RandomNobody

It is not true. It is either face forward (Premium Laurel and Super Business) or reverse herringbone (Royal Laurel).

Lounge access at LAX is the communal *A lounges, in EVA's own in Taipei, and in the Delta lounge at MNL, though I almost preferred the PAGS lounge on the top floor over Delta's.

nanyang

My only experience of PAL transpac J is from the SFO-MNL route on an aged 747-400 a couple of years ago. For sure, that products was somewhat behind the times...

What no one has mentioned from what I can see is that PAL operate their new 777-300ER on MNL-LAX route now. The product should be much better on this a/c...

http://www.philippineflightnetwork.c...to-london.html

http://www.philippineairlines.com/pr...ness_class.jsp



I don't think one can really go wrong with BR, NH, JL, OZ etc. - although the regional product might not be the greatest for the intra-Asia sector if that matters.

hot2trot

Just for your future reference, I flew on Qatar from Barcelona to Bangkok in June 2014 in business. It was fantastic! The flight did have a stopover in Doha, but the service was excellent, and the lie flat seats were amazing! I didn’t want to get off the plane! The flight from Doha to Bangkok had even more spacious seats, I couldn’t believe it. The TV monitor that was on the back of the seat in front of me, was so far away, I had a hard time seeing it! (I wear bi-focals) It was at least a 16” monitor. (I was on a b777-300ER). The lie flat seats are truly lie flat, so you will have a good flight!

TennisNoob

The new business class on PAL still seems like the old days. Reminds me of LOT's new 787

MSPeconomist

However, the mention of cheap travel agents and low business class fares makes this deal sound like a consolidator fare, which would not earn (full) miles on all FF programs. If it's a mileage broker ticket, it won't earn any miles and might leave the OP stranded.

DL connecting through NRT is efficient with real flat beds with 100% direct aisle access in the 1-2-1 configuration or 1-1 on the upper deck of the 747.

moondog

If the OP said anything about cheap tickets, I missed it.

onebigworld

Moondog, you are correct. I have no idea how the company purchases their tickets. I don't want the company to have to spend more than necessary, but I need to be comfortable so I can be my best. Having looked at some of the top suggested airlines from this thread, it looks like CX and EVA are what I am used to on long flights. They have the reverse herringbone 1-2-1 with fully-flat beds in a pod-like seat. I know I can sleep in one of these from my VS flights and I'll have enough privacy.

To get the same kind of seat on Asiana requires their business Smartium class and from reading another thread, I gather I may not be guaranteed I'd get that.
That seems to be a problem with some of the other airlines as well.

It's a shame I have to fly in Sept because the CX sale ends Aug 30.

onebigworld

Thanks to all for helping me. The company is sending me on CX Business flight 881. I'm very pleased. I don't know how meals will be served on this flight, leaving at 1 AM, arriving at 6:45 AM Hong Kong. But my question for this group is this -- the travel agent asked for my frequent flyer number and they put down my NZ one. I think that is because it will transfer more easily to Virgin Atlantic which is what I like to fly to London - does that make sense? Also, I don't see my Global Entry number in the e-ticket receipt they sent.

bzcat

CX miles will not credit to NZ on this flight.

moondog

I'm one of the many people who doesn't care for cx j food so sleeping through the first meal on night flights is an easy choice for me. (If you miss it, the stewardess tend to strongly advise against reheating, but they are pretty good at cobbling together appetizers and the like mid flight). The food in the lounge at lax can be pretty decent.

MSPeconomist

Your travel agent is confused. Figure out where you want to credit miles for this trip and tell them to enter that FF number. Your GE number won't help on PreCheck exLAX on CX, but it might make it quicker to use the GE machines when you return from Asia; I don't know whether it should be on a CX ticket or not.

Unless your company requires that miles earned from business travel be used for future business travel, you can credit miles to whatever program you please.

BTW, I don't think CX miles can transfer to Virgin Atlantic because that airline is the competitor of BA and AA, which are alliance partners of CX. Normally among major airlines you can credit to other carriers in the same alliance. There are also some bilateral partnerships out there, like AS (plus the Virgins, Gulf carriers, and MH before it joined oneworld).

However, often partner flights earn few or no miles if booked in discounted fare classes, including some cheap or promotional business class fares, so be sure to check the specific earnings for your ticket before deciding what FF number to use.

moondog

Msp: I'm guessing the op thought he could earn nz points based on the cx/nz partnership but as someone else pointed lax-hkg isn't part of the deal.

onebigworld

Moondog, I think that was in the equation in fuzzy thinking, yes.

So here is the Fair Basis: IXSPCLRT Does that mean anything?

I see the Class is BUSINESS / l (I think that is an "l" if that makes sense).

onebigworld

It was well worth the stopover! And kind of nice to have a fresh plane. I went with CX and loved it. Had the flat seats on both legs and enjoyed great customer service. Thanks bzcat and TennisNoob for pointing me that way.

arabiamark

Actually there is a shuttle. I just used it 3 days ago to get from T1 to T3. It goes about every half hour so if you're in a big hurry it might not work out. Leaving T1 it goes to T2 (PAL) first, then T4, then T3. So if you're going from T1 to T3 then the extra stops might make it not work out if you're on a short connection.
From T2 to T4 and on to T3 actually went through the inner parts of the airport near the taxiways and runway, sort of an interesting ride.