Questions and Answers

Hi Ben,

First of all I want to say that I have been reading your blog for about a year and it is really helpful for me when I select which airline’s business class I book when I travel. Thank you so much and please write more articles so I can read new ones instead of read the old ones again haha. In short, I’m like your biggest fan.

So summer break is coming up and as school ends I am going home for the summer (from Montreal to Beijing). I am a loyal Star Alliance member and usually I fly home in ANA business class even though I would have to make two or three stops because is just so amazing and I love the food and the service and the duty free shopping in Narita Airport. However, this year so far they didn’t have any discount tickets yet, and going home would cost me around $6000 Canadian dollars instead of 3 to 4000 which I paid last year and the year before. I wanted to try Air Canada’s new business class product for a while and I thought this can be an opportunity and their price is reasonable, about $4000 Canadian dollars. However, out of curiosity, I checked American Airlines and Delta, and their business tickets is only about $2500 Canadian dollars which is a great deal, and both of them seem to have great new reverse herringbone hard product. I want to try out American airline base on their schedule (via Chicago so I can visit a friend there during long layover) and is a 787 aircraft instead of Delta’s 767.

So my question is, first of all is it normal to have this kind of price? I know is very discounted price but it is too “cheap” to the point where I start to question is it legit haha (I checked on the official website). Secondly, if I book American, then I would lost about 12000 miles on this round trip which I could have accumulated into my Star Alliance account. But given Air Canada cost $1500 Canadian dollar more, is it worth it to book American (a trade-off between 12000 miles and $1500 Canadian dollars).

Thank you so much for taking your time to answer! I would continue follow your blog! (Perhaps contribute on it? haha wink wink)

Best,
Ethan

The pricing isnt surprising. There are cheap flights and it really depends on many factors. If the price and schedule works for you, it’s worth booking and trying out a new airline. In terms of miles, it doesnt hurt to accrue miles in a new program, provided you can make use of it. American has some great partners in oneworld – Cathay Pacific, JAL and Qatar Airways come to mind. They also partner with Alaska Airlines and Etihad Airrways, the latter which is pretty great, especially on their A380s and 787s.