+1! I really want to try out BR to Asia as its fares are pretty competitive.

LAX

I also suspect that there will be a decent number of fare restrictions when it does happen.

you get what you pay for ;)

BR Premium Economy is barely tolerable...but definitely better than regular coach. There are some decent business class sales being run periodically - but as mentioned elsewhere, watch those fare classes.

If you don't want to fly CO or UA to Asia, I would strongly recommend AC as the backup choice, not BR.

I already fly BR occasionally intra-Asia in Elite so I know what to expect. Even I Y I think I would rather fly BR than UA.

How much worse than E- on UA can it be??:p

LAX

I don't think it will happen - I think PEK still does not allow Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan) carriers to overfly China en route to Europe - thus they have to fly via BKK or overfly Korea/Russia.

Why is that?

Because it is impossible to grant carriers the right to overfly if the country they are based in doesn't exist...

FWIW, PRC carriers can't fly over Taiwan either, but since Taiwan is tiny and out of the way, it doesn't really matter...

Pardon?

The Peoples Republic of China (aka China) sees the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) as a r:eek:gue province and not a separate country. Information on the history of the dispute can be found here.

The same thing happens for North and South Korean airlines, they do not fly into each others' airspace because their governments do not recognise each others' legitimacy or sovereignty. This is of no importance to North Korean airlines (oops, airline) because they have no need to overfly the South, but for Southern airlines they always stay well clear of the border when taking off or landing at ICN.

Btw, neither China or Taiwan officially consider Taiwan to be a separate country. Both governments claim they are the legitimate government of the whole of China and Taiwan and do not recognise each other. So in this sense, Taiwan doesn't exist as a country de jure. Of course de facto it is.

I know that :) I was disputing the notion that Taiwan is not a real country. Personally, I consider mainland China as the rogue and Taiwan as the standard-bearer for Chinese culture, but that's just me :)

Now on point, has anyone tried the new (and apparently not improved) EVA Premium Economy product? I have a friend who tried it recently and said it wasn't really that much better than coach and the seats were small and uncomfortable.

China doesn't acknowledge Taiwan as a separate country, therefore they can't grant flyover rights to them as such.

Which begs the question... if they consider Taiwan part of China, shouldn't EVA flights going over China be a domestic airline?

Since the Taiwanese Carriers don't report to the Aviation Governing Body of the PRC, they are lucky that they aren't grounded ;)