North Asia to Europe: Which carrier for best comfort and free seat selection?
Feb 15, 2018, 7:51 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: DXB
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver, A3 Gold, Sixt Diamond
Posts: 2,811
North Asia to Europe: Which carrier for best comfort and free seat selection?
I would like to fly in coach from North Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, ...) to Europe (HEL/FRA).
While I don't have any SkyTeam status, I am Oneworld Emerald (BAEC Gold + LATAM Black) and *AG (A3 Gold).
*A/OW options I've seen are JL, AY, OZ, CX, LH, NH, ... but I guess there's even more (BR?).
Of course we would like to get exit-row seats and I've made the experience that for example OZ doesn't let elites select exit row seats for free.
I've also read that JL at least doesn't let you select a seat for free if the flight is booked as a codeshare, etc.
Any other things you'd take into consideration or product you'd recommend? Any airlines that upgrade alliance elites a lot (the friend I'll be traveling with most likely won't have any status though - and I'll have to add him to my booking, so we can select a seat for free for him as well...)?
I'd love to fly from HKG for the CX First Class lounges (which I still haven't been to!), but the HKG-FRA flight is in the morning, and I don't feel like going to the airport at 6 AM just to have enough time for free champagne...
Any help will be highly appreciated.
While I don't have any SkyTeam status, I am Oneworld Emerald (BAEC Gold + LATAM Black) and *AG (A3 Gold).
*A/OW options I've seen are JL, AY, OZ, CX, LH, NH, ... but I guess there's even more (BR?).
Of course we would like to get exit-row seats and I've made the experience that for example OZ doesn't let elites select exit row seats for free.
I've also read that JL at least doesn't let you select a seat for free if the flight is booked as a codeshare, etc.
Any other things you'd take into consideration or product you'd recommend? Any airlines that upgrade alliance elites a lot (the friend I'll be traveling with most likely won't have any status though - and I'll have to add him to my booking, so we can select a seat for free for him as well...)?
I'd love to fly from HKG for the CX First Class lounges (which I still haven't been to!), but the HKG-FRA flight is in the morning, and I don't feel like going to the airport at 6 AM just to have enough time for free champagne...
Any help will be highly appreciated.
Feb 16, 2018, 1:16 am
#2
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: KUL (MY), ICN (KR), ZRH (CH) or OTP (RO) - or somewhere in between
Programs: OZ, JL
Posts: 241
CX to FRA leaves HKG at 12:35 AM, not in the morning.
Feb 16, 2018, 7:42 am
#3
Moderator: Hilton Honors, Practical Travel Safety Issues & San Francisco
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: San Francisco CA
Programs: UA, Hilton, Priceline, AirBnB
Posts: 11,006
Among other things
You will have to decide if city with your friends is more important then possibly being upgraded. I will leave it to others who are more knowledgeable to give information about potential upgrades, but I am pretty sure if you’re on the same PNR with someone with no status your odds go down dramatically and less there’s a buy up at the gate.