Hainan Airlines is generally regarded as the best mainland Chinese airline (I agree, based on my experiences), and they’ve been expanding very nicely in North America.
Hainan 787 business class seat
Earlier in the year Hainan launched flights between Los Angeles and Changsha, which I reviewed. They also recently kicked off a frequent flyer partnership with Alaska Mileage Plan, giving US based flyers a great way to earn and redeem miles for travel on Hainan.
Well, Hainan Airlines has just announced their newest US route. Hainan Airlines will be launching 3x weekly flights between Las Vegas and Beijing as of December 2, 2016.
Las Vegas, NevadaThe flight will be operated by a Boeing 787, with the following schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays:
HU7970 Las Vegas to Beijing departing 12:30PM arriving 5:30PM (+1 day)
HU7969 Beijing to Las Vegas departing 2:20PM arriving 10:30AM
This represents some very nice expansion for Las Vegas Airport, which doesn’t have many transpacific flights. As it stands, only Korean Air operates a 4x weekly flight between Las Vegas and Seoul Incheon.
Korean Air 777
While not transpacific, there are also rumors of Qatar Airways launching flights between Las Vegas and Doha, though the schedule on that hasn’t been finalized yet.
Qatar Airways 777
The new Hainan flight between Las Vegas and Beijing isn’t yet bookable, but once it is, I predict:
- Paid fares, including in business class, will be very reasonable
- Award availability through Alaska Mileage Plan will be plentiful, and they only charge 50,000 miles for a one-way business class award, plus some mild carrier imposed surcharges (and you can even do a free stopover in Beijing enroute to another Asian destination
Visit the Great Wall during a stopover in Beijing
Keep in mind that China has some ridiculous rules about their carriers being able to operate longhaul international flights. Unless a specific exception is granted, only one Chinese carrier is allowed to operate a longhaul route. That’s why Chinese carriers are rushing so much to launch new US flights, since they want to be sure they can get their hands on the routes they want before another Chinese carrier does.
Meanwhile when Hainan Airlines launched flights to Los Angeles they had to fly to Changsha, given that most major Chinese cities were already served nonstop out of Los Angeles.
Changsha, China
Bottom line
This is a very nice addition for Las Vegas based flyers, as it represents the first nonstop flight between Las Vegas and China. I suspect this will be very popular with Chinese tourists, and also with those in Las Vegas wanting to visit mainland China. This should also be a great opportunity to snag some great fares and award availability on China’s best airline.
What do you make of Hainan’s new route between Las Vegas and Beijing?
hi, How're the fares now? Partner Awards with Alaska only?
All I can say is Air China better watch out.
I happen to have issue with serval tickets I had purchase which were my own fault. I went to the local San Jose and was greeted by a young man named Zhou Yu. He assist me with all my issue with such professional and courteous service.
With people like him and flight crew there is no question in my mind they will be a great success
I work at McCarran. They will be using 787's starting this Friday morning, December 2. Arriving in Las Vegas at 11:00 a.m. and departing around 1:00 p.m.
I'm glad to see that Las Vegas is getting more flights. It's great for those of us who like to travel but also great for expanding our economy. Chinese investors are far more likely to come and invest in Las Vegas with a direct flight than ever before. Thanks for the update.
It's certainly an interesting addition to existing long haul network that Las Vegas has.
Based on Lucky's reviews, I think Hainan is quite a decent airline (especially considering how bad other Chinese carriers are).
However, I'm starting to wonder how Hainan Airlines operate all the long haul flights from all the different airports in China. It's certainly not good for them as aircraft rotation planning would be quite a challenge while cities like...
It's certainly an interesting addition to existing long haul network that Las Vegas has.
Based on Lucky's reviews, I think Hainan is quite a decent airline (especially considering how bad other Chinese carriers are).
However, I'm starting to wonder how Hainan Airlines operate all the long haul flights from all the different airports in China. It's certainly not good for them as aircraft rotation planning would be quite a challenge while cities like Changsha has relatively low demand (especially on premium cabin) compared to other major Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou.
These guys are shooting first and asking questions later. Some of the routes they have introduced are questionable. It's one route one airline and I suppose they're trying to grab what they can grab.
Philippine Airlines used to operate in A Manila-Vancouver-Las Vegas with their A340s a couple of years back. The flights were popular with Overseas Filipinos but PR eventually gave up as yields were poor and as the recession hit load factors plummeted. It'll be interesting to see another Asian carrier try to make this route work
Las Vegas hotels already have enough bed bugs.
ben,
how do we get a seat assignment from hainan after booking with alaska? alaska can't do it and hainan's phone seems disconnected.
- Quote -
Keep in mind that China has some ridiculous rules about their carriers being able to operate longhaul international flights. Unless a specific exception is granted, only one Chinese carrier is allowed to operate a longhaul route.
-Unquote-
It's wrong. This rule only applies in USA routes.
This assumes a lot of Chinese Britney fans - seeing as Macau is only three hours away.
Nice. Finally another transpacific carrier, but if they are really 2-2-2 , I say "ewww"
Time to buy more stock in the casinos...
In January 2017 Hainan is going to operate the new flight between Tijuana (Cross Border Xpress / San Diego) to Beijing. And AeroMexico is going to increase the flight from Tijuana to Shanghai in the Summer of 2017, from 3 weekly flights to 5 weekly flights
Yay for Vegas residents like me! I really think McCarran is one of the best airports out there in terms of efficiency.
I suspect this is like shoveling money into a dumpster