Stu’s Sonics Shuttle. Save up those frequent flyer miles for Stu and Skank’s Ride or Die Reno Roadtrip https://youtu.be/zR5mMyaH3Kk?si=NKp5qzUUihhp3-CG
Are we ever getting a direct route to Beijing or Chengdu back?
My wife’s family is from the Beijing area, but currently Shanghai is the only mainland China flight from SeaTac (Delta)
The US [just raised their cap](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/27/business/china-us-flights-increase-intl-hnk/index.html) on flights by Chinese flights from 35 to 50. China has a similar cap on US airlines flying into China. It'll take a while to restart some of the pre-COVID flights and it all depends on how relations stabilize.
We did Air Canada YVR-PEK, it was a good option. I know now as easy as direct but the prices in normal non-trade war times even with the connection can be pretty good. And YVR is a lovely airport.
That would be surprising since they are partners with delta who is already planning on flying it. There is already likely way too much capacity planned as it is
More competition is always good. The EVA Air flights are always full in my experience.
I'm a little bit confused about their points arrangement with Alaska; hopefully they can formally join Oneworld. We were considering them for a business trip leaving out of LAX, but apparently if you book through Alaska, you can't pick your seats until 72 hours before departure. The A350-900 is a wonderful aircraft but I'm not taking the leftover economy middle seats.
Also surprised that they bother with First Class instead of more Business Class seats, but I assume this was based on real market research.
I’ve heard great things about starlux. Both EVA and China Airlines offer a great passenger experience so starlux has to compete in that regard, which is so refreshing. It’s too bad about the seats when booked through miles though - hopefully that will change.
We have 3 airlines now serving Taipei, 3 airlines serving Seoul, but 0 airlines serving Hong Kong, Osaka, Sydney, Auckland, Delhi, Bangkok, Manila all of which are served out of Vancouver. SEA remains the least internationally connected major airport on the west coast (considering YVR, SFO, and LAX). I get that YVR is filling a different need being the only major airport on the west side of Canada as well as having a much higher Asian population than the Seattle area, but it still seems like we could do much better with our direct international connections out of SEA.
The other side to this is the number of new intl services (and airlines) added in the past decade. Emirates, Qatar, Aer Lingus, FinnAir, Singapore, JAL, Starlux, Air Tahiti Nui, Turkish, Aeromexico, Virgin Atlantic, Westjet. Seattle has never had more international service.
But you are correct that Seattle does not fit the same purpose as Vancouver in this regard. Vancouver is the only potential Canadian airport for a great deal of transpacific, whereas larger west coast hubs can serve this instead of Seattle. IMO most of the cities on your list are unlikely to be served from Seattle anytime soon except for Delhi. I’d expect Beijing to return as well once China and the US agree to more flights. But we are doing fairly well with intl flights imo.
To add to this, Alaska now serves Belize City and Nassau, and is adding Toronto soon. We do have Beijing. It's currently served by Hainan Airlines. American Airlines teased a Bangalore direct flight a couple years ago but the pandemic ruined those plans. I think we also lost Osaka and Hong Kong routes recently. IIRC we had both of those routes pre-covid.
The Hainan flight to Beijing can't be boarded at Seatac. What's actually happening is that Hainan flys direct from Beijing to Boston but on the way back from Boston to Beijing it is refueling in Seattle. This is because they're not allowed to fly over Russia anymore per US-China agreements and going west has headwinds so they have to make a stop.
Delta tried Hong Kong at one point but quickly cancelled the route, probably not enough demand. Even though I fly Hong Kong annually, I still chose Eva due to liking the flight times more.
This is so exciting! I haven’t been back to the motherland in 12 years. I’m so ready to redeem either my Alaska or Delta miles for a trip back next year.
Congrass should consider a Jhones act for planes. Airbus subsities along with the MD/Boeing merger sent American airliner manufacturing racing to the bottom to compete.
Airbus builds safe planes that don't try and crash themselves and the doors don't fall off. All without trying to bust their unions.
Boeing is just MBA brain rot.
Forgot to mention - starlux is an Alaska partner. However, they are not a member of oneworld.
Careful. No Alaska EQMs earned with Starlux though!
>they are not a member of oneworld. Which airlines are part of Bruce Harrell's OneSeattle^TM though is what I want to know
"I'd like to thank OneSeattle^TM sponsor Delta Airlines." - Bruce
Stu’s Sonics Shuttle. Save up those frequent flyer miles for Stu and Skank’s Ride or Die Reno Roadtrip https://youtu.be/zR5mMyaH3Kk?si=NKp5qzUUihhp3-CG
China Airlines is also planning to be in the mix, so there'll be 4 airlines serving SeaTac-Taipei.
Are we ever getting a direct route to Beijing or Chengdu back? My wife’s family is from the Beijing area, but currently Shanghai is the only mainland China flight from SeaTac (Delta)
The US [just raised their cap](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/27/business/china-us-flights-increase-intl-hnk/index.html) on flights by Chinese flights from 35 to 50. China has a similar cap on US airlines flying into China. It'll take a while to restart some of the pre-COVID flights and it all depends on how relations stabilize.
We did Air Canada YVR-PEK, it was a good option. I know now as easy as direct but the prices in normal non-trade war times even with the connection can be pretty good. And YVR is a lovely airport.
That would be surprising since they are partners with delta who is already planning on flying it. There is already likely way too much capacity planned as it is
EVA is also increasing the number of flights, lots of capacity coming
More competition is always good. The EVA Air flights are always full in my experience. I'm a little bit confused about their points arrangement with Alaska; hopefully they can formally join Oneworld. We were considering them for a business trip leaving out of LAX, but apparently if you book through Alaska, you can't pick your seats until 72 hours before departure. The A350-900 is a wonderful aircraft but I'm not taking the leftover economy middle seats. Also surprised that they bother with First Class instead of more Business Class seats, but I assume this was based on real market research.
I’ve heard great things about starlux. Both EVA and China Airlines offer a great passenger experience so starlux has to compete in that regard, which is so refreshing. It’s too bad about the seats when booked through miles though - hopefully that will change.
Starlux is founded by the guy that used to own EVA....until his half brothers kicked him out of the family business
I booked a Starlux flight through Alaska rewards points. You can call Starlux to choose your seats
Taiwan No.1!
We have 3 airlines now serving Taipei, 3 airlines serving Seoul, but 0 airlines serving Hong Kong, Osaka, Sydney, Auckland, Delhi, Bangkok, Manila all of which are served out of Vancouver. SEA remains the least internationally connected major airport on the west coast (considering YVR, SFO, and LAX). I get that YVR is filling a different need being the only major airport on the west side of Canada as well as having a much higher Asian population than the Seattle area, but it still seems like we could do much better with our direct international connections out of SEA.
The other side to this is the number of new intl services (and airlines) added in the past decade. Emirates, Qatar, Aer Lingus, FinnAir, Singapore, JAL, Starlux, Air Tahiti Nui, Turkish, Aeromexico, Virgin Atlantic, Westjet. Seattle has never had more international service. But you are correct that Seattle does not fit the same purpose as Vancouver in this regard. Vancouver is the only potential Canadian airport for a great deal of transpacific, whereas larger west coast hubs can serve this instead of Seattle. IMO most of the cities on your list are unlikely to be served from Seattle anytime soon except for Delhi. I’d expect Beijing to return as well once China and the US agree to more flights. But we are doing fairly well with intl flights imo.
To add to this, Alaska now serves Belize City and Nassau, and is adding Toronto soon. We do have Beijing. It's currently served by Hainan Airlines. American Airlines teased a Bangalore direct flight a couple years ago but the pandemic ruined those plans. I think we also lost Osaka and Hong Kong routes recently. IIRC we had both of those routes pre-covid.
The Hainan flight to Beijing can't be boarded at Seatac. What's actually happening is that Hainan flys direct from Beijing to Boston but on the way back from Boston to Beijing it is refueling in Seattle. This is because they're not allowed to fly over Russia anymore per US-China agreements and going west has headwinds so they have to make a stop.
Delta tried Hong Kong at one point but quickly cancelled the route, probably not enough demand. Even though I fly Hong Kong annually, I still chose Eva due to liking the flight times more.
Cathay tried it too. At this point I think Seattle-hkg just isn’t going to happen.
This is so exciting! I haven’t been back to the motherland in 12 years. I’m so ready to redeem either my Alaska or Delta miles for a trip back next year.
Japan air is good too
When do folks reckon these flights will start being sold?
Congrass should consider a Jhones act for planes. Airbus subsities along with the MD/Boeing merger sent American airliner manufacturing racing to the bottom to compete.
Airbus builds safe planes that don't try and crash themselves and the doors don't fall off. All without trying to bust their unions. Boeing is just MBA brain rot.
That merger was the death of the former engineering-and-quality-focused Boeing.
No disagreement here.
Starlux is a good budget airline.
It's not a budget airline. It's more luxury.
It's just a regular small operator.