Hello,

We are going to China in six weeks and I am at a bit of a loss as to the route. We can fly out of BWI or IAD and are looking for the fastest route.

We would also like to fly Premium Economy or Business from at least the West Coast leg if possible.

The last trick is that we hope to use our ff#'s that we have saved. I am just at a loss as to how to do this as well. I called AMEX, but surprisingly, they were less than very helpful. I know that we have only saved enough mioles to upgrade from economy to Biz.

Thank you in advance,
Nicole

Believe Continental has a new non stop flight to China from Newark. We just returned from using their non stop flight to Delhi...Business frist. It is a huge improvement over STOPS and CHANGES...also from Newark.

at this late date you might have tourble using your miles, but call the airline you have the miles with and they will tell you how it works...

thank you. have looked into continental and that looks the way to GO!

You have a lot of fast choices going to China.

CO's Newark-Beijing route is only one possibility, and you still need to make one connection. CO doesn't offer a premium economy product and their coach seat on the 777 has relatively tight legroom (31" pitch). Their BusinessFirst product is very good, but they are seldom discounted. CO also holds FF award availabiliy pretty tight unless you're a CO "elite" FF member.

UA flies non-stop from Chicago and San Francisco to both Beijing and Shanghai. And they will have decent connection at IAD for sure, if not BWI. Their coach isn't the best, but you can pay up to get the "economy plus" seat with extra legroom (otherwise the same as regular economy).

To get real Premium Economy service, find out about ANA. They fly IAD to Tokyo non-stop, and they may have a decent connection to Beijing and/or Shanghai.

We just got back from CO DIRECT flight Newark Beijing. This would be the way to go if you ask me.