minhaoxue

You would think that the chances of being on a wifi equipped 744 out of SFO is better than average since SFO is their main 744 base.

Pat Plus

Congrats on your first international flight.

I take this flight often so let me take a stab at an answer. The aircraft is a 747-400, which offers a very different experience based on where you sit. First class is fine, Business class upstairs is lovely, economy is very basic - there are no individual movie screens and no power outlets, and it's pretty tight in the back.

I've never been on an aircraft on which WiFi worked. Officially though roughly half the 747 fleet has WiFi by now.

The flight schedule is rather comfortable, in the sense that (assuming you fly out of SFO and don't connect) you leave in the morning at a very reasonable time (no need to get up early) and arrive in the afternoon in Beijing, so you don't have to stay up a whole day at your destination (like if you were going to Europe.)

However, as others have suggested, I would recommend that you try to sleep or rest as much as possible. Your body will thank you. The lack of a working power outlet is a great opportunity to leave the laptop alone :P Also drink plenty of water.

Lunch will be served after take off, which works out great given the flight departure time. Breakfast will be served prior to landing, although it will be more "snack time" local time. I'm not sure what's available in between meals in economy but business/first has instant noodles and various munchies. That's plenty of food.

It takes time to exit Beijing Capital airport--it's a large airport, you are likely to wait at immigration, there is a pretty long/slow train ride to the main terminal, and then you'll wait for your bags and there is always a bottleneck when exiting customs. I highly recommend taking the train/subway downtown--it's reliable and efficient, however it will easily take 1hr end to end depending on where you go. What this means is that while the flight arrives in the afternoon, it may already be early evening by the time you reach your destination.

If you take the train you'll need to buy a ticket just outside the fare gates (you can't buy a reloadable card at the airport.) You will need to put all your bags through an X-ray machine when entering the train or subway so make sure you can lift them easily. Note that if you connect to the subway downtown, it may be very crowded and you may have difficulties with your bags, especially if you take lines 1 or 2 which don't have escalators. In that case you may want to take a cab downtown instead.

Upon arriving in Beijing you'll immediately notice the smell of the city and perhaps the color of the sky... Beijing is very polluted, although I've come to somehow like the scent in the air.

Enjoy your trip! China is amazing!

ORDnHKG

It wouldn't have a better than average chance as there are less than half of the 744 with wifi equipped.

Also, no one route use the same pair of 744, they are all recycled thru all 744 routes.

AbbyWalsh

Do solar-chargers work through airplane windows?

minhaoxue

I thought I had read they were father along with the wifi installation but it looks like only 35%.

WineCountryUA

correct and you can track progress with
https://sites.google.com/site/unitedfleetsite/
or
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-wikipost.html

UA2PEK

I concour with much of the above. I have taken this flight or other routes to Beijing monthly for the past 11 years. Forget about having wi-fi. I have yet to be on any plane that had it. Forget about playing or working on the laptop, esp in E. Read/relax and sleep early on the flight! Jet lag will kick your tail if not. Change your watch to China time the minute you board the aircraft and every chance you get look at your watch and make yourself believe it is that time, because it is! I say sleep early because once you switch you watch your will see it is past your normal bedtime already. Forget about the time you came from and drink lots and lots of water. If you manage to sleep early and wake up and see that it is your normal awake time at home, stay awake from that point forward. It will be very hard to do all this on your first transpac but nothing IMO works better.