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China Eastern flies its 777-300ER with flat beds in Business Class and a flat double bed in First Class for two people to share between several American cities and Shanghai with connections throughout Asia.

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You can book Business Class for 77,500 Korean miles or 80,000 Delta miles, and you can book First Class for 100,000 Korean miles. If you book two First Class award seats, you can combine your beds into one large double bed. All these awards include fuel surcharges of about $200 per person per direction.

Award space is wide open in China Eastern Business and First Class.

China Eastern Product

China Eastern has its 777-300ER on routes from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York to its hub in Shanghai.
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This video gives an overview of the cabins.

There are 52 Business Class beds in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning all passengers have direct aisle access. There are six First Class beds, four along the windows in two rows and a pair between the aisles. It is this pair of First Class beds that can have its partition removed to convert into a fully flat double bed. The only other flying double bed is in Singapore Suites Class on the carrier’s A380s.

While the seats and beds on China Eastern’s 777-300ER are some of the best in the world, I don’t think you’ll find the service up to that level according to trip reports online including this one in Business Class from New York to Shanghai.

Search for Award Space

You can search for Business Class award space on delta.com.
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There is award space in Business Class on China Eastern flights between New York and Shanghai every day in April 2017.
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By clicking on the flight number on any day’s results, you can see that the operating aircraft is a 777-300.
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The only place I know to search China Eastern First Class award space is Expert Flyer, which is a paid service, though you can get a free five day trial.
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Award space is excellent on all the routes. I see a lot of flights to/from New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco with two First Class award seats. I see flights to/from Chicago with four.
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Book Award Space

You can book Business Class award space with Delta SkyMiles, but not First Class space. Delta doesn’t offer three-cabin First Class, and it doesn’t allow you to book partner First Class with its miles either.

Delta charges 80,000 SkyMiles plus taxes each way and fuel surcharges (about $200 one way from the United States to Asia.)
Screen Shot 2016-06-09 at 9.57.36 PMThat miles price is the same wherever you start in the United States and wherever you end in East Asia or Southeast Asia as long as you find Saver award space for all flights.

Book with Delta miles on delta.com.

You can book China Eastern Business and First Class with Korean SkyPass miles. Korean charges 77,500 miles one way in Business Class and 100,000 one way in First Class to Asia 2.

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Unfortunately booking Korean awards is a pain. Basically:

  1. You call (800) 438-5000 to put the award on hold. Tell the agent that you want to book a Bonus Award and feed her the date, cabin, and flight numbers of the China Eastern segments you found on delta.com or Expert Flyer.
  2. Complete the Bonus Award Application. You can only book awards for yourself, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, grandchildren, parents-in-law, and children-in-law. You have to provide proof of the relationship too, which might mean scanning and emailing a marriage certificate or birth certificate. Insane, I know, but you can literally fly across an ocean in a double bed for your trouble.
  3. Call back to ticket the award.

Getting the Miles

There are current huge bonuses on Delta cards:

The Gold personal and Gold business cards are offering 50,000 bonus miles for spending $2,000 in the first three months. The Platinum personal card is offering 60,000 bonus miles with the same spending requirement. Which is better for you?

You can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards to Delta miles at a 1:1 rate and SPG Starpoints at a 20:000 points to 25,000 miles rate.

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards 1:1 to Korean miles and SPG Starpoints at a 20:000 points to 25,000 miles rate.

There are huge offers (55,000 to 60,000 bonus points) on the Sapphire Preferred and Ink Plus.

Bottom Line

For a reasonable miles price and modest fuel surcharge, you can fly world class flat beds between the United States and Asia.

Use Delta or Korean miles to book the wide open award space in China Eastern Business Class and Korean miles to book the wide open double bed First Class space.

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


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