gaobest

Hi all,
A friend is allowed to fly C from New York to PEK, but he can't decide the best (and reasonably-priced C) option to choose. I realize that CO/UA have the nonstop from EWR to PEK (roughly $7K), with lie-flat seats/etc., but is there a better *A partner to consider, or even a non *A airline to try? AC is roughly half the cost, but there's a layover and I'm not sure how their hard/soft product is compared to UA C.

Thanks
Michael

channa

AC has a flat bed and good service, so it's a reasonable option.

SQ always gets high marks on the board, but I personally find them to be a bit overrated.

I'm a fan of ANA, personally.

Just watch the EQM, MM, and bonus mile implications with the partners. They can vary substantially if that's of interest to you.

rankourabu

No brainer, AC, even if it wasnt 2 for 1 in price.

UA-NYC

Second the NH option

OZ is another one but only if the price is right, as JFK doesn't have the new flatbed seats yet

rwsteelers

I second the AC option - wife and I used that routing, LGA to YYZ, easy connection and AC business/first pod is on par with UA First and better than CO. From PEK we flew Air China to HGK for a few days before using AC direct routing back to YYZ. Price is good to if you book in advance. Can't beat SQ...

To be clear the AC product is superior to UA/CO Business - personal view is their pod has better entertainment than UA First, bed same.

UA_Flyer

For AC YYZ-PEK, check out post #68 throuhg 75 below:

Photo Trip Report: Glimpse of Niagara Falls and Toronto - Experience Air Canada!

For CO and UA Beijing Flights, check out the following thread:

Experience the current CO and UA International Premium Cabins: F/C/BusinessFirst

gaobest

Thanks everyone for the positive answers about AC!

Is it possible to book this flight (in C) on ual.com or co.com, so that my friend can use the UA/CO card to get the 3000 EQM for the ticket purchase (assuming he buys after 1/1/12)?

or is there any way he can buy it online and get an extra bonus of some sort for buying it?

I'm spoiled with getting EQM for buying UA tickets on .BOMB using that Chase credit card. So I'm always seeking some form of UA bonus EQM or RDM just for the sake of breathing

nova08

I know we all go back and forth about premium products but how much extra time is added to make a connection rather than taking the nonstop?

gaobest

Granted the connection wastes some hours, but the AC flight is roughly 50% the UA cost. And that is a small factor for my friend's employer; if he had pure carte blanche, he'd probably have chosen the nonstop without looking at other choices.

travelinmanS

Look at CX via Hong Kong. This is the best business class around IMHO. If the costs are too high on CX then AC is a much better choice than CO, especially at half the price.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned UA metal via ORD or SFO (old 777)

UA_Flyer

I travel frequently between NYC and PEK, and I have flown CO, UA and AC.

I will give NH a try next year if schedule and price work out.

I have pretty much given up flying UA via ORD or IAD due to old 777 seats. Miserable experience all around.

I have done PS to SFO then connect to UA 744 to PEK... not bad except I have to get up so early in the morning.

CO is fine but hate the drive to EWR, and just don't like crowded EWR CO terminal. CO price is a lot less than UA via SFO/ORD/IAD. Great food and better IFE, IMHO.

AC is great with the prices it charges on this route. Food is better than UA ( I guess everyone is better than UA). The seat is not as comfortable as the CO/UA flat seats, but with better privacy. IMHO. IFE is not much better. Maple Leaf Lounge is a very nice lounge to transit.

I guess for price concious flyer, AC wins out. Stay away from UA old 777 seats ( they may also be the most expensive options). The new seats are not much better interms of width and layout of the cabin. I will only fly 744 upper deck via SFO. If I cannot get upper deck, then I will fly CO or AC.

Santander

That should clinch it alone. ~$3.5k r/t from east coast NA to Asia is very reasonable, especially considering AC C is better than both UA and CO. You don't have to go all the way out to EWR or JFK either.

I was actually going to suggest looking at CA (not fully flat, but often has very reasonable C fares) but since AC is so cheap I'd jump on it if I were you. Sure NH and OZ are good, but it's more convenient to transit YYZ while you're still fresh than stumble around NRT/ICN like a zombie while you're hungover from all the wine you drank in-flight! The CX suggestion is too inconvenient imo, if you want to connect in Asia enroute to PEK it's better to do it in NRT or ICN which are at least sort of "on the way"

ijgordon

That's at least 6 extra hours and thousands of miles of the way. The only worse routing I can think of would be on SQ...

FromPVG

If you choose to credit the miles into UA, and care about EQM, I would be cautious using CA because it only gives 100% EQM in UA MP, however AC gives 150% EQM.