hikouki

Which Premium Econ or Business class would you guys recommend as alternatives to PS and DeltaOne when flying to Asia?

I am SEA-based and my travel pattern for the next couple of years will be 1-3x/yr in Premium Y to Tokyo, 2x/yr in PEY or business to MNL/TPE/BKK and possibly 1x/yr in PEY or business to Europe.

I thought of being a free agent, but if I could bank my miles for at least a year or two in one program, I could possibly have enough to upgrade from paid business to first class on a some nice airline. LOL

I am torn between ANA and JAL.

ANA would allow me to rack up miles when flying on LH and TK. TK has occasional business class promos (cheap!) to southeast Asia, while flying LH just to experience both the 748 (first time) and A380 (again), and perhaps even the 744 nose section are on my bucket list. BR and SQ are on the radar as well and I can bank my miles from them on ANA for future redemption as well. The only downside is that UA does not have a hub in SEA for my occasional transcon trips.

Alternative is Alaska Air/ American + JAL. I would really like to fly JAL first class! But I avoid CX like a plague! Alaska Mileage plan allows accrual from KE and SkyLux.

I know I could perhaps easily hit Gold with DL with my pattern but it is time to try something new. I have not flown any other international/ intercontinental PEY/ business in over 8 years other than DL so I don't know which other airline from SEA has the better/ best value in terms of service/ connections/ points earning and redemption in comparison to the now dead Skymiles.

salsa

You have identified great options. I've flown ANA and JAL business and first and JAL PE. It is a toss up between ANA and JAL as far as inflight experience. Both have outstanding first and business class. JAL PE service beats DL and AA PE. Currently ANA has better first class seats but that is changing as JAL starts taking delivery of A350-1000s with new first and business class suites next month. Initial routes are between JFK and HND. ANA's HND first class lounge is a tad nicer than JAL's.

When flying Y, JAL FAs always recognize my oneworld Emerald status and offer little favors like bringing a scotch from business class. ANA has great *A partners as you've noted. SQ first is special and if you are flying first class through SIN you can experience the Private Room in SQs first class lounge. BR is a good airline but no first class seats or lounge.

JAL also has great partners. I used to fly CX (all four classes) a lot before the pandemic and enjoyed it immensely except for one experience in PEK. As oneworld Emerald, CX upgraded me to J several times, including once from SEA to HKG. No experience with them since the pandemic and CCP intervention. Are QF or QR possibilities from SEA? QR J is like first class with a smaller seat. Alaska/American combined with your international flights might be a good combination for attaining oneworld status out of SEA. On JAL, upgrading from the U.S. to Japan from paid business to first takes 45,000 JAL miles to be on a waiting list with priority and 30,000 JAL miles on the day of departure. I'm trying it for the first time on a flight from JFK to SIN next week.

Although I like KE first and business (and its 747-8), given your circumstances and DL's Skymiles changes, parting with DL and Skyteam should be a good move. After 2mm, I dropped DL as my primary airline in 2015. AA has its problems as does DL. Flying outstanding partners like JAL, QR, AY, QF and CX (YMMV) to Asia has been more than worth any AA issues. The posts below are a few of the ones I've put together regarding flights to and within Asia and may be helpful in your evaluation of options.


https://salsaworldtraveler.com/2021/...o-tokyo-japan/

https://salsaworldtraveler.com/2019/...kyo-japan-hnd/

https://salsaworldtraveler.com/2019/...iew-in-photos/

MojoGuru

We're taking a cruise next year to Japan, and I'm considering Hawaiian NRT to LAS. Mock booking this year for the same month and day of the week, $1,500 for business class. Points aren't an option for October 2023, but they may be further out for 2024. For the same date, Delta was $4,000-ish.

Duke787

JL and NH both provide lounge access when traveling in PE. I flew ORD - NRT - SYD a few years back on JL PE and it was very comfortable. I had the whole row to myself, the food was tasty, the service was good, the lounge access was welcome.

FYI if you know you'll be taking 1-2 flights a year, there are often good roundtrip J fares (and sometimes one way) on JL/NH from BKK/CGK which could be useful if you are able to plan ahead.

Benefit of NH is that you also have the option to fly TG, BR, or SQ if fares are attractive (with the latter to also having direct flights back to SEA from their hubs). You've identified the downsides of UA though depends where you are going for the transcons.

Irrelevant to this discussion but I learned on that trip that I will never again detour via Japan to get to Sydney just to fly in PE instead of Y (the company I worked for at the time was Y only unless PE cost the same -- JL PE was the same as Y to SYD so I decided to do that. It was 100% not worth the extra travel time just for PE). Now if we're talking about F that's a different story.

exwannabe

Sorry for going slightly OT, but could you say where you found these and for what dates? I cannot find anything close to that.

angetenar

I would not recommend banking star alliance miles with ANA for several reasons. They pass on fuel surcharges on awards, they only allow round trip award bookings, and miles have a hard expiration date unless you make diamond I believe. TK would likely be the easier path to *G.

flyerCO

If want to stay within Skyteam, China Airlines (not Air China) is IME/O a great airline. I've flown to Australia/ NZ with them a number of times. (Plus within Asia pf course)

MojoGuru

We'll likely be flying on 10/18/24 one way, which mirrors 10/20/23. I looked this up a couple weeks ago (straight from the airlines), and the price have changed a bit. Delta converts to $1,722 for Premium Select, Delta One now sold out ($4,300 if I remember correctly).

hikouki

Yup, I've had wonderful experience at CI. Bummer they don't fly to SEA. TPE would have been a great connection point for both Southeast- and Northeast Asia.

flyerCO

However they do from YVR. When I consider one, I consider the other. YVR being in Canada can result in significant savings depending on day flying.

hikouki

Not a bad idea, and I actually live about 20 mins closer to YVR than SEA. When I moved to my area last year, the price difference was considerable - way cheaper up north. However, as that year ended and through most of this year, that gap seems to have considerably narrowed on some dates.

I have one more flight with DL/KE this Dec/ Jan and for those dates, the price in business class is about the same now. Glad I booked way back.

Also, I have always parked at MasterPark (cheaper than the SEA garage), but I heard there are shuttles from almost all over the surrounding areas of Seattle into SEA. Not sure about those two options when flying out from YVR.