pjrubindc
Aug 30, 08, 4:14 pm
I'm just back (well, six days ago) from Tokyo and Beijing where my fiancee and I went for the Olympics. Here is the Flyertalk-relevant information about the trip.
1. GETTING AWARD TICKETS. Planning the trip took years. Literally. I booked our hotel in Beijing in late 2004. I began watching award availability using the NH tool a little beyond the 331 days prior to our planned trip. Our idea was to stop in Tokyo on the way in to Beijing, both to spend a few days there and to begin getting over the jet lag. Award travel for the leg to NRT was no problem. But of course virtually every carrier had blocked out award seats into and out of Beijing during the Olympics period.
I say virtually because AC apparently did not get the memo, and there were seats available. On day 331 I snagged two seats for our return on AC 32, PEK-YYZ, connecting to AC 312 YYZ-DCA. Our outbound IAD-NRT on NH, which we wound up changing by two days, was no problem. Getting into PEK, though, was impossible, and revenue seats for the NRT-PEK leg in E were in the $650+ range each. I finally worked this out: We would take award seats on NH NRT-DLC, to Dalian in Northern China, overnight there, and take a domestic Chinese flight for $150 into PEK the next day.
During the ensuing months, we moved my outbound to leave two days earlier than we had originally planned. Then, two months before the trip, perhaps because of additional flights, award space opened up on NH, NRT-PEK. We changed that leg (and, incredibly, got a full refund from "Air China" (i.e., Expedia) for the paper DLC-PEK tickets we had purchased). This meant that this was no longer an open-jaw (and cost two $100 change fees). I moved to Boston in the interim (my finacee still lives in DC), so I also added a free leg BOS-DCA, allowing me to overnight in DC before going to IAD for the long IAD-NRT leg.
Then space opened up on UA 803 IAD-NRT, which meant the possibility of E+. The night that space appeared I got a rather nasty UA "supervisor" in Chicago who was rigid about wanting to charge me $150 for the change of carrier despite the fact that the web site says there is no charge for a change of flight on the same routing, and nothing about change of carrier. There was only one seat, so I took it -- and got the vaunted 17H seat on the 777 WW2. But e-mail to customer service complaining about the charge (OK, two e-mails) resulted in UA giving me a $150 travel voucher! (We also later switched my finacee's flight to UA 803 when it turned out she could go a couple of days earlier and she got 17J; we paid a change fee.)
So, even with the change fees totalling $350, this was two tickets to Beijing for the Olympics, with a stopover in Tokyo, for 60,000 miles each!
2. FLIGHT ONE: UA 803 IAD-NRT (or, The Myth of Row 17). UA 803 on 7 Aug. was uneventful. The flight was half-empty. We initially sat in our assigned seats, in the much-discussed Row 17. I am here to say they are not good seats. Although they have extra legroom, there is a wall in front of them. If you are at least as tall as I am -- 6'0" -- they are NOT comfortable for a long flight because your feet inevitably bump into the wall. Ordinary E+ seats are better because of the essentially unlimited room for feet under the seat in front of you.
19 C,D,E & F were empty. (We noted many E- passengers slyly taking empty E+ seats upon boarding.) We switched to two of them. The extra space made it a highly comfortable trip for E. I was able to sleep a bit across CD&E (facing backward since the armrests, even when lifted, protrude into the seating area) and, ultimately with more success, upright in 19D -- which was better than 19C because of the absence of an underseat box beneath the seat in front of me.
Let me here thank those of you who have recommended the Komfort Kollar, which I used (in a pillowcase to prevent the overheating problem) and which is just outstanding. (I know some of you have been reading to hear about the food and IFE, but I'm afraid I'm not the best correspondent for that. I didn't use the IFE at all. I only vaguely recall the food, which impressed me only as ordinary, slightly above average airline fare.)
At Narita, they took our index fingerprints before admitting us to Japan. Luggage delivery at Narita was very efficient. No bags were coming off the turnstyle and we thought we were waiting for delivery to begin, when we stumbled across our bags. They had already been taken off the turnstyle and were the last ones left! Once at Narita ca. 3:30 PM, we took the NEX -- given a large amount of luggage we contemplated the "Limousine Bus," but the guy selling the bus tickets said that because of traffic the NEX would be better. We concluded it would be. :^) NEX was swift to Tokyo station, from which we took a cab to our hotel, the Park Hotel Tokyo, which was excellent.
3. FLIGHT TWO: NRT-PEK (or, A Question of Design). Our next leg was on NH, NRT-PEK. We took the Limousine Bus to NRT, which picked us up at our hotel and was thus convenient. It was time-consuming but uneventful. NRT was fine; we had some excellent sushi before going through security and bought some outstanding Japanese cookies after going through. The very nice ANA person explained that my mere Premier status would be inadequate to get us through the priority security line, but security was no big deal. We were, however, rushed to our gate about an hour early by a flashing "Go to Gate" message next to our flight on the departures screen.
The most notable aspect of the flight itself was the extremely cramped quarters in coach. We were in the first set of economy seats in a 767 which did not have economy premier (for which we would in any event have been ineligible). There was inadequate space between the rows for a person my size.
Again, I'm not your best correspondent for IFE and food. There was desert which had a chocolate disk on it on which "NRT-PEK 2008" was written in gold in honor of the Olympics. I have a picture (but this page says I am not permitted to post attachements!).
We landed at night at PEK, about which essentially all you could tell was that it was big. It was the Olympics, but passport control was no big deal. We got our luggage and took a cab -- for the flyertalk-predicted 100 Yuan -- to our downtown hotel.
4. FLIGHT THREE (AND FOUR): PEK-YYZ-DCA (or, The Only Way to Fly Transpac in Coach). We left Beijing on the 24th having attended the last track and field session at the Bird's Nest the night before, and just before the Closing Ceremonies. Not knowing what aspects of China are utterly modern and what aspects not, I had reconfirmed with AC a day before leaving. AC had given us (months in advance) two aisle seats across the aisle from each other which, they had claimed, was the best they could do. The phone representative, too, had no two seats together -- but an empty one next to one of ours which we took. AC 32 is a 773; rows 31 and 50 were open, remarkably, but she could not assign them as they were exit rows. There was some langauge barrier with the agent, but she was sufficiently fluent that ultimately it was relatively easy to be certain that we had understood each other.
We got to the airport four hours early, concerned about the possibility of a flood of passengers departing the Olympics. It was crowded, but at least the crowd at the Air Canada counters was not overwhelming. Still, it took about 45 minutes to get through the refreshingly orderly line to check in. Incredibly we were able to get 31H and 31J, exit row seats not at a bulkhead. I believe that two pieces of our luggage were also a few kg over the current AC fee-free weight, but the agent checked all the luggage without noting it or charging us.
The verdict on the new PEK: Not ready for prime time. There is a sign reading "Wonderful Olympics, Charming Airport." (I took a picture, but, again, I don't seem to be able to attach it.) The first part can be debated; the second part is not really on the money. PEK is HUGE -- the one terminal we were at, Terminal 3, is HUGE. And it may need to be, because it was very crowded despite its size. And it is modern in design. The air conditioning, however, is inadequate, at least for a 90-degree day in August. So it was warm on the floor level where you check in. On the mezanine level where the dining options are, overlooking the floor, it was unbearably hot. This is something that I hope will be addressed; it's no way to run a major new airport.
Once through security, the two most notable things were the lack of bottled water and the lack of English language magazines. There is what purports to be a water purification machine which says that we can "rest assured" that the water is drinkable. But for anyone unlikely to do so given that the water in even the best hotels in Beijing is not drinkable, they provide -- perhaps thinking the machine has the matter covered -- not many other options. Eventually we found a couple of restaurants that would sell us a bottle of water, but only Evian, which meant $3-$4 for a small bottle. There was a large newsstand, but the only English language magazines they purported to sell were Business Week and Forbes, and they were sold out of Forbes.
The flight was delayed by perhaps half an hour (though it arrived on time). At the gate no information was provided. The ground agents were Chinese, and there were some language difficulties between agents and passengers. Eventually, in the way things like this happen, people began getting in line for no reason (though there was no jostling that I saw). This eventually led to a long line, concern about which led even more people to get into line. They announced (relatively unintelligibly) that members of the Olympic family were to board first (we had a large component of the Brazilian Olympic team, among others, on the flight), and that only certain rows could board, but it was hard to tell what was going on with respect to boarding and enforcement was spotty and ultimately half-hearted.
As for AC: Row 31H and J were simply outstanding. These were the most comfortable coach seats I have ever had on any flight, and they were an excellent way to fly transpac. It may actually have been more comfortable than when I flew IAD-NRT on an old-style seat in F. The unlimited space, combined with a really comfortable coach seat made sleeping very, very easy (with a nod, again, to the Komfort Kollar). The food was below average for airplane food. The IFE seemed good. There were a wide selection of movies, and I watched a very good subtitled Spanish movie of which I'd never heard.
While I always prefer nonstops -- we connected only because those were the only award seats available from Beijing -- there may be something to be said for those flying to Washington for changing in Toronto and clearing customs there. There was a little wait for the bags in the transit area, but very few transit passengers (i.e., thirty). There were no lines and little hassle clearing customs.
At YYZ they had the gate for the flight to DCA surrounded by retractable-tape line control stanchions so it could be "swept" prior to the flight (which is something I haven't seen in a US airport since shortly after 9/11), so we weren't allowed in until fifteen minutes or so before departure. The flight itself was an ordinary RJ flight on an Embraer 175. I fell asleep due to exhaustion so have little to report about it, except that it was quick, got us into DCA instead of IAD, saving us 60 or more minutes and $60 getting into town, and the bags arrived promptly.
P.
1. GETTING AWARD TICKETS. Planning the trip took years. Literally. I booked our hotel in Beijing in late 2004. I began watching award availability using the NH tool a little beyond the 331 days prior to our planned trip. Our idea was to stop in Tokyo on the way in to Beijing, both to spend a few days there and to begin getting over the jet lag. Award travel for the leg to NRT was no problem. But of course virtually every carrier had blocked out award seats into and out of Beijing during the Olympics period.
I say virtually because AC apparently did not get the memo, and there were seats available. On day 331 I snagged two seats for our return on AC 32, PEK-YYZ, connecting to AC 312 YYZ-DCA. Our outbound IAD-NRT on NH, which we wound up changing by two days, was no problem. Getting into PEK, though, was impossible, and revenue seats for the NRT-PEK leg in E were in the $650+ range each. I finally worked this out: We would take award seats on NH NRT-DLC, to Dalian in Northern China, overnight there, and take a domestic Chinese flight for $150 into PEK the next day.
During the ensuing months, we moved my outbound to leave two days earlier than we had originally planned. Then, two months before the trip, perhaps because of additional flights, award space opened up on NH, NRT-PEK. We changed that leg (and, incredibly, got a full refund from "Air China" (i.e., Expedia) for the paper DLC-PEK tickets we had purchased). This meant that this was no longer an open-jaw (and cost two $100 change fees). I moved to Boston in the interim (my finacee still lives in DC), so I also added a free leg BOS-DCA, allowing me to overnight in DC before going to IAD for the long IAD-NRT leg.
Then space opened up on UA 803 IAD-NRT, which meant the possibility of E+. The night that space appeared I got a rather nasty UA "supervisor" in Chicago who was rigid about wanting to charge me $150 for the change of carrier despite the fact that the web site says there is no charge for a change of flight on the same routing, and nothing about change of carrier. There was only one seat, so I took it -- and got the vaunted 17H seat on the 777 WW2. But e-mail to customer service complaining about the charge (OK, two e-mails) resulted in UA giving me a $150 travel voucher! (We also later switched my finacee's flight to UA 803 when it turned out she could go a couple of days earlier and she got 17J; we paid a change fee.)
So, even with the change fees totalling $350, this was two tickets to Beijing for the Olympics, with a stopover in Tokyo, for 60,000 miles each!
2. FLIGHT ONE: UA 803 IAD-NRT (or, The Myth of Row 17). UA 803 on 7 Aug. was uneventful. The flight was half-empty. We initially sat in our assigned seats, in the much-discussed Row 17. I am here to say they are not good seats. Although they have extra legroom, there is a wall in front of them. If you are at least as tall as I am -- 6'0" -- they are NOT comfortable for a long flight because your feet inevitably bump into the wall. Ordinary E+ seats are better because of the essentially unlimited room for feet under the seat in front of you.
19 C,D,E & F were empty. (We noted many E- passengers slyly taking empty E+ seats upon boarding.) We switched to two of them. The extra space made it a highly comfortable trip for E. I was able to sleep a bit across CD&E (facing backward since the armrests, even when lifted, protrude into the seating area) and, ultimately with more success, upright in 19D -- which was better than 19C because of the absence of an underseat box beneath the seat in front of me.
Let me here thank those of you who have recommended the Komfort Kollar, which I used (in a pillowcase to prevent the overheating problem) and which is just outstanding. (I know some of you have been reading to hear about the food and IFE, but I'm afraid I'm not the best correspondent for that. I didn't use the IFE at all. I only vaguely recall the food, which impressed me only as ordinary, slightly above average airline fare.)
At Narita, they took our index fingerprints before admitting us to Japan. Luggage delivery at Narita was very efficient. No bags were coming off the turnstyle and we thought we were waiting for delivery to begin, when we stumbled across our bags. They had already been taken off the turnstyle and were the last ones left! Once at Narita ca. 3:30 PM, we took the NEX -- given a large amount of luggage we contemplated the "Limousine Bus," but the guy selling the bus tickets said that because of traffic the NEX would be better. We concluded it would be. :^) NEX was swift to Tokyo station, from which we took a cab to our hotel, the Park Hotel Tokyo, which was excellent.
3. FLIGHT TWO: NRT-PEK (or, A Question of Design). Our next leg was on NH, NRT-PEK. We took the Limousine Bus to NRT, which picked us up at our hotel and was thus convenient. It was time-consuming but uneventful. NRT was fine; we had some excellent sushi before going through security and bought some outstanding Japanese cookies after going through. The very nice ANA person explained that my mere Premier status would be inadequate to get us through the priority security line, but security was no big deal. We were, however, rushed to our gate about an hour early by a flashing "Go to Gate" message next to our flight on the departures screen.
The most notable aspect of the flight itself was the extremely cramped quarters in coach. We were in the first set of economy seats in a 767 which did not have economy premier (for which we would in any event have been ineligible). There was inadequate space between the rows for a person my size.
Again, I'm not your best correspondent for IFE and food. There was desert which had a chocolate disk on it on which "NRT-PEK 2008" was written in gold in honor of the Olympics. I have a picture (but this page says I am not permitted to post attachements!).
We landed at night at PEK, about which essentially all you could tell was that it was big. It was the Olympics, but passport control was no big deal. We got our luggage and took a cab -- for the flyertalk-predicted 100 Yuan -- to our downtown hotel.
4. FLIGHT THREE (AND FOUR): PEK-YYZ-DCA (or, The Only Way to Fly Transpac in Coach). We left Beijing on the 24th having attended the last track and field session at the Bird's Nest the night before, and just before the Closing Ceremonies. Not knowing what aspects of China are utterly modern and what aspects not, I had reconfirmed with AC a day before leaving. AC had given us (months in advance) two aisle seats across the aisle from each other which, they had claimed, was the best they could do. The phone representative, too, had no two seats together -- but an empty one next to one of ours which we took. AC 32 is a 773; rows 31 and 50 were open, remarkably, but she could not assign them as they were exit rows. There was some langauge barrier with the agent, but she was sufficiently fluent that ultimately it was relatively easy to be certain that we had understood each other.
We got to the airport four hours early, concerned about the possibility of a flood of passengers departing the Olympics. It was crowded, but at least the crowd at the Air Canada counters was not overwhelming. Still, it took about 45 minutes to get through the refreshingly orderly line to check in. Incredibly we were able to get 31H and 31J, exit row seats not at a bulkhead. I believe that two pieces of our luggage were also a few kg over the current AC fee-free weight, but the agent checked all the luggage without noting it or charging us.
The verdict on the new PEK: Not ready for prime time. There is a sign reading "Wonderful Olympics, Charming Airport." (I took a picture, but, again, I don't seem to be able to attach it.) The first part can be debated; the second part is not really on the money. PEK is HUGE -- the one terminal we were at, Terminal 3, is HUGE. And it may need to be, because it was very crowded despite its size. And it is modern in design. The air conditioning, however, is inadequate, at least for a 90-degree day in August. So it was warm on the floor level where you check in. On the mezanine level where the dining options are, overlooking the floor, it was unbearably hot. This is something that I hope will be addressed; it's no way to run a major new airport.
Once through security, the two most notable things were the lack of bottled water and the lack of English language magazines. There is what purports to be a water purification machine which says that we can "rest assured" that the water is drinkable. But for anyone unlikely to do so given that the water in even the best hotels in Beijing is not drinkable, they provide -- perhaps thinking the machine has the matter covered -- not many other options. Eventually we found a couple of restaurants that would sell us a bottle of water, but only Evian, which meant $3-$4 for a small bottle. There was a large newsstand, but the only English language magazines they purported to sell were Business Week and Forbes, and they were sold out of Forbes.
The flight was delayed by perhaps half an hour (though it arrived on time). At the gate no information was provided. The ground agents were Chinese, and there were some language difficulties between agents and passengers. Eventually, in the way things like this happen, people began getting in line for no reason (though there was no jostling that I saw). This eventually led to a long line, concern about which led even more people to get into line. They announced (relatively unintelligibly) that members of the Olympic family were to board first (we had a large component of the Brazilian Olympic team, among others, on the flight), and that only certain rows could board, but it was hard to tell what was going on with respect to boarding and enforcement was spotty and ultimately half-hearted.
As for AC: Row 31H and J were simply outstanding. These were the most comfortable coach seats I have ever had on any flight, and they were an excellent way to fly transpac. It may actually have been more comfortable than when I flew IAD-NRT on an old-style seat in F. The unlimited space, combined with a really comfortable coach seat made sleeping very, very easy (with a nod, again, to the Komfort Kollar). The food was below average for airplane food. The IFE seemed good. There were a wide selection of movies, and I watched a very good subtitled Spanish movie of which I'd never heard.
While I always prefer nonstops -- we connected only because those were the only award seats available from Beijing -- there may be something to be said for those flying to Washington for changing in Toronto and clearing customs there. There was a little wait for the bags in the transit area, but very few transit passengers (i.e., thirty). There were no lines and little hassle clearing customs.
At YYZ they had the gate for the flight to DCA surrounded by retractable-tape line control stanchions so it could be "swept" prior to the flight (which is something I haven't seen in a US airport since shortly after 9/11), so we weren't allowed in until fifteen minutes or so before departure. The flight itself was an ordinary RJ flight on an Embraer 175. I fell asleep due to exhaustion so have little to report about it, except that it was quick, got us into DCA instead of IAD, saving us 60 or more minutes and $60 getting into town, and the bags arrived promptly.
P.