We live in Nashville and are going (mid March) to Taipei with a few days of a layover in Hong Kong. I have heard that Cathay Pacific is the best way to go economy. If we go this way do you think it is better to fly our of JFK or LAX? Does anyone have other suggestions? We have loads of Delta miles, but it seems rather roundabout to get their and we are counting on the free Hong Kong layover that Cathay offers. Any great business class deals anyone knows of? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think weather-wise going out of LAX in March is probably better than JFK, you can always get the odd snowstorm or ice storm in New York in March which may delay your arrival from Nashville to make your connection. If I knew of any good deals on business class to Hong Kong I would be the first to be taking advantage of them, but hopefully others will weigh in with suggestions. However, if you have Delta miles, note that they are a partner airline with Continental, which has a non-stop from Newark to Hong Kong, which you might want to consider assuming you can use your Delta miles for this flight (having to fly in March into EWR notwithstanding). You could then take a local carrier like EVA or Dragon Air (part of Cathay actually) to get to Taiwan. I would agree that Cathay economy is probably better than CO economy, but a free flight is a free flight, or perhaps you can pay for the economy in CO and upgrade to business with miles, or use miles for a business class seat on CO.

I have to say that March is really, IMO, the worst month we have here in Hong Kong in terms of weather (foggy, damp, cool) but if that is the only month you can make the trip, then you will just have to come prepared for some crappy weather and maybe luck will be on your side. (Not sure weather in Taipei is all that much better in March).

If you buying a ticket on CX, they can probably tag on the AA (their partner) flight from BNA to LAX. Since only DL flies BNA-JFK, that may not be possible or will cost more, or you have to go through LaGuadia and transfer to JFK.

But if possible, BNA->JFK->HKG has a slightly shorter total flight time than LAX, and LAX's Tom Bradley International Terminal which CX uses can be a zoo (or a national disgrace, depending on your point of view).

I agree with Cicerone. See if you can get the CO BNA-EWR-HKG flights with DL miles. Right now, standard award seem to be avaialble for most days in March, both ways.

CO's coach isn't that bad for EWR-HKG, except for fairly tight legroom. [31" pitch vs 32" on CX] Most of their 777s have audio-video on demand now with 250 movies to choose from; and the other planes still have personal video with 9 channels running on a loop.

The HKG-TPE should be fairly cheap, and you can buy after you get to Hong Kong.

I think Delta partners with China Airlines (CI), which is basically the national airline for Taiwan. Not sure how this will help you though, as most likely you won't get the stopover in HK for free.

Though Taipei-HK is a short flight, I think that you may have to shell out around 300 USD (or more) for it.

www.tiglion.com is showing roundtrip fares as low as HK$1,180, which is about US$152.

It's cheaper than I was expecting. I guess like anything else, it's date dependent. I just checked the China Airlines website (as the lowest fare I saw on Tiglion was on CI) out of curiosity for early February the cheapest I can find is around 1300+ with taxes.

Also, curiously, if you look for TPE-HKG r/t instead, the cheapest fare is over 7000 NT (taxes included). That's over 200 USD.

So probably the 300 USD I gave sounds a little high. But obviously the exact fare will depend on the dates desired.

That market has lots of excess capacity. Economy is bad, and non-stop cross-Strait flights have taken away some business. Many people are reporting half-empty planes (or worse).

Thanks for all the help. I'll have to look into the Continental out of EWR. I had no idea they were Delta partners.

In the meantime, Cathay Pacific is offering a great deal out of JFK that comes to about $950 RT including the HK stopover.

I am concerned about the NY weather. But, since the time is shorter, and I have family there I can stay with for half a day on the way back, I'll go out that way. Too bad abt the HK March weather.

Thanks for all the help.

I frankly don't think Cathay's economy is really all that great -- I've flown them from Taipei to London and have never been so uncomfortable. However, the food is decent and the movies are plentiful. And that Cathay price you've been quoted is a great one.

You might also consider Eva, Taiwan's non-government airline. They have a deluxe economy class that many think is a pretty good deal.

Wow. I've never even heard of that. Do they fly out of the States? I'll look it up.

They have no availabilty on my travel dates. In addition, Continental does not offer mileage on my travel dates. So, Cathay it is. I hope that they still have my price available.