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Two weeks in Mainland China will kill a man. Dear god I cannot remember the last time ever feeling so lost. I basically hopped on an airport bus which I had no idea where it was taking me, and completely lucked out that there was a white pilot with me near the back who gave me the run down. The upside to flying domestically inside China: Business class in-flight food/drink/service is much superior in comparison to the US Downsides: Constant equipment swaps (lost out on a 787 ride) Lounges are crappy No English i fly airplanes fucked around with this message at 11:12 on Feb 11, 2017 |
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Feb 11, 2017 11:08
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i fly airplanes posted:The upside to flying domestically inside China: Really? Are US carriers that bad? Going around China sucks if you are an outsider and not part of the loop. But for me it's actually super duper convenient. I can hail a through an app, the driver can track my flight number and I get a 3 hour delay grace period. It also generates all the receipts and billings automatically. In my experience, domestic air travel isn't that great in China and I'm way better off taking high speed trains and subways to the train stations because of bad traffic jams to the airport and constant flight delays when I do get to the airport.
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Feb 11, 2017 17:52
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i fly airplanes posted:The upside to flying domestically inside China: I've flown four different Chinese carriers both intra-China and long-haul and not a single goddamn one of them had an edible meal that originated in China.
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Feb 11, 2017 18:47
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Mackieman posted:I've flown four different Chinese carriers both intra-China and long-haul and not a single goddamn one of them had an edible meal that originated in China. Same. China Eastern, Air China, China Southern, and Hainan. Hainan wasn't too bad, like 1980's good 
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Feb 11, 2017 18:54
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Mackieman posted:I've flown four different Chinese carriers both intra-China and long-haul and not a single goddamn one of them had an edible meal that originated in China. I flew Shanghai Airlines and China Southern and they had good meals. caberham posted:Really? Are US carriers that bad? I took the Guangzhou-Shenzhen high speed train and the lines/queues were a complete nightmare. Foreigners also cannot use the automated kiosks because it doesn't recognize foreign passports.
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Feb 11, 2017 23:41
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 Here's one of the meals I had. Also I'm not talking about international long-haul flights. I wouldn't fly the mainland Chinese carriers internationally, especially when there are better alternatives. I was just trying to compare domestic US to domestic Chinese flights.
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Feb 12, 2017 00:14
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I don't travel much, but you guys are experts so I wanted to check - I'm going to China in October, flying into Beijing and out of Shanghai (I think). Should I try to orchestrate my long leg being on Cathay by taking an extra stop in Hong Kong? Would it be more worth it to try and stop at NRT? I fly from a little airport in Eastern Iowa, so I can't get directly on to any of these carriers, but I could drive to Chicago.
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Feb 13, 2017 00:21
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If you're flying economy just take whatever is the shortest travel time.
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Feb 13, 2017 00:59
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sellouts posted:If you're flying economy just take whatever is the shortest travel time. Would economy plus be a meaningful actual upgrade on Cathay?
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Feb 13, 2017 01:20
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I've never flown it. Only biz. If I am paying though I fly cheapest available ticket across an ocean unless the next class is within ~350. Any more than that and I don't find it particularly worth it. But I can go from paid J via work to economy on lax to dxb without much complaint.
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Feb 13, 2017 01:30
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:Would economy plus be a meaningful actual upgrade on Cathay? I've not flown CX premium economy, but people say it's a good PE product. I have flown VS premium economy, and I've also flown CX economy ORD-HKG (and vice versa), and I can tell you that I would definitely pay a few hundred bucks for the extra space next time on that route (well, next next time, cause I'm flying CX F with miles in June). That said, I wouldn't overfly China just to take Cathay. Doing JL or NH and stopping over in Tokyo seems better.
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Feb 13, 2017 02:31
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The cheapest, fastest way to do it with my own dollars is American or Delta (CID to DTW to PEK and reverse but substitute Shanghai on the return leg) but it's like a 18 hours of travel time. I don't know that the economy plus product would be worth it on American or Delta, but I guess there's only one way to find out. Edit: It would be about $4k to do this as a business fare instead of an economy fare. I guess I'll just find a doctor friend to write me a benzo and some provigil. EAT FASTER!!!!!! fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 02:41
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:I don't travel much, but you guys are experts so I wanted to check - I'm going to China in October, flying into Beijing and out of Shanghai (I think). Should I try to orchestrate my long leg being on Cathay by taking an extra stop in Hong Kong? Would it be more worth it to try and stop at NRT? I fly from a little airport in Eastern Iowa, so I can't get directly on to any of these carriers, but I could drive to Chicago. You're right that flying out of CID will limit you to US carriers usually. They are probably the only ones that service that airport, unless a foreign carrier codeshares that route. You also want to avoid unnecessary connections. So imo my order of preference would be (1) CID-XXX-PEK, (2) ORD-PEK, (3) ORD-XXX-PEK, (4) CID-XXX-XXX-PEK. The prices will vary with each, and non-stops are usually always priced more expensive accordingly.
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Feb 13, 2017 03:41
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:The cheapest, fastest way to do it with my own dollars is American or Delta (CID to DTW to PEK and reverse but substitute Shanghai on the return leg) but it's like a 18 hours of travel time. I don't know that the economy plus product would be worth it on American or Delta, but I guess there's only one way to find out. AA is Main Cabin Extra and Delta is Comfort+ and both on international flights mean nothing but extra legroom. This is worth it if you are a tall person; otherwise, if legroom is not a problem, no reason to spend on it. I would never pay for business class out of pocket, especially at regular prices. Many companies negotiate significant discounts off published fares, which is why they are usually extraordinarily high. If you have frequent flier miles, you can also use them on your ticket to waitlist for an upgrade. Nonstops out of ORD to PEK are also very cheap right now because Hainan is competing against AA and UA on the route, around $500 roundtrip. Here would be my ideal route: https://www.google.com/flights/?gl=US#search;iti=ORD_PEK_2017-03-07*PVG,SHA_ORD_2017-03-14;tt=m I'd fly Hainan over United and AA.
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Feb 13, 2017 03:52
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i fly airplanes posted:I flew Shanghai Airlines and China Southern and they had good meals. The best compromise is to have someone on the Chinese side set things up for you and use your passport details to order a ticket. You can either collect the tickets in person or better yet, mail all the tickets to your hotel room. As for car hailing It's called Shenzhou, http://www.zuche.com/ . Again, give your flight number to someone on the Chinese side and have them make an appointment for you, it's kind of like uber where major airports have a pickup location and you will know the plate number and all. Unfortunately, it only takes Chinese app payment portals like alipay or wechat pay. That's the best and worse thing about being in China. If you have all these apps to make your life easier, you don't even need loose change or your wallet when you leave your house but if you don't have these services life sucks because everyone is ahead of you. EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:I don't travel much, but you guys are experts so I wanted to check - I'm going to China in October, flying into Beijing and out of Shanghai (I think). Should I try to orchestrate my long leg being on Cathay by taking an extra stop in Hong Kong? Would it be more worth it to try and stop at NRT? I fly from a little airport in Eastern Iowa, so I can't get directly on to any of these carriers, but I could drive to Chicago. I love NRT because I'm a giant weaboo and fill my overhead space with souvenirs and food from duty free. I also like to use clean electronic toilets and blast cold water up my butt. If you can do a 2-3 day stop over on NRT I would do it in a heart beat. But like what other people said, just get to your destination hassle free Cathay planes are great, even in economy you can charge your tablet with usb ports and plug in your headphones for audio, but Cathay isn't so great when it comes to inter China/USA travel. And going from HKG to PEK takes at least 4-5 hours total. Like what people say, don't drive to Chicago and just get to PEK. I actually hate flying out of Northern China and the bad air quality paired with constant delays uses up a lot more time compared to trains. But October should be fine and for simplicity sake the a flight from PEK to SHA (Hong Qiao Airport), PVG is the worst airport in China and is in the middle of nowhere. By the time I go from PVG to downtown I could have gone to Taipei from SHA.
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Feb 13, 2017 05:36
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Thanks everyone for the massively useful frequent flyer insight!
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Feb 13, 2017 14:49
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:Would economy plus be a meaningful actual upgrade on Cathay? not really unless you want a few extra inches of leg room. The in-class service for economy and economy plus is exactly the same, including the A/V equipment and charging ports.
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Feb 13, 2017 15:35
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I did ORD to PEK in United Economy back in November, it was totally fine. Decent IFE, decent meals, free beer/wine. It's on an older 767 so there weren't nearly enough bathrooms but everything else was fine. It was also like $525 round trip.
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Feb 13, 2017 17:10
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evidently if you book premium economy on a delta codeshare partner (VS) and you get bumped for some inexplicable reason to delta metal, they put you in Y and then are assholes to you i pulled the DYKWIA and felt shame but the end result was still just comfort+ which blows
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Feb 13, 2017 18:18
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Oh, yeah, forgot about this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/10/china-detains-a-man-for-five-days-for-using-his-phone-on-a-flight/ Backwards as gently caress.
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Feb 13, 2017 21:17
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quote:In one case, for example, a passenger was detained for five days. This person's alleged crime? Listening to music on their phone during takeoff and landing. If it was on speaker I'm absolutely fine with a 5 day stint in jail.
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Feb 13, 2017 21:24
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Question re: seat selection on Korean Airlines I just booked a flight from Jeju to Gimpo on KE in Prestige (C fare bucket). I chose one of the flights operated by a 747 because I want to sit on the upper deck. However, seat selection is showing me a completely empty seatmap on the lower deck and a completely unbookable upper deck. ExpertFlyer, meanwhile, shows an entirely empty upper deck (although the exit row is blocked). Does anyone know how far in advance KE allows the upper deck to be booked? e: I should add that I'm not too worried about the upper deck filling up on a late Wednesday morning ex-Jeju flight, but come on man, I paid cash for a business fare. Give me my upper deck 
pig slut lisa fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 04:38
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pig slut lisa posted:Question re: seat selection on Korean Airlines nerd!!! you might have to call. also somehow this feels worse than the Chinese flying A380's for domestic flights. these flights are also always at huge risk of equipment swaps!
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Feb 14, 2017 05:38
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I have no idea what expert flyer is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Nwy7viNR4 Wow. So it's like seat guru on steroids?
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Feb 14, 2017 06:07
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I think most people use it for the seat alert, so that you get an email when business class or first class award space opens up on a date you want. All the other functions go pretty heavy into the deep end, mostly designed for hobbyists. I can't imagine most people needing to search up something like, minimum connection times, maximum permitted mileage, fare basis codes, etc.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:13
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i fly airplanes posted:I think most people use it for the seat alert, so that you get an email when business class or first class award space opens up on a date you want. All the other functions go pretty heavy into the deep end, mostly designed for hobbyists. I can't imagine most people needing to search up something like, minimum connection times, maximum permitted mileage, fare basis codes, etc. Man I should have signed up for my last trip. I was in Chiang Mai and didn't want to pay through the nose for a return ticket and was lingering around my phone and checking random sites and mileage status.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:15
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Question re: Delta award flights. I know you don't accrue miles for award flights, but do they count at all towards mqs and mqm award thresholds?
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Feb 14, 2017 13:09
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Nope, you don't get any kind of elite credit on award flights.
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Feb 14, 2017 15:35
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Immanentized posted:Question re: Delta award flights. I know you don't accrue miles for award flights, but do they count at all towards mqs and mqm award thresholds? Only miles & cash tickets do. Using Skymiles like this is pretty average in value though, you usually get about 1 cent per mile redeemed. caberham posted:Man I should have signed up for my last trip. I was in Chiang Mai and didn't want to pay through the nose for a return ticket and was lingering around my phone and checking random sites and mileage status. It's not that useful unless you have something specific in mind.
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Feb 15, 2017 02:52
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pig slut lisa posted:Question re: seat selection on Korean Airlines why would they use a 747 for a puddle jumper? That flight is like 50 minutes
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Feb 15, 2017 02:56
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sink the biz posted:why would they use a 747 for a puddle jumper? That flight is like 50 minutes Capacity. If they have enough demand to pack that thing they'll fly it five or six round trips a day.
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Feb 15, 2017 03:09
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What do ya'll recommend as far as travel chargers and batteries go? I have two phones and two laptops.... A plug for a laptop on the power adapter would be nice but I'm worried that having three prongs on the plug would be limiting.... I also just got my first cc, a chase sapphire preffered that I use for buisness. I fly basically whatever airline and stay wherever is most convinent for me on relation to the clients location. Any recommendations to maximize my rewards or miles? Consolidate I guess? I'm out of Miami and fly mostly around the SE and Midwest. Texas is really big for me.... Also any general tips and stuff? I have ~100$ day for food (and booze as long as I get an appetizer) and I book my own trips and can choose my itinerary as long as it's within a reasonable amount of the lowest price. I just started traveling for my company (last quarter) and will be doing it alot moving foward...ive traveled every week this year except this week (valentines) and im booked the next 3 weeks solid Waroduce fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 04:28
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Waroduce posted:What do ya'll recommend as far as travel chargers and batteries go? I have two phones and two laptops.... Get rid of one phone and one laptop? Seriously why all the kit? Just buy one of those multi USB chargers that everyone makes and then downsize to a single laptop at least. Everything else will plug into the USB.
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Feb 15, 2017 05:04
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I am uncomfortable having steam and SA on my client or work laptop E: also porn Waroduce fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 05:36
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sink the biz posted:why would they use a 747 for a puddle jumper? That flight is like 50 minutes Busiest route in the world. 11+ million passengers in 2015.
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Feb 15, 2017 05:46
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Waroduce posted:I am uncomfortable having steam and SA on my client or work laptop Don't play video games or stick to cell phone games/ipad version video games. Or just do your goony goon goon stuff when you go home. Other folks here bring exercise bands and I enjoy running around random places early morning. Eating out and hanging around airports makes you want to drink or snack even more so be healthy! As for chargers I use something like this but with 4 USB charging ports http://www.skross.com/en/product/95/world-adapter-evo-usb.html But you can use whatever is cheap because everything eventually breaks down.
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Feb 15, 2017 09:31
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sink the biz posted:why would they use a 747 for a puddle jumper? That flight is like 50 minutes
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Feb 15, 2017 12:02
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3 prongs on the plug is fine. You aren't going to any foreign countries so I really do not see why you need an adapter. Get rid of a laptop unless you want shoulder injuries. Work laptop + personal tablet is far better.
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Feb 15, 2017 12:15
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I decided against playing games during work travel. I try and go for walks, explore, eat out, find events that are on. Sometimes i'll play a mobile game to pass the time. Also if you're booking your own trips you should try and stick to one carrier or at least one alliance as much as possible. It feels good to not have any significant international trips coming up in the next few weeks. I just did 6 long intercontinental trips from Australia in under 3 months. Exhausted.
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Feb 15, 2017 13:13
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I actually prefer to bring 2 little USB plugs when I travel. They seem to charge faster and it means I can charge my phone by the bed and my tablet out of the way somewhere else. Or I can loan one out to someone.
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Feb 15, 2017 16:12
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