BOS-China: RTW or RT in F
 

I may need to go to China for a week in early January.

What are my best options for traveling in F alone originating out of BOS?

i think the prices are roughly the same, use itn.com and fewmiles' to compare.
(two 1-way tkts might be cheaper than 1 RT, btw)
note also you need a 1-way tkt from NRT-PEK or HKG-PEK (because OW does not serve PEK from the pacific side) -- i had assumed you are going to PEK, if going to the pearl delta you can enter from HKG by land

1. you spend about 2 more hour in the air if taking the most direct RTW: bos-ord-nrt-pek-lhr-bos. but if you choose the right tail-wind, the total time is about the same. pek-hel-bos is probably shorter but not sure if AY serves BOS
2. you need to spend 10 days outside NA if using OWE (Global explorer different?)
3. you get more miles with RTW, can insert asia/europe side trip/run
4. you can have a number of free RT in F back in NA if using OWE (i think this is the biggest plus)
e.g. bos-lax-hkg//pek-lhr-hartford(home)hartford-dfw-anc-dfw-bos (i chose hartford becasue once you pass the origin bos you OWE ends)

check the schedule first to see which is more convenient.

OW schedule available at aa.com and cx.com

there was a similar discussion before, which you can search the archive for

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 10-23-2002).]

There are very inexpensive C and F tickets in BKK. You could buy a one way to BKK with a stop in China and then get a round trip from BKK and use the return for your next trip to Asia.
LH Business BKK-FRA-BOS is 112900 Bath (2600 $). Other airlines are even cheaper and there are also inexpensive RTWs from BKK.

i suppose also cheap in korea?

I will be away for about 8 days.

My preferred airlines are: CX, QF, BA, JL, and lastly AA.

Nologic - we need more info to be able to help usefully. China is a very big place... do you plan to be in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Lhasa or what?

Probably Beijing & Shanghai with a return via HKG.

then u will go lhr-pek and hkg-america.

with a oneway tickt pek-pvg-hkg, in F it would costs about 500USD

Thanks, I agree:

BOS-LHR-PEK on BA.

HKG-JFK-BOS, or ORD-BOS on CX/AA.

Is there a better airline for F intra China and to HKG?

KA for HKG-PVG/PEK.

for intra china, try to pick the domestic sector of the international route, indicator by 747 planes, e.g. CA PEK-SHA, for which the equipment continues to PVG-SYD.---- the service are silimar otherwise (expect much better service than US airlines)

otherwise, the F cabin in smaller planes (737/A320) are just as lousy as the MD90, with worse seats



[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 10-27-2002).]

"KA for HKG-PVG/PEK"
except you are not flying from HKG to China
Dragonair fly a pseudo F class using the equivalent of CX business class seats but plenty of leg room and no visual IFE
You cannot fly KA from Pek to Shanghai
so you might want to look at Air China who operate 777's and note that Dragonair will fly out of Pudong airport to HKG which is miles out of the city centre

Tha's a bit unfair - I would say the Dragonair F seats are somewhat better than the CX old-J. I would say more like CX old-F (as still in some A340) but with less recline on the seats.

KA F seats are better than most F seat in US domestic. Service is Asian F class!

it is similar to CX J seats, but marginally better. (the difference is as described by our friends above)