Business Class Fares & Offers

[JA01_]

Flight times are even more of a joke than the pricing right now.  

[davidge]

On 22/04/2022 at 13:37, davidge said:

With the dropping of arrival tests imminent and a faint possibility of my being able to travel for my usual June/July trip, I checked flights today.

BLOODY HELL!!!

Extortionate fares from most airlines that I might use. I much prefer direct but BA and Eva haven’t started up again yet (though I guess might by July) so Thai is the only direct option at around £3k, though I’ve seen at 2600-2700 recently (usually via Phuket)

Indirect, there are reasonable fares from Swiss/Austrian/Lufthansa group (around £1500) but it’s an Economy seat on the LHR leg and I can’t manage that even for a couple of hours (as a first visit to the theatre for 3 years recently proved!). Finnair about £1650 but again an Economy seat. Egypt under £1500 but - NO! One visit to Cairo airport more than enough.

Turkish at about £2200 is a possibility.

ME Airlines pretty horrendous. Qatar £2900, Emirates £3200, Gulf £3300, Oman £3500 etc

Singapore £3400.

 

 

I’ve just got to hope things change in the next couple of months.

A couple of weeks later and things not improved. Swiss/Austrian gone up by about £200 as have Turkish. Gulf come into the picture at 2200-2400 and would probably  be my choice if I could book today. Just be aware that some of their flights now stop at Singapore on the way back from Bangkok.

Not looking likely I’ll be going now anyway as flights for my sister to fly over from Brisbane are now over AU$4000 (in Economy) compared to the usual 2000. If she doesn’t come over then I can’t get to Thailand. Maybe at Xmas!

[penboy]

Emirates Oct 2022 - March 2023 from Manchester......£4,387 

My guess is that the only tickets sold will be to company employees, rather than private individuals who travel BC.

[BlooBell]

I'm absolutely sick with myself for not booking my August flights when I returned from LOS in March.

I could have had a return with Finnair for £1400.

I'm now struggling to get anything under £2750 from Edinburgh with decent connections.

Turkish is an option for me also but I'm reluctant as I've seen some poor reviews.

It's also a bit of as lottery (with a lot of airlines) as to what BC service you're going to get as the airlines are being more prudent than ever with route planning and schedules so many routes are subject to late changes of aircraft.

Any example being Turkish whose 777s are in 2-3-2 and resemble a moderate Premier Economy product, where as the 787 is 1-2-1 and has individual, booth like seats.

If I'm shelling out the best part of £3k I want to do all I can to make sure I'm getting a decent experience. 

[Hamchang]

On 04/05/2022 at 18:16, BlooBell said:

I'm absolutely sick with myself for not booking my August flights when I returned from LOS in March.

I could have had a return with Finnair for £1400.

I'm now struggling to get anything under £2750 from Edinburgh with decent connections.

Turkish is an option for me also but I'm reluctant as I've seen some poor reviews.

It's also a bit of as lottery (with a lot of airlines) as to what BC service you're going to get as the airlines are being more prudent than ever with route planning and schedules so many routes are subject to late changes of aircraft.

Any example being Turkish whose 777s are in 2-3-2 and resemble a moderate Premier Economy product, where as the 787 is 1-2-1 and has individual, booth like seats.

If I'm shelling out the best part of £3k I want to do all I can to make sure I'm getting a decent experience. 

I'd be tempted with a flight like this. I am quite partial to a 24 hr stop over somewhere interesting. Loads of action in Zurich (although pricy) and if you find something going through Vienna 24 hours there is a blast and relatively cheap. the cost of the extra hotel room isn't much more than the cost of a room in Thailand. 

 

[BlooBell]

3 hours ago, Hamchang said:

I'd be tempted with a flight like this. I am quite partial to a 24 hr stop over somewhere interesting. Loads of action in Zurich (although pricy) and if you find something going through Vienna 24 hours there is a blast and relatively cheap. the cost of the extra hotel room isn't much more than the cost of a room in Thailand. 

 

More than happy with the layover going out. Always happy with a night in a new city. Is that quote direct from Swiss’ own site? 

Edited May 7, 2022 by BlooBell

[dontpanic]

On 04/05/2022 at 18:16, BlooBell said:

I'm absolutely sick with myself for not booking my August flights when I returned from LOS in March.

I could have had a return with Finnair for £1400.

I'm now struggling to get anything under £2750 from Edinburgh with decent connections.

Turkish is an option for me also but I'm reluctant as I've seen some poor reviews.

It's also a bit of as lottery (with a lot of airlines) as to what BC service you're going to get as the airlines are being more prudent than ever with route planning and schedules so many routes are subject to late changes of aircraft.

Any example being Turkish whose 777s are in 2-3-2 and resemble a moderate Premier Economy product, where as the 787 is 1-2-1 and has individual, booth like seats.

If I'm shelling out the best part of £3k I want to do all I can to make sure I'm getting a decent experience. 

You can check on flight radar what model of plane is being used on the route.(seems to be a330 to BKK)The food on Turkish was very good the last time I flew with them and the connect times and arrival times(15:30) are worth a punt for a little over 2k. You're not going to have a fully private seat anyway so it's not a complete lottery.

Edited May 7, 2022 by dontpanic
Typo

[BlooBell]

45 minutes ago, dontpanic said:

You can check on flight radar what model of plane is being used on the route.(seems to be a330 to BKK)The food on Turkish was very good the last time I flew with them and the connect times and arrival times(15:30) are worth a punt for a little over 2k. You're not going to have a fully private seat anyway so it's not a complete lottery.

Turkish are notorious for switching.

Forward to 7 mins on this vid - this is their 777-300.  That's just not a BC seat IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcqXBBvub0Y&t=439s

Not sure the A330 is much better in terms of privacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EoS0cBayWg

Maybe I've been spoiled having always travelled with the Gulf carriers. I might need to adjust my expectations... or cough up £3.5k!! 

 

[dontpanic]

1 hour ago, BlooBell said:

Turkish are notorious for switching.

Forward to 7 mins on this vid - this is their 777-300.  That's just not a BC seat IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcqXBBvub0Y&t=439s

Not sure the A330 is much better in terms of privacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EoS0cBayWg

Maybe I've been spoiled having always travelled with the Gulf carriers. I might need to adjust my expectations... or cough up £3.5k!! 

 

I think the last time I went it was 2-2-2, so long as you get an aisle seat it should be fine even if you are in the 3 seats. It's not as good as some middle east airlines but they do have a pretty good service for the money in this market. So yes I would adjust your expectations but do check out the lounge offerings as they are very good.

[Hamchang]

19 hours ago, BlooBell said:

More than happy with the layover going out. Always happy with a night in a new city. Is that quote direct from Swiss’ own site? 

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search - on there. as the instructions say you take that to an actual travel agent and they can book it for you. 

[Bobson VaGene]

14 hours ago, Hamchang said:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search - on there. as the instructions say you take that to an actual travel agent and they can book it for you. 

If you're skilled enough to use Ita Matrix yourself, why not just book it yourself online?

Ita Matrix is more complex than using Sky scanner & travel agents will just try to tack on extra stuff to make a profit anyway 

[Kickoff]

Has anyone flown with All Nippon recently? Read about them canceling flights out of certain airports. I have the option to fly out of either SFO or LAX. No experience with these guys really. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Kickoff

[Luv2Phuket]

27 minutes ago, Kickoff said:

Has anyone flown with All Nippon recently? Read about them canceling flights out of certain airports. I have the option to fly out of either SFO or LAX. No experience with these guys really. 

It's been a while since I have flown ANA, but a good friend lives near Newark and is a United frequent flier.

His upcoming return flight from Japan got all fucked up because United cancelled all Tokyo-Newark non-stops. I assume most (if not all) of those were ANA Codeshare (with flight serviced by United metal). 

I think he can still make it back on the same day, he just has to connect somewhere now (either LAX or Chicago).

That should have no effect/impact, though, on flights to/from SFO or LAX.

[JA01_]

Thoughts on Japan Airlines BC? 

[Bira]

Flew on JAL business class from LAX in November, 2021. Good lounge - nice shower, although the JaL lounge was not open, and they were sending passengers to the Star Alliance lounge. Good bento box on JAL. Very good service. Nice stewardesses. If I had to complain about something, check in process was overly long for Business class. Maybe the seats have slightly smaller dimensions than American or United. 
 

lounge in Bangkok was very good, not super fancy. Could be it was not their actual lounge, as this was in December, 2021. 
 

i sometimes prefer to be on American or United, as Business class seating is good on all of their fleets. But JAL is quite good, and I prefer their crews. 

[Hamchang]

On 09/05/2022 at 01:11, Bobson VaGene said:

If you're skilled enough to use Ita Matrix yourself, why not just book it yourself online?

Ita Matrix is more complex than using Sky scanner & travel agents will just try to tack on extra stuff to make a profit anyway 

I've not been able to emulate the prices on ITA Matrix online however I called up an actual agent, told them the details and they came up with the same price. The agents get commission from the carriers I assume? Not sure. Online though are never the best deals. 

[Luv2Phuket]

23 hours ago, JA01_ said:

Thoughts on Japan Airlines BC? 

I have been happy with JAL Biz class, but check the layout. Many LOVE the privacy of their APEX window seats, but I am bit claustrophobic and it felt a little TOO contained for me. The aisle seat was open, so I moved to it. 

I have always been happy with the service and the food. I;m not very big on Japanese food, so I always opt for the Western options. They always have a variety of snacks in the galley and stuff you can order between meal service (probably why I gain about 2+ kgs every flight! 555).

In the photos below, you can see the little "walkway" to get into the window seat (so direct aisle access), but, if you close the privacy screen between it and the aisle seat, you can really start to feel boxed in. Some love that, but it's not for me.

 

[madmike]

1 hour ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I have been happy with JAL Biz class, but check the layout. Many LOVE the privacy of their APEX window seats, but I am bit claustrophobic and it felt a little TOO contained for me. The aisle seat was open, so I moved to it. 

I have always been happy with the service and the food. I;m not very big on Japanese food, so I always opt for the Western options. They always have a variety of snacks in the galley and stuff you can order between meal service (probably why I gain about 2+ kgs every flight! 555).

In the photos below, you can see the little "walkway" to get into the window seat (so direct aisle access), but, if you close the privacy screen between it and the aisle seat, you can really start to feel boxed in. Some love that, but it's not for me.

 

Count me as I loved it.  Total privacy.  I flew home April 19 in one of those.  It was great until I rolled over sleeping and some musty stuff from the blanket caused me to cough lightly once or twice.  Some asshole heard it and called the flight attendant to make me put a mask back on.  I'm in a fucking pod and the asshole had to do that. 

OK back to yes I loved the seats and JAL service and food.  Will fly them again if I ever return to Thailand.

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, madmike said:

Count me as I loved it.  Total privacy.  I flew home April 19 in one of those.  It was great until I rolled over sleeping and some musty stuff from the blanket caused me to cough lightly once or twice.  Some asshole heard it and called the flight attendant to make me put a mask back on.  I'm in a fucking pod and the asshole had to do that. 

OK back to yes I loved the seats and JAL service and food.  Will fly them again if I ever return to Thailand.

I never thought about the ability to drop the mask becasue of privacy - that's a big selling point!

[JA01_]

That type of seat may have closed me on JAL.  Is that offered on all of their Business window seats? 

[Luv2Phuket]

4 hours ago, JA01_ said:

That type of seat may have closed me on JAL.  Is that offered on all of their Business window seats? 

No - check the flight number on SeatGuru.com. If it shows staggered seats at the window, it is APEX and that type of seat.

Generally speaking, if their trans-Pacific layout is 2-2-2, it should be the APEX seating.

[JA01_]

2 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

No - check the flight number on SeatGuru.com. If it shows staggered seats at the window, it is APEX and that type of seat.

Generally speaking, if their trans-Pacific layout is 2-2-2, it should be the APEX seating.

Got it.  Thanks! 

Edited May 11, 2022 by JA01_

[JA01_]

@Luv2Phuket Can I get the flight number in advance of completing payment via AA / JAL operated partnership? I’m running a test order through AA now and it isn’t showing flight number before payment submission.

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, JA01_ said:

@Luv2Phuket Can I get the flight number in advance of completing payment via AA / JAL operated partnership? I’m running a test order through AA now and it isn’t showing flight number before payment submission.

The proposed flight should give you the AA flight number right under "Nonstop" - that's all you need to look it up on SeatGuru. You do not need the JAL flight number.

Here is a sample I pulled - in this case, the flight number is AA 8407:

LAX                                        NRT

1:05 PM                  4:40 PM

11h  35m

Nonstop

AA 8407  773-Boeing 777

 

Operated by Japan Airlines

The type of plane is listed next to the flight number. In the example above, it is a Boeing 777, which I think is what JAL uses on all of its LAX-Tokyo routes. I also think all of those planes are APEX seating, but you should check SeatGuru to confirm.

 

[JA01_]

2 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

The proposed flight should give you the AA flight number right under "Nonstop" - that's all you need to look it up on SeatGuru. You do not need the JAL flight number.

Here is a sample I pulled - in this case, the flight number is AA 8407:

LAX                                        NRT

1:05 PM                  4:40 PM

11h  35m

Nonstop

AA 8407  773-Boeing 777

 

Operated by Japan Airlines

The type of plane is listed next to the flight number. In the example above, it is a Boeing 777, which I think is what JAL uses on all of its LAX-Tokyo routes. I also think all of those planes are APEX seating, but you should check SeatGuru to confirm.

 

Thank you.  The SFO to HND flight is showing this on a Boeing 777.  Does this confirm one way or the other?