Questions and Answers

I fly between East Asia and the west coast coast of North America (either Canada or USA) every 3-6 months. And I hate long plane trips. Despite plenty of research I have never been able to find a series of short haul flights ‘across the pond’, let alone one under $900. I have looked at the map and it seems that there is no such thing as a convenient air hub in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Am I missing something? Guam, Hawaii, Philippines, all are at the edges. Inevitably, I end up flying from Taipei or Japan, because I like ANA and Eva. All the cheaper Chinese airlines are just too packed and the flight is too long.

Why do you think that there is no such thing as a discount airline that does any transpacific route? Regional ones, yes (Air Asia and Ryan Air) only. Is it a matter of supply and demand or something about gov’t regulations?

I dont think there is a market for it. If you look at the flight paths of flights from East Asia to West Coast, they all fly north. There really isn’t a reason to stop and create connecting traffic in the middle of Siberia or Alaska, especially if its a low cost airline using a narrow body plane.

The shortest TPAC route I can think of is NRT-YVR – its under 5k miles. Maybe you can purchase flights that connect to/from those airports if shorts flights are really important to you. Personally, I dont mind longer flights, even in Y, since it means it’s more direct and I’ll arrive sooner instead of dealing with a connection.

Of course, that reasoning changes when we’re dealing with premium cabin travel and some fun airlines 😉