kellystee

This is our first time travelling off the continent. DH and I are paying for our own flights (not business travel). I'm overwhelmed by all the choices and prices. We are leaving in 2 weeks.

I *think* I finally narrowed it down to UA. Economy for 2 is going to be about $4k. And then I talked to a CSR and he *thought* I should be able to upgrade to the Economy Plus for around $150 per ticket but that I won't know until I book the tickets.

I'm willing to shell out more for comfort, but when I price business class it is $10k (wow). It seems pure stupidity to spend that much.

Is there anything I'm missing to get a better seat/airline?

The cheapest tickets I found were $3400 for AA (1 stop) or this UA option which was non-stop, so I thought it was worth the $600 to fly non-stop.

But, honestly, I would take a longer flight if we could do business class.

Thanks in advance!

cwyeager

Business for a trans pacific to HKG is going to be around 10k no matter what. I priced the same flights recently and 10k is cheaper than I was able to find.

sammyindc

Air Canada has cheaper flight available with 1 stop in either Toronto or Vancouver. Biz around $4000 and Economy around $1600 (USD).

sammyindc

Prices are per ticket not for both.

Travellbugg

Not exactly your route but for comparison's sake:

Just booked from TPA on UA for about $2100 per X 4 seats. An additional $109-$119-$129 gets the comfort seats, depending on where they're located. It's a grind, though as the way out is TPA IAH SFO HKG and the way back is SGN NRT IAD TPA. We're flying over to SGN from HKG.

You've got to watch out for those sub 1 hour connections offered on the cheapest flights. I noticed some were only 35 minutes. :O If it happens to be a spot where you're going through immigration, forget it.

Homer15

With the new 24 hour cancellation you could book the UA flight and see if E+ was available, couldn't you?


Also, I did a search for December and found a $1265 pp rt economy fare on CX nonstop.

Hmm, maybe I should book that.

gwar69

Do both of you have Dividend Miles accounts with US Airways? If so, you can buy 90K miles right now during their sale for $1,693,13. Each of you would need to do this as US-HKG is 90K in business. Then check the massive thread in the US forum about Star Alliance bookings using US miles. However, you need to have the accounts already as accounts must be open for 12 days to buy miles.

glennaa11

How flexible are your dates? From a quick look at Kayak it looks like some days are as low as $1400-ish pp, but most are in the $1500-1600+ range. Still less than $4K. Are you set on UA or Star Alliance? Business will set you back a good bit. Might be worth trying a consolidator though like accessfares.com and see what kind of business deals they have.

sammyindc

What is the mileage accrual rule on tickets purchased through these websites?

glennaa11

probably depends in some cases, but accessfares.com says all the tickets they sell accrue miles. it's definitely a question worth asking about

kellystee

Wow!! Thank you so much for all of the great replies! I LOVE this forum! It has such a fantastic group of users.

I definitely feel better that I'm not getting ripped off on the fares. Seems like this is the going rate. I did read about the consolidators. I know I could probably save a few hundreds bucks on a connecting flight. Just thought it was smarter to get a direct flight and upgrade the "cheaper" way with economy plus. So, we decided to go with the economy fares instead of business class. Hopefully, it won't be too bad!

kellystee

Actually, at the last minute we found Virgin Atlantic had flights with a Premium Economy class that seemed nicer than United. The tickets were about 50% more. We bought those instead (total bill was $6k). Seats are much wider, have more leg room, private tv (United was overhead projector), and power for each seat.

Homer15

Have a great trip! (and I apologize for totally missing in your OP that you were leaving in a couple of weeks )

glennaa11

For sure VS premium economy is head and shoulders better than E+ on UA. Have a great trip. Make sure to check VS's airline partners to see if there is a program you collect miles in that you can have the miles credited to. Unless you plan to fly VS or credit to them with other partners.

CrazyInteg

I've only ever flown economy, so I have no idea what business class is even like (and at those prices I don't even care). The flight from Chicago to Tokyo or Hong Kong is literally the boringest thing in the world. I can't sleep on planes, so I generally just stand in the back of the plane for several hours. Luckily other people do the same and I can talk with them.

The flight sucks, but enjoy your trip!!!! Enjoy the food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try to book further in advance next time