Hi all,
I am just amazed at the breadth of knowledge on this website.
Thank you in advance for your help with my (slightly complicated) question.

I live in NYC and my final destination is TPE Taipei. Need to fly business class on my own expense. Here are the options I am considering (along with rough estimates I have priced out) - if anyone could speak to the quality of each and possibly offer a recommendation I would be eternally grateful. I'm terrified of spending this amount of money and going for the wrong carrier when I could have had something MUCH better.

NYC > TPE (w/stopover) - EVA AIRLINES ($3000)
NYC > TPE (w/stopover) - CHINA AIRLINES ($3620)
LAX > TPE non-stop (NYC>LAX via low cost Song) - MALAYSIA AIRLINES ($3160)
LAX > TPE non-stop (NYC>LAX via low cost Song) - SINGAPORE AIRLINES ($3020)

Also, on a side note, can anyone suggest a cheap way to get from TPE to Hong Kong?

Thanks again for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Try buying a one-way ticket to TPE and buy another one way ticket from TPE. It might be cheaper than buying a round trip ticket to TPE.

On SQ and MH, I see that the one-way fare LAX-TPE is $1,370 in business class. Then I see that the one-way fare TPE-LAX is $932 on MH and $1,100 on SQ.

Just wonder if you have considered a connection in Tokyo or Seoul? Those do not add much time to your itinerary over a SEA stop-over. JAL, ANA, etc all has very good seats and service for their flights to JFK.

There are 3-4 flights an hour (~50/day) TPE-HKG on CX, KA, BR and CI. But no discount carrier on this route. You can just go to any travel agent in Taipei to get your tickets. Prices should be competitive between agents.

Only possible alternative, if you really need to save money, is to check on flights TPE-MFM (Macau). They may be cheaper, may be not. Add the cost of the ferry (~HK$150 one-way) to Hong Kong. Will add to your travel time significantly.

i'm doing jfk/nrt/tpe/hkg/can return starting next tuesday, so i have current info for you

its almost as far to fly from lax as jfk, and song is all-economy, so this is not a good option

and business is not business, depending on who you are flying

look at seatguru= some have 38 inch business pitch, some have 78 inch! huge difference!!

there are also some very weird itineraries- like stopping in stockholm and KL, on the way to TPE-and you are flying for like 40 hours- but boy can i get you a cheap deal if you will fly MH!

just go into any local chinatown (i.e. flushing) and find a taiwanese agency (look for the EVA/China Air stickers, not the Air China agent)

or- just do a google search and you find, for example, that angel travel is offering r/t taipei business class for $2420 plus tax on NW- legitimate Z fare (this was a good deal, pre-strike)

and there is no savings TPE/HKG - its a cheap tkt anyway, just buy it locally- from a travel agent, not from the hotel concierge

if you plan to cross the border to China remember you must get a visa before you go!

If you want the best flights, Singapore Air is tops. Malaysia just introduced a new product that's supposed to compare, but don't know if it operates on these routes. A previous poster mentioned buying the two one-ways, as it is much cheaper to buy the return starting in TPE. Because your two best options are through LAX, try flying UA instead of Song from JFK to LAX. They have new Premium Service, and discount business fares run about $500 each way. So if you combine this with the $2300 or so SQ LAX-TPE, TPE-LAX (buying two one-ways), you should fall in the same price range for the best experience. The caveat, though, I think the SQ flight back to LA doesn't get in until evening which would put you on a redeye back to New York.

CX has been known to offer D fares tpe-lax/sfo that compete with the others mentioned in this thread. Flying CX gets you a stop in HKG obviously, however not all D fares permit stopovers there.