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London - China via Dubai



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 8th, 2005, 03:00 AM
MC
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Default London - China via Dubai

The wife and I are planning on visiting China at the end of July/beginning
of Aug and would like to fly the following route:

London - Dubai - Beijing or Shanghai - Shanghai or Beijing - Dubai - London

I am finding it hard to find a site/airline online that will allow us to
plan the above route so that we may get an idea of price (if indeed it is
feasible). We would like to stopover in Dubai as we cannot handle being
"crammed" in economy class for more than 6 or 7 hours.

We would like to visit both Beijing and Shanghai areas (it does not matter
in which order) and would like to stay a week in each. The third week will
be spent (3/4 nights each way) on a stopovers.

Can any one advise a website that will allow us to plan this trip to China
"with" stopovers. Are there airlines that will do a trip to China via
Dubai. Any other ideas for stopovers will also be appreciated.

Regards

MC

BA = Airline of choice coz I need the FF points and I am only a couple of
thousand miles short of my transatlantic freebie


  #2  
Old March 8th, 2005, 04:57 AM
RAK
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Default


"MC" wrote in message
...
The wife and I are planning on visiting China at the end of July/beginning
of Aug and would like to fly the following route:

London - Dubai - Beijing or Shanghai - Shanghai or Beijing - Dubai -
London

I am finding it hard to find a site/airline online that will allow us to
plan the above route so that we may get an idea of price (if indeed it is
feasible). We would like to stopover in Dubai as we cannot handle being
"crammed" in economy class for more than 6 or 7 hours.

We would like to visit both Beijing and Shanghai areas (it does not matter
in which order) and would like to stay a week in each. The third week
will be spent (3/4 nights each way) on a stopovers.

Can any one advise a website that will allow us to plan this trip to China
"with" stopovers. Are there airlines that will do a trip to China via
Dubai. Any other ideas for stopovers will also be appreciated.

Regards

MC

BA = Airline of choice coz I need the FF points and I am only a couple of
thousand miles short of my transatlantic freebie


Emirates flies to Dubai where you can change to their Shanghai flight but
they do not go to Beijing as far as I know
IMO they are better than BA in most respects but you cannot add the miles to
your BA FF. But you can add them to some other schemes which may be of use:
Continental, Delta, United, JAL, SAA.
I don't think you will find another single airline to do that route and a
ticket on 2 airlines is likely to cost much more.

Dubai is a good place for a couple of days stopover - desert trips, shopping
etc - but not in summer when it is too hot. In July/Aug you could find
temperatures well over 40C, too hot for most people.
Other options for a stopover:
- Bangkok via Thai (but more than 6-7 hours Lon-Bkk);
- other gulf airlines possibly - check out GulfAir, Qatar; but also very hot
in July.
- if you are adventurous I think Iran Air goes to Beijing with a stopover in
Tehran - could be interesting but you would need a visa for Iran.

A good travel agent such as Trailfinders may give you other ideas.

I can't see a way to get BA points with a split journey except if you use 2
OneWorld airlines, e.g. BA to Dubai, Cathay on to HK & China.

Alternative: If you can pay a bit extra BA have economy plus service (they
call it something else) on some long routes - bigger seats, maybe £100 extra
each way - that could make the direct flight more bearable.




  #3  
Old March 8th, 2005, 11:46 AM
Riaz
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BA economy plus is called World Traveller Plus. The extra they are
going to charge is going to be anywhere from 200 to 400 GBP one way.

  #4  
Old March 8th, 2005, 12:27 PM
RAK
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"Riaz" wrote in message
oups.com...
BA economy plus is called World Traveller Plus. The extra they are
going to charge is going to be anywhere from 200 to 400 GBP one way.

Ouch - £400 one way?! No wonder I don't use it. I'd rather suffer in the
plane (deadened by booze) and spend the ££ on a better hotel on arrival.


  #5  
Old March 8th, 2005, 02:53 PM
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If your stopover has to be Dubai you should probably fly Emirates.
However, the only Chinese destination they service is Hong Kong. And
if you are prepared to fly into/out of Hong Kong then you have a vast
choice of airlines and stopovers: you might consider Gulf Air (with
spicy food) since you could stop over in Muscat, almost certainly the
most interesting destination in the Gulf region.

There are few obvious places to stop over on the route to Beijing.
Moscow is fairly near the half-way point, but that would mean flying
Aeroflot ... A stopover elsewhere in Europe would make for a long
flight to/from Beijing (even longer to Shanghai) but you could consider
Vienna using Austrian Airlines or Budapest using MALEV -- on this trip
the flight from Budapest to China is actually operated by Hainan
airlines, a reputable Chinese carrier. You can book the MALEV option
at www.zuji.com

Lots of other stopover possibilities with indirect flights -- eg fly
Ethiopian Airlines to Beijing with a break in Addis Ababa!

You could always use some of your BA miles to pay for an upgrade on
their non-stop LHR-Beijing service -- that is the way that I would play
it.

  #6  
Old March 8th, 2005, 03:33 PM
RAK
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Default


wrote in message
oups.com...
If your stopover has to be Dubai you should probably fly Emirates.
However, the only Chinese destination they service is Hong Kong. And
if you are prepared to fly into/out of Hong Kong then you have a vast
choice of airlines and stopovers: you might consider Gulf Air (with
spicy food) since you could stop over in Muscat, almost certainly the
most interesting destination in the Gulf region.

There are few obvious places to stop over on the route to Beijing.
Moscow is fairly near the half-way point, but that would mean flying
Aeroflot ... A stopover elsewhere in Europe would make for a long
flight to/from Beijing (even longer to Shanghai) but you could consider
Vienna using Austrian Airlines or Budapest using MALEV -- on this trip
the flight from Budapest to China is actually operated by Hainan
airlines, a reputable Chinese carrier. You can book the MALEV option
at www.zuji.com

Lots of other stopover possibilities with indirect flights -- eg fly
Ethiopian Airlines to Beijing with a break in Addis Ababa!

You could always use some of your BA miles to pay for an upgrade on
their non-stop LHR-Beijing service -- that is the way that I would play
it.


According to Emirates website they fly to Shanghai as well as HK.
Moscow is nowhere near halfway from London to Shanghai or Beijing, it is
roughly 1/4 of the way.
I thought Gulf Air's main hub for long-haul was Bahrein not Muscat but I am
not sure.

Two other options which may offer stopvers nearer to halfway (maybe 2/3 of
the way?) are Pakistan Airways and Air India - but they would not be on my
list of preferred airlines.





  #7  
Old March 8th, 2005, 10:39 PM
Geoff Glave
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Default

BA economy plus is called World Traveller Plus. The extra they are
going to charge is going to be anywhere from 200 to 400 GBP one way.

Ouch - £400 one way?! No wonder I don't use it. I'd rather suffer in the
plane (deadened by booze) and spend the ££ on a better hotel on arrival.


I've often wondered how much airlines suffer laws of dimishing returns
with these "Economy Plus" configurations... If BA, UA et al charged
less for these areas of the plane (but still more than economy of
course) would they sell more seats there, resulting in higher overall
revenue?

I realize in the case of United they mostly just give the seats away
to frequent flyers...

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada
  #8  
Old March 8th, 2005, 11:16 PM
Jeff Hacker
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Default


"Geoff Glave" wrote in message
om...
BA economy plus is called World Traveller Plus. The extra they are
going to charge is going to be anywhere from 200 to 400 GBP one way.

Ouch - £400 one way?! No wonder I don't use it. I'd rather suffer in the
plane (deadened by booze) and spend the ££ on a better hotel on arrival.


Depends on the route. London - China via Dubai is actually two long
segments. 400 Pounds might not seem so bad. Between Washington and London
on Virgin, I paid $150 each way for the upgrade to "Premium Economy" - the
28 seat section was full in both directions, and the passengers were all
paying.

I've often wondered how much airlines suffer laws of dimishing returns
with these "Economy Plus" configurations... If BA, UA et al charged
less for these areas of the plane (but still more than economy of
course) would they sell more seats there, resulting in higher overall
revenue?

I realize in the case of United they mostly just give the seats away
to frequent flyers...


and make up the difference on the rest of their coach passengers in the
"Economy Minus" section, with a 31" pitch.



Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada



  #9  
Old March 9th, 2005, 02:18 AM
MC
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Default

As subject

Regards

MC


  #10  
Old March 9th, 2005, 10:23 AM
Cedric T Krumpacker II
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Default

I had the choice of booking BA/Qantas WTP or Thai Economy from New Zealand
to UK return. WTP seat pitch appears to be 38 inches, against 34 in Thai
Economy [and 31 in BA/Qantas Economy]. The fare is about half way between
Thai Economy and Thai Business. [The UK taxes are much higher on WTP, which
they regard as Business Class for tax purposes.] I would have chosen Thai
anyway, but what confirmed me in my chose was that as a Thai Frequent Flier
I can carry 30 kg in Thai Economy, but am allowed only 20 kg in WTP.


 




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