TotallyOz Posted July 8, 2019 Posted July 8, 2019 There are so many airlines now that travel back to USA gets cheaper. I gave up trying to use the American companies years ago as the cost to upgrade is insane. Hainan airline has great tickets to USA in Business Class for cheap. I recently got one for 2200 USD. Now, the PITA part was it required 2 stops in China. This requires you to get out your luggage each time and you have to apply and get a 24 hour transit visa. This is a pain but if in Business, they have someone meet you at the gate and walk you though things. The seats are very comfortable. They lay back fully and the food is the best I have had in ages. They gave a full bread basket with each meal and tons of good food. The service is great and the movies were plentiful (perhaps as I don't see that many there were many I could watch). A few things: one is that the business class seemed to be filled with younger Chinese guys. I am not sure if they were being paid for by their company or their own but they were young and cute and often had nicer phones, laptops and clothes than I do. The cheap fares seem to be out of CKG and that is a 15 hour non-stop to JFK. It is a long flight. I flew with them to Chicago a few years back for 2200 USD. Do NOT use Expedia. They are horrible and tell you lies. Ex: they said my tickets were the same and luggage was book all the way through. They lied and their customer support people do not know anything about rules for China. Totally useless. I'll never use them for flights again. I still use them for rental cars for never again for flights. Plus, they promised certain seats which Hainan was not aware of so I called to change them a few days after purchasing the ticket. Lounges were good but not great. Plenty of food and the one in Beijing had nice showers (not great but OK). Quote
GWMinUS Posted July 9, 2019 Posted July 9, 2019 So is having two stops over usual with Chinese Airlines. I have often considered China Southern to fly from Los Angeles to the Philippines. But end up booking EVA with one stop over in Taiwan. Needled to say I cannot afford Business Class on EVA... Quote
TotallyOz Posted July 9, 2019 Author Posted July 9, 2019 1 hour ago, GWMinUS said: So is having two stops over usual with Chinese Airlines. I have often considered China Southern to fly from Los Angeles to the Philippines. But end up booking EVA with one stop over in Taiwan. Needled to say I cannot afford Business Class on EVA... Yes, it is unusual for me. And, I'm not sure if that is what required the Visa this time. I don't remember getting that visa for the Bangkok, Shanghai, Chicago trip. I liked Cathay Pacific Premium Economy and a good price for USA at 1700 USD. But, for a few hundred more full Business is a good deal IMHO. Will7272 1 Quote
Guest Posted July 9, 2019 Posted July 9, 2019 15 hours ago, Michael said: A few things: one is that the business class seemed to be filled with younger Chinese guys. I am not sure if they were being paid for by their company or their own but they were young and cute and often had nicer phones, laptops and clothes than I do. There are lots of loaded young Chinese around. I've seen Chinese students shopping at Harrods. Also others having a constant stream of fancy new electrical goods & so on delivered. For example, going through about 4 fairly high end phones in a year, plus monster LED TVs, new PCs and every conceivable gadget. One I know made 4 trips home from the UK to China in 6 months. Other examples of student extravagance include the £100 hair cut (about £87 more than I've ever paid) and having the kind of cabin baggage allowance that you get in business class. Obviously the students are not earning (well most likely not earning). No doubt some a couple of years older are earning good money too, either with or without help from family connections. Quote
PeterRS Posted July 10, 2019 Posted July 10, 2019 Hainan is a great airline. It is 7th in the Skytrax World's Best Airlines 2019 list and gets mostly excellent reviews on the Skytrax comments site. 8 out of 10 is even better than Singapore Airlines 7 out of 10. Round trip biz class to Chicago is presently 84,500 baht ex BKK. That involves just one stop in Beijing but a very long stopover on the outward sector. My one small problem would be that the outward 5 hour sector is a short night flight on a 737 with recliner seats in biz class rather than flat beds. Quote
TotallyOz Posted July 10, 2019 Author Posted July 10, 2019 Peter, yes, you are correct in the outward long layover. I did that but not an issue for me to save so much money. Also, the only part of the trip that was not business was the one from BKK to CKG but there was little difference in the seats and I had 3 full seats alone and was able to lie comfortably. But, I knew the small size of those seats and it was not worth the money to upgrade that leg as so few seats and it just wasn't worth it for me. I much preferred the longer distance business. Now, one way to get around this would be to book Thai Air or Thai Smile out of BKK non-stop. However, both had limited luggage and I had 32k times a few and the cost was nuts for the extras. For those that don't like the long layover, the Cathay flight is an alternative if premium economy is OK for you to travel. I didn't know Hainan was ranked so high. I agree their service is good. Quote
