Shanghai: go or not?
 

Here's the deal: I might have the opportunity to go to Shanghai for business next April. Never been in Asia.
Unfortunately, my job will only pay for coach. Considering the 12+ hour flight with connections from BOS, I am not looking forward to that.

So my question, is Shanghai worth it?
If it is just a NYC clone with a bunch of skyscapers I'm def NOT interested. However, if it is a beautiful city where you get a great impression of China I might be interested, but I really need to be convinced...

What shall I do?

PVG: go or not?
 

Just my opinion, of course, but Shanghai is absolutely worth it. Great history along the river, colonial on one side, modern China resplendent on the other. Western when you need it to be, but plenty of local culture too. Trust me, you will never think you're in NYC.

Shanghai is not the most interesting tourist or cultural destination, but still well worth a visit, particularly if you've never been to Asia.

No-brainer. Even in coach. Especially if you've never been to Asia....

I spend a lot of time in Shanghai (here now, in fact), and while it's certainly not one of my favorite cities (e.g. to me, it feels MUCH more crowded than NY), I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to visit if I had never been before.

Moving on, I don't feel the need to sell Shanghai itself anymore at this juncture because there is tons of info about it in this forum alone.

But, I will offer two pieces of advice:

1) figure out a way to fly business class
-if your company is reasonably flexible, and you have a USAir account, between now and the end of the month, you can buy miles directly from them (i.e. you'll get an invoice that should presumably satisfy your finance people) for 1.75 cpm, which will permit you to get to Shanghai and back for less than $2000, all in (you can even make a RTW trip out of it, if you so desire)
-you can also simply procure upgrades somehow, but the above strategy is better if your company will go for it

2) consider tacking on a side trip (or stopover) to somewhere else
-we'll help you think of ideas as to "where" if you provide a bit more info about what floats your boat, and how much vacation time you can allocate to the cause (even a weekend would be sufficient to take in some amazing experiences)

I'm more of a DL person. Perhaps I spend money on a Y+ seat.

The business meeting in Shanghai will be Mo-Th, so I could add the weekend after and possibly the week thereafter.
Sites that come to mind to visit include the Great Wall (been to Hadrians' Wall), the Forbidden Palace, and the Terracotta Army. I don't know much about China, so not sure what else there is to see.

My company permits me to buy US miles, and expense them because we are frugal, but they still grasp the fact that I prefer business class to economy class. But, I realize this isn't an option for many people who are locked into corporate travel contracts. That having been said, if it is for you, business class (on pretty much every airline in the world) is superior to Y+ on DL, and $2000 is a very nice RT price (e.g. this summer, China-USA was running at around $2000 one way in Y).

Seconded.

If 10.5 hours is more tolerable, you can do BOS-SEA-NRT-PVG, with the TPAC part in DL's Y+. The 333 has 2-4-2 seating…in my view better than 3-3-3 on the 777. The NRT lounge is DL's best, with quite decent food to supplement or supplant what you get in Y.

Go, it'll be worth it, especially if you haven't been to China before. Shanghai is a big city but did not strike me as a NYC clone because of the historical, language, and cultural differences.

I've flown coach from Boston to Shanghai and other places in Asia plenty of times. I'm 6' tall with a 36" inseam and coach hasn't killed me yet. Since you're a Delta flyer, look into Economy Comfort if you want a little more room. If you have Gold or higher status you can get EC for 1/2 the cost, so it's not bad even if the $ comes out of your own pocket.

I'm 6'2" and will be FO by November of this year. I already checked airfare, but DL seems very expensive compared to other airlines. For instance, for my dates (the week after Easter) DL wants about $1700 while UA wants about $1200.

Just saw some photographs of "Guilin". It looks awsome!

If you go to Guilin area, skip Guilin for nearby Yangshuo. PM me for a recommendation.

Yup. Yangshuo is much better than Guilin.

I do think the Guilin/Yangshuo area looks terrific, but not sure if I should go there for a first-time China trip. Maybe the most practical itinerary would be to travel from Shanghai to Beijing via Xi'an, considering I have at most one week after being in Shanghai?
Also, can anyone recommend a good visa expediter with experience in obtaining Chinese visa for green-card holders?

Yes.

+1

+1

And I'm more of a UA person, though Y+ as I've read about it sounds good.

UA has E+ (Economy Plus - same seat but about 34-36 inch pitch v. 32 or so in coach. And you can buy E+, including my favorite exit row seats.

UA has a Buy Up to Biz for ANY fare, and it's $600 plus 20K miles each way (you can easily buy UA miles for @ 2.2 cpm), and I've done that when I was feeling rich. It's a nice ride on 747 upper deck with lie flat bed :D )

Old CO (now UA) has EWR-PVG or EWR-NRT-PVG on a fairly new 777 if you don't want to fly via West Coast.

Thirded.

EmailKid, a veteran of many TPAC flights in various seats, including many coach