China - why the crazy high air fares between China and the US?

During the course of the past month, I have advised 5 people on how to use their miles to go to the US because revenue fares are simply obscene. For example, CA is routinely selling its evening LAX flight for $3,000 each way. Want to connect in Korea/Japan/Shanghai instead, and you can shave off $600. I am loath to blame this situation on availability because award inventory is pretty good, though you might need to go to LAX via FRA if you fancy getting an economy redemption. And, I also can't blame fuel prices because Europe is still just as cheap now as it was in January (e.g. PEK-MXP rt for $900). In any event, I'm glad I have lots of miles to burn; they have never been more useful.

Timing is everything. August flights are always packed with Chinese students heading to the states, American students heading to China, Chinese-Americans visiting family in China returning to the US, and the end of the summer tourist season on both sides of the pacific.

Was looking at September and post national day October flights the other day and could get US-PEK RT for $1000 from the West Coast and $1250 from Florida, so quite reasonable.

Worth noting that US is selling miles again, so easy to get a $1900ish business class ticket TPAC if you are flexible with dates...

Who would travel US-China in the summer?

Who would travel China-US in the summer...
many.

Who's got money?

Fall fares can be had for as low as ~800USD RT AI.

AA LAX -PVG RT October 817USD includes taxes and fees

Worth noting that US is selling miles again, so easy to get a $1900ish business class ticket TPAC if you are flexible with dates...

If US miles are on sale right now, I'm not seeing it:

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/purchasemiles/default.html

But, even at full price, this is still a decent option during the current environment. C and F availability is actually quite good at the moment. What I really like about the US buy miles program is that they will let you put a ticket on hold for 72 hours before stocking your account.

Agree with FLL. July and August are always horrible for fares, lots of TPAC traffic in both directions. It isn't any better from other Asian stations. I'm talking about Y class, can't even begin to fathom C and F pricing. Y availability is not great at least for first half of August, either.

I've noticed in the last 2 years, on paid tickets sometimes it makes sense to route via Europe (selected locations). Especially if heading to the eastern part of USA. It was uniformly way more expensive than TPAC routings--now it's more competitive, so that might be an option for some.

We are always stuck with this problem every year.

We still always suck it up and go because for Vancouver, August is still the best time to go back home... except this time, I've got to paint the deck....

We have some plans in HK, so we are going back home via HK. Saved us about 500 USD per ticket this way.

One of my students had a snag getting a US visa, just approved, and is taking a last minute vacation to the US -- a cool $3.5k return in economy. Not sure what is more shocking: the price, or willingness to pay.

tb

One of my students had a snag getting a US visa, just approved, and is taking a last minute vacation to the US -- a cool $3.5k return in economy. Not sure what is more shocking: the price, or willingness to pay.

Gadzooks.

Is it just a summer pricing blip or what? I have a business trip to EWR coming up in early September and was thinking to fly out of home base in SIN instead of PEK; potentially pay the difference in pricing between PEK-EWR and SIN-EWR. If that's what an economy ticket costs I may not have to worry about SQ SIN-EWR being much more expensive than UA/CO PEK-EWR....:p

As for your question, after a year in The Jing, always the willingness to pay. Always.

I always route my China - US trips via Europe, but more for personal and work related reasons than pricing. Also include a stopover every time.

PVG - MCO or other Space Coast airports seems a bit unpalatable to fly in one setting. Also not so thrilled to do immigration and transfer at the likes of JFK or LAX. ATL would be far preferable but does anyone fly there from either PVG or HKG?

One of my students had a snag getting a US visa, just approved, and is taking a last minute vacation to the US -- a cool $3.5k return in economy.
tb

I think the technical term would be "USD repatriation".

My wife and I were planning to fly from PEK-SFO around the 16th of August and the fares were out of this world. They were jumping every day from 22,000 RMB to around 16,000 RMB today.

we decided to put it off until next month, Sept., and booked a 8,500 RMB R/T per person. the agent we use said the planes are about 80% but the fares are still high.

If US miles are on sale right now, I'm not seeing it:

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/purchasemiles/default.html



It's there but it is targeted I believe. There is a thread in the US forum.

Have you tried to travel over sea? Freighterworld has trans-Pacific offers Long Beach to Shanghai or Tianjin Xingang for as low as $1600.

Have you tried to travel over sea? Freighterworld has trans-Pacific offers Long Beach to Shanghai or Tianjin Xingang for as low as $1600.

Intaht case look at regular cruise lines...$ 1000 to $ 5000 for a 13 to 15 day cruise from Peking Shangahi to Vancouver !

Could airfare prices fix the trade imbalance?

Long distance freighter travel is extremely impractical for most people. Besides the length of the journey itself, you have to have flexibility since sometimes the departure schedule changes and adjusts in real time. For this reason, you'll find most people taking freighter voyages tend to be people with time on their hands, such as the retired, and the independently self-employed such as writers. Not so much people who are actively working and have limited time off.

I've priced TPAC freighters fairly regularly, and I've yet to see pricing that is competitive with an economy airfare to the West Coast, when all related costs (getting to port, then US port to final destination, etc.) are figured in. Not even in years with high-priced airfares.

Long distance freighter travel is extremely impractical for most people.

I can only assume that the freighter discussion was a humorous tangent, but I still want to try it some day. On my very first day in college, I ended up living next to a guy who had just arrived in Oakland via a freighter from Tokyo. His trip was FREE because he agreed to spend 2 hours/day cleaning the deck of the ship.

As much as it would delight me to have my boys do some manual labor during the course of the next 2 weeks, I need them to be in Los Angeles before Wednesday, and back here 5 days later. If they can't tolerate a semi-obnoxious connection, then I'll simply call off the trip.

I can only assume that the freighter discussion was a humorous tangent, but I still want to try it some day. On my very first day in college, I ended up living next to a guy who had just arrived in Oakland via a freighter from Tokyo. His trip was FREE because he agreed to spend 2 hours/day cleaning the deck of the ship.

As much as it would delight me to have my boys do some manual labor during the course of the next 2 weeks, I need them to be in Los Angeles before Wednesday, and back here 5 days later. If they can't tolerate a semi-obnoxious connection, then I'll simply call off the trip.

I've done freighter in Asian waters (not TPAC) for shorter journeys and it can be a hoot--but this was a LONG time ago. I regret to inform you that the days of grabbing some work on a freighter in return for passage or partial passage are long over, due to insurance regulations for the freighter companies, and labor regulations.