I'm planning to travel to asia and my agent has offered me several packages from different airlines: United, Northwest, Japan airlines, Cathay pacific, and China airlines... recommandations anyone? Do you have any experiences with these airlines?

Each of these airlines, to be sure, comes with a different price tag. If money is no problem, the overall plum in the group is Japan Airlines. China Air is probably the cheaper of the bunch. I like their service. I've never enjoyed flying United. Seems to me that since this is an Asia trip, you might as well travel via an Asian airline to make a smooth introduction into the culture....

Flown them all and Japan Airlines is good. However, Cathay is also excellent and certainly asian. And, being based in Hong Kong, the best bet for access to Asia, unless you are only going to Japan.

Hi there! <BR> <BR>We just got back from our Asian tour and flew with Cathay Pacific and Garuda Indonesia.....Cathay Pacific - Asian Airline with great hospitality, lots of choices for food, there are midnight snacks, tvs for each seat (there are games) and the flight attendants are nice. the route we flew was from Toronto to Anchorage (7 hours) then 13+ hours to Hong Kong (we flew over Japan - really neat!) and then 4 hours to Bali. <BR> <BR>Seats are spacious...my husband is tall, although you might want to arrive a little earlier at the airport to get bulhead seats or exit seats...we got these and thoroughly enjoyed our flight eventhough it was long...oh well what can you do when you are travelling to the other side of the world. <BR> <BR>Beware of the passengers...the asian passengers don't line up!! (i can say this truthfully as I myself am asian)...sad to say that my people don't understand the meaning of "courtesy". so be prepared to get pushed gently on the back sometimes and having people 100% of the time cut the line. This made me mad and I complained to Cathay about this and hopefully they will implement a better queueing system. <BR> <BR>Japan Airlines - never flown it before but have heard that it is expensive but amazing...met an international lawyer and he said that he flew first class and actually had a shower on the plane...how cool is that!! You even get a bathrobe! so if you want to pamper yourself go with Japan Airlines! <BR>\ <BR>Have fun

Josh: I will give you MY personal experience here: Cathay Pacific was great. I got on the plane in Zurich and was sick (influenza). The staff looked nicely after me and I recovered pretty quickly from my cold in Hongkong. <BR>I did not like Air China (flight to Beijing. Bad service, bad food, stupid Asian films (the same on going and coming back). <BR>I shall avoid Air China in the future. <BR>Among the best for me for Asian destinations is for me definitely Singapore Airlines.

I flew to Hong Kong and then back from China on United and found the service to be very good. The food was fine and plenty of movies to keep us entertained on the long flights. <BR> <BR>I took Dragon Air from Hong Kong to Beijing and would also recommend them for local travel.

Pick Nose h Air. It flies all over your face if you don't cut it.

If your choice is not being dictated by cost, you will be much happier with Cathay or Japan air than with any of the American carriers. US-based airlines are way behind most Asian carriers in terms of customer service. I have found, however, that NW and United's intra-Asian flights are also far superior to their transpacific flights, because, I think, they're mostly staffed by Asian flight crews, and these US airlines are consciously trying to catch up with their Asian competitors.