Best route and airline, West Coast to Bali?
 

Hi Fodors,

First, thank you all for your help on my trip to India earlier this year. It was so appreciated!

The next question is not for myself, but for two donors to the non-profit where I work who won a trip to Bali from Portland, Oregon. I am making their reservations (for next May) and wondered if anyone could tell me what sounds like the best route?

All include substantial layovers in the Asian airports, so any information about in-airport hotels for a rest is welcome, as well as your opinions of the airlines and the general comfort of the airports.

Option one: Alaska Air/Singapore Air, changing in SF, Tokyo and Singapore (36 hours)
Option two: The same only changing in SF, Hong Kong and Singapore (32 hours)
Oprion three: Delta and Thai Airways, changing in Tokyo and Bangkok (33 hours)
Option four: Korea Airwas, changing in LA and Seol (44 hours)

Many thanks for any feedback! (Almost as fun as going myself. :))

Is there are reason that you've chosen those options? I'd suggest that you route your travelers through San Francisco on Cathay. CX873 / CX785 is an excellent connection from SF to Denpasar, 22 hours plus whatever it takes to get from Portland to SF.

i'mk doing delta throuth seattle in november... very straight forward...

korean is fantastic...best airline to asia imo...

Wow, Marmot, you mean Cathay goes nonstop from SF to Denpassar? I will go check it out now.

Rhkkmk thanks for the info about Korean --I didn't know.

Will get back with results!

No, it's not non-stop. Cathay is non-stop from SF to Hong Kong with a good connection from HK to Denpasar.

There are also good connections on several airlines from the Westcoast through Tokyo.

I agree with Marmot. Look at PDX connecting through YVR, or SEA or SFO or LAX to Narita or Kansai or Hong Kong than direct to DPS. Could also connect via Seoul or Taipei. I tend to prefer NRT as the flight from the west coast is only about 10 hours while HKG is more like 14.
Singapore and Cathay however have midnight flights from SFO to HKG which makes it easier to much of the flight. Might have similar flights out of LAX. Could also look at Portland to Narita and than one stop to DPS via JAL or ANA if you can get a connection that works.
Might want to look at Kayak or go through a good travel agent.

I should also add that Singapore and Hong Kong are really nice airports. Narita is fine. I have not flown through Kansai or Seoul in a long time so have no current opinion. Cathay Thai, and Singapore are terrific, JAL, ANA and Korea are also quite good. Prefer all of these to any US carrier. Have never flown EVA or Air China.

A correction above as the sentence should read: makes it much easier to sleep for much of the flight.

btw, the incheon (seoul) airport is newish and trully world class..

FWIW, if flying through LAX, the most direct connection to DPS is on Thai Air (via direct flight to BKK)

We did this in April and I believe the total travel time was about 22 hours give or take (plus a 2 hr layover)

I believe Incheon just won the Skytrax Award for best airport in Asia, I believe.

For flts from Tokyo to Bali those will soon be reduced. JAL is stopping that route in an effort to save money and save itself from bankruptcy, again.

Also, depending on whether arrival time in DPS is important to you take a look at when some of these flts arrive in Bali. Some arrive early morning and others can get you into DPS around midnight. Have fun.

In March I made the trip to Bali and there was no question which airline I would use: Korean Air. Their service is impecable. The only downside was the trip from LAX to Korean then continued on to Denpasar and arrived shortly after midnight. My friend and I stayed the night in Kuta and the next day hired a driver to take us to Ubud. It worked out quite well.

we went to ubud the same nite and were in our hotel by 1, off of korean

There probably are many ways to do this flight, most of it would depend on cost and convenience and whether the passengers have airline preferences. If money is not the main issue, then go for the shortest flights/best connections.

You might look at the Cathay flights from Vancouver (YVR) to Hong Kong, rather than going out of SF, either both ways or one way. This may be a better option for someone coming from Portland. I also just like the airport better, as it is smaller and more manageable. It’s only an hour flight from Portland, and there appear to be many flights daily. There is a 9 pm Air Alaska/Delta flight to YVR, which means they could easily connect to the 2 am CX flight for Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, they could connect to a flight to Denpassar with only a 3 hour layover.

I would also say that if they end up on flights routed through Singapore or Hong Kong, that the travelers consider doing a few day layover in either. Both are great cities for a few days, and stopping over on the way out or back will break up the long flight for a least one leg. I do not have quite the same feelings about Seoul or Tokyo, for one thing the airports are over an hour from the city. For another, I don’t find Seoul or Toyko to be nearly as interesting as either Hong Kong or Singapore. (Other parts of Japan are worth considering, but IMO Tokyo alone does not rate a visit. But it is more interesting than Seoul, I will say that much for it.) But in any event it would seem a shame to go all the way to Asia and then see only Bali, lovely as it is.