Quote: (03-31-2014 12:20 PM)john54 Wrote:
IKE, I can understand the jet lag long flights and time change are tough.
Can I ask which airline you found best from the west coast. Is upgrading to business or first class worth it? Thanks
First, I flew Sacramento->LAX->Narita->Manila, flights for Japan air don't seem to go direct SFO->Japan, some go through Texas which seems insane. So where you're leaving from in West Coast makes a difference. Also,if you like eye-candy, make sure you don't get a code-share with an American air line with fat and/or burnt-out stews hanging on for their pensions. I made sure to get REAL Japanese flights both ways from USA-Japan and Philippines-Japan.
Best airline and value of Biz/1st class are relative to your preferences and budget. There are others here who have flown far more in Asia than me. I've only flown Japan Air Lines and loved it. 767s (fave ) and 777 (still good). They are doing some 787s which give me an absolute boner.
Philippines airlines does direct Calif to Manila (14 hours westbound) but I found only 747s which I don't like, and the flights still seemed expensive like 1300+.
Also, there are people here who know a lot more about upgrading cheaply into biz class using miles etc, which is all beyond my expertise.
But just looking at Japan Air Lines corporate reservation page (not a discounter) for a 4 month trip form July to November --RT San Francisco to Manila-- Economy fare is about USD1400 and Business is about 3400.
So based on about 32 hours of travel you'd be paying sixty-something dollars per hour extra to be in Business Class instead of Coach.... you also would get more frequent flier miles but it just seems way too much to me. I guess maybe if you make something like 150-$200 per hour+ it starts to seem more reasonable.
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Again, there are people who know much more about various Asian airlines than I do, but I'll tell you my preferences.
I loved JAL, and partly from other experience in the past and partly from the recent plane disappearance where it looks like a mentally ill pilot from a Islamic country may have killed 200+ people when possible I only fly airlines from 1st World non-muslim countries for safety/maintenance reasons.
On flights in Ukraine or Philippines domestic this wasn't possible, so in Philippines i took Philippines Air Lines, the oldest and most established carrier for safety even though domestic cost maybe 80 each way instead of 60. Also, PAL flew very comfortable, spacious Airbus 320s where Cebu Airlines flew older 737s I think.
In Asia, I only think Singapore, Korea and Japan are truly wealthy countries, where there aren't any desperately poor people anywhere in the maintenance supply chain. In my mind, that supply chain includes everyone who might have cooked for the pilots or flight crew, or any country where crew might have desperate, poor or hyper religious relatives. I also have driven Toyotas for 30 years with amazing reliability so I am partial to the country that makes those. I met some Korean stews in Cebu and they were pretty bitchy, so I'm taking the Japanese over them.
The JAL stews are cute and supremely polite, planes VERY clean, and I saw two really cool Japanese movies (with English subtitles) that never make to America (One called The Eternal Zero and the other about a Medieval tea master) that were really moving and extremely educational for me about Japanese culture. The food was a little weird with small servings, but I don't think you can be sure of good food on any economy flight.
On the way back, because of layover I got a free overnight stay in the Nikko Narita airport hotel with free immaculate airlines shuttle, It was super-cute, like something out of a James Bond 1960s movie. You can't count on this however they told me.