Best Airline?

[woliveri]

I'm tying to pin down a good airline, or several, that are known to be good airlines to travel from the US to China (LAX to Shanghai).

Can anyone offer any suggestions? Or let me know which ones I should avoid?

Thanks in advance.

[andrewfz]

I would go through Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific (the best) ....then up from HK to Shanghai on China Eastern.

[td36285n]

Cathay Pacific, and then make a connection from HKG (best airport) into Shanghai. Since you're flying from LAX, you might want to venture into several tourist agencies located within Chinatown and inquire about their prices, which are cheaper than any online airline merchants. I paid $1,120 for my economy class roundtrip tickets from JFK to Kunming for a 4.5 months stay. I don't know about other airlines, but Chinese airlines usually charge higher fares if you intend to stay longer than 3 months.

If you want to know the nitty gritty about Cathay Pacific's service, you might want to check out this site:

www.airlinequality.com

[woliveri]

I've been quoted at 700.00 for round trip, 5 months stay with China Eastern but that's from LAX.

100.00 more for open ticket.

[td36285n]

I had two awful experiences on China Eastern (CE) and those particular flights lasted only 2 hours each. Cathay is a little more expensive and you might have to spend a night in Hong Kong (oh, how I miss HK!), but a more pleasant experience 30,000 feet above the Earth makes it all worth it. You don't want to get off the plane more pissed off than you already should from jetlag.

[woliveri]

Can you give me an idea of a bad experience?

[adrianlondon]

Have you watched Lost?

Personally, I don't rate Cathay Pacific but I am basing this on just the one flight. I wish Singapore Airlines flew between the UK and China.

[woliveri]

There are two international airports in Shanghai. Which one is better on more common with flights from the US?

Pudong International Airport

or

Hongqiao International Airport

Thanks

[sebtrois]

There's no such thing as a better one.

HongQiao is the "old" airport, which means it is downtown, a short ride away from the original historical Shanghai.

Pudong, is as is name may hint to, on the Pudong (=east "dong" of the HuangPu river) side, which is the whole are which rised from the groung over the last decade, Pudong airport is connected by the subway.

[yorkie_bear]

alternative nice little airline between HKG and Shanghai is DragonAir. again not a cheapie, but v.nice service, v. little hassle.