Delta to Fly to Beijing Non-Stop from Los Angeles; Fly Cheap with Hongkong Airlines for Qingming

Steven Schwankert | Mar 15, 2016 4:00 pm | Add a comment | 1998 reads

Delta Airlines joins a crowded field of airlines offering non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Beijing. Its new daily service doesn't begin until December 16, pending regulatory approval, which sounds like a long time away.

Along with United Airlines, which already flies daily, Air China has three daily flights between Beijing and LA. Delta reduced its service to Beijing about a year ago when everyone's favorite secret flight to Tokyo, a connection that cost about RMB 2,800 roundtrip, ended. Los Angeles proved to be the favorite US destination for Chinese tourists in 2015.

Once again we're forced to ask why Cathay Pacific Airlines flights seem so ridiculously overpriced for no apparent reason. Looking at flights to Hong Kong at the end of this month with a return after Qingming Jie in early April, and the price came up over RMB 6,000. Um, perhaps Cathay doesn't realize that flights to the US from Beijing aren't that much at the moment. So we went to the back-up, Hongkong Airlines, and complete with tax, a roundtrip flight for the same time is HKD 1,310 (RMB 1,098).

We kinda like Hongkong Airlines, it reminds us of flying Dragonair in the 1990s. The biggest disadvantage is that the Hainan Airlines-owned carrier isn't a member of Star Alliance, or even its distant country cousin, OneWorld. I guess that membership in FortuneWings, the Hainan frequent flyer program, is free.

The big travel headline of the moment is China Anbang's improved bid for Starwood Hotels. Although it seemed to be a done deal last year, with Marriott ready to pay USD 12.2 billion, Anbang has increased its offer to USD 14 billion. That's after spending USD 1 billion to buy the New York Waldorf Astoria, and earlier this week buying Strategic Hotels & Resorts for USD 6.5 billion. That's over USD 20 billion in hotel properties globally, many of them in the five-star range.

Until Thursday, one road flat safe.

More stories by this author here.

Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
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Photo: Wikipedia