lhermouet

Ultimately going to Shenyang. Never been to RPC before. Any Airline recommendation being Silver *A and Silver Skyteam? I am trying to maximize comfort/ease and miles (my Co is likely to sign off on Business)

FatManInNYC

Continental flies direct from EWR to PEK and has a decent BizFirst product. I'm a big guy and fit comfortably in the seat and have found the meals to be rather good. A good entertainment center with nice selection of movies, TV shows and shorts rounds out the offering. I'm not sure whether the new CO flatbed seats are in the EWR-PEK route (because co.com/flatbed is worthless, but that's a separate thread.)

Do you have a specific FF program you prefer? With corporate funds putting you into business, you're likely to have a comfortable flight no matter which airline you select. I'd switch my focus to ensuring you the airlines (1) feeds your desired FF and (2) is not one of the outliers that has a failed Biz class product.

Oh, btw: WELCOME TO FT!

moondog

Try for KE or OZ; cheaper than UA/CO and the ICN connection is much more convenient.

Jack Napier

I'm thinking about writing a report after my return trip from MUC to PEK in C with MS mid august, so it might be quite late for your last minute trip.

I know MS offers NYC-CAI-PEK. At least for the CAI-PEK leg, the seats seem to be like the old US envoy seats in the 333. MUC-CAI is in a 738 where C has a 2-2 config. I'm not expectiong anything as i'm paying round €1400 (LH Y was €1200 when I used to book), so i can hopefully be positively surprised. At least MS joined *A. Keep your fingers crossed for me please!

ATF678

I fly to PEK at least once every month, and I'd make the recommendation to fly CO from EWR.

The service on CO is always good and they treat their elites much better than other airlines. I hate the food in coach and rarely eat it, but food in business class is awesome.

In my past 20 flights I've only been on 3 flights with the flat bed business class. Since CO has only a few planes converted to flat bed, its really luck of the draw if you will get it or not on your flight.

As for other options, there is Air China from JFK to PEK. I would advise against this. I have never had a good experience with Air China.

Then there is UA from Chicago. I've heard this flight is pretty good. I've never done it since the flight from ORD to PEK is about the same flight time as EWR to PEK. If you want to try to rack more miles, this is probably the way to go.

Northwest (Skyteam) doesn't seem to have any good direct routes to PEK from NYC area. Even their connections seem to be very inconvenient.

moondog

He's going to Shenyang, which is as close to ICN as it is to PEK. PEK connections are to be avoided at all costs in my opinion.

Furthermore, CO J costs around $9,000 much of the time, compared with $4k on the Korean carriers. Even though his company is willing to cover business, I'm guessing management would be happier with the $4,000 ticket.

ATF678

Oh yes, I forgot about the connections through Korea. However most flights from JFK to ICN land in the late afternoon or early morning (pre-dawn) and there are only a few direct flights from ICN to SHE. Which means you will either have a long layover, or have to spend the night in Korea. Or connect through PEK or PVG anyway from ICN.

moondog

There are flights from ICN to SHE at 5p and 840p, which connect nicely with afternoon arrivals. There is also an 820a flight (connects with night flights from the US; longish layover) and a 1245p flight.

jiejie

I second moondog's recommendation to fly to Shenyang via ICN on Asiana or Korean. If you can't snag a convenient connection, there are plenty of suggestions on how to kill time in ICN or Seoul. Also, I seem to remember a rumor that Biz Class passengers on OZ (I think?) can get a complementary hotel stay if on overnight connection, but you have to ask for it. The pros on the OZ forum under Miles & Points should be able to help you out on this question and tell you whether that's still on offer.

Connection through PEK can be Plan B. The only exception is if you can manage an extra couple of personal days, and want to do an actual stopover rather than a connection--most people generally feel that Beijing has more to offer the visitor than Seoul.

As stated by someone above: avoid Air China on that long haul from JFK.

moondog

I learned today that KE and CZ are the only airlines that fly ICN-SHE. Apart from all KE routings, lots of interline routings are possible --UA/KE: EWR-SFO-ICN-SHE-- was the cheapest I saw today. That having been said, I think OZ-->KE might be tough to swing at a reasonable rate because they are enemies.

For the date I checked on kayak (next Sunday iirc), UA/KE was $4000+, KE was $5500, and CO was just shy of $7000.

But, I'd be willing to bet that many Korean TAs in Los Angeles or New York could bring the KE fare down to the $4,000 mark.

They have two flights between JFK and ICN, an afternoon departure that arrives at 520p, and a late night flight that arrives at 350a. The former requires a 3 hour connection, and the latter, 5.5 hours.

I agree that the OP might enjoy some Beijing time during his trip; I just think that PEK is terrible as a straight connection (i.e. I'd take 5 hours in ICN v. 2 hours in PEK). My response to this is that he could do an open jaw, and take care of the PEK-SHE/SHE-PEK flight on his own; this only costs $70.

And, in the event that KE's one way fare is half the price of its round trip, a CA/CO nonstop (PEK-NYC) could be an option in one direction. But, my hunch is that CO will be prohibitively expensive, and he'd prefer to take KE and endure a layover, even if CA is cheaper.

RichardInSF

There are worse things than having an overnight layover at ICN as well. The Hyatt isn't a luxury hotel but it's quite acceptable, not badly priced, and the restaurants in house are pretty darn good!

jiejie

I used to commute up to Shenyang for a project weekly and could have sworn I saw Asiana there, but it has been a few years. Bummer no OZ option now all the way through from NYC. Agree that PEK is not the greatest for a straight connection, though it is survivable. Agree 5 hrs in ICN better than 2 hrs in PEK. Open jaw not a bad idea, esp if the OP can craftily sneak in 2 full free personal days inbound or outbound in Beijing.

moondog

OZ still flies from Pusan to Shenyang, but I'm pretty sure they did ICN as well ~3 years back. This isn't really a big deal because all other options, apart from OZ, between NYC and ICN are still on the table. OZ theoretically is as well, but it would be priced as two tickets and send the (combined) fare through the roof.

dtsm

1. I've flown CO to HK, can't compare to CX - not even close. The flat beds are not completely flat, unless the recent configurations have been improved.

2. I've never had the pleasure of flying Air China and hope will never be forced to do so.

3. I've taken both Korean carriers to Beijing via ICN, good (not great) service, excellent value/price for business class, and connection time to China is good -- although coming home, longer wait at ICN airport.

FLLDL

There is also a hotel airside at ICN if the layover is long but not long enough to leave the building.

I would strongly recommend connecting at ICN vs PEK.