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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought global air travel to a complete halt, and so I finally have some time to look back on the many travels I did in the past few years. This is the first of the many to come!

Since my last trip to Shanghai in September 2017, I hadn’t been able to take the trip because of the dreaded job search in the beginning of 2018 and, luckily, having had a job since May. After one and a half years, it’s finally time to go back to Shanghai!

The ticket for this trip was booked very early on in July because of the MR promo with American Express, with 20,000 bonus points for purchase over $1,500 with Air France/KLM. Whether the extra $600 compared to the cheapest option was worth 20,000 points is discussion for another day, but I was very excited to finally experience Air France and KLM both for the first time. Thanks to them belonging in the same group, I was able to construct an itinerary that gave me a long layover in both Paris and Amsterdam, flying on both carriers.

At ~9405 miles one way, it is a much longer route than a non-stop flight at 7392 miles, but I will be able to take advantage of layovers and get a taste of Paris and Amsterdam. Non-stop flights are faster, but it’s no fun!

I will be writing two trip reports on two airlines, with outbound on Air France and inbound on KLM:

✈France is in the Air: JFK-CDG-PVG on Air France (with a Bonus!)
✈Flying (Old) Dutchman: PVG-AMS-JFK on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

If I feel like it, I might also write about my flash visit to Paris and Amsterdam in separate posts.

Stay tuned!