Introduction: 5-Star China On The Cheap

Ahhh the infamous Air Canada lounge! Cant wait to hear that. Do they have alcohol yet? LOL

I'm confused. I thought they only have the right to fly from the US to Changsa. But then later you say they fly from Beijing to several US cities. Did I misread something? Thanks.

Years ago, a Chinese friend told me Hainan island is the Hawaii of China. Hence, whenever I hear of Hainan Airlines, I quickly think of Hawaiian Airlines!
Anyways, I'm planning to redeem AS miles to fly Hainan from Boston to Beijing later this year so I look forward to reading your review.
So the only time I don't read your blog is when I'm travelling. I had no idea Garuda is now a skytrax 5 star airline! And wait what happened to Malaysia Airlines? I can almost swear the last time I checked (which was possibly years ago) MAS was in the 5-star skytrax list. I guess they got downgraded.
@Elteetrav, under Chinese law, only one Chinese airline can fly a specific international route. Since Hainan only started flying to the USA back in 2008 or 2009 (Beijing to Seattle), Hainan was late to the game but has been quite resourceful in starting nonstop flights from China to SJC & BOS.

@Elteetrav
Each route to America can only be operated by one airline, so if China Eastern does pvg-jfk, nobody else can. However other Chinese airlines can do pvg-other US cities, or from other Chinese cities to jfk.

@Elteetrav
Each route to America can only be operated by one airline, so if China Eastern does pvg-jfk, nobody else can. However other Chinese airlines can do pvg-other US cities, or from other Chinese cities to jfk

"the Chinese government has a law where only one Chinese airline can operate a given longhaul international route"

Is that for all international routs? Or just going to USA? Just confused.

Looking forward to this trip report.

Ben. I got to read several of your reviews including one from Ford this weekend. Keep up the great work. I like your style. You have inspired me to use my miles differently.

@John
All long haul routes AFAIK. The only exception is Air China gets to do whatever it wants.

Curious to see how many miles Alaska will credit. Thanks!

Slightly off topic, but Garuda as a "5 star airline"? Doens't say much for SkyTrax credibility. Given the membership fo Qatar, it looks like SkyTrax is the "we hate Emirates and Etihad because they're radically better than we are" club. 🙂

Seems a bit unlikely that a "Banned from EU" airline could become "5 star" in a few years...

@Nicolas Bedworth
The world keeps changing every seconds, EU ban towards Garuda had already lifted long time ago. The transformation they have undergone since is hailed by many aviation figures. For the product itself, there many reports saying their medium-long haul premium service are great now.

Garuda still can't operate to the US yet by the way, as Indonesian regulator still being categorised as FAA Grade II.

Skytrax credibility is another thing though. We are now that Emirates and Etihad opt to be completely excluded from the rating, but they don't really need any Skytrax endorsement for their marvellous service, do they?

Skytrax is not trustworthy.
No matter how good is the service and the food (which do not seem to be in any case), the hard product looks meh.

"Hainan Airlines is generally regarded as the best Chinese airline"

I beg to differ! Cathay Pacific, based in Hong Kong, China, is generally regarded as the best Chinese airline, followed by Eva Air, based in Taiwan, China. Hainan Airlines is "merely" generally regarded as the best mainland-based Chinese airline, which actually is also inaccurate, since it is based in Hainan, an island off the mainland. 🙂

@Nicholas Bedworth

Have you tried Garuda or are you just repeating outdated 'heard of' stories? As regular customer on GA I can assure you they are worth 5*, other than MAS who I used to fly a lot but has completely lost it, and Qatar who needs to swap out their back breaking BC seats on the A330 first before they deserve this qualfication.

@John, since when was Taiwan part of China? They are two completely different nations.

@Hiro
Since the Ming Dynasty more than 300 years ago, way before USA became a country. Yeah, they are two completely different nation... in your dream. By the way, the confederate state of South Carolina has finally given up its last dream at secession and took down the Confederate flag from its capital building in 2015. Isn't it time you give up your dream (or should we call it, hallucination?) too? 🙂

@Nicolas Bedworth
FAA grades/bans regulatory oversight of whole country.
EASA grades/bans individuals airlines
SkyTrax rates service quality (not safety of airline or regulatory oversight capabilities)

Being a paid service SkyTrax tend to more lenient towards top customers. IMHO EY didn't want to pay subscription for all its partner airlines, most of them are struggling with bad reputation. SkyTrax will charge a fortune to manage image of all those airlines. Not sure why EK stopped subscription though.

Hainan is Chinese answer to ME3. Its job is provide non-stop alternative to ME3 1-stops and it is doing very well.

@lucky Please let us know how you spent your time in Changsha -- what did you see? Where did you eat? I'm making the trip, just for the hell of it, and would appreciate any info on what to do on the ground. Thanks!

@John
There are so many levels of ignorance in your statement. I guess Mongolia should actually be the true rulers of all of China then since the Manchus from Mongolia established the Qing Dynasty? Based on your reasoning, the United States is actually still part of the British Empire.