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Per Airnation.net, Air China announced that it will be upgrading the aircraft on its Beijing-San Francisco route to the Boeing 777-300ER starting February 11th. This is great news for transpacific travelers: Air China’s 777-300ER configuration includes flat-bed seats in both business and first class. Even better, award space is amazing on Air China routes between the US and China!

I took a trip to Beijing in October and had an incredible time. The weather was mild, people were friendly, and the food was incredible. Admittedly, I was only able to try out Air China’s regional business class product from Hong Kong to Beijing, but the service and food were surprisingly good.

Is the award space really wide open? Which routes should you look for premium cabin award space? Is Air China a good carrier compared to its Star Alliance brethren?
In my opinion, Air China is a secret weapon of the Star Alliance. Award space is generally incredible between the US and its Beijing hub. With Air China upgrading its San Francisco route, now all US destinations will feature Air China’s latest flat bed product.

Air China configures their 42-seat business class cabin in a 2 x 2 x 2 configuration on the 777-300ER. Both seats in middle have direct aisle access making that pair highly desirable for solo travelers.
How much does an Air China award ticket cost using United miles?
United charges 32.5k miles for a oneway coach award to China, considered part of the North Asia region. For business and first class, United charges 60k/70k, respectively.
Note that these prices will be increasing drastically after January 31 due to the recently announced devaluation. Coach tickets on Air China will only increase by 2.5k miles to 35k oneway. Premium cabins are the real bloodbath. Business class seats will rise to 80k oneway (20k more). First class seats will skyrocket to a whopping 120k oneway. That’s a massive 50k increase!

Make sure to follow Scott’s advice and burn your United miles on premium cabin Star Alliance partner redemptions before February 1! The MileValue Award Booking Service can help.
How much does an Air China award ticket cost using US Airways miles?
As with United, US Airways considers China to be part of North Asia and charges 60k/90k/120k for coach/business/first class roundtrip redemptions. We’ve discussed this sweet spot exhaustively in the past, including how you can route through Europe using a stopover. Unfortunately, the 90k business class award is likely disappearing with the impending American/US Airways merger.
With US Airways officially leaving the Star Alliance on March 30th, you should book now rather than later if contemplating an Air China business class award.
Also, don’t miss out on your chance to get the US Airways Premier World MasterCard with 30,000 US Airways miles after first purchase before it disappears. You could get it now and use the miles for an Air China award booking before March 30, 2014.
Where does Air China fly to/from the United States?
Air China flies nonstop to four major US airports (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and New York-JFK) from their Beijing hub, so there are multiple ways to construct a good award itinerary.
What is the award space scenario on each route?
I ran some searches in September and October for Air China award space, which is a great time to visit temperature-wise.
The San Francisco to Beijing route has awesome award space (that may be an understatement), with most dates having a whopping 4-7 business class seats. Economy space was ample as well.
Many dates had two first class award seats, as well, perfect for traveling couples!
Air China’s Houston-Beijing route had equally fantastic space, often with four business class and four first class seats on the same flights. As you can see from the chart below, it’s harder to find a day without premium cabin space!
The Los Angeles <-> Beijing route was a little worse than Houston and San Francisco. The route features mostly midweek business award space and weekend space in both business and coach cabins on their twice-daily service.
East Coast flyers will be disappointed by the lack of premium cabin space between New York and Beijing. I couldn’t find a single day with two business or first class seats on either of Air China’s daily nonstops for the entire calendar! Economy space was ample, though.
Can I make Beijing a stopover en route to somewhere else?
Absolutely! China recently announced a 72-hour visa waiver for travelers transiting China from the US en route to a third country. Both United and and US Airways permit one stopover on roundtrip awards, so take advantage of Beijing if you can all while avoiding the pain of applying for a visa.
Recap
Air China announced that its San Francisco route will be flown on a B777-300ER starting on February 11th. This plane configuration features Air China’s latest flat bed product in both business and first class cabins. With the announcement, now all four of Air China’s US routes will have flat beds in business class.
Award space is unusually generous on each of the four routes. For those looking for premium cabin seats, especially with the impending United devaluation, check out the Houston and San Francisco flights. New York-JFK has solid coach space nearly every day, but no business class award space.
With US Airways’ 90k roundtrip North Asian business class award likely disappearing and the brutal United devaluation, there is no better time to piece together an Air China business class award.
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[…] Per Airnation.net, Air China announced that it will be upgrading the aircraft on its Beijing-San Francisco route to the Boeing 777-300ER starting February 11th. This is great news for transpacific travelers: Air China’s 777-300ER configuration includes flat-bed seats in both … Continue reading → […]
I’ve snagged a pair of seats on the PEK-IAH route in First to try it out. I’ve heard mixed reviews. Mostly that it’s a decent hard product but falls short on service, food, lounges and the many small touches that make flying premium a luxury experience.
“With Air China upgrading its San Francisco route, now all US destinations will feature Air China’s latest flat bed product”
HNL-PEK is operated by an A330….Do you know which version? Flat beds or not?
I recently returned from Hong Kong via Peking then San Francisco. I was concerned with the reviews prior to my planning. The only Business/First Class available was Air China. I decided to take the chance. To my surprise, it was great. The configuration was a 747-400. There were only three people in First Class. The food was great, the service was great and the experience was above the expected.
The Peking Air China First Class Lounge was large with a variety of areas for lounging. Food was available. I was taking photos of the lounge and one of the attendants told me “NO” photos. I asked why and that was where the conversation ended. No answer, just looked like she didn’t have one to give me.
I would fly Air China again. I flew Business Class from Hong Kong prior to my stop over in Peking.
It looks like available on the 777-300 lasts only until September 2014? It goes back to a 747 in October, November, December of 2014. Do you think they just didn’t load the schedule through with the update plane? Or do you think the 777-300 is only temporary?
Just came back flying Air China in business IAH-PEK and SYD-PEK-IAH. Very nice aircraft, but the service was the worst among any business airlines I have ever flown. They really need to work on their service, crew attitude, etc.
Thanks for the info!
But, a whole post about availability on CA’s new J and F classes and not one picture of either? Seriously?
For all those wondering about the F cabin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb1z8AVqrec
Awesome pose, Bill! Did you take the toboggan route on your way down from Mutianyu? I flew Air China back in 2008 for the paralympics JFK-PEK r/t. It was one of the worst flights of my life so I am in no hurry to fly CA again but after your review, I may give it another chance.
Truthfully, I have not looked much into flying Air China (or other airlines that I’m not as familiar with), but I may have to keep an open mind about it. One of my cousins flew it and he said the seat and service was surprisingly good. Then again, he was upgraded from econo to biz, so I wondered if that made a difference.
I typically fly on the legacy airlines, Jetblue, Southwest (once, not a huge fan at the time), CX/BA/Virgin for Europe and Asia related travels. I will be flying Eva Air for the first ever later this year. Thanks for sharing — it’s helpful to know what experiences are out there!
[…] China escapes the dreaded fuel surcharge. I’ve written in the past about their excellent premium cabin award availability, so this is great news for both Aeroplan and United MileagePlus […]