Welcome back to yet another Jakarta Potato trip report! After finally completing our last report, An Indian Subcontinent Extraordinare, we’ll now be returning with two trips to America! Encompassing a couple of journeys in two seasons, A TransPacific Clipper will be separated into two sections with 27 reviews. Some of you might notice that ‘TransPacific Clipper’ alludes to the old Pan Am China Clipper services between North America and Asia. As my routing won’t follow the exact path of the Pan Am Clippers, I’ll avoid calling this report by any of the four Clippers’ exact names.

We’ll also be working on this trip report concurrently with a live trip report to China (more details on that soon). As excited as we are to share with you the details of our journey, we ask for your patience as Raymond takes his time to chronicle each entry.

Winter

For my winter trip, I had booked a simple multi-city itinerary with United Airlines, involving flights between Jakarta and New York. Taking advantage of their expansive joint-venture agreement with All Nippon Airways (ANA), I managed to book the trans-Pacific segments on the airline (and even added a two-night stopover in Tokyo at that!). This also meant that I got to review ANA’s flagship Business Class product, The Room.

Thanks to United Airlines’ routing rules, I could also route my return journey through San Francisco and Seattle. This allowed me to experience the airline’s premium transcontinental product, United Business Class, on their Boeing 757-200. Furthermore, in San Francisco, I booked a stay at Fairmont San Francisco – the first of the Fairmont chain.

Finally, and as always, on my way back, I was able to take another look at ANA’s Staggered Business Class and Business Cradle product on their Boeing 787-8s. With this, I would have reviewed all of the airline’s widebody Business Class products!

Spring

Things weren’t as simple on my subsequent trip. Hoping to requalify for Flying Blue Gold, I was adamant about flying a SkyTeam carrier this time. Although Korean Air was the obvious choice, I was certainly discouraged after seeing their sky-high fares and after hearing of their supposedly mediocre on-board product. After much searching, I finally found a decent fare to New York on China Airlines, with a return from Seattle.

Unfortunately, as China Airlines does not maintain joint venture agreements with Delta or otherwise, I was unable to couple my itinerary with any domestic flight portions. Instead, I redeemed British Airways Avios for American Airlines Business Class on their premium transcontinental Airbus A321T. Additionally, I booked my flight from Los Angeles to Seattle with cash, this time on American Eagle.

Let’s fly.

Overall, our final itinerary looked like the following, which seems a lot more complicated than it seems.

I’ll be sharing with you all the reviews from this trip as soon as they are written. Note that due to various reasons, some reviews might not be published in chronological order. Please refer to the following list of reviews to check out the written and upcoming reviews from this trip! As always, the list will be updated with links to the reviews as soon as they are ready.

Winter

• Saphire Plaza Premium Lounge (CGK)
• ANA 787-9 Business Class (CGK-NRT)
• ANA Crowne Plaza Narita
• Haneda ANA Lounge Terminal 3 (HND)
• ANA 777 The Room Business Class (HND-JFK)
• M Social Downtown New York
• Newark United Club Gate C123 (EWR)
• Newark United Club Gate C74 (EWR)
• United Business 757-200 (EWR-SFO)
• Fairmont San Francisco
• United 737-800 First Class (SFO-SEA)
• Seatac United Club (SEA)
• ANA 787-8 Business Class (SEA-HND)
• ANA 787-8 Regional Business Class (HND-CGK)

Spring Time

• Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta (CGK)
• China Airlines A350 Business Class (CGK-TPE)
• San Want Residences Taipei
• Taoyuan China Airlines Lounge B Terminal 2B (TPE)
• China Airlines 777 Business Class (TPE-JFK)
• Conrad New York Downtown
• Greenwich Lounge (JFK)
• American Airlines A321T Business Class (JFK-LAX)
• Sonder The Winfield Los Angeles
• American Airlines CRJ700 First Class (LAX-SEA)
• Sonder The Boylston Seattle
• China Airlines A350 Business Class (SEA-TPE)
• Taoyuan China Airlines Lounge B Terminal 1 (TPE)
• China Airlines A350 Business Class (TPE-CGK)

Thank you so much and please stay tuned~ ♪