Route Planning

It quickly became that time of the year again, Christmas and the Holidays. Though there were some unexpected trips, namely the trip I had taken on Virgin Atlantic to Chennai via London and Delhi from New York, this is an annual trip that I make to go see close family and friends. Chennai was one of the many cities that I had lived in through my adolescent years and it is still that I hold dear to my heart. It is for this reason I have had few Christmas Holiday breaks in the cold. The exceptions to this has been the disruptions that the entire planet faced during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Route Planning for this trip was different than what I normally undertake. Normally, I will book a round trip based somewhere in North America and returning with the same airline on the inbound. However, I knew I had to return to India towards the tail end of April in the following year. This coupled with a fantastic fare that Singapore Airlines (SQ) was offering out of Mumbai (Bombay), meant my choice was quite simple. I would need to book a one way flight to India. Qatar Airways has been a consistent airline and offered some decent options. Unfortunately, my dates would mean I would be travelling to Doha during the World Cup Tournament. This also meant prices were exorbitant.

Because of those fares, I did a bit of award searching and I found a great award at 85K points from Chicago to Bangalore via Doha. I would be meeting a friend there, or so I thought, and would be flying to Bombay the following day. Qatar operates their Boeing 777-300ER to Chicago and back to Doha. Interestingly, during the World Cup, the airline was utilizing their A350-1000 for their Bangalore service.

For the return leg, I booked a fantastic SQ fare at $3000 USD or $3650 CAD. That flight routing would be Bombay - Singapore - New York. Singapore operates its A380 service from Bombay to Singapore. The Singapore - New York sector would be on the World’s Longest Flight utilizing the Airbus A350-900 ULR. Singapore Airlines is the only operator of the aircraft in the world. Though I do realize Qantas has ordered a few A350-1000s that are capable of doing New York & London Nonstop. The entire return leg on Singapore Airlines will be featured on a different page as I felt it needed its own report. The link for it can be found here.