We'd like to break a 24 hour flying time
 

My husband and I are going on a trip to China with a group in October.
Business class is $11,000; coach is $1,200.
I've made this coach trip once and it took a year for my knee to recover from no leg room. I was lucky enough in 3 subsequent trips to have enough FF points and date flexibility to upgrade to business class.
We were going to take Maxjet to Stanstead, stay a couple of days visiting my daughter and then try to find another all business class to China.
Maxjet has since gone bankrupt.
I was hoping that people here might know of other all business class airlines that we could do some "puddle jumping" with.
We generally leave from Washington DC but can easily leave from one of the NY area airports as well.

Silverjet flies EWR-LTN (London Luton). Oasis has discount business class non-stop LGW-HKG.

Or go the other way. Any airline to Vancouver, BC. Then Oasis to HKG.

There are also lots of airlines with premium economy if you want something cheaper than business.

i don't understand why you should have had any problem with flying coach with your knee.....are you unusually tall? were you on a discount airline with horid seating....

i am a very large man and i have no problem at all with coach seating...

I am fairly tall and have no real problems with my economy seating. I do choose my seats ahead of time so I am not stuck in front of a wall.

I do have a game left leg from an old injury, I always get an aisle seat so I can get up often to stretch out a little without bothering anyone else.

United has economy plus seating that is free for their elite travelers. I don't care for the seats that have trays that come out of the armrest because they are about an inch narrower (have to allow for the tray!)

Before I sit down I remove all of the junk that is in the pocket in front of me except the emergency card and barf bag. This gives me almost another 3/4 inch of knee room.

On a cheap flight get up often and walk around a bit or shell out $11,000!

RKKWAN -- Thank you for your suggestions!

RHKKMK and SIRHALBERD. Yes I am tall and I married someone taller and wider. People actually groan when he shows up to claim his seat. To travel together is hell because he wants me to sit next to him which always puts me in the middle seat. He only likes the window seat. I have tried a lot of strategies to be comfortable including emptying the magazine bin, getting an aisle seat to move every 90 minutes or so but 15 hours on United was extremely hellish to me. And now that I am married, I no longer have the option of the aisle seat.

"And now that I am married, I no longer have the option of the aisle seat. "

Au contraire. I understand your husband wants the window seat and wants you to sit next to him. But neither person in a partnership gets their way all the time. (If they do, it's no partnership) Talk it through, There are premium economy options as other have mentioned or there is Biz. There are also options like you both get aisle seats sitting across from each other, or if your husband wants a window, you can get an aisle with a seat between you (which may or may not fill). It's also possible to buy three seats for the two of you, so that you get an aisle, he gets the window, and no one is between you.

You can often "buy" your way into business class at the gate. I've done this a couple of times on flights to Europe so that I could sleep. I do NOT sleep in economy, and I'm also quite tall. On a trip to London I paid about $500 for my business class seat, and on a trip to Frankfurt it was more like $600. That's a lot less than 11k!! All you do is ask at check in to see what it costs for a business class seat on the flight that night. It has something to do with the miles you will fly, I think?? Anyway, it has worked for me in the past when I've asked.

I'm flying in coach to Bangkok in April and will ask when I check in with United in Chicago what it will cost me for that one. I've almost always flown business to Asia because of ff mile upgrades. Not this time. I blew my miles for a first class ticket last month to Bangkok (it was nice).

Carol

You could buy a round-the-world ticket in Washington in business class for $7880 plus taxes and fuel surcharges, using any of the major alliances (Star, OneWorld, or SkyTeam). Star has the best network, and you can fly up to 29,000 miles. While the rules can seem complex, the most important ones are that you can stop over (that is, stay more than 24 hrs) in any city only once, you must make exactly one trans-Atlantic and one trans-Pacific flight, and once you return to your starting city the trip is over. If you buy a business class RTW on Star, any flights within the US will be in 1st class (except on those few flights that offer business in the US).

So, for example, you could easily fly from DC to London, then to China, and fly back to New York with a stop in Tokyo. Later within the next 12 months, you could then fly from NY to the west coast and back to Washington. Alternatively, you could visit Australia and/or New Zealand on your way back from China.

The RTW tickets are completely flexible wrt dates: you can chenge the dates and times whenever you like. If you change the itinerary, there's a $125 re-write charge.

I am surprised to learn that business class is $11,000 pp!!! I just flew from JFK to Southeast Asia and paid about half that amount...have you tried checking KoreanAir with connections through Seoul?

Or do you mean $11,000 for two tickets?

Business class fares depend on when you're flying. They can definitely be over $10K, or they can be as cheap as $3K. All depends.

What a difference! I would love to know when and to where I can get $3,000 BC tickets to Asia from JFK...
Please!!

I just checked for random dates in October on Koreanair through Seoul and got a fare of $6,200 or so from JFK to Beijing... It is not $3,000, but it is less than $11,000!!

ekscrunchy: Continental EWR-HKG/PEK: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year.

You mean I can go for $3,000 on those holiday dates???
I would have thought they were MORE expensive (?)..

Would the top hotels be raising their rates and therefore wipe out lots of the savings if I went, let's say, to HK during Thanksgiving??

Nope. Hotels are cheaper in HK during holiday times. Hong Kong is mainly a commercial/banking center. Tourism is secondary.

During Christmas, coach is very expensive to Hong Kong, as it's time when students fly back and forth and people go visit relatives. Best time of the year to visit for many reasons - festive mood, weather, cheaper hotels and airfares.

Those Continental "R" fares have certain restrictions and are non-refundable. And if one cares, only 100% FF miles, not 150%.

Rkkwan..You are tantalizing me now! Let me ask you one more thing while I have your attention: If I go in November, before the X-mas crowds...what is the weather like? More important, I like to swim every day and prefer indoor pools. Are there top HK hotels with these or is space too tight? Or any with heated outdoor pools in which I could swim in late fall?

I have accounts with Iberia and Flying Blue, by the way...but am not wedded to using if I can get a great fare..

ekscrunchy - I don't know much about hotel pools in Hong Kong. Ask cicerone about it - she knows much more about that than I do.

Ok...thank you for all of your help..you are a treasure here and I have benefited from your advice in the past!

I am sorry for changing the topic of the original post, but will start a new one and inquire soon....

Hawktwo,

I just got back from Hong Kong. I bought the cheapest tickets available with United. Someone suggested this already but I will mentioned it again. I flew HNL, SFO to HKG. The day I was leaving,I received an email from United to check-in online, which I did, in the process, United asked if I was interested in upgrading to business class for $639. I gladly accepted their offer. On my way back, I asked the agent if I could buy an upgrade to business class and I got lucky again. You could try this, but if you don't want to take a chance, you might want to try airtreks.com. I have found cheaper business class with them.

Fourteen hours is a long time to be seating in coach.

Have a great time and I hope you find a cheaper fare than $11,000

ekscrunchy,

The JW Marriot has an outdoor (heated) swimming pool. And also the Grand Hyatt.

Have a great time.

i try to find an airline that has 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 seating....then HE and you can be more comfortable...

Thanks everyone for suggestions. We worked a bit with Airtreks -- they are very responsive if unimaginative. Our biggest hurdle in dealing with both Airtreks and the assigned travel agent for the group was seemingly inability to think creatively.

We're going from JFK to Seoul to Beijing for arrival and then HK to Seoul to Chicago to DC. The entire trip is business class except for the Chicago to DC and I'm hoping to upgrade these seats with points, but if not... that's fine.

The cost per person is a little over $4000, quite a difference from the initial price of $11,200 per person.

Now the next challenge: figuring out how to get approval to use a CPAP machine so my husband can sleep without snoring.

Goddess: Thank you for the pool information. Were people swimming in February? Where did you stay and what were your impressions of the hotel and location?

Thanks!

Where is he going to put the CPAP while he is sleeping? I asume if he is so tall, having the tray down or wedging it in to the seat beside him is not an option. Hope there is a plug for a power source. Otherwise, you shouldn't have a problem. It is not a radio type device.

Experienced air travelers look up the seat configurations of the type of aircraft they will be flying and seek out the two-across seats that generally are near the rear of the plane.

There is a very large open space between these seats and the aircraft wall, plenty wide for the people to stretch their legs.

I am just under six feet tall, and my wife is only a little shorter. We switch off seats from time to time, and we use the wall space to advantage.

In a 747, for example, seats in rows 53, 54, 55, 56, and 57 (depending on the model) provide this side-by-side seating.

Personally, I wouldn't pay the extra money for comfort I can obtain for free by choosing those side-by-side seats. Business class is overpriced by far in the instance you cite.