I’ve heard Qatar is great - no personal experience.
We just used Cathay Pacific from O’Hare. I always try to book non-stops, but not available with any carrier for the date we needed. One change in Hong Kong with a five hour lay-over on the way over and a 70 minute connection time on the return. I was worried, but no problems making that connection in Hong Kong (although we did sort of “fly” through the airport to the departure gate). We also had the option of doing this trip on United, but Cathay Pacific was considerably cheaper at the point I booked (very close to our departure date). Next time, I will try to avoid a 5 hour layover that makes for over 20 hours of traveling. Op’s son is young and can probably handle anything, but me, not so much…
Cathay Pacific was quite comfortable - ended up in economy as premium economy was sold out for my dates and business class was priced out of my comfort zone. I could still sleep. Service was wonderful, but far from the best airline food I’ve been served.
Experience was so positive that I’ve booked Cathay Pacific for a Hong Kong journey later this summer instead of a similarly priced United option.
I flew Qatar from US to UAE…excellent experience. Coach on that flight was much better than any coach experience on a U.S. airline. I would use them again in a heartbeat.
Forgot to add - I also only book through the carrier. If anything goes wrong, I don’t want to be standing in the airport trying to re-book through Expedia, etc. I use Kayak, etc for shopping, but it seems as if these sites are becoming less useful as more airlines pull out from them.
Having been stuck in Paris due to an Air France strike last year and having to monitor the status of Iberia strike negotiations on-line through Spanish newspapers, I can say that news of possible strikes or other disruptions is easier to obtain when flying an American carrier such as United. Sometimes it’s nice to be forewarned of possible problems in time to head them off. And guess what, Cathay Pacific cabin crew is questionable at present - glad there’s an English version of the South China Morning Post. By the way, United did a wonderful job of returning me from Paris when Air France couldn’t manage my return without several days delay. I’ve stopped dissing United as I used to.
Pay attention to whether an airline flight is a code share – meaning that airline X sells you the ticket, but airline Y actually operates the flight. Some things to be concerned about:
If you chose airline X for its in-flight service, you may be disappointed with airline Y.
You may not be able to pre-select a seat or otherwise manage your reservation as easily on a code share as on a flight operated by the selling airline.
You need to be aware that you need to check in at airline Y. It may be more difficult to do (some of) the check in procedures on the web the day before for a code share, requiring you to arrive earlier at the airport.
I actually dislike using partner airlines because when flying coach, which is how most of us travel, not all partner airlines will allow you to choose seats in advance of the departure day. This just happened to me on Austrian Airlines, a partner of Air Canada, from Vienna to Toronto.
I’m with Pizzagirl - I never book using a third party. I’ll use Kayak, Expedia, etc to research and then go to the airline site to actually book the flight.
Qatar, Singapore airlines, Cathay are all good. Look at seatguru.com and flyertalk.com to compare seat pitch, etc. In general, carriers from rich Asian countries and middle east have newer fleet and they employ a lot of crew from Europe.
Be aware that many Asia-based airlines have very small carry-on weight limits, like 7-10 kg / 15-22 pounds. Sometimes, the gate agent will ask to weigh your carry-on. Note that a typical empty rollaboard bag will consume a considerable amount of this weight limit before you even put anything in it. So check the airline’s baggage policy before you book and plan your carry-on versus checked baggage accordingly.
One other thing about Qatar that amazed me (as an American who often ends up flying on United) - I had a connecting flight in Doha. The flight between Doha and Dubai is about 45 minutes and they actually served a hot sandwich and drink service!
I just rebooked through Qatar. I have it on hold for 24 hours.
He will have a 3 1/2 hour layover in Japan. Anyone see a problem with that?
Thanks everyone
A few times I’ve seen people post pictures of the food they get on some of these (one I’m pretty sure was Singapore Air, not sure if they all were). Very impressive.
That sounds great, 1214mom. Enough time to move from arrival to departure gate, stretch legs, etc. with some room for an unexpected delay. Not too long if everything runs on schedule.
I agree that it’s probably a good idea to warn him about carry-on weight. I thought I was pretty good at checking in from home, printing boarding pass at home or kiosk, swinging my bag along as if it weighs nothing, etc. to minimize the chance that my carry-on would be grabbed and weighed. Not a possibility with my recent flight to S’pore. Boarding pass only available from check-in desk and bag literally grabbed from my hand. I had been careful, 14.5 pounds. The group of young people in front of me was scrambling to reorganize bags to reach allowed carry-on weight. The outgoing plane was full which may have been part of the reason for the scrutiny. No checks when returning.
We had a six hour layover on an international flight. We had FF status so had access to the airline lounge. But if we hadn’t had FF status, we would,have bought it for the day.
I lied… His layover is not in Japan but in Doha, Qatar. Should this be OK? Sorry if that’s a silly question, but I’m nervous sending my kid so far from home.
Also check weight limits for checked bags. From US to other countries, they usually allow the US std weight of 50 lbs. But often from international to international, they use a weight limit of about 40 lbs for checked bags.