Best route for Toronto-Hong Kong
 

I have to travel to Hong Kong on business in a few months. My preference would be to fly with British Airways (or a partner airline), because I've got lots of points and miles with them - but Air Canada rules Canada. If I flew BA, I'd fly through London to Hong Kong (allowing me to do some business in London on the way). Other routes might be Toronto-New York-Hong Kong (eg American, Cathay Pacific), or Toronto-Vancouver-Hong Kong (Air Canada - with a pit stop to visit the parents). I'll probably be allowed to fly business class, but only if the price is similar to Air Canada's business class price (about $6500 cdn). Any advice? Does anyone know how long the journey takes in each direction?

If you can fly Business, you should fly with Cathay Pacific (a Oneworld partner with BA as well). They have daily service to Toronto. It's a great airline and I think they uses the new flat bed seat on business class for the YYZ-HKG route. They fly direct to Hong Kong with a 1 hour technical stop in Alaska (whole flight around 18 hrs). If you fly during the winter, the strong tail wind will allow the return trip to be a non-stop flight from HKG to YYZ (around 15 hrs).

On top of that, I think Cathay and British Airways offer better service than Air Canada...

I flew Cathay Pacific Business class before they had their new seats and even then it was fabulous! If you possibly can, use them. And their longe in Hong Kong is wonderful.

Thanks for the advice. It looks like the Cathay Pacific flight is about the same price as an Air Canada flight, so I'll sign up for Cathay Pacific.<BR><BR>I've got a similar question - what about Toronto-Melbourne? My options seem to involve connecting through LA (which I imagine will involve a nightmare trip through US customs at the Toronto airport, plus more hassle in LA) or connecting through Hong Kong, and flying either Air Canada/United, or American/Qantas.

If you can transfer through Hong Kong, you can again fly with Cathay with Toronto-Hong Kong-Melbourne to earn more frequent flyer points!!

I saw that route and it looked appealing, but would that make an already long journey unbearable? Either way I've got a connection (in LA or in HK), but does routing through HK add significantly to the travel time? And would I rather change planes in HK than LA? (Entering the US is a nightmare these days.)

You have to check both itineries and see which routing takes you more time, but in general I think transfer in HK should takes you more time. I am not familiar with transfer in LA (the airline you're taking is also a factor), but I assume you have to switch terminals and stuff there. If you're transfering in HK, it's in one big terminal but it's very comfortable to navigate and transfer. If you're flying business (as you mention in previous post), you can just simply spend your transfer time in the Cathay Lounge in HKIA (haven't used it but all the comments about that are great), take a shower and have a nap there. If your transfer time is long, you can take a day trip to the city before you continue the journey to Melbourne.