicest Lufthansa Business lounge I’ve been to.

The Sala VIP lounge at Milan’s Malpensa Airport felt like it was very new, and it had some cool technology for their business center area, with Samsung touch screen computers (no keyboards!).

IMG_2387

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

In Miami, we did a little lounge hopping with our friend Geoff, visiting the American Airlines’ Premium Lounge, and then the American Express Centurion Lounge. I think the Premium Lounge was nice and quiet, but the Centurion Lounge, while small, had better food, and I enjoyed the Islamorada on tap. The service was enjoyable too.

Airport Lounges

Yes, we brought the bottle to the table, because, well, why not?

The only airport we didn’t get to visit a lounge, was in Rio de Janeiro. Flying TAM, in theory, we would have access, but we didn’t see a TAM one on the domestic side. And really, despite the expansion that the airport is undergoing, it is still a pretty small airport for being such an important city in Brazil (something about the Olympics?).

At Sao Paulo, Brazil’s GRU airport, we landed at Terminal 2 (and grabbed the obligatory photo of Red Lobster),

IMG_2524

and made our way to Terminal 3 (the newer and much nicer terminal), which was about a 10-15 minute walk, checked in, traversed security and immigration, and visited the Admirals Club lounge. It’s a nice lounge–not amazing–but, one of the nicer American Airlines’ lounges.

IMG_2536

 

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

 

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

We also made a brief detour to grab a drink at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. It was nice being incommunicado for a little bit, searching for my lost shaker of salt. Of course, it was all fun and games until my wife blew out her flip flop (don’t worry, no flip flops were harmed)!

IMG_2539

Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Sao Paulo

Incommunicado and Margarita

In Dallas-Fort Worth, we stopped at the American Express Centurion Lounge long enough to have a beverage.

The winning lounge

Perhaps the Coup de grace, was our final stop, at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal. Where we got the obligatory ducks:

IMG_2613

And the Schnitzel which, well, I’ve flown halfway around the world for. Its just that good!

IMG_2621

And don’t forget the bubble bath!

IMG_2620

Wrapping Up

We definitely had a bunch of fun experiences lounge hopping over the weekend. I think the best experience was with friends, but the Lufthansa First Class Terminal comes in as a reasonably close second. The lounge in Milan was a nice experience from the hustle and bustle of Malpensa’s airport, and Sao Paulo’s lounges really help Terminal 3 shine.

 

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Airport Lounges, Lufthansa Business Class Lounge, Lufthansa First Class Terminal, Sala Milan Lounge, Sao Paulo Airport

Trackbacks

  1. Citi's new rule, Chase's new site, Ultamate Rewards. - Tagging Miles says:
    August 12, 2016 at 10:01 am

    […] Flying the Cycle: A Tale of Many Airport Lounges […]

    Reply
  2. Flying the Cycle - Three Different First Class Experiences - Tagging Miles says:
    December 25, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    […] A tale of Many Lounges […]

    Reply
  3. My Memorial Day Weekend Flying - Intro and By the Numbers - Tagging Miles says:
    September 17, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    […] A tale of Many Lounges […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay in touch!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Topics

  • #Avgeek
  • Airline Programs
  • Ask TaggingMiles
  • Awards
  • Cashback Portals
  • Credit Card Match-ups
  • Credit Cards
  • Destinations
  • Dollars and Sense
  • Editorial
  • Events
  • Frequent Flyer 101
  • Giving Credit to Credit
  • Hotels
  • Manufactured Spending
  • Mileage Run
  • Miles and Points
  • Podcasts
  • Random
  • Rental Cars
  • Reselling
  • Saturday
  • Savings & Loan
  • Tagging Miles
  • The Brass Ring
  • Travel
  • Travel Insurance
  • Travel Programs
  • Uncategorized
  • Weekly News Roundup
  • Where Credit is Due

Recent Comments

  • Sevillada on American Elite Status – laughable push or cashgrab?
  • American Elite Status - laughable push or cashgrab? - Tagging Miles on ResellingDO Reboot Agenda
  • WG on Touring Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Simon on Using OpenFlights to find airline routes
  • M on LAX is leading the charge against Uber and Lyft
Note: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The owners of this website may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links and advertisements posted on this website. For more information, please see our Legal Notice.

Copyright © 2019 · Tagging Miles

This website uses cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze traffic. Our ad partners may combine this information with other information you have provided them or that they've collected from your use of their services elsewhere. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.OkNoRead more
Revoke Cookies