FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Programs: Frontier Gold, DL estranged 1MMer, Spirit VIP, CO/NW/UA/AA once gold/plat/comped gold now dust.
Posts: 38,151
LAX to BKK (in coach): Which sub-$500 RT Chinese cheapie airline is best?
Parameters: Very budget-conscious (definitely flying in back), need the 2 bags (2 x 23kg allowance fine, hopefully included), looking at the sub-$500 fares, have million-mile silver status on DL if that helps any with SkyTeam partners, would like to earn at least some miles (25%, I'm guessing), but comfort and the least hassle more important, and *A and OW partners would be OK as well.
Looks like the top candidates are Air China, China Eastern and Xiamen, and I guess there's a chance China Southern or Hainan drops to that range.
In 50+ transpacific trips to SE Asia I've still never flown any of those five, so I'm a bit phobic about what to expect with inflight or hassles with the connection or anything like that (CX or NH has usually ridden to the rescue with some sale, though I'm not sure it'll happen this time). I probably need to stop avoiding those carriers and give one a try.
Which would you pick?