1W in talks with China Eastern
Mar 8, 2007 | 10:10 pm
#16
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: SFO
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JAL combined with Dragon Air does provide decent coverage for China, but the intra-China flights are a huge gap right now, and will grow even more important in coming years. Smart move by OW IMHO.
Mar 8, 2007 | 10:26 pm
#17
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: YHU
Posts: 80
Mar 9, 2007 | 1:48 am
#18
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: YYZ, HKG, TPE, SFO
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Mar 9, 2007 | 6:34 am
#19
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Austin
Posts: 4,635
millionmiler thanks for the write up. I've heard less pleasant things said about MU's Y (but then when ever is Y a pleasant experience) but good to know that they do a decent job.
I'd certainly agree with your comments about India. Things have moved a long way in the 6 years I have been travelling there. Kingfisher are a very impressive outfit, I wish we had an outfit like that it Europe too.
I'd certainly agree with your comments about India. Things have moved a long way in the 6 years I have been travelling there. Kingfisher are a very impressive outfit, I wish we had an outfit like that it Europe too.
Last edited by millionmiler; Mar 9, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Mar 9, 2007 | 10:46 am
#20
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Let's use the last MU flight that I took on Wednesday morning from PEK to PVG in J as an example. The plane was new and clean. The flight attendants met me at the door, took my bag and carried it to my seat. The FA's were young, attractive, well-trained, poised, happy, even fun to talk to. The FA that worked on my side took the inititive to ask if I prefered to be called by my last name or first name. First is my preference as I'm kind of over being called Mr. Millionmiler all the time. After that ALL of the FA's called me by my first name from memory. Their english language skills were consistent with staff at any 5 star hotel in Beijing or Shanghai. The safety demo video was also given in sign language which I thought was a professional touch though it doesn't apply to me per se. The on-demand video was great and I had trouble choosing which movie to watch. For my meal I chose the lobster in pepper sauce but all of the choices sounded fine. The lobster was certainly better than the cold, flavourless lobster that AA used to serve on salads on a couple of routes in international F. Oh, and the seats in J were better than the seats that AA is only really talking about installing in international J. The seats were similar to QF's long haul J seats without the pod shell. Don't even think about comparing them to the sh!ty BA seats in club Europe. I'd like the remind the readers that this was a DOMESTIC China flight.
The 2nd tier asian airlines are changing quickly for the better and MU is in that catagory. Its not the same airline that it was 5 years ago. Its not as good as CX overall but it was WAY better than the Dragonair flight I took from HKG-PEK last Sunday.
There are are things that I don't like about MU, but on the whole its a pretty good airline.
The airlines in China and India are improving so fast that its hard to keep up with the improvements. 10 years ago I often took a night 14 hour train ride rather than subject myself to the domestic Indian airlines. Now, the Indian airline Kingfisher has, in my opinion, the best domestic J/F service of any airline anywhere in the world. I wish we had an airline that good here in the US.
The 2nd tier asian airlines are changing quickly for the better and MU is in that catagory. Its not the same airline that it was 5 years ago. Its not as good as CX overall but it was WAY better than the Dragonair flight I took from HKG-PEK last Sunday.
There are are things that I don't like about MU, but on the whole its a pretty good airline.
The airlines in China and India are improving so fast that its hard to keep up with the improvements. 10 years ago I often took a night 14 hour train ride rather than subject myself to the domestic Indian airlines. Now, the Indian airline Kingfisher has, in my opinion, the best domestic J/F service of any airline anywhere in the world. I wish we had an airline that good here in the US.
I agree that domestic F/J is quite good on Chinese carriers and becomes invaluable when there is a cancelation (not uncommon on the SHA-PEK route). It is also a modest premium over Y. I've not flwon Y and I don't intend to as F/J is so affordable.
Interestingly, I found the MU in-flight service better on SHA-PEK than I did on PVG-HKG.
Mar 9, 2007 | 10:48 am
#21
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Mar 9, 2007 | 12:33 pm
#22
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Austin
Posts: 4,635
I'm sure you have -- but I bet I've spent more time at MU than any other FTer.
I'm not associated with the airline industry, so I know that you have spent more time at MU that I have.
You were on an A330. Those aircraft are brand new (less than 2 years old -- most under a year old) and, yes, they are quite nice.
That particular flight was the A330 and that segment was above average as a result. As I wrote, MU is changing fast.
I agree that domestic F/J is quite good on Chinese carriers and becomes invaluable when there is a cancelation (not uncommon on the SHA-PEK route). It is also a modest premium over Y. I've not flwon Y and I don't intend to as F/J is so affordable.
I always wonder if people that slam carriers like MU have flown AA or BA intra-Europe lately. I had one of the worst AA FA crews ever on AA288 this week. I'm still p!ssed off at them.
Interestingly, I found the MU in-flight service better on SHA-PEK than I did on PVG-HKG.
MU is inconsistent which is one of the things that I don't like about them - sometimes better than CX, sometimes worse. CX just doesn't vary in quality flight to flight.
I'm not associated with the airline industry, so I know that you have spent more time at MU that I have.
You were on an A330. Those aircraft are brand new (less than 2 years old -- most under a year old) and, yes, they are quite nice.
That particular flight was the A330 and that segment was above average as a result. As I wrote, MU is changing fast.
I agree that domestic F/J is quite good on Chinese carriers and becomes invaluable when there is a cancelation (not uncommon on the SHA-PEK route). It is also a modest premium over Y. I've not flwon Y and I don't intend to as F/J is so affordable.
I always wonder if people that slam carriers like MU have flown AA or BA intra-Europe lately. I had one of the worst AA FA crews ever on AA288 this week. I'm still p!ssed off at them.
Interestingly, I found the MU in-flight service better on SHA-PEK than I did on PVG-HKG.
MU is inconsistent which is one of the things that I don't like about them - sometimes better than CX, sometimes worse. CX just doesn't vary in quality flight to flight.
Last edited by millionmiler; Mar 9, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Mar 10, 2007 | 4:30 pm
#23
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: New York, NY
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oddly enough i actually like MU...but they need to improve their english website and make it usable. Maybe the 1W prospect will have them address this issue. Plus LAX-PVG flight would be awesome to finally earn miles
Mar 10, 2007 | 6:36 pm
#24
Join Date: Sep 2006
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Actually, the LAX-PVG is codeshared with AA (as is some other routes like PVG-PEK, PVG-CKG, etc.) so for AA that isn't an issue ... of course for other OneWorld carriers ...
Mar 10, 2007 | 7:55 pm
#25
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
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since you've drawn me into the discussion, i will volunteer my own comments on mu:
-i think they do a good job on their japan routes (but, considering that pvg-fuk/hij/kix costs close to 10x sha-pek, i can't give them too much praise)
-i agree that the new planes are nice
-it's the ground service that irks me. many, if not most, chinese airlines are fine once you leave the ground. what mu has yet to learn is that consolidating its 4, 5, and 6p flights (pek-sha) into one is not cool. ca is better in this regard. fm and hu don't have enough flights to play with such fire
-like the rest of the pack, they continue to improve
Mar 11, 2007 | 12:41 am
#26
Join Date: Sep 2006
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Probably right on the prices ... I have been annoyed by the disappearance of the good codeshare prices for the AA flights operated by MU. The AA/MU flights show the discount and deep discount economy AA buckets (H, K, M, V, N) as open but obviously you can't buy them, at least not online from fare searching that I've done on this route. I think it is a function of AA trying to direct traffic to ORD-PVG instead.
As it is, I'm on MU 586 (AA 5790) on Saturday in J ... we'll see if I can start looking forward to MU in OW.
As it is, I'm on MU 586 (AA 5790) on Saturday in J ... we'll see if I can start looking forward to MU in OW.
Mar 11, 2007 | 12:51 am
#27
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As it is, I'm on MU 586 (AA 5790) on Saturday in J ... we'll see if I can start looking forward to MU in OW.
Mar 11, 2007 | 1:18 am
#28
Join Date: Sep 2006
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No, AA has been charging more than MU for as long as I can remember (same goes for BR). Back in early days of the MU flight (when MU was a really dreadful airline), you could fly to Shanghai and back for less than $500 if you booked the MU flight number through a bucket shop. Since I was an AA loyalist at the time, I always checked AA as well, but had a hard time getting fares under $800.
As for the other buckets I was referring to, I can imagine if AA sold the V bucket for example, that would probably come out to $1000 - $1200. Still higher than the $750 I saw one time, but definitely a lot better than the $2800 in in the Y bucket AA seems to be selling nowadays.
Mar 12, 2007 | 2:14 am
#29
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: New Zealand
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just to muddy the waters a bit - Hainan are now rumoured to be approaching OW . My initial response was "yeah , right 
" - but I believe that they have had a close relationship with MA , and according to this article other OW newbie JL are keen also ( of course , according to this article CA is already in Star and CZ is already in Skyteam rather than both being 'membership in progress' so the article may not bee 100% accurate ) ... but bearing in mind that most google searches on MU seem to be about how much money it is losing and how many top level executives have been sacked perhaps it is not the most stable of possible candidates ?
opinions ??
http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/...orld-alliance/
" - but I believe that they have had a close relationship with MA , and according to this article other OW newbie JL are keen also ( of course , according to this article CA is already in Star and CZ is already in Skyteam rather than both being 'membership in progress' so the article may not bee 100% accurate ) ... but bearing in mind that most google searches on MU seem to be about how much money it is losing and how many top level executives have been sacked perhaps it is not the most stable of possible candidates ?opinions ??
http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/...orld-alliance/
Mar 12, 2007 | 3:21 am
#30
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