andrewwm

Also AC by then will be most of the way upgrading their interior cabins with AVOD, USB jacks, etc. so you'll likely get a fairly pleasant in-flight experience.

Plus the Maple Leaf Lounge really beats the pants off the RCC (which isn't hard, granted). Enjoy the trip!

iahphx

Yeah, and I would also note that AC now has a good reputation for their transpacific service -- as long as you make sure you get one of their new aircraft.

When I posted the question of "who in the Star Alliance should I fly to China in coach," AC was the hands down winner.

moondog

I wish you had directed me to that thread. Some of the YYZ planes can be ok, but the 763s they fly from YVR are none too comfy (plus, they always seem to take longer than comparable flights to SFO... maybe ETOPS?).

andrewwm

Agreed that the old inflight experience of AC was, well, something just short of dreadful. However, AC's 763's are (or will be) almost completely finished with an in-cabin makeover that makes them definitely one of the best Economy cabins ex-US to China. They also somewhat recently improved their in-flight catering for Economy too, although no one is still going to fly Economy to eat that stuff...

As to the longer flight time, IIRC, 763's top speed is somewhat less than the 777 or the 747, so you end up with slightly longer flight time. The 763s don't have any ETOPS issues that a 777 wouldn't have...

moondog

On numerous occasions, I've flown YVR-PEK/PVG on the same day as a friend has flown SFO-PEK/PVG (and vv). In most cases, the SFO flight has beaten the YVR flight in spite of the fact that: 1) the former is considerably longer; and; 2) it often overflies YVR.

Surely, aircraft speed plays a part in the equation, but I suspect ETOPS comes into play as well.

What really matters is that I've had some really bad experiences on AC (the killer is the connecting flight to PDX, which leaves from Mars..... no lounge in site for miles).

andrewwm

According to wikipedia (so with a grain of salt), the 744's cruise speed is about 40 mph faster than the 763, so you're looking at, over the course of about a 10 hr flight, a 400 mile difference in distance covered.

Sure enough, that's about the difference in distance according to the great circle mapper

ETOPS might play a minor role, but these days ICAO restrictions on aircraft are fairly liberal. Plus, Boeing pays to operate a couple of emergency-only airfields in the middle of the Pacific so as to allow efficient ETOPS-allowed routings on two engine jets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETOPS

Overall, I'd say it probably has to do more with aircraft speed and headwinds and tailwinds over the Pacific than anything else. Still, you're going to get there nearly 40-50 minutes later on a 763 for the same distance flown, so that may be a factor for some people.

I can't speak to poor service, but then I've never had any irregular service needs on AC so that may not mean anything. Agreed about the poor placement at PDX but AC just moved to the UA terminal at SFO and as a place to transit YVR is a great airport with a great lounge, so YMMV.

crnk

Got my allocation last night. about 50% success, but more on the prelims, and a lot less on the finals and no ceremonies. I guess I'll have to try for '10 and '12 to get those.

Live sales start nov 26, according to Cosport

When are people buying airfare? I ran into 330 and 300 day windows when looking previously, so I've decided to wait for a little bit. I should be safe buying sometime before the end of the year, correct? Has anyone flown in previously and can answer (I was living in SLC in 2002, so I didn't know what transportation was like)?

moondog

I was actually referring to the Jazz and Horizon gates in YVR, which are a solid 5 minutes from the nearest lounges. It's really depressing hanging out over there after a long transpac and a 3 hour layover. I have no problem with PDX.

iahphx

I'm a bit surprised you were sufficiently "organized" to buy tickets in "the first round," but didn't try to snag award seats at the 330 day mark.

I have experience flying to Olympics, but I'm not sure that experience will be relevant to THIS Olympics. For example, when the Olympics are in Europe, it's pretty easy to get seats to a nearby major airport and then take the train to the Olympic city. In this case, there aren't a lot of Chinese cities you can fly to from the US.

If you have miles to burn, I think the best option is to use tools like the ANA Star Alliance award search ASAP and see how close you can get to Beijing for free. Alternatively, buy tickets to a nearby city and try to hoof it. Shanghai obviously works well, and Hong Kong/Guangzhou would work as well. Once you leave China, the problem could be finding affordable intra-Asia airfares. You'd have to choose carefully.

crnk

If only I had the miles....I think I have enough miles to get myself dropped off halfway TPAC on Skyteam....but I heard the parachute fee and deposit is extra. I could also use up my *A miles and get a subscription to "Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim quarterly".....but I'll save up for a future reward instead.

I'll just hope the prices aren't too bad for purchase....

andrewwm

PDX is a great airport but the Jazz and Horizon terminal was/is, well, depressing (although not as bad as some other commuter stands). If you flew out of PDX recently, though, Jazz moved to UA's commuter stand which is fairly close to the RCC and not really that bad.

kb1992

Tip:

UA new SFO-CAN flights have plenty of saver C and F awards for June, July and August, 2008.^

mapu

I just hope I don't have to do a business trip to Beijing during the Olympic madness.

iahphx

Did anyone buy event tickets today in the cosport.net "live" offering?

I was on the road this morning, but when I signed on this afternoon, the site was very slow and with plenty of glitches. I couldn't find seats for anything "good" that I wanted.

I wonder if this is "it" as far as their availability, or if they'll be offering more tickets later. My hunch is that it will be difficult to buy tickets from official outlets in advance, and that the black (or at least gray) market will control availability. I hope I'm wrong, because I'd love to buy tickets direct from the Olympic Committee -- presumably the easiest, cheapest and safest option.

iahphx

As an update, the official ticket site (they're now using cosport.com) does occasionally replenish with new inventory. Availability isn't great, but I did pick up a few events (athletics, wrestling, beach volleyball, weightlifting). Somewhat annoying is the fact that you have to pay a $15 service charge with each order, so it's better to bundle, although that's not possible when "new" tickets go on sale a couple hours later.

I wish I knew the rhyme and reason to how they're releasing tickets, but it's certainly better than nothing. And the good thing is that tickets are pretty cheap, averaging about 20 bucks each.