Long Haul Business Class for under $2K (Long Post)

[ThePope]

8 hours ago, semi-retired member said:

I flew BKK-LHR last week, it was an almost-full B787-800 with 2-class only, although perhaps they may be planning to put a larger plane on for the winter-season ?

they have 2 daily flights tg911 on a 77W sometimes with first class, and tg917 on the older 788 with 2-2-2 business seating

if seat sales go up they would likely prioritize the LHR route with a higher capacity plane and replace tg917 with another 77W a359 or dust off an a380/747 but they are supposed to be retired

looks like on my travel day(s) tg911 will not have F so ill drop that plan

[Luv2Phuket]

News on new "Chase Sapphire lounges" coming to some airports:

https://onemileatatime.com/news/chase-sapphire-lounges/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=OneMileataTime&utm_content=Chase Sapphire Lounges Coming To 9 Airports

It sounds like they are just "Club lounges," and they will be part of Priority Pass.

The good news for me is that one is scheduled for Terminal C in Las Vegas. There is a Club lounge in Terminal D, but, to the best of my knowledge, no current lounge in Terminal C.

The Club lounge in Terminal D has okay food (for a domestic lounge) and free drinks.

[Luv2Phuket]

Guess I'm lucky I booked 2 itineraries....

I got an email tonight from EVA telling me that flight from TPE to BKK had been changed from 10:40 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. It only gave me a an hour and 40 minute layover, but I figure they will re-book me if my incoming flight is late.

THEN I got an email saying my flight from ORD-TPE was changed....but the times looked identical. Then I realized they moved me back a full day....so I will miss my connection by about 22 hours! 5555

WTF?!? Do these airlines even THINK before they start fucking with us???

Lucky for me, their call centers are all closed now, so I have to deal with this shit tomorrow.

I assume they are going to move me to flight from TPE to BKK the next day, btu who the fuck knows until you get them on the phone?

My "back-up itinerary" is on Cathay (actually a better itinerary).

Pre-COVID, I would have had few, if any, concerns....post-COVID, eh....I'm a little nervous about Cathay's reliability.

Has anyone flown Cathay in the past 3 or 4 months?

[madmike]

I stopped flying EVA a few years back when they raised their prices.  I loved that airline and they took great care of me.  Sad to hear they have fallen into incompetence ALA so many USA airlines. 

I have not flown Cathay recently but I do like their biz class service last time I did which I think was 2020.  No clue as to how they are doing now.

If I didn't already have tickets on Air Canada (god help me) I'd be looking into the return of the 380 on Asiana Air out of LAX.  Might be some deals there.

 

[Luv2Phuket]

What a swift kick to the balls that turned out to be! 555

Spent 36 minutes on hold with EVA yesterday....then got disconnected without speaking to a single person! 555

Tried again today with United, since I did the award booking with them.

Took about ANOTHER 45 minutes (most of this with a person on the line), but I was able to "salvage" the itinerary...well...somewhat!

Since EVA moved the ORD-TPE leg back a day, I needed to move both LAS-ORD and TPE-BKK back a day.

LAS-ORD was no problem. Same flight time the next day.

TPE-BKK was an issue - both of the EVA flights I wanted showed no availability (even though one showed as available online), so they moved me to a Thai Air flight that leaves at 1:55 p.m. (arrives BKK 4:50 p.m.). That arrival time in BKK is later than I prefer, but the bigger issue is the EIGHT HOUR layover it gives me at TPE. What a beatdown!

PLUS, it cuts a day off of my trip.

On the bright side, this is now my "back-up" flight, and Cathay (leaving and arriving a day before) becomes my "primary."

Oh well....could be worse....
 

 

[Little Evil]

On 22/09/2022 at 00:54, Luv2Phuket said:

Has anyone flown Cathay in the past 3 or 4 months?

Flew their business class outbound last month. The hard product is pretty much the same, but the soft product as fallen quite a bit. Meal quality, drink service, and FA/purser interaction all seems to be several levels below pre-pandemic standards. It was to the point I felt almost lucky to have received a single wine refill, and not asked again after. Yes, I could have pressed the call button, but should I have to? I also don't recall being greeted by anyone. Just those little touches that once made their service great are lacking now. The amenity kit was a joke. I think this was the first time I didn't keep part or all of it. 

To make matters worse, HKG only had 1 lounge open. I believe it was the Pier, which is quite a large lounge, thankfully, but I kind of wanted to hop around like old times. 

That said, I'd still be super happy to find award space for Feb 2023, but I'm absolutely striking out everywhere. AA, Alaska, Cathay--no one has premium award space for Q1 2023. It's making me nervous. I think CX dropped my route (BOS-HKG-BKK) to once a week or less. I'm kind of screwed for 2 leg trips now. I suppose it isn't the end of the world to fly to EWR or JFK first.

[bgtp]

3 hours ago, Little Evil said:

Flew their business class outbound last month. The hard product is pretty much the same, but the soft product as fallen quite a bit.

...  I think CX dropped my route (BOS-HKG-BKK) to once a week or less. I'm kind of screwed for 2 leg trips now. I suppose it isn't the end of the world to fly to EWR or JFK first.

I was of the opinion Cathay J was going downhill well before covid. My last two trips (‘18 and ‘19) I flew from BOS and had to fly to JFK for one and EWR for the other. I survived, even in coach. 

I haven’t had any recent schedule changes for my November trip. Looking forward to it. Just gotta get thru this hurricane first. It’s heading right for me in Orlando at the moment.

[Little Evil]

4 minutes ago, bgtp said:

I was of the opinion Cathay J was going downhill well before covid. My last two trips (‘18 and ‘19) I flew from BOS and had to fly to JFK for one and EWR for the other. I survived, even in coach. 

I haven’t had any recent schedule changes for my November trip. Looking forward to it. Just gotta get thru this hurricane first. It’s heading right for me in Orlando at the moment.

I do recall at time prior to 2018 where CX J meal service was set up in actual courses with the addition of having a bread basket selection separate from the courses. Felt a bit closer to F than it does today. 

If I recall correctly (kind of a blur, as I ended up getting covid on the way back), it was all just one meal tray now. Just didn't feel nearly as refined, nor did the food impress at all. But I'd also toss out there that this sometimes depends on the FA's and catering subcontractor. I had a trip in 2017 where my CX J steak was in an actual foil tray instead of a plate on one leg, but then on a plate on the return leg. 

Stay safe down there!

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, bgtp said:

I was of the opinion Cathay J was going downhill well before covid. My last two trips (‘18 and ‘19) I flew from BOS and had to fly to JFK for one and EWR for the other. I survived, even in coach. 

I haven’t had any recent schedule changes for my November trip. Looking forward to it. Just gotta get thru this hurricane first. It’s heading right for me in Orlando at the moment.

Stay safe (and dry!)

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, Little Evil said:

I do recall at time prior to 2018 where CX J meal service was set up in actual courses with the addition of having a bread basket selection separate from the courses. Felt a bit closer to F than it does today. 
 

LOVED that damn bread basket!

[HimBadMan]

1 hour ago, Little Evil said:

I do recall at time prior to 2018 where CX J meal service was set up in actual courses with the addition of having a bread basket selection separate from the courses. Felt a bit closer to F than it does today. 

If I recall correctly (kind of a blur, as I ended up getting covid on the way back), it was all just one meal tray now. Just didn't feel nearly as refined, nor did the food impress at all. But I'd also toss out there that this sometimes depends on the FA's and catering subcontractor. I had a trip in 2017 where my CX J steak was in an actual foil tray instead of a plate on one leg, but then on a plate on the return leg. 

Stay safe down there!

100% correct.  Soft product down hill around 2017/2018.  And yes served on a tray..

to add: they are well behind their competitors, even AA.    On the 15 hour journey from the states, they don't offer mattress pads, pillows and pajamas.     They don't offer a snack/drink section either.

@Little Evil I'll be flying with them in business in Nov.   Was the Pier F open at least?    i HATE when they share business class and 1st class lounges together.   I want my space and al la Carte meals 🤣

Edited September 28, 2022 by HimBadMan

[bgtp]

Well, I checked my AA itinerary today and noticed my HND-LAX leg was missing on the return. After a couple of hours on the phone, I got a new return itinerary going thru NRT instead. Unfortunately, the JAL segment did not have award space in business, so they booked me in economy and AA were going to have their liason department contact JAL about upgrading it to business. Then it turns out in changing my return JAL leg, they fucked up my outbound JAL leg between NRT-BKK and it is now completely missing. So, the liason department has to try and work that out with JAL as well. Fingers crossed it works out or I may just say fuck at this point.

At least I survived the storm without any issues. My area got a lot of flooding and some vehicles on my street got water inside. My home is elevated a little with a slight slope down to the street and was OK, although at one point water came more than halfway up the driveway. It's still a mess in several places very close to me.

[bgtp]

I didn't sleep well last night knowing my trip that I booked over six months ago is in jeopardy four weeks from my scheduled departure. Funny thing is, the JAL flight segment on the outbound that was lost has been fine since the beginning and still is fine. I figure either the AA rep screwed something up when redoing the return which involved a change to my JAL return segment in addition to the AA segments or else their system screwed it up. Lesson learned, I'll book separate itineraries each way from now on.

I have no problem buying a business class ticket when necessary as once in a while I dont have the points. Last time that happened was 2012. In those cases, I plan ahead and get what is an acceptable fare to me. However the fares in today's environment, especially on short notice, are more than I can justify spending. So, I'm still hoping for a postive result.

In the meantime, on to Plan B for next May. Being a glutton for punishment, I'm sticking with AA for the outbound as I found something decent. Got an award from MCO-KIX in JAL business for 60K miles. I have a domestic flight segment in economy, but it let me select a Main Cabin Extra seat for no extra charge. I think it's nice AA does that as United doesn't in similar situations. United does let you board with first classs though when in economy on a biz award and that's good for getting overhead bin space.

I'm going to spend a couple of weeks in Japan before flying JAL business HND-BKK. That was 30K AA miles. So, my total was 90K miles which is 20K more than their lowest business award (70K) from the USA to BKK. That being said, I didn't see any AA business awards for MCO-BKK until next August at the earliest. So, this is one way around that and also gives me a stopover in Japan of however long I want. I'll work on my return later, planning on four weeks in LOS.

[Little Evil]

On 28/09/2022 at 18:00, HimBadMan said:

 

@Little Evil I'll be flying with them in business in Nov.   Was the Pier F open at least?    i HATE when they share business class and 1st class lounges together.   I want my space and al la Carte meals 🤣

They had the first class lounge open, but get this, it was for nationals only. If Thailand has TiT, then that was TiC. I was on a J ticket anyway, but I would have been fuming had I been holding an F ticket. 

Hopefully things continue to open up and restrictions lifted before your trip. 

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, bgtp said:

In the meantime, on to Plan B for next May. Being a glutton for punishment, I'm sticking with AA for the outbound as I found something decent. Got an award from MCO-KIX in JAL business for 60K miles. I have a domestic flight segment in economy, but it let me select a Main Cabin Extra seat for no extra charge. I think it's nice AA does that as United doesn't in similar situations. United does let you board with first class though when in economy on a biz award and that's good for getting overhead bin space.
 

I don't know if you been to Osaka before, but I had an 8+ hour layover there on a return trip when friends happened to be there for a fight. Train from airport to right by their hotel was a breeze. Hung out for a few hours, then took the train back for my flight.

Be sure to pay for the nicest level of seat and the express on the airport train. I cheaped out on the way in and it paled in comparison to my return to the airport later in the day. Like a commuter train vs a really nice, plush seat and straight there. I'm pretty sure the upgraded car had wifi; not sure about the "local."

[HimBadMan]

3 hours ago, Little Evil said:

They had the first class lounge open, but get this, it was for nationals only. If Thailand has TiT, then that was TiC. I was on a J ticket anyway, but I would have been fuming had I been holding an F ticket. 

Hopefully things continue to open up and restrictions lifted before your trip. 

wow those racists bastards.  😄   but I should have expected it and doubt it will change by Nov..  in fact something they may keep permanently. 

[Little Evil]

13 hours ago, HimBadMan said:

wow those racists bastards.  😄   but I should have expected it and doubt it will change by Nov..  in fact something they may keep permanently. 

It was explained to me that the reason they were doing this was because this was the only lounge open and that they were separating domestic travel nationals from international travelers due to current entry requirements. Sounded vaguely plausible, but still total BS. 

[LASportsNut]

14 hours ago, HimBadMan said:

wow those racists bastards.  😄   but I should have expected it and doubt it will change by Nov..  in fact something they may keep permanently. 

Actually of all the Asian countries Japan is right up there with racial divide and not being open to foreigners.

I actually love Japan and the Japanese.

However, the one month I have spent there (2 trips) it has been very difficult.

I can spend 1 hour in Thailand and have more conversation with Thai people than it takes in 1 entire month in Japan.

Edited October 4, 2022 by LASportsNut

[Little Evil]

18 minutes ago, LASportsNut said:

Actually of all the Asian countries Japan is right up there with racial divide and not being open to foreigners.

I actually love Japan and the Japanese.

However, the one month I have spent there (2 trips) it has been very difficult.

I can spend 1 hour in Thailand and have more conversation with Thai people that it takes in 1 entire month in Japan.

True. The division of who and what is Japanese vs everything else is strong there. So much so, some see it as xenophobia, but a strange version where the xenophobic people are often polite about their discrimination. 

[bgtp]

4 hours ago, LASportsNut said:

Actually of all the Asian countries Japan is right up there with racial divide and not being open to foreigners.

I actually love Japan and the Japanese.

However, the one month I have spent there (2 trips) it has been very difficult.

I can spend 1 hour in Thailand and have more conversation with Thai people than it takes in 1 entire month in Japan.

As I posted above, I just booked two weeks in Japan. So, I’ll see how I get by. My only time in Japan was a four day stopover in Tokyo in 2018 and I had a great time which is why I want to go back and see more of the country.  At night I mostly hung out in the rock n roll bars and had plenty of good conversations with the locals some less than half my age. There seemed to be an interest in American music from my younger years which might be why they were happy to talk with me. The age at the bars was varied for the locals but older for westerners in attendance. Still, everyone seemed happy to talk with one another.

Maybe Tokyo is more open to foreigners than the rest of the country or maybe it had to do with the places I went to. I used this website for Tokyo tourist tips. Guess I’ll find out what it’s like in other places when I go next year.

[Luv2Phuket]

FWIW, my friends claimed to have stumbled onto some great....uh..."venues" in Osaka.

I will see if they remember where they were.

[bgtp]

1 hour ago, Luv2Phuket said:

FWIW, my friends claimed to have stumbled onto some great....uh..."venues" in Osaka.

I will see if they remember where they were.

Sounds good, thanks. Poking around this morning, I found a decent return for next June, BKK-MCO. It's a 99K United award which seems tricky to find these days unless you're willing to give Ethiopian Airlines a try, which I'm not. This one is TG/UA and goes thru Europe (Stockholm) instead of Asia. It also includes the domestic portion although that is in coach. I was able to get that domestic leg only because of the expanded award availablity the Explorer credit card provides. Only negative is that it gives me three weeks in Thailand and I preferred four after my two weeks in Japan. At least I've got something acceptable for now and I can always cancel if I find something better.

Edited October 4, 2022 by bgtp

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, bgtp said:

Sounds good, thanks. Poking around this morning, I found a decent return for next June, BKK-MCO. It's a 99K United award which seems tricky to find these days unless you're willing to give Ethiopian Airlines a try, which I'm not. This one is TG/UA and goes thru Europe (Stockholm) instead of Asia. It also includes the domestic portion although that is in coach. I was able to get that domestic leg only because of the expanded award availablity the Explorer credit card provides. Only negative is that it gives me three weeks in Thailand and I preferred four after my two weeks in Japan. At least I've got something acceptable for now and I can always cancel if I find something better.

I once did a trip to BKK via Europe, with my return via Asia (my typical route) - I loved the fact that I literally flew around the world! 555

My modus operandi is to lock in what I can find and then try to improve it if/when I see something better. Getting a OW via Star Alliance with 99,000 United miles seems more and more like spotting a snow leopard these days. I have one booked for November, but it's now my back-up (as detailed above). 

[Luv2Phuket]

Guess I wasn't paying close attention, but I just saw a blog today about Asiana leaving Star Alliance (due to merger with Korean Air). Looks like they will continue as Korean Air and Sky Team.

That said, it doesn't give a firm timetable - it just says "sometime in the next couple of years"

https://thepointsguy.com/news/asiana-star-alliance-replacement/?utm_term=editorial&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=thepointsguy&utm_medium=social&utm_content=101D42D0-44C3-11ED-BAEC-A0EA4744363C&tw=1

[madmike]

I liked Asiana.  Their 380s were nice to fly on.