China Airlines To Lax

[THAIJAMES]

Anyone with experience flying China airlines out of Chiang Mai?

Large or small plane?

Plenty of empty seats or packed?

Are the seats very crampted or adequate for economy?

Will be flying in early September

Used to flying Eva Delux, however not having to stop in BKK seems like a big plus.

Thanks for your advice.

[cloudhopper]

I'm an EVA regular to LAX but tried the China flight once (business class) about 18 months ago. Found the service worse, the equipment tatty, and the schedule actually less convenient despite avoiding the BKK leg. Some of my bad experience on this RT flight was due to incompetence of May Travel though. Back to EVA ever since.

[Nienke]

I usually fly CI airlines BKK-AMS-BKK. It's ok, not luxurous. But if you are used to EVA de-lux, I suspect you'll find CI economy much less comforable. And as the flight will take lots of hours, you may want to choose for sitting in a comfortable seat taking the hassle of changing planes in BKK as a minor inconvenience.

Nienke

[calibanjr.]

I fly CNX-LAX-CNX 3-4 times a year.

Pluses:

1. Obviously, if you live here, flying into CNX (I live maybe 3 miles from the airport) is way more convenient than swapping planes and airlines in BKK and you get 46 kg. checked baggage (69kgs. if you have Dynasty miles) which all of the cheap airlines CNX-BKK will get cash off of you for.

2. China is almost always the cheapest fare, in my experience.

Downsides:

only 3 flights per week (737, small plane, cramped), Tu-Th-Sat, which are almost always full now. So they're crowded and if you need to change flight dates, especially coming back to CM, it can get dodgy.

Edited August 19, 2008 by calibanjr.

[sbathon]

Thai Airways economy direct flight Bkk-Lax. Very nice indeed. If they do not screw you and drop it without warning as they did the JFK flight.

[elektrified]

Anyone with experience flying China airlines out of Chiang Mai?

Large or small plane?

Plenty of empty seats or packed?

Are the seats very crampted or adequate for economy?

Will be flying in early September

Used to flying Eva Delux, however not having to stop in BKK seems like a big plus.

Thanks for your advice.

I just flew China Airlines CNX-LAX-CNX (via Taipei) in late June and returned in late July. I found China Airlines to be a good airline and I did not experience any problems. Plane was 737. There were quite a few empty seats. I am tall so economy seating really cramped my legs.

The only thing to point out is to get to LAX 3-3.5 hours before the flight departs when you return to Thailand. It took me a full 90 minutes just to get my baggage checked in as there are literally hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese exporting multiple large boxes of merchandise on that flight. I was really starting to become hot, irritable and anxious waiting to check my bags.

Also the layover in Taipei can be several hours long. There are however, showers (11 USD!), massage, free Internet and reclining chairs available to provide a little comfort during the layover. I could not check my Yahoo email becuase I guess they block Yahoo in Taiwan.

[maccaroni man]

Anyone with experience flying China airlines out of Chiang Mai?

Large or small plane?

Plenty of empty seats or packed?

Are the seats very crampted or adequate for economy?

Will be flying in early September

Used to flying Eva Delux, however not having to stop in BKK seems like a big plus.

Thanks for your advice.

I just flew China Airlines CNX-LAX-CNX (via Taipei) in late June and returned in late July. I found China Airlines to be a good airline and I did not experience any problems. Plane was 737. There were quite a few empty seats. I am tall so economy seating really cramped my legs.

The only thing to point out is to get to LAX 3-3.5 hours before the flight departs when you return to Thailand. It took me a full 90 minutes just to get my baggage checked in as there are literally hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese exporting multiple large boxes of merchandise on that flight. I was really starting to become hot, irritable and anxious waiting to check my bags.

Also the layover in Taipei can be several hours long. There are however, showers (11 USD!), massage, free Internet and reclining chairs available to provide a little comfort during the layover. I could not check my Yahoo email becuase I guess they block Yahoo in Taiwan.

i just did the rt from bkk with a family of 4, all went well; the plane was new and the whiskey flowed freely however the baggage was an other issue on the bkk lax leg; they would not allow any one bag to be more than 23kg. this was an issue for me as I had used on large bag to pack several small bags within it, to limit my luggage handeling. my alotted weight should have been 92kg i came in at 50kg but i was required to unpack my larger bag, to meet this one bag weight requirement! oddly this was not the issue on the lax bkk leg.

[elektrified]

Anyone with experience flying China airlines out of Chiang Mai?

Large or small plane?

Plenty of empty seats or packed?

Are the seats very crampted or adequate for economy?

Will be flying in early September

Used to flying Eva Delux, however not having to stop in BKK seems like a big plus.

Thanks for your advice.

I just flew China Airlines CNX-LAX-CNX (via Taipei) in late June and returned in late July. I found China Airlines to be a good airline and I did not experience any problems. Plane was 737. There were quite a few empty seats. I am tall so economy seating really cramped my legs.

The only thing to point out is to get to LAX 3-3.5 hours before the flight departs when you return to Thailand. It took me a full 90 minutes just to get my baggage checked in as there are literally hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese exporting multiple large boxes of merchandise on that flight. I was really starting to become hot, irritable and anxious waiting to check my bags.

Also the layover in Taipei can be several hours long. There are however, showers (11 USD!), massage, free Internet and reclining chairs available to provide a little comfort during the layover. I could not check my Yahoo email becuase I guess they block Yahoo in Taiwan.

i just did the rt from bkk with a family of 4, all went well; the plane was new and the whiskey flowed freely however the baggage was an other issue on the bkk lax leg; they would not allow any one bag to be more than 23kg. this was an issue for me as I had used on large bag to pack several small bags within it, to limit my luggage handeling. my alotted weight should have been 92kg i came in at 50kg but i was required to unpack my larger bag, to meet this one bag weight requirement! oddly this was not the issue on the lax bkk leg.

For me, coming from LAX to CNX the issue was the same as maccaroni man reported. The bags could not exceed 23.5 kg each and they allowed 2 bags plus 6.8 kg carry on luggage. I paid an additional $109.00 USD to check a third bag.

[Sojourner]

I flew Chiana Air last June, CNX-SFO-CNX and didn't find the flight to be bad at all. Check-in at SFO for the return leg was a breeze. I've cleared in and out of LAX many times and no matter the airlines the lines were horrible. It'll be SFO from now on.

[jaideeguy]

I'm sure the CNX/LAX/CNX would be similar to the CNX/HNL/CNX, where you can plan your trip so that you can layover overnight for free in a [decent] 2.5 star hotel in Taipei with free dinner and bkfst before flight to CNX next noon. Taipei is not the most exciting of places to hang out in and not enough time to explore it, but an overnighter does break up the jet lag andyou arrive much more refreshed, especially on the return leg to CNX and after a quick 4 hr flight you arrive at a decent hour in CNX. Beats hanging out in an airport for 6+ hrs.....

check this option out with your travel agent.

[mcgriffith]

I'm sure the CNX/LAX/CNX would be similar to the CNX/HNL/CNX, where you can plan your trip so that you can layover overnight for free in a [decent] 2.5 star hotel in Taipei with free dinner and bkfst before flight to CNX next noon. Taipei is not the most exciting of places to hang out in and not enough time to explore it, but an overnighter does break up the jet lag andyou arrive much more refreshed, especially on the return leg to CNX and after a quick 4 hr flight you arrive at a decent hour in CNX. Beats hanging out in an airport for 6+ hrs.....

check this option out with your travel agent.

Just as a slightly off-topic side note, a friend who always flies EVA (I know we are discussing CAL here) just found out a week ago that the free hotel for the layover in Taipei, that he always was comped, has now apparently been taken away. So he asked for VIP lounge priviledges (sleep in a big leather club chair). The EVA ticket agent said "sure"....but when he asked for an email confirmation....it was not forthcoming, and he is still trying to clarify; he flies out 1 Sept from SFO.

IATA just reported that airlines will lose in excess of $6.1 B this year; dozens will go under.

I would double/triple check to make sure this free overnight hotel perk in Taipei is still available on CAL....get it in writing.

[gymshark]

CA have a dodgy safety record.

[ollylama]

Thai Airways economy direct flight Bkk-Lax. Very nice indeed. If they do not screw you and drop it without warning as they did the JFK flight.

It's already slated to be dropped. No more direct flights to the US from BKK sadly.

[southerndog]

I love the flying out of Chiang Mai option. My sentiments echo calibanjr's.