I’m not going to sugar coat this: Finding award availability to and from Asia in business class for a family is difficult. Frequently, airlines release only 1-2 saver awards per flight, and those are snatched up quickly.
And, unfortunately, flying to/from Asia requires long flights. Nonstop flights from Dallas run 13+ hours depending on the destination in Asia. Flying that long in economy can be uncomfortable, cramped, noisy and exhausting.
My daughter and I will be flying from Shanghai, China back to the US next year. We don’t have a lot of choices for this particular route. And, since I’m planning to take advantage of the Chinese transit visa-free option, my routing choices are limited. American Airlines has a nonstop flight between Shanghai and Dallas, but the current award price for business class runs 300k-450k miles per seat. Nope, not gonna happen! But we do have some cheaper alternatives to make our flight more comfortable.
Premium Economy Shanghai to Dallas
The obvious choice is to book seats in premium economy on AA. I had a great experience in AA premium economy to/from Hawaii. While still expensive, some days have award availability for as low as 90k per seat. That’s not as low as it could be, but I barely have the miles to cover 2 seats at that price.
Pros of Premium Economy:
- Wider seats
- More recline
- More legroom
- Smaller, separate cabin
- Upgraded noise-cancelling headphones
- Upgraded blanket/pillow
- Amenity kit
- Elevated dining
- Priority check-in and boarding
Cons of Premium Economy:
- 90k for each of us is 180k miles, which is steep
- Seats don’t lie flat
- In general, award availability in premium economy is limited, and some partner airlines don’t have access to premium economy awards
Extra Economy Seat
Some airlines, including American Airlines, allow you to purchase an extra adjacent seat. On the airplane used on this route from Shanghai to DFW, economy seats are laid out 3-3-3. So, buying an extra seat would give me and my daughter a row of 3 to ourselves. Economy award seats currently run 35k miles on most days for this flight.
Pros of Extra Economy Seat:
- The total cost (35k X 3 or 105k miles) is lower than 2 premium economy seats (180k miles)
- Extra seat and tray table for storage during flight
- Use middle seat floor storage so we can stretch out legs in front of us
- Ability to use extra seat for additional sleeping configurations
- No additional passengers/strangers in our row
Cons of Extra Economy Seat:
- Headphones are crappy
- Cabin is large/noisy
- Seats aren’t wider/no additional recline
- No upgraded check-in/boarding/food/amenity kit
- My fear that the extra seat will be given away or separated due to oversold plane
Bottom Line
We likely won’t be able to fly home from China in business class. But, we still have options for a more comfortable flight. Of course, I’m still checking other airlines that fly to other US cities that would require an extra connection to Dallas. But honestly, I dread flying regular economy for that long of a flight. I’m leaning towards splurging on premium economy seats over buying an extra economy seat.
Have you ever purchased an additional economy seat for extra comfort on a long flight?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Since I’m 6’4″ with wide shoulders and weigh over 300 pounds so while I fit in a standard coach seat it’s not much fun to say the least. Accordingly I go out of my way to fly business class on longer flights.
I’ve found Singapore to offer a fair bit of availability in business class if you book far out. Among the advantages are that they tend to price a lot of Asia the same as just flying to Singapore itself. Among the disadvantages are that the app doesn’t price premium economy itineraries unless PE is offered the whole way. Award space on the Houston-Manchester-Singapore route tends to be better than the flights out of JFK or Newark.
While I get some fake McAfee virus warning when I follow the link to your PE review I’ll try back later as my wife and I are flying the same product from Amsterdam to Philly early next year so it’ll be good to know what to expect.
@Christian I’ve looked at Singapore Airlines, but I’d have to fly 5.5 hours from Shanghai to Singapore and then from LA to DFW. I don’t think the seats are worth all the extra transit time in my case.