Originally Posted by
scorpio29
Route is HKG to LAX then return from NYC to HKG. About $700 on CA with a 13 hour layover in Beijing, $1500 on DL. I am going with my husband, so the difference in two fares total is significant and more than covers an extra battery or two for my iphone and a lounge or hotel in PEK for the night.
I generally take DL via DTW but it's much more expensive. HKG -LAX RT for $646 or something ridiculous on CA with an easy layover in PEK. For that rate, I can probably suck it up in Y....
Wow. For that price R-T, I can see your point about sucking it up in Y class for two people, and putting the $1600 savings to better use. Go for it, and take your own entertainment on CA. If your PEK layover covers daytime or even early evening hours, you can go into town and sightsee, eat, and/or stay. No Chinese visa required, you'll have Transit Without Visa privileges for stays up to 24 hours--in fact, if the current HKG-PEK segment is fairly late in the day and you are able to leave HKG earlier and haven't been to Beijing before, you might want to make that HKG-PEK segment earlier in the day to extend the connection to have more daylight hours and hence, more useable time. At any rate, as a Star Gold, you'll have CA Biz lounge access in PEK even though flying in Y. Lounges not open 1-5 am though.