wlau

Very very very far south, it's about 50km to the Beijing city center. Many of Beijing CBDs, especially technology, are scattered up north and northwest so you can easily add another 20km to that. Public transportation is still sparse. It's also 67km away from PEK airport, on direct route, and require 90min transfer without traffic.

And with Beijing traffic congestion that tops cities like NYC,LAX,SFO, the distance alone doesn't give you a true sense of how far. My coworker took a fight from Shanghai Pudong to Beijing Daxing on MU and then have to rush to a customer meeting up north, and immediately said "no more" after that trip.

lsquare

Gotcha and you're right if that is your plan in Beijing. For tourists, it's less of a problem. Is there a train or subway to Daxing yet? I was last in Beijing in October and I saw Daxing on the subway map. However, the only Beijing airport that I went to this year was PEK.

I guess you'll have to consider *A since they're planning to stay at PEK.

wlau

There are subway and HSR, and other options. I think the Chinese government did a great job to ensure options are there, but the frequency of service is low since the airport just started. I am sure things will improve over time. I think for leisure travel, it should be OK but it's going to be problematic for business travelers. For those want to make a day-trip to Beijing for a meeting or two, especially from surrounding countries, it's going to be problematic. That extra ground transportation time will make day-trip much harder to achieve, as most of first and last flights of the day to/from PEK are already stretched to very early and very late and can't afford the extra 2-3 hr stretch.

ab2013

The CI flight departs SFO at 12:05 AM, and I'd assume boarding wraps up 15 mins before that.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA1092/history

It's definitely a possibility. Example: ASA1092 landed at SFO took off after 11 PM on 11/30 and landed at almost 2 AM.

wlau

CI sold you a ticket with that first AS segment?!

bbbacres

It took you some time to write up this complete and thoughtful review. Thank you.

ab2013

Yes. So am I SOL if that connection doesn’t work out?

flyerCO

Was it booked as one ticket? If so AS is on the hook to rebook you at their expense. Hotels/meal depend on reason for the delay. Rebooking is their job regardless.

If it happens you need to ask an AS, NOT CI agent, to rebook you.

ab2013

Yes. The ticket was issued by CI though. (297 stock) Like... would AS be the one ensuring that both me and my bags make it to the final destination?

flyerCO

AS is responsible for rebooking you (the carrier who you flew in on is always responsible) and should hand off bags to rebooked carrier. If they dont arrive with you, whomever you flew on for that last flight is responsible for getting you bags/paying out a claim. These are industry wide standards.

ab2013

Alright thanks! Weird that DL and CI are partners but CI won't sell DL tickets on this itinerary.

wlau

I think it does through LAX. Both SFO and ONT are low capcity and it doesn't want to give out a lot of codeshare seats.

SEA also has SEA-NRT-TPE route or SEA-ICN-TPE route, so flying someone down to SFO/LAX doesn't make a lot of sense.

ab2013

Just wanted to give a review of my experience connecting from AS to CI.

I found it weird that at checkin AS ended up writing a paper receipt for the luggage that I ended up needing to handover to CI at SFO. It was slightly frustrating that AS didn’t check me in or issue boarding passes for the CI legs (so why would CI sell the itinerary with AS legs?) because AS didn’t have access to CI systems.

The AS leg ended up being delayed by 1.5 hours thanks to low clouds and air congestion, so I actually missed the CI checkin cutoff by about 45 minutes by the time I landed. After a few phone calls, the AS customer rep at SFO ended up getting in touch with the folks at CI, and CI ended up dispatching an agent to meet me at the checkin counters, and checked me in with boarding passes with 10 mins left to spare before departure. And most impressive of all, my luggage made it on time at my final destination.

I must say ... seeing CI (and AS) going above and beyond to help the customer here ... really impressed me. 5 star customer service!

ab2013

I saw DL selling full fare economy tickets with connections at LAX on CI but I got premium eco tickets at a lower price by booking directly with CI. My final destination wasn’t TPE. I just happened to like the redeye options that CI offers.

Now I’m just waiting to see when DL posts mileage credits for my travel on CI.

exwannabe

The OP has two hours. He must get from T2 to the International terminal, check in (CI requires a new check-in at SFO even with a continuing BP). clear TSA and get to the gate.

WIth a 1 hr delay (always possible) he will be very nervous.