wee_willy

I had my first experience with Shanghai Airlines, booking a flight from SHA to HND. After calling the 24 hour reservation line in China, the reservation agent informed me that I would have to go to the office to complete the purchase. The agent's English was very good and I did not have to repeat anything to her.

At the Shanghai Airlines' ticket office, the agent scrambled to find the one English speaking member of their staff. Her English was good as well. Booking the ticket took longer than expected. When I presented my UA Mileage Plus card asking for it to be added to my ticket, they got confused. The agent tried to get me to sign up for the Shanghai Airlines frequent flier program. I explained that I wanted the mileage credited to this account. They made a few phone calls and seemed to have added it alright. I'll keep an eye out to see if it posts.

I fly out this Saturday, I'll follow up with a trip report. So far my experience with this Star Alliance member has been OK. They are an average Chinese airline, but not up to the same level as an ANA or Singapore Air.

Guy Betsy

I don't even know what their routes are !

ACflyerDE

And why don't you just go to their website and find it out?

http://www.shanghai-air.com/PublicInfo-en/SMAP.aspx

DownUnderFlyer

And they never will be. They are a regional airline serving the domestic market plus a few regional international routes. As a local and of the line carrier they are in a different market than the other Star Alliance heavyweights.

Xiaotung

I second that. With the delivery of 9 B787's and possible order of A330, FM do not want to be just a regional airline. Several Europe and US routes are in the works. I would love to see them fly to VIE after OS Shanghai exit.

payam81

Duh, of course they are not up to the same level as ANA or SQ! You're comparing an airline that's been barely 20 years in business with a couple that have been around for almost 60 or so years each?

I think all things considered even an "average" chinese airline's domestic service is on par, if not better, with/than your home career, UA's domestic service.

wee_willy

Yes, I didn't expect them to be SQ or NH, the comparison was bad. However, I disagree that an airline's age has anything to due with quality of service. Virgin Atlantic was founded in the mid-80's.

UA and Shanghai Airlines do share on thing in common, their websites are both pretty bad.

wee_willy

Here's a route map. http://www.shanghai-air.com/PublicInfo-en/SMAP.aspx

As was mentioned earlier, they fly mostly domestically with some international flights around eastern Asia (Japan, Korea, Vietnam...). They fly a very convenient route from SHA to HND. This way you don't have to travel to PVG and NRT (both an hour outside the city) to fly from Shanghai to Tokyo.

ual744777sta

Both are at LEAST an hour outside the Shanghai and Tokyo. Unless you take the Maglev but then that still doesn't bring you quite in to Shanghai.

payam81

humm come to think of it you do have a good point! EK is another example of a good young airline... I think the reason Virgin and EK are so good in so short of a time is because of the experienced people they hired to run the business so at the end of the day experience does count but these days you can just simple buy that experience I guess

dvs7310

Wow, that was a good laugh... I realize UA has some issues but I've been on a fair number of flights with Chinese airlines and none of them are as good as United.

UA_Flyer

60 years? LOL!

Singapore, the country, is just over 40+ years old. SQ is younger than that.

ANA was set up in the 1950s.

Also, what's age got to do with anything about airlines? Emirate or jetway has short history, but are pretty good airlines.

flyin´ruddl

From SQs page: "From a single plane to an internationally respected brand, almost 60 years of innovation and service has propelled the growth of Singapore Airlines to become one of the world's leading carriers with an advanced fleet."

F.R.

jplus

I believe SQ (formerly Malayan Airways) came to existence before Singapore's independence.

UA_Flyer

Using the same fact, was it Malaysian Airlines that is 60 years old or Singapore is 60 years old?