Asia - Business class to MNL: NorthWest vs Phil Air vs China Air

Trying to decide which airline to go with, traveling LAX-MNL in December, 2 adults and 1 child.

Business class fares, total for 3 passengers:
Philippine Airlines: $6287.95
China Airlines: $6324
NorthWest: $6965

I've heard that NWA business class seats and service are pretty good -- is the difference worth the price difference? Accruing Delta miles on NWA is also a plus. Can anyone tell me anything about Philippine and China Airlines? Any tips are appreciated, thanks!

NW's LAX-NRT flight still uses the ancient 747-200. According to seatguru.com, you really want to get one of old First Class seats in the upper level.

I've heard good things about China Airlines lately. Also I think you can earn Delta miles on them too, but I'm not sure.

Anyhow I think you're smart to avoid Philippines Airlines. The other two will both be OK. Service on China should be better but seats on NW should be a bit better.

Hope that helps

I guess only you can decide whether China Airlines' preference for not maintaining their aircraft until they fall out of the sky is something you can live (or die) with...
http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=05252002&reg=B-18255&airline=China+Airlines

You should be able to get NW WBC for a little bit less through this outfit (http://www.angeltravel.com/Airfare/Northwest%20Airlines/discount_business_class_to_asia.htm) with fares offered on other airlines. If you can wait a little bit longer (until late September) to book/buy and can travel after X'mas and return sometime in January (7 day stay), NW has offered WBC sales (paid USD 1,500-1,800 for SEA/YVR-BKK for the past 3 years - about the same to MNL) the past 3 years. You may be able to route via SFO, PDX and SEA on a AS codeshare if you really want to fly a 332 instead of a 742 (though I like the seats in the u/d, I do have to agree the a/c look rather shabby).

you should be able to buy pr j for around $1800 rt (f is around $2k) per person, if not now, then closer to your travel dates. try gateway in los angeles. if that fails, pm me and i will try to dig up the agent we use.

otherwise, i would strongly recommend jl in favor of those other options. i'm not sure whether lax-nrt will feature shell flat seats by then. even if not, jl is still much nicer than pr, nw, and ci imo.

edited to add: lax-mnl on pr will almost certainly stop in hi during your december outbound, but this is still preferable to an nrt connection (unless you like nrt). mnl-lax is nice flight and causes minimal jetlag ime.

The reviews here about PR C-class transpacific have actually been quite OK, although some people just refuse to fly PR.
CI had a bad safety record, just like KE, but both airline have worked very hard on it and in recent years there has been a notable improvement in their safety scores.
NW seems to be the preferred choice of the people i know going form MNL to US, but they are looking for onward connections in the US.

If you are just doing LAX-MNL, then i would take PR non-stop if they are the cheapest. Second choice would be CX (probably most expensive) and third choice NW.

The reviews here about PR C-class transpacific have actually been quite OK, although some people just refuse to fly PR.
CI had a bad safety record, just like KE, but both airline have worked very hard on it and in recent years there has been a notable improvement in their safety scores.
NW seems to be the preferred choice of the people i know going form MNL to US, but they are looking for onward connections in the US.

If you are just doing LAX-MNL, then i would take PR non-stop if they are the cheapest. Second choice would be CX (probably most expensive) and third choice NW.

I forgot about CX and would also rank it near the top, but I'm perplexed that you'd put NW ahead of JL (shell flat or not).

PR is usually much cheaper than everything else (though CI, BR, and KE are often competitive).

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate it.

Our travel dates aren't that flexible, and I thought airfare would only go up because we are traveling during the holiday season. Is it likely that airfare will go down and that we should wait to purchase closer to our travel dates?

you should be able to buy pr j for around $1800 rt (f is around $2k) per person, if not now, then closer to your travel dates. try gateway in los angeles. if that fails, pm me and i will try to dig up the agent we use.

otherwise, i would strongly recommend jl in favor of those other options. i'm not sure whether lax-nrt will feature shell flat seats by then. even if not, jl is still much nicer than pr, nw, and ci imo.


The only JL quotes I got were over $12K for 3 passengers, yikes. But I'd definitely be interested in PR F if we can get that at around 2K per person! I tried gateway lax's website, but they can't even beat PR's fares on their website right now. I'll PM you to see whether you can find the agent you use, thanks!

Well, since you're travelling with a child (you didn't mention his/her age) then the direct PR flight might be more convenient. Their flights are also at night, so hopefully the young one will just fall asleep. With the other 2 carriers if there is a flight irregularity you risk misconnecting or being delayed at the transit point. I once had an extended delay at NRT due to a snow storm a few winters ago, had to spend the night in a hotel at NRT, but but never left my room since I had no winter clothes (I was returning from Malaysia). I'm also not too keen on PR not being partnered with a U.S. carrier.

The thing I dislike about NW is that their SE Asia departures are at a very early hour and their arrivals there are at a very late hour. I don't know how this might affect your travel routine with a kid in tow. Personally, I'm not too fond of NW's transpacific in-flight service, some of their senior F/As are down right scary! Maybe they'll be on vacation during the holidays and you'll luck out with a more junior crew. However, if I desperately needed the miles at the end of the year to maintain status (OnePass Platinum) I wouldn't hesitate in flying them.

In any case, I hope you enjoy your holidays in the Philippines. The father of a friend of mine was assigned to the U.S. consulate in HKG about 20 years ago and would always take the family to MNL in December for the Christmas holidays.

If you'd like a non/one-stop flight, then PR should do the trick, as their tickets are pretty cheap for a non-stop flight.

Otherwise, I'd take CX. They are absolutely hassle-free when it comes to connections in lovely, lovely HKIA. Plus, you get to hang around in the wing or the pier. I'm sure your child will like that. If you miss your connecting flight to Manila, it shouldn't matter, as CX flies to Manila 6x daily.

Either way, your child should be in for a treat, as any airline would just love to pamper the kids. No matter what airline it is, your kid will be happy, at least :)

Thanks all. We went with PR. Angel Travel beat the PR website price by an extra $50 off per ticket. Asked around and our dates are peak holiday dates, so we didn't want to risk a fare increase.

My son is 3 so the one-stop outbound and nonstop return, and the late flight times should help. Hopefully PR won't be too bad!