Early Sunday morning an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crashed shortly after takeoff, making it the second 737 MAX to crash during the initial phase of flight in the past several months (a Lion Air 737 MAX crashed after takeoff last October). As I…
Each year, Air China offers special flight deals for Black Friday, which is the special shopping period following Thanksgiving. This year they have excellent business class deals departing from Germany, to both Asia and Australia. They are available…
While we don't have exact details yet, Alaska's governor has announced that in 2019 there will be year-round direct passenger flights between Alaska (I would guess Anchorage) and Harbin, located in northeastern China. The governor says that the deal…
While the A350 has been flying globally for a few years, up until now China hasn't certified the plane. That changed today (is it a coincidence that this happened on 8/8?), so it was a big day for Airbus and aviation in China. Air China and Sichuan Airlines…
Unbelievable. A couple of days ago I wrote about how an Air China flight bound from Hong Kong to Dalian rapidly descended by 25,000 feet after the cabin seemed to lose pressure, causing oxygen masks to deploy. This happened about 30 minutes after takeoff,…
On Tuesday night, Air China flight 106 bound from Hong Kong to Dalian lost pressure in the cabin, causing the plane to descent 25,000 feet in 10 minutes. While that's obviously a significant descent, I'd note that 2,500 feet per minute isn't that extreme.…
I wanted to share the details of the latest trip I booked, and wanted to do so quickly, since it’s still within 24 hours, and I can change the outbound if you guys have a better idea. Booking the world’s longest flight Singapore Airlines…
All the eyes of the world are on Singapore this week, ahead of the historic on-again, off-again meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, currently scheduled for Tuesday, June 12, at the Capella Resort on the Singaporean…
Last November Air China abruptly canceled flights between Beijing, China, and Pyongyang, North Korea. Air China was the only foreign airline flying to North Korea at the time, and they canceled their flight with very little notice. They claimed the route…
Since 2009, China has had a “one route, one airline” policy. Under this rule, only one Chinese airline can operate each longhaul route. There are a few markets where there are exceptions (like Shanghai to Frankfurt), but in a vast majority of longhaul…
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a program that largely has overpriced redemptions, though also has a surprising number of award chart sweet spots. Just recently Spencer wrote about some of their sweet spot redemptions on partner airlines, including for…
In early February I first wrote about how Air China filed with the US Department of Transportation requesting the right to operate a 2x weekly flights between Houston and Panama City. This flight would be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, and was expected…
Airlines write letters to the US Department of Transportation over all kinds of things. Sometimes they're dozens of pages long, so you'd think they'd be super boring. Nope. As it turns out, airline lawyers are often extremely entertaining characters…
Yesterday Air China operated their last flight from Beijing to Pyongyang in North Korea. Air China claims that this cancelation is due to a lack of demand. Air China's flight to North Korea used to be seasonal, though as of this past year they converted…
As it stands, Air China is the dominant airline between Los Angeles and Beijing, as they offer up to 3x daily flights between the two cities. Historically China has had a “One Route, One Chinese Airline” policy. Under this rule, only one Chinese airline…
The Chinese aviation industry is growing at a rapid pace, and we've seen so many new routes added lately. By 2024 China is expected to overtake the US as the world's largest passenger market, and by 2035 they expect to transport 1.3 billion passengers…
At the door I was greeted by the purser and one of the business class flight attendants, and escorted to my seat. This version of the 737 has 12 business class seats, spread across three rows in a 2-2 configuration. Much like on their longhaul planes,…
I arrived at Beijing Airport at around 6AM, plenty early for my 8:35AM flight to Ulaanbaatar. I already had my boarding pass for the flight, so headed straight to the gates. This required taking the train to Terminal 3E, and then going through immigration…
I boarded through door L2, where I was greeted by three extremely friendly flight attendants and escorted to my seat. Air China's cabin layout on the 747-8 is unusual. Right in front of door two are the 12 first class seats, spread across three rows…
Hello from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia! After flying Air China's 747-8 first class from San Francisco to Beijing, I spent a night in Beijing before continuing the next morning to Mongolia. I think a lot of people assume it's tough to get from the US to Mongolia,…
Ni Hao from Beijing! I just got off my Air China 747-8 flight from San Francisco to Beijing in first class. There are a few reasons I was excited about this flight, not the least of which is that Air China is the only airline on which I haven’t flown…
