It has been so long since I was on a non-skyteam flight that I honestly cannot remember when it was. I think maybe 5 or 6 years ago, maybe on an AA flight? So this was an adventure for me and my wife!

First let me commend United’s regional jet partner. The inbound out of SBN was late due to winds at ORD and they turned the puppy in no time. And I mean as fast as people were off, they were boarding us to go back. Wow! Now thanks to “cell phone guy” we did have to wait a little longer, but we made it to the next gate with 15 min to spare. The United lounge was as packed as any Delta Skyclub as you can see.

I did not have much time to look around, but it looked like a std lounge. One nice thing was that they announced that the Lufthansa flight was now boarding and the 1st class line was very short since there were just 8 of us on the flight.

I was promised by Lufthansa that we would be on one of the upgraded 747’s with the new seat/bed configuration but that did not happen. Having said that, I was not disappointed and it is hard to see in the photo just how MUCH space you get. A mattress was put on my 2nd seat and it was very nice. I slept as well as I ever have on any flight.

I am not normally one to put up food photos since my fellow BA bloggers Ben and Gary do such a good job of it, but I will sneak in a few as the food was very good from the Champagne to start with caviar and then to the steak for the main course. All was top notch. The wine was a good red that retails for $45 / bottle from Austria. All very nice!

Also thanks to Ben and Gary, my directions to the 1st class terminal were perfect. Down to baggage claim, out the doors, turn left, a few min walk and you are there. Wow is all I can say. This is a lounge. I had tea, then a shower, then asked them to cook up a schnitzel to have with my eggs and potatoes from the breakfast buffet.

All great. Then, as you saw in my teaser post, the Mercedes Benz ride to our next flight. Remarkable. This flight is one of the reasons I collected so many Ultimate Rewards points and Continental points when those cards were available. I still have 270,000 more for another trip thanks to the 50,000 point INK BOLD and the 40,000 point Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card® card!

It is great to be home in Sweden and here are some photos of the view of and from my mom’s flat in town.

Gothenburg is a truly beautiful city. Clean, for the most part, and a “green” city with lots of tree and flowers all over the place. It is a city with water and on the water.

You can take a bus or a tram anywhere you want to go all over the city for about $2 a ride and if you can get back fast enough, 1.5hrs I think, the return trip is free.

Next week I will do part two of the trip report with lots of photos of the city and our trip back that is just about complete as you are reading this post!

For all those who doubt the value of points, the trip cost us just points and $111 each all-in to fly. If you have family who do not yet get why we do what we do, point them this way. – Rene
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Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

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