Trip Reports

Seoul Trip – Introduction (How I Booked & How Much I Paid)

July 24, 2017

a man in a red robe and hat standing in a archway

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Back in July last year I wrote about some very good Business Class deals that Qatar Airways was offering between Europe and Asia and, rather than just recommend the fares to you I made sure I booked some for myself too.

I’ve already written about one of the trips I booked (Rome to Kuala Lumpur via Doha) and, on this trip, I was flying from Pisa to Doha and then on to Seoul, South Korea, before reversing the journey on my way home.

The Bookings

This trip would give me the opportunity for two new Qatar Airways reviews:

Qatar Airways A320 Business Class
Qatar Airways 777-300ER Business Class (Overnight Flight)

I’ve never flown on a Qatar Airways A320 before and, while I have reviewed the airline’s 777-300ER Business Class product in the past, that was a daytime flight – this trip would give me a chance to see what the service offering is like on the 777 when flying overnight.

As I mentioned in another article, I had a few issues with the Qatar Airways schedule but, in the end, this is what my flights looked like:

As I don’t live in Pisa I had to book myself a positioning flight from London to Pisa (and then back again for the return journey) which I chose to do with British Airways and in Economy Class……..

I also needed somewhere to stay in Seoul so this was my thought process when selecting where to book:

I was traveling solo and not with Joanna so my aim was to find a good balance between adequate comfort and reasonable cost.
This was to be a very quick trip (3 days, and 2 nights in Seoul) so I would be spending most of my time away from the hotel and seeing what the city has to offer…I wouldn’t be needing anything luxurious.
As I’m in the process of trying to tie up Lifetime Platinum status with Marriott (before Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest are combined) a Marriott property would be best to help boost my points balance.

Marriott has 7 properties in the Seoul area 4 of which are reasonably central. Despite the presence of two JW Marriott properties and a very tempting Autograph Collection property I decided to book the Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun.

The Courtyard wasn’t cheap (166,600 KRW is approximately $150 before taxes)….but it was considerably cheaper than the other well located properties and, as I’ve already said, I didn’t need anything fancy – just a clean, central location from which to explore the city.

On top of this I’ve never visited a Courtyard property outside of the US so I was interested to see what one was like.

The Cost

As this screenshot from my booking shows, I booked the round trip Qatar Airways flights for €1,252.97 which, a the time of booking, came to $1,402.95 or around £1,068 – not bad for flights on one of the world’s better Business Class carriers 🙂

My British Airways flights to Pisa and back set me back £114.92/$142.39 and the Courtyard in Seoul came to KRW 366,520 ($320/£250) for the stay.

Total cost of travel and accommodation: $1,865.34/£1,432.92

Points & Miles Earning

American Airlines AAdvantage Earning (Based On Executive Platinum Status)

London Gatwick – Pisa – London Gatwick

Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM): 714
Redeemable Miles (RDM): 786
Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD): 72

Pisa – Doha – Seoul – Doha – Pisa

EQM: 21,078
RDM: 30,914
EQD: 2,810

In this one trip I earned:

22% of the total EQM required to retain American Airlines Executive Platinum status.
24% of the total EQD required to retain American Airlines Executive Platinum status.
Enough redeemable miles for a round trip Economy SAAver ticket between anywhere in the 48 contiguous US states and the Caribbean….so if AA ever releases any of these awards out of LAX I’ll be set!

Citi ThankYou Points

I booked my Qatar Airways flights with my Citi Prestige card and, at 3 ThankYou points per dollar spent on airfare, they earned me 4,209 Citi ThankYou Points.

American Express Membership Rewards

By the time I came to booking my British Airways segments Amex had significantly improved the offering on the Platinum Card to 5 Membership rewards points per dollar spent on airfare….. so that’s the card I used to pay for these flights.

They earned me 715 Membership Rewards Points.

Marriott Rewards Points

Bookings at Courtyard properties only earn Marriott Rewards points on the cost of the room (excluding taxes) and not on any other charges made to the room.

Before taxes my room cost came to $294 so this is what that earned me:

15 Marriott Rewards Points per dollar from Marriott (10 base points + 50% bonus for holding Platinum status) – 4,410 points
Elite welcome gift – 250 points
5 points per dollar spent on my Chase Marriott Rewards Credit Card – 1,470 points

Total: 6,130 Marriott Rewards Points

Bottom Line

For me the most important part of this trip was the opportunity to review the Qatar Airways A320 Business Class cabin – getting to visit a South East Asian city that I’ve never visited before (and with an incredibly good Business Class fare) was a very nice added bonus.

Because the Qatar Airways A320 is a narrow body aircraft most people assume it’s an aircraft to avoid if you’re paying for Business Class…but I’ve never subscribed to that idea.

Yes, narrow body Business Class cabins are normally far inferior to their wide body counterparts……. but this is Qatar Airways we’re talking about. This is an airline that, mostly, knows how to deliver a great Business Class product so is the A320 really that bad of an option?

I didn’t think it would be and this trip gave me the chance to find out just how right or wrong I was.

Up Next: Review of the new British Airways First Lounge at London Gatwick’s South Terminal

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