e90dude1

I am looking to book a flight from LAX to either PVG , TPE, or CAN for next year. I have options of either taking China Eastern (777-300), China Southern (A380), or China Airlines (777-300) depending on which city I go to....I am flexible on which route I can take, just wanted recent opinions on flight experiences in business class from these 3 carriers....all flights will be overnight...

Bub001

moondog

All 3 airlines have their pros and cons, but the gap honestly isn't especially wide. IMO the destination question is much more important, and let this determine airline choice.

tris06

Personally I would have thought business class on China airlines would be a little better than China eastern and China southern. My old folks have compared long haul flights with CZ and CI and overall they prefer CI. I will say however that gradually mainland airlines over the last 10 years have improved but still lag behind a bit. As noted above however the destination is very important. And don't forget if you want to fly into CAN or PVG you will need to apply for a visa back in US. TPE you do not need to apply for visa unless it is a very long stay (Assuming you're a US citizen). If you love big cities and high speed trains, etc then PVG or CAN are good places. And these 2 places have plenty of western hotel brands in the big cities. TPE is better if you like Mountains, hot springs and natural things. Though to fully enjoy it you will need to travel to places like Hualien or rent a car to really see the beautiful places. Also Taiwan has some but not many western branded hotels.

moondog

CI's food, and maybe service, is better IMO, though not by leaps and bounds anymore, but MU's hardware on the 77W is a cut above. I'm not quite as drawn by CZ, but a lot of this has to do with the fact that Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Xiamen are not places that I feel compelled to visit as long as there are other choices. This is why I suggested that destination should trump airline choice in any decision calculus. After CZ gets things rolling at PKX (new Beijing airport where it is slated to be the largest carrier), my view on the airline itself will probably improve.

exwannabe

I would consider where you want the miles and status to go. They will be a nice chunk.

If I was an AA guy, I would fly CZ to CAN. As I am a DL guy, I would pick either CI or MU based on price and schedule.

I do not see a lot of difference between them. IMO CI > MU > CZ. But not by much.

EDIT: On moondog's point about destination, I assume the OP is using this as a base for further travel around Asia. If so, I would price tickets from the gateways onwords to see how that plays out.

coolfish1103

Unless your destination is CAN, CZ is out of the question. The 380 on CZ is nothing spectacular in First Class, let alone Business. CZ's only advantage will be direct flight in this comparison.

As for CI and MU, departing LAX you will be at the abysmal KE lounge, so nothing to differentiate. Both home base lounge offer equally horrible selections ever since CI outsourced it's lounge to Kaohsiung Catering. As for hard products, they are both comparable. It depends on if you want reversed herringbone or staggered seats.

In flight dining I believe CI wins in this department as well as the alcohol/beverage offered.

If crediting miles is a concern, I think MU is ahead here with the generous bonus miles given to it's own program and Delta's sky pesos. CI's program only works for itself.

If you are transiting, then TPE is definitely the pick as there will be congestion at PVG and you don't need to go through immigration. CAN is the farthest so logically it's not the airport to transit. Also, I find CAN the most boring of the three.

Ultimately, it depends on your destination.
If CAN, then I would say CZ for the direct flight, all else will be CI cause of the ease of transfer.
If PVG, then MU.
If TPE, then CI.

e90dude1

So I have narrowed it down to either business class China Airlines (777-300ER) . LAX-TPE , then on to SYD via MH....or business class China Southern (A380)....LAX to CAN to SIN, then on to SYD via QF (first class)....

with a 10 hr layover in TPE or an 8 hr layover in SIN, which airport is best to hang out in/transit through? Best lounges? Thanks for all the help !

moondog

SIN is better than TPE, but since getting there entails the CAN connection (I have nothing good to say about CAN), go with CI and don't look back.

coolfish1103

Would CI LAX-TPE-SIN + QF to SYD work?

Though I think you can also just do CI LAX-TPE-SYD...

e90dude1

My goal was to get from LAX to SYD in business or first with minimal miles...non stops are astronimical mileage wise and I am not in a huge rush so went exploring and found Delta/AA miles work best in a combo setup...

I only have enough Delta miles to get to either TPE or SIN from LAX... CI will get me to TPE non stop, meanwhile CZ will get me to SIN going through CAN......for the trip to SYD will be using AA miles for MH or QF....

So it breaks down like this....
85k Delta miles to get to either TPE or SIN from LAX, then 40k AA miles to get from TPE to SYD in business or 50k AA miles to get me from SIN to SYD in First class.

moondog

LAX-TPE-SYD appears to be your best bet. SIN might be a nice airport, but there's no point in stopping there unless you can't score TPE-SYD nonstop.