patandhank

I'm generally starting to look at various routes and airlines for a trip to Hong Kong and Japan that will take place in November, 2018. I realize it's too soon to start actually shopping for tickets now but yes I'm playing around to see if I can get an idea of which airlines fly where.

Generally looking for any tips anyone may have to assist in my hunt. Here's the criteria - at least at this point::

Star Alliance carrier

Want premium economy minimum. A decent PE with foot rests which has me leaning toward some of the partner airlines such as Singapore or ANA and not the United flights which don't see to have them for PE.

Route: Most likely SFO to HKG (although open to another international departure city if more doable); HKG to Tokyo (any airport) after a 3 day stop in HKG and then Osaka (any airport) back to the POI after our 21 day trip in Japan.

I thought there used to be a website that would show which carriers flew a route, e.g. SFO to HKG but if there is I can't find it.

We may have FF miles to use (at least one direction) for business class.

Anyone have thoughts on the better PE airlines to use that are star alliance?

I suspect as it gets closer I may even end up calling but just thought I'd reach out to all the pros here first.

Thanks!

Southam

Lots of websites will search for flights out of San Francisco, starting with matrix.itasoftware.com which may show the most possibilities -- no website covers all carriers. Some allow the customer to search all members of an alliance at once. I like www.cheapoair.com (never mind the name) for easy research but there are plenty of others.
For Sky Alliance through Cheapo, you would enter departure and arrival airports, date, and go down the left-hand menu to airline alliance. Click off the other alliances and hit search, at the top of that menu. Then you can see lots of combinations of itinerary and prices on that alliance's members.
Given your complicated route, use the multi-destination search on many websites. You may have to dig deeper, possibly going to the airline itself, to find out about the higher-priced seats.

Melnq8

I'd take Singapore Airlines over UA in a NY minute.

I used to fly Singapore-LAX on SIA back when they only had two classes on that particular flight - Premium Economy and Business. I really enjoyed those flights (well as much as a person can enjoy a 15-17 hour flight) and cried when they discontinued them.

I liked that I could get to the US in one go, without having to stop en route, change planes and do it all over again. Not to mention that I could avoid UA, which I did as much as possible when living on that side of the world.

Spouse has flown SFO to Singapore on SIA in Premium Economy a couple of times and is doing so again in a week. He said the footrests are sort of a joke, but he has no trouble sleeping. And then you have that world class Singapore Air service. And PE is only about $500 more than economy, instead of being stupidly expensive like on some other airlines (Air NZ comes to mind).

No contest as far as I'm concerned. SIA will get my business every time, especially over UA.

Gardyloo

The only Star Alliance airlines that fly nonstop from SFO to HKG are United and Singapore. There are no Star carriers that fly nonstop from LAX to HKG; your other west coast departure point for Star Alliance nonstops is Vancouver, using Air Canada.

Returning from Japan, only United and ANA fly nonstop from Japan to SFO; United, ANA and Singapore all fly TYO-LAX (either Haneda or Narita.) And of course Air Canada also flies back to Vancouver. ANA also flies to Seattle.

I would look at Seat Guru to see what the premium economy products look like on these carriers. If you're willing to stop en route, then the choices widen considerably. I'd look especially at EVA via Taipei; their premium economy product is highly rated.

I'd also keep an eye on this board on Flyertalk - https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals-740/ . This is where people post news about cheap-ish business class fares on various carriers; it's not unknown for business class to be competitive with premium economy on these routes in the autumn/winter. Brush up on your airport and airline codes (KIX, AC etc.) before diving in.

patandhank

I really appreciate the comments. Always helpful to have the insight from different perspectives.

A stop en route ( either direction) is an option.

I’ll do more looking and monitor the flyer talk forum.