Hit By Hainan Airlines' Notorious Plane Swaps

I'd probably do the Air China A350 since I'd always pick that aircraft over others.

“the doggy hotel ”

Don’t kid yourself. It’s actually a doggy prison.

Pay someone to house-sit and look after Winston. It’s more expensive for you, but vastly better for the dog.

That's funny in a nerdy way. Imagine showing up at the check-in counter, 'Wait! It's 2-2-2 now? Thank you!' Walking away (Calling AS for cancellation and redeposit)

This has happened to me twice now on BA - once booked in 1K on 747, switched to 777, and then booked in new club suite 777 switched to old 777... so annoying.

had this happen worse.... swapped from an old 787 to an even older 737... no lie flats on 6+ hours... no notice. rough

Hainan needs to issue an Electronic Miscellaneous Document (‘EMD”) for the seat assignment to stay. Even though it’s free. Stupid, I know!

Or else you can pick up a $1,300~return business class on China Southern HKG-WUH-JFK. You can both review the 737 and the 787 in one go and compare with your A380 experience. 😉

Forget Winston. Just do ANA new business.

First world problems. Ben it’s a dog. I wish my limiting factor for extending trips was going home for my dog.

Try Juneyao! We’ve been happy with their short haul service and have seen the 787 a few times from economy. Would love to know what business is like.

where do you go to assign seats on a Hainan flight booked with AS miles? When I goto Hainan website, I get an error that you can only assign seats if you booked the flight on Hainan website.

@ anon -- You have to call to select seats, so that's what I did, and then I cross referenced with ExpertFlyer seatmaps.

@ Matt R -- If it doesn't happen this time, I promise it will happen early in 2020. PEK-PVG-HEL-XXX-MIA just seems like a long way home, heh.

@ Avery -- Interesting. Any more info on how that works?

can't you just book one of the many other routes between China and USA on HU with the new equipment? CSX, XIY, CKG, CTU departures should net you a long haul on their new 787 anyway?
also don't hope for it swapping back, it never happens.

Hey Lucky, if you can make your way to Taipei, you might find PAL flights connecting through MNL on to YYZ or JFK (A350 service) for decent prices.

If you do end up in Boston, there are plenty of new hotels to review. I think more hotels have opened in the last 5 years that in the previous 20.

@Lucky
I know your experience with Sichuan was terrible, but the airline now flies A350s to LAX with a new business class cabin, so maybe you could give them another go on Beijing-Jinan/Hangzhou-L.A then on to Miami?

An EMD would have a ticket number. It indicates that you’ve paid for a seat, even if it’s a $0 cost.

Most airlines are moving to EMDs for seat selection, which used to be reserved for only seats with a cost. Stupid, but it is what it is.

So when you select a seat but it doesn’t confirm, it’s like an unticketed segment dropping from a PNR.

I have no clue how competent Hainan phone support is, but specifically ask that when they do the $0 seat selection that they issue an EMD. I’ve had success with their email service as being competent.

why not the Air China A350 and TAP A330-900 option? Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe geschlagen.

I actually just had this happen in the opposite direction on my return from Shanghai to Seattle. I was prepared for the old business class, then got to the check-in counter and the agent asked me which seats I wanted after I had made reservations over the phone. When I looked confused she explained that the plane had 4-across seating and I turned to my wife and said "if this means what I think it does, we just got a significant upgrade."

Anyway, it was a great improvement over the old biz which we'd flown out to Shanghai.

Do a fifth freedom flight with EY from PEK to NGO.

Then fly home from NGO.

Take Juneyao! I haven't seen a single trip report on their long-haul J product yet.

Can you post a review of the doggy hotel next time ?

CA's 350 and TAP's 339NEO seem to be interesting enough. In contrast Juneyao"s new product has a lot higher chance of disappointing you.

I'd be happy with the downgraded business class since my only goal is to get from A to B in some semblance of comfort, but then again, I'm not a travel blogger.

I will say, you should consider Rover or similar for pet sitting needs. We always have someone stay at our home with our dog. I'm sure the familiar environment is preferable for the dog and it's actually a bit cheaper than any doggy boarding/hotel we've considered. Win-Win!

The odds of getting the new super diamond J are small at the moment since only 3 of all of the 789s have the seat. The rest of the 789s are split between old J and cirrus J.

I just came back from a HU mileage run. When I booked it, LAX-CSX had the brand new J and XIY-LAX had cirrus J. A week out, LAX-CSX was swapped to Cirrus and XIY-LAX to old J.

SO yeah, it's a few days out when you can be certain which config will be placed on your flight. The seatmap shown for a flight over a week before dep is pretty much meaningless

I would try to go Juneyao to Helsinki since I feel that Juneyao is better than Air China even though I would prefer A350s than 787s.
These are the airlines I would book if I ever need to go to Mainland China
1. Hainan Airlines
2. Juneyao Airlines( If I can't go with Hainan)
3. A Foreign Airline (probably Turkish, or Qatar)
4. Air China or China Southern or China Eastern

ANA new business for sure. Winston will understand. Dogs have no sense of time.

Being Australian based, a Juneyao review would be my preference as they present a new *A option into Northern Europe, but the Air China A350 gets you home earlier and would also be useful.

Wouldn‘t the airline rebook you for free to another date/route due to the equipment swap?

@ Peter -- Realistically no. Seat types are not guaranteed, and things only get significantly more difficult when you're on a partner ticket.

Why don’t you fly Philippine Airlines from Manila to US? They always have cheap fares and I’ve never seen a review. Please

Your comment: "Fortunately I booked this award through Alaska Mileage Plan, so if I wanted to I could redeposit the award at no cost." I believe that is not true anymore, Alaska started charging a $125 change/cancellation fee a few months ago. The only time that you won't pay the fee is if you change/cancel your award ticket within 24 hours of issuance.

I personally would not risk flying long haul in a lesser configuration. I would go with Air China even though it's not really a better airline but at least you'll get a better seat in a newer plance.

Good luck.

The Hainan Airlines plane has been switched out from the B787-900 to the A350-900 from the 17th December to operate every second day to Boston over the Christmas period (A350 carries an extra 40 passengers and more cargo compared to the B787).

THis has happened to me three times on Hainan, including from Beijing to Boston. Now, I just book one of the middle aisle seats to guarantee free access to the aisle and no one stepping over me. But their new business class is pretty, pretty good.

It's possible that they change the seat configuration again one or more times). I've had it change within 24 hours of my flight. Frankly, I've accepted that I never know which configuration I'll get.

How about just waiting for Cathay Pacific to release one of the those last minute first class award tickets to the US and reviews the latest updates to its first class product?

I agree with Adrian. I think a lot of us would be interested in an updated report regarding CX first class, including the soft product and whether recent events seem to have had any impact on the in-flight service experience.

With the amount of time that you fly, why even have a dog? It certainly isn’t fair to the dog.

I vote for Air China and TAP. Two new product .... shortly following the recent article about TAP’s new fleet

Lucky, if you are intending to fly the new "dream feather" business class product (the one shown in the post with beige colour scheme) then you are most likely out of luck. As far as I know, the roster for these planes is totally random and there are a very small number of them in Hainan's fleet, so in most cases, the 1-2-1 config you are seeing on Expertflyer is the old 2017 reverse herringbone seats.

I had exactly the same scenario a month back. I was glad I grabbed a good solo window seat on the new 787. Suddenly after a few says that seat was gone. Contacting Hainan is not one of the most enjoyable things to do. I was given a middle seat on the old 2-2-2 layout. Eventually to my good luck like a miracle 3 days before the flight it went back to the new 787 and I grabbed a window seat. Upon check in at Beijing airport again I was given a middle seat and managed to get window once again. Its a pity that an airline with such a good in flight service has an appalling preflight experience irrespective of whether its their terrible website or call center or check in or lounge. Since I was holding an Alaska air ticket check in online was also not permitted!

Same thing happened recently on LAX XIY but then it swapped back a day or two before. Not sure what’s up but I wouldn’t panic and rebook.

-G

If the Air China A350 + TAP Portugal flights get you home about as fast as the Hainan ones, you might as well do it. Otherwise, I'm assuming you have enough Alaska miles to book Hainan again in the future and try again; getting home before the holiday rush near Christmas would be my first priority in your shoes

I think these notorious "aircraft swaps" are apparent throughout most Chinese carriers.

I am flying CZ 3113 CAN-PEK on the 19th which is supposedly operated by an A350. Being the wary traveller, I have been checking the seat maps on a near daily basis. Worst fears came true when the seatmap suddenly reflected as a B738.

Immediately rang up China Southern's hotline expressing my disappointment at the downgauge to only be informed that the only way out is to pay a penalty fee to change to the A380 slot later that evening.

Absolutely furious since this flight has historically only used a narrowbody for 7 days out of the past year, according to FR24.