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Flying China Airlines as a Delta Elite - Impressions and Advice

Flying China Airlines as a Delta Elite - Impressions and Advice

Old Sep 19, 2017, 10:43 pm
  #61  
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Originally Posted by mjcewl1284
About RMQ, I have written to BR corporate so many times its not even funny. BR has slowly started to expand in RMQ but the airport is dominated by LCCs (even CI seems to be looking up to the LCCs that fly in and out of there). With the Taoyuan airport metro opening, at least there is some semblance of a seamless high speed rail transport service.
For the time being and probably the near future, I will probably keep some kind of CX status but having flown them since the late 1990s, it really just isn't the same airline anymore. Calling it Cathay Dragon sounds so wrong!
Well CI has their AE LCC sub-brand flying out of RMQ but that doesn't do a thing for ST. DL FF # will print on the boarding pass but no benefits nor FF points, just "priority" luggage (ha, still came out almost dead last). I managed to get past a lounge dragon once but wasn't worth the hassle. Would be great to connect through HKG versus having to haul myself all the way to TPE.
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Old Sep 19, 2017, 10:47 pm
  #62  
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Originally Posted by hdtv4me
Thanks wlau. I am a Diamond MM but I didn't book my J fare through Delta. I booked it direct with China Air. Will they allow me in the T2 lounge if I'm flying J on CI ticket stock? And isn't it upstairs just after passport control?
There are two CI lounges in T2, the crappy biz class one and the nicer Paragon lounge (yes upstairs past immigration). Was there two weeks ago and the crappy one is under renovation (YES!) so everyone is bumped up to the Paragon one for now. Your CI J ticket is fine. Even Y would be OK as long as you entered your DL FF # your ticket will show you are ST E+ so you're good to go.
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Old Sep 20, 2017, 12:11 am
  #63  
 
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Yeah I agree, have been flying them since I was a kid when we weren't on NWA, and it's been great. Last flight with the was TPE-SFO in Biz on SkyPesos a few years back and it was awesome. Was as good as the KE flight from LAS-ICN in biz.

I've got an upcoming TPE-NRT in biz using miles, but dang hard to get!

I wish DL had make more of an effort to keep TPE accessible with some good code-shares when then abandoned the route (which NWA was the first airline to fly into the country) given both the number of biz and "locals" that use the route.

I also wish that CI was named something else like "Taiwan Air" or something complete neutral as I do agree it's confusing (since the name comes for WWII era "one China" politics) and they suffer from China-confusion.

I'm shocked that Delta hasn't tried to do more JVs with KE/CI and which ever Chinese Airline they own (though China might not want to Delta to do biz with a Taiwanese airline).

On the side note, EVA the other Taiwanese carrier has an even better rep (* Alliance) and they were the first airline to introduce a Premium Economy cabin.

The T2 lounge could use a make over, though I still really like it. The made to order noodles are good (like the Dan Dan Mian best) and the dumplings are fine. The hidden secret is the fresh whole yams that are in the wooden bucket steamer at the left end of the food. People don't realize they should open it. Lots of beverage options. I'm bummed that my next Japan flight is T2 too as well. My mom isn't going to want to hoof it.

Now I can't wait to do the In-Town Check-in and bag drop at the Taipei Main Rail MRT station, looks awesome and then you can shop and dine without your check in baggage!!

Last edited by NOLAnwGOLD; Sep 20, 2017 at 12:17 am
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Old Sep 20, 2017, 1:41 am
  #64  
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Arent CIs fares still a bit low due to the perception of them being unsafe since they always seemed to be in the news with their plane crashes 15-20 years ago?
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Old Oct 8, 2017, 10:31 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by CommentatusMaximus
...The connections at ICN are ridiculously long and the KE lounge is a total joke, reminds me of a college dorm lounge. ...
I'm also hoping DL/KE JV moves ahead to get rid of all the silly connection issues.
ehhh, I have to run back to the US for a meeting, so I booked a TPE-ICN-SEA... flight, only reasonable cost one for that day. Got a 7.5hr layover in ICN. Did you guys figure out what to do for 7.5hr? I have expedited custom access throughout Asia, so I can buzz out of ICN pretty quickly. I am thinking about playing tourist for 4 to 4.5 hours... any thoughts or suggestions?
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Old Oct 8, 2017, 10:37 am
  #66  
 
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Originally Posted by NOLAnwGOLD
...Now I can't wait to do the In-Town Check-in and bag drop at the Taipei Main Rail MRT station, looks awesome and then you can shop and dine without your check in baggage!!

Glad you know how to find the good food items at TPE lounge - makes me feel sane again after all these people trash CI lounges.

For in-town check-in, it's still VERY VERY problematic! My company sends a driver to pick me up, but I am a very eco/treehugger type of guy, so the moment the MRT opened from TPE airport, I started using it. I've used in-town check on quite a few times since it opened. They have a very well designed automation process - one of the best I've seen.

The BIGGEST problem: the kiosks prints the baggage label but DO NOT have the SkyPriority yellow tag... The label itself says Priority, but the baggage handler usually look at the yellow tag. As such, my bag is usually last to come off at LAX or SEA... Connecting at both of these cities also don't give me a chance to retag the bag, so again when I get into SFO or SJC, my bag is usually the last ones to come off. Ridiculous for Diamond MM and happen to fly F on those last legs...

If you use in-town check in, go to a human instead of using the kiosk.
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Old Oct 8, 2017, 10:38 am
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by matrixwalker2012
Aren’t CI’s fares still a bit low due to the perception of them being unsafe since they always seemed to be in the news with their plane crashes 15-20 years ago?
NO! They are actually cost higher than BR.. constantly. That perception is so old, it's not even worth mentioning. BR is now the unsafe one. There is a huge trend in Taiwan that people believe CI safer. BR was stupid enough to take off and land in several typhoons (all other airlines were grounded) and people got thrown around in the aircraft... leaving to massive media scare and such. Ever since EVA owner's younger son that runs EVA got pushed out (after owner's death) by his older brothers, EVA started to degrade.
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 12:16 am
  #68  
 
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Just had a TPE-NRT biz flight, and must say just great service all around. The T2 lounge the wait staff came to take orders for the noodle bar. The FAs jumped in to help multiple times, espeically with my mother in a wheelchair. Food and service was great. The champagne was nice and great flight to Japan. JAL on the way down in biz was great too. JAL had a better lounge at HND in general (newer was the key factor).
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 1:27 am
  #69  
 
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Great review! Any chance you have considered writing one up for China Eastern, another Skyteam partner?
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 8:17 am
  #70  
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Originally Posted by RealHJ
+1. IMO also, CI @ TPE is one of the best if not the best lounge in the SkyTeam network.



Well, most airlines are better than DL.

PEK on the ground and the CA lounges with many months past expiry date food and drink (e.g. the apple juice has become apple-flavored liquor, as it's two years past the best-by date!) and tiny and extremely hot shower is horrible, yes. In the air, CA has some really good crew - light years ahead of DL, who clean the lavatory after every use, keep your spot in line (if you go while someone else is in, they will tell you when it's open, and hold back other pax from using it; that's just one of the many nice things that CA and only CA crew do, even JL doesn't do that), and far better J product on the A330 than DL has on any plane (actual straight ahead facing rectangular seat, with enough room for feet and knees, vs. the mini-coffins that DL has). That being said, yes, on a good day CA - other than on the ground experience - is good. But you could get some not-so-good crew, and on many routes CA uses aircraft with older seating (HNL-PEK thankfully has A330s full time, the best CA J product at this time), and then it can be indeed even worse than DL, absolutely. Also on the flights to PEK the service is usually worse, as I don't know how it is on other routes, but on HNL-PEK the same crew goes back HNL-PEK as came in on PEK-HNL, and they are not even allowed out of the airport (I know as I had some crew remark to me that they really wish they could see what Hawaii is like, but that they are not ever allowed outside of the airport) - they just stay there inside the secure/int'l departures area for the ~7 hours that the plane is on the ground here, and so by the time of the 13+ hour flight back, the crew are understandably tired having worked for 11+h and having gotten less than 6h of rest (as much as one can rest inside an airport). So yes, CA is by no means perfect. But at least food choice wise, it's far ahead of DL and all US-based airlines and service wise also it is often far superior, and product wise also IF you are on the A330...but the frustrating on the ground experience and the inconsistent product really take it down quite a few notches. (Don't even get me started on the time it took me more than four hours to get a proper boarding pass, after wrong having been issued a STBY one in Japan by the ZH check-in desk. The CA lounge agent called like 20 numbers and had to keep yelling on the phone until she almost lost her voice for hours until finally I got a correct BP, just as the flight was starting boarding.)
OT, but to me it sounds dangerous for those CA FAs (is the same true for pilots?) to fly a long TPAC segment, stay at the airport for about seven hours, and then fly the return TPAC long segment with no real rest time. In fact, I'm surprised that the FAA allows this for flights to/from the USA, even if they're operated by a foreign carrier.
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 8:40 am
  #71  
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Originally Posted by wlau
Glad you know how to find the good food items at TPE lounge - makes me feel sane again after all these people trash CI lounges.

For in-town check-in, it's still VERY VERY problematic! My company sends a driver to pick me up, but I am a very eco/treehugger type of guy, so the moment the MRT opened from TPE airport, I started using it. I've used in-town check on quite a few times since it opened. They have a very well designed automation process - one of the best I've seen.

The BIGGEST problem: the kiosks prints the baggage label but DO NOT have the SkyPriority yellow tag... The label itself says Priority, but the baggage handler usually look at the yellow tag. As such, my bag is usually last to come off at LAX or SEA... Connecting at both of these cities also don't give me a chance to retag the bag, so again when I get into SFO or SJC, my bag is usually the last ones to come off. Ridiculous for Diamond MM and happen to fly F on those last legs...

If you use in-town check in, go to a human instead of using the kiosk.
Can't you save the yellow SkyPriority tag from your outbound flight and attached it to the bag when it's tagged downtown for your inbound flights? Alternatively, if you go to the DL service counter after exiting customs (there's a separate SkyPriority line at larger international gateway airports) and ask them to either re-tag the bag or add the yellow tag?
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 10:31 am
  #72  
 
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Thank you for this helpful review!! I am planning on flying China Airlines soon and this review helps a bunch!
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 11:32 am
  #73  
 
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Have an upcoming JFK-TPE-HKG flight with CI coming up -- took almost an hour for DM line to get the it booked. Why does Delta.com hate connections in TPE on awards?

TPE-HKG is on the 744. When I called CI for seat assignments, I asked about getting the former F seats up front, but was told they were unavailable. Maybe try calling back 72 hours before flight to see if any are available, she advised. But I seem to recall hearing they're available anytime to CI FF elites, and maybe even to SkyTeam Elite+.

Is 72 hours when those seats become available to general public? Or to STE+? Or is this a HUCA situation?
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 2:31 pm
  #74  
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Originally Posted by HometoYYZ
Have an upcoming JFK-TPE-HKG flight with CI coming up -- took almost an hour for DM line to get the it booked. Why does Delta.com hate connections in TPE on awards?

TPE-HKG is on the 744. When I called CI for seat assignments, I asked about getting the former F seats up front, but was told they were unavailable. Maybe try calling back 72 hours before flight to see if any are available, she advised. But I seem to recall hearing they're available anytime to CI FF elites, and maybe even to SkyTeam Elite+.

Is 72 hours when those seats become available to general public? Or to STE+? Or is this a HUCA situation?
You might want to try searching/asking in the CI threead(s) in the Other Asian Airlines forum.
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Old Oct 13, 2017, 8:03 pm
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by HometoYYZ
TPE-HKG is on the 744. When I called CI for seat assignments, I asked about getting the former F seats up front, but was told they were unavailable. Maybe try calling back 72 hours before flight to see if any are available, she advised. But I seem to recall hearing they're available anytime to CI FF elites, and maybe even to SkyTeam Elite+.
AFAIK the former F seats are saved for CI's own STE+.

Originally Posted by wlau
NO! They are actually cost higher than BR.. constantly. That perception is so old, it's not even worth mentioning. BR is now the unsafe one. There is a huge trend in Taiwan that people believe CI safer. BR was stupid enough to take off and land in several typhoons (all other airlines were grounded) and people got thrown around in the aircraft... leaving to massive media scare and such. Ever since EVA owner's younger son that runs EVA got pushed out (after owner's death) by his older brothers, EVA started to degrade.
YMMV about the cost part; at least out of SFO, they're usually close enough in price that the difference is really negligible.
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