will2288

According to a Massport press release, Hainan Airlines will begin flying to Boston.

Massport press release

Some highlights:

- service begins June 20, 2014
- using 2-class 787s
- 4x weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)


HU481 PEK 13:50 – 15:10 BOS 787 x247
HU482 BOS 17:10 – 18:50+1 PEK 787 x247


This has been rumored for a while. Exciting times for BOS, as they have recently gained service from Japan Airlines and Copa, with Emirates and Turkish launching service in 2014.

Skillet

Good news indeed.

Not the best of the Chinese carriers but I can endure a lot for non-stops.

moondog

Just out of curiosity, which Chinese carriers do you think are the best? (Juneyao and China United are the only two that have never given me any grief.)

grrizzli

An interesting opinion. Apparently "Hainan Airlines is one of only seven airlines rated as five-star by Skytrax, along with All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines."

moondog

Most of us don't have a great deal of respect for Skytrax, and HU's inclusion as a 5-star airline is an example of why.

mediator

HU is a great airline. I think the drawback here is you cannot use any of the US-based FFP to redeem award travel on HU. But still, the business class fare on HU is quite reasonable comparing to UA,DL,CA,NH etc.

mediator

Looks like the service has begun! Anyone on the inaugural flight?

moondog

IMO, HU is NOT a "great airline".

While I give them props for the cheap business class fares, they tend to be pretty crappy across this board (again, IMO).

Efrem

Has anyone tried to book tickets, or at least look up fares, on their Web site? I searched for BOS-BJS/PEK on Friday, March 6, 2015. Their timetable shows the flight operating on Fridays, and a flight search turned it up on that specific date, but when I tried to book it I got nothing but the error message "We are unable to find recommendations for your search. Please change your search criteria and resubmit the search. (66002 [-1])" for both destination codes and all three classes of service. It happened when I searched for one-way tickets (which we want) or for a round trip with a random return date. Any suggestions? (This isn't an academic exercise. We really do need to go there then.)

Separately, parts of their Web site need copy editing by a native English speaker. It's full of sentences like "Other promotion fare does not affect." I have no idea what this means. Fortunately, I don't need to know.

Skillet

"I can endure a lot for non-stops"

I did indeed endure. Completed my round trip late last week. As mentioned above, the website is not showing BOS as a destination and therefore there is no online check-in.

I had made reservations through a TA because we had multiple itineraries. I would not have used the website and have no plans to buy from their website or any other website in the future.

Flight was as imagined: tight seat pitch (in Y), poor food*, items were absent from the menu (they didn't run out, it was just never there), wine was served by the thimbleful, broken IFE equipment [my controller was missing button's, wife's touchscreen was non-functional], on both flights the lavatories had problems [the tap was broken in one, plugged drains in others].

You will need an 2-1 adapter to use your own headphones. No USB or power ports at the seats. For a new plane (a 787 for Pete's sake), I was expecting a bit more modernity.

On the plus side, the AVOD library was enormous, the seatback screens were big, and the crew were helpful and attentive.

I'll fly it again, I have no doubt. It's direct and non-stop and I can endure a lot

PWMTrav

SeatGuru says 31-32" seat pitch and 17" width in Y. That's rough for a 13 hour flight. That's more than I would endure for something that doesn't earn miles with any alliance carriers. Then again, 1 RT is ~21,600 KM and their bottom tier starts at 30k KM. If I'm reading it right, their bottom tier elites can refund tickets prior to departure. At least, their site says free cancellation. That's actually not a bad benefit if you're going to China regularly.

Skillet

One more benefit - there was a discount for children. It was $350 for the round trip.^

BostonFlyer1624

Hainan Airlines has outlined initial operational frequencies for Beijing – Boston route in Summer 2015 season.

As of 15JUL14, the airline operates 5 weekly instead of 4, from 03MAY15 to 01JUN15, daily from 02JUN15 to 27AUG15.

Planned schedule for May 2015 as follow.

HU481 PEK1350 – 1510BOS 787 x24
HU482 BOS1710 – 1900+1PEK 787 x24