mohitmadaan

I have heard enough bad things to avoid china airlines in the past but due to last minute emergency, i have to fly within next 24 hours and everything else seems to be far more expensive, hence i am stuck with China airlines DEL>TPE>SFO on 27th April.

Couple of questions
a) is the airline as bad as i have heard or am i just being paranoid about it?
b) I am gold with united & usually try to fly only star alliance but since its China airlines, and they are part of Sky Team. Should i bother getting miles into any program? If yes, which is preferred?

Thanks a ton in advance...
Flying economy (if it matters at all)

bzcat

China Airlines is fine... not sure what you mean by "bad things". Services on both the DEL-TPE and TPE-SFO sector are probably much better than any Indian airlines or UA. Connection at TPE is usually very easy too.

Since you are in Y, the TPE-SFO sector is on a 10-abreast 777 so it is a little cramped but again, not any different than say flying EK 777 in Y.

As for which program you should credit, I have no strong opinion but think about where else you may want to travel from DEL in the future. I guess Flying Blue (AF/KLM) is probably the best choice? I would credit to CI's Dynasty Flyer before I will bother with DL Skypeso or KE Skypass.

mohitmadaan

Thank you for responding.... i fly 3-4 times a year to SFO< does that help? to help me to choose a program?

Enhancements

Would you be flying China Airlines consistently from here on out?
Their cheapest fares normally don't earn any mileage, and when they do it's still a better choice to credit to the home program (Dynasty Flyer) than something else, unless it's an edge case.

I've flown on the CI 777 quite a couple of times. To me, the seats are slightly narrower than the 3-3-3 on older 777s, but the seat itself was comfier than some of the wider seats, enough to sleep a few hours in. The cabin is also one of the best designed there is out there, with a great IFE system and decent Wifi (paid).

bzcat

I would credit to CI's Dynasty Fliers. Since you already started your trip, I'm curious to hear how it went

mohitmadaan

I am back from the trip and had a pretty good trip (airline wise) and would fly China Airlines without a doubt if i had to or i could in the future. I am crediting them to CI's dynasty fliers.

Overall, i am very impressed with the Seats in Y, food & other basic amenities. The seats actually looked a bit broader than what i am use to (emirates, united etc) so that's a plus.

Not related but i don't understand why i wasn't able to get a good fare and when i get in the plane half of the seats are empty?

bzcat

Probably yield control on the DEL-TPE sector. CI operates FCO-DEL-TPE and the tourist yield ex-TPE to/from FCO is probably not that great. So CI supplements that with TPE-DEL O&D which may get some decent business travel demand (think tech and garment business)

If you booked TPE-SFO-TPE, you probably would have seen the low discounted fares. But doing DEL-TPE-SFO-TEP-DEL didn't price out the lowest because yield control on DEL-TPE.

Note, this is just my guess but seems plausible.

MSPeconomist

The advantage of crediting miles to DL is that currently DL miles don't expire (until you do).

Enhancements

You also booked last minute (per original post).
Most discount fares have advance purchase requirements of days to months.

mohitmadaan

oh i understand that part, my point was/is when half of the airplane is empty 1 day before the flight, aren't airlines better off selling those seats at lower rate?

Enhancements

No airline would budge to encourage paid pax to hold their cards till the last minute. Last-minute availability can be taken by subload (staff) travel or award redemptions.

irishguy28

No.

If a person has to travel at the last minute, and cannot postpone/defer travel (like you - you referred to a "last minute emergency, i have to fly within next 24 hours") it means that the airline can charge you substantially more to travel.

As I am sure you know, airlines don't sell all tickets at the same price. They have become experts at segmenting the market, and selling the "same" product at a range of different prices. The goal of the airline is to make as much of a profit as possible, so they will charge the absolute most to each market segment that they can.

Given that you are one of those unfortunates who must travel at short notice, this puts you in the most lucrative category - the person who can be charged the most. There is very little chance of ever being able to buy a ticket for departure within the next 24 hours at rates anywhere near what you would have been able to pay 3 or 4 months previously.

A person planning travel that far ahead has far greater scope to change their travel plans or to pick new dates with lower prices. People who book at the last-minute often do not have this degree of flexibility, so the airlines can get away with charging substantially more.

If airlines offered the same low prices on the day before departure as they did several weeks/months in advance, it means that they would be earning far less revenue from their sales (unless they charged those high rates right from the beginning - but that would scare off the price-sensitive early bookers to other airlines!).