I’ve taken United, Northwest, EVA and Delta across the ocean and have to say that I liked EVA best. The flight attendents were super friendly and the service was great. Delta was okay…United’s and Northwest’s flight attendants were ornery.
I avoid China Airlines for obvious reasons…
Singapore and Malaysian Air both have good service( I hear), but get to the US West coast too late to transfer planes the same day. I’ve never flown Thai Air across the Pacific either…
I guess some people don’t like fiery plane crashes. Of course, they have been reorganized since then.
Oh, right, I see. Of course. I should have known, especially since that’s exactly the reason I won’t travel by bus, or car, or motorcycle, or boat, or (insert name of any airline that ever had a crash).
Don’t get around much anymore.
CX (Cathay Pacific) and SA (Singapore) by a long shot.
Next time you are flying to the States, consider digging into the pocket a little deeper, and splurge on an EVA “Economy Deluxe” ticket. It will cost you about NT$8,000 more than standard fare, but it’s worth it. Big seats, leg room, only one seat next to yours, personal video monitors, good service w/ higher flight attendant to passenger ratio. These seats are bascially the same as business class.
For the long haul from Taipei to JFK, it’s a revelation. You’ll never want to be back in coach with the sheep again.
i agree with Mwalimu, but also must say that china airlines has superior service to all of the above except cathay and sing air. china airlines also has not has mishaps (that i know of) on their us-taipei segments.
Last time I flew to the east coast (Dec.2001)I took United. For the whole trip, including layover of week in SF, I paid NT$32K, but ended up getting 39,996 flier miles. That means with four more miles, I can get two free tix w/in Asia (HK, Sing, KL, BKK).
All that for one jaunt. So, I recommend United, or others which give you these sorts of deals. Oh, btw, they were offering double mileage, so keep your eyes open for specials.
Just wondering though, I hear I can pay for the four extra miles in order to trade in for the two free tix at 20k miles each. Anyone know about this? Suppose I should ring them.
At about NT$18,500, Malaysia Air is the best airlines…unless your company is paying for the ticket.
All economy-classes are the same – go for saving money for your destination.
United has to be the worse. I still haven’t forgiven them for taking my luggage off one flight nearly 15 years ago. (The plane was too heavy was the excuse.) Then they didn’t know what happened to it and I had to wait weeks to get my bag. Mitigating factor: A flight attendant did give me a bottle of unopened champagne once.
Northwest gets second place for f-----g up my special meal request. They gave it to some old Japanese woman who nodded yes when they read her my Anglo name. Starved the rest of the flight.
I’d be cautious about Eva. Some of the pilots smoke in the cockpit sometimes, something that’s not allowed. How many other little rules do they break? And don’t tell me one of their nubile little xiaojies will be useful in the case of any emergency.
Alien has had good luck on United. I have had nothing but bad luck.
Years ago, they did not have enough food for all, and the back rows
were out of luck. Did not fly them for years and flew Northwest.
Then Northwest no longer went to Chicago, but stopped in Detroit
instead. So, I tried United. I have been stuck in Japan two or three
times because the engines had problems. One time because of
medical emergency, we ended up in Korea somehow and ended up
being a day late.
I also got a “coupon” from them, but now they do not seem to want to
honor it. I am looking around for other airlines to Chicago and New
York, the two main places I fly to.
there is really only one word for ny ist, unless you enjoy flying into kennedy, if you live somewhere on li i will let it go.
EVA
Does EVA stop over anywhere? I’ve flown United 12 times over the past 3 years from Atlanta to Taiwan. Great service every time and only one stop in San Francisco. Northwest always seemed to have a bunch of stops.
We’re planning on returning to Taiwan for a visit next spring and we’re looking around at the best rates. United has the lowest price I’ve seen right now at $603USD. I guess we need to give EVA a look.
Does EVA stop over anywhere? I’ve flown United 12 times over the past 3 years from Atlanta to Taiwan. Great service every time and only one stop in San Francisco. Northwest always seemed to have a bunch of stops.
We’re planning on returning to Taiwan for a visit next spring and we’re looking around at the best rates. United has the lowest price I’ve seen right now at $603USD. I guess we need to give EVA a look.[/quote]
from/to ny, hour stop in seattle only. and deluxe economy is a great deal
I guess I am the only one that would say China-Air-Line, well, the only reason I am still with them is because all my milages are with them…
But I heard EVA is great, so maybe I will give it a try one day!
I fly 4-5 times a year to San Francisco and my choice has always been United Airlines. Prior to 2001 I would highly recommend them. Since then service levels have declined dramatically, they’ve taken away direct TPESFO flights, and insituted a bunch of silly ticketing rules. The only reason I’m still with them is I have Gold membership so they treat me slightly better, and I still have a ton of miles I can spend on upgrades. When those run out, I will probably switch to EVA, though I would consider Malaysian or Singapore, though they both fly to LAX instead of SFO. I have flown EVA and Singapore on intra-asia routes and service has always been very good, even in economy. I’ve not flown Malaysia, but I hear nothing but glowing reports. I don’t like Cathay because the economy seats are a bit too squeezed for my knees to be comfortable. Thai and China Airlines are OK service, but China Airline’s safety record scares the hell out of me.
I’d recommend you check out the forums on www.flyertalk.com. Mostly frequent fliers bitching about service declines, but you can pick up some good info.
Flicka wrote : And don’t tell me one of their nubile little xiaojies will be useful in the case of any emergency.
Hey, as long as they sat on Chewy’s lap in the case of an emergency, I wouldn’t give two hoots.
To change the topic, now that some HK tycoon owns a share of Air Canada, I sincerely hope:
Chewy
Japan Airlines is my fav. The staff are pleasant and the food tastes like food. They put us up in a hotel for free as part of their stop over package in Tokyo!
I wll never fly United again after they left my bags in Chicago when I was going to Toronto, BASTARDS!
EVA is OK. Can’t say more than that.
Took them for years, but won’t be taking them again for these reasons:
they screwed us on pre-reserved infant seating, charging us US$400 at the airport for a service that should have been free;
their food sucks
they now force you to go through Tokyo if you are coming via SFO. They claim it’s a direct flight with a “stop” but you change terminals and planes in Tokyo, and get a new boarding pass.
The staff are rude.
How about British Airways? Could be interesting. Wonder whatever happened to the boozy CAL pilot. Anyone see any follow-up on that? Is he still flying?
Is it true that UA844 and U845 to/from SFO are history? I used to fly United a lot, due to premier status and lots of miles, but within the past year, it’s been too hard to get a reasonably priced ticket to/from TPE. Other than that, I’ve taken Eva and China Airlines, the other two carriers that offer non-stop flights. Taiwanese airlines tend to be more service oriented than the US based ones, and either of them are not bad. There tends to be fierce loyalty among Taiwanese to one or the other airline for some reason, with most of my friends mainly falling into the CAL camp. For obvious reasons, a lot of people might avoid CAL, and that’s your choice. American used to have a non-stop from San Jose also, but that was cancelled after 9/11.
If you do go with Eva, the deluxe class is worth the $$. It’s basically a business class seat, but with economy class service. Much better than cattle class.