Upon confirming with Flight Center, the $900 flight with a connection in Shanghai is a good deal but max stay of 3 months; which isn't good enough for me. The first portion from YVR to Shanghai is flown on United Airlines; and from Shanghai to Hong Kong is China Eastern. At that minimal distance, I'm pretty sure the plane isn't going to break down and if it does, shit!

Flight Center also said CX's ticket for $1272 /w tax is max 6 months and a ticket with 12 month stay is at a price of an additional $200 + taxes. They also have a United Airline flight that connects in San Francisco -or- LA (i forgot?) then to Hong Kong within the $900 range as well but 3 months max stay.

Still a lot of thinking and talking to do; however, I might end up either taking China Eastern as it's the cheapest if I bail on returning home -OR- take a one way flight to Hong Kong. Still lots of talk talk and think think involved as $$$ talks here

Thanks for all the information, also haha.. in regards to Post #13 by Doghead, that's what I found funny bout the clog toilets. I also know a friend who was on a flight with clogged toilets and it was a disaster.

I have flown that exact flight from YVR to HKG with the shanghai stop over.  It wasnt all that bad.  The China Eastern from Shanghai to HK wasa bit tight but it will be close to an air canada flight within canada.  With the exception that the stewardess were way younger and better looking.

Damn...I heard China Eastern was ok and at least better than Air China. But from what I read CE is similar to what I could say for Air China.

I flew Air China from Paris to HK with a connection at Beijing. We boarded after 45 mn delay in Paris. We had 3 hours delay in Beijing. In Beijing it was freezing cold during the waiting time and we couldn't get any information from the staff. They did their bes to even avoid people when their were questionned. Finally they said the problem was sorted out after the plane got fixed   We got on the shuttle bus and 10 mn later they asked us to getoff and go back to the airport without any explanation. 2 mn after we got off and back inside the airport they told us to go back into she shuttle bus.
So China Eastern seem to be the same deal as Air China with delays, no individual tv screen. Only one unknown movie was plaid during the whole trip. Stewardess were not as sexy as Emirates or Etihad stewardess. But those companies are cheaper than other and can suit someone on a budget.

[ Last edited by  conqueror77 at 10-2-2010 01:23 ]

What you're asking is a bit wierd. Because I thought you need a visa just if you want to leave the airport. I mean... I flew from France to HK with a connecting flight at Beijing and I didn't need any visa. I'm French so I would be surprised if it wasn't the same with other western countries.

[ Last edited by  conqueror77 at 10-2-2010 01:48 ]

I dunno

But he should take this airline

http://www.xvideos.com/video104870/asian_air_stewardess_fucking

ive flown both china eastern and cathay.

and sure china eastern is a bit cheaper but they have the worest leg and plus im still iffy about trusting chinese companies to do proper maintainance.

IF only! Haha...


Checked out Air Canada and they have some specials for approximately $800-$900 Canadian round trip.
OR if there isn't any space, I'll ditch out at NRT etc, it's a bit cheaper, and I'll use my Asia Miles and just pre-book a flight to HKG from NRT.
At least I know Air Canada aint' going to break down or something.. but the stewardesses are fugly

Flew China Eastern on my 3 week trip to Shanghai and HK from NA just this past Jan. I'll probably never fly with them again unless I'm on a strict budget. They ran out of beer and wine mid way on our flight. That's just ridiculous. And, just for the fact, I wasn't intoxicated My mandarin's passable, but I had to use certain words like "vodka" which the stewardess (decently pretty as she was), mistook for "water". BTW, they don't serve any hard alcohol.

For the movies, as stated above, they continuously played a dancing show and only presented movies the last 3 hours of the flight. The movie was an old hong kong one from 20+ years ago.

On the way back, I loaded up on VCDs, which was a hit with the other passengers around me. Keep in mind tho, that because of the limited seating space, any laptop larger than 12" won't really fit (had to rest the laptop on my chest with the seat reclined.

Was the saving $300 worth it on a 12 hour flight? I'd say yes as long as you go prepared. Bring movies and snacks and make sure you get an exit row, that way you get more leg room. At least the seats recline unlike the newer planes where the seats just slide forward.

Grim.

I've tried China Southern from Guangzhou to Beijing and I nearly shit myself on the way there. First, 15 minutes after we take off the plane experiences turbulence. Turbulence is a normal thing right? No, not in this case. In this instance, all of the  stewards abandon their little carts and strap themselves down. We proceed to drop about 800 feet. I almost threw up my lunch right there. I thought I was going to die. Seriously. The planes probably took off too close to each other because when we were heading to the runaway the plane before us took off literally seconds before we followed them right up. In my experience, the next plane usually waits 5 to 10 minutes. I'm not an aviation expert or anything but you'd think getting caught up in the other planes turbulence would be dangerous!

All is normal for the rest of the flight until we land. It was the bumpiest landing I've ever experienced and I've flown numerous times in the past 2 years. Shit, do the hire rookie pilots fresh out of flying school?

I realize my post has nothing to do with China Eastern but I was just wondering if this was the case for the other Airlines based in China (not Cathay, of course).

For the record, I've flown Air Canada, Korean, Delta, and SouthWest.

Last time I rode with China Eastern, I had bad experiences.  Even though the flight time is suppose to be 15 hrs from LA to Shanghai, they had to stop in Alaska for refueling which took an additional hr.  The reason they did that is because it's cheaper to get fuel in Alaska.  However, if you prefer authentic chinese food, china eastern is a sure bet for you.

its important to know that ticket prices change based on date/time/city/country/airport/airline situation and so many other variables. so its likely at one point this airline may actually be cheaper on a certain route.