I saw that Malaysia Air & Cathay Pacific both offer these all asia tickets. Is this worth it and how do they work??? I was planning on flying in and out of Hong Kong and visiting Beijing, Xian, Shanghai for 3 weeks. But if this is a better deal maybe I'll add more countries/cities. Any thoughts or info is much appreciated. Thanks

It's a great deal. You will get a coach ticket from the gateway cities in US or Canada for whichever airline you pick to their respective hub city, and then you could visit as many included cities as you want. The drawback is that you always have to get back to their respective hubs before you fly on to the other cities, with 1 or 2 exceptions. You DO have to pick the cities and dates before you start(I think) and you DO have to go through a TA due to the difficulty of the booking process. Other than that it's a wonderful deal. <BR>One major drawback, which may or may not mean anything to you. You do not get any frequent miles for any part of this trip.<BR>Have a great trip!

To the best of my knowledge, neither Malaysia Airlines nor Cathay Pacific flies between cities in mainland China. This would mean you would have to fly from Beijing to Hong Kong to Shanghai, which would add considerably to your travel time. For example, the direct flight between Beijing and Shanghai takes under 2 hours, connecting through Hong Kong takes 7. Check the websites for the airlines and see if they have direct service between the cities in the PRC which you are considering. Also, the terms of the pass may require that you transit through KL airport, which would not make any sense for travel within mainland PRC. <BR><BR>I don't think you can fly either airline into Xian, only Dragon Air or PRC domestic carriers serve that city.<BR><BR>You are probably better off trying to get a package flight to Hong Kong and then buying tickets for the intra-China travel when you are there. You could certainly look into packages on Dragon Air for the intra-china flights and the flight out from Hong Kong to mainland PRC. Their website is Dragonair.com<BR><BR>

The All Asia Pass from CathayPacific is available from TA's only.But I had to search for 3 days before I could find one who would do it.From their end, it is a nightmare---pages and pages of instruction and options.But mine turned out easy since I had a set itinerary and would not be changing it.Cost $999 plus some fees etc etc plus the tA fee of $20.It is not something you can walk into a travel agency and walk out with.As I remember it was like 10 days processing total.But a bargain.I had no problem.

Nancy,<BR>I'm not sure about Malaysia, but CX will fly you to Beijing or Shanghai for extra money. I'm not sure how much extra it is but when you start at $999.00 for up to 17 Asian cities in 21 days even another $500 is a great deal. Anyway Mary, you could find all the details for this deal on Cathay-USA.com.<BR>Good luck!

Yes, CX flies to Beijing and to Shanghai from Hong Kong. My point was that there is no direct CX service between the two cities. You have to go back out to Hong Kong and then back into the PRC. Adds a lot of time to the journey.

Nancy,<BR>As I stated in my first post, that's one of the drawbacks of this deal, she will always have to fly back to Hong Kong in order to fly to the next city, but still a great deal.

One clarification on CX- Cathay does not fly to Shanghai and Beijing. You can add some amount of money on your Cathay's All Asia Pass and they can arrange you a seat with their partner Dragon Air. All Asia Pass will get you to other Asian destinations that're on Cathay's own network. Also, Dragon Air does not have direct service between Shanghai and Beijing either. You have to transfer in Hong Kong.