David and his colleagues are not magicians (although they pull a few rabbits out of hats.)
He has kindly said that a review of Philippine Airlines J class suites - the 1-2-1 A333s used on the Sydney and Melbourne - Manila routes - will appear. It hasn't yet. This is an airline that has great value fares fairly often (priced way below many other carriers) and will soon have 12 flights a week in total from Sydney or Melbourne, and has heaps more flights through Manila to the USA or Canada (Toronto for instance, one stop from Australia) than Qantas will ever have.
In time, it would be great to have have comprehensive reviews of J class on airlines like Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, Korean Airlines and Asiana also featured or updated.
For instance, in July and September 2017 respectively, the site had good guides to upgrades on ANA (airline code NH) and Asiana (OZ) but did not have a review by Chris or David of actual travel in either case.
I couldn't find any reviews for Korean Airlines or even any recent comments.
These are five airlines that can provide alternative routings for many of us who don't want to either pay the high fares for at times poor service that Qantas provides, or don't want to travel via the Middle East or mainland China.
These airlines have frequent flights to places like the USA, Canada or Europe, and in many cases way more offerings than Qantas, British Airways, Air Canada, United, Delta, United or Virgin Australia, yet on sites like this these Asian carriers go largely unnoticed.
All these Asian airlines have terrific service to passengers on board in my experience and of them, only Asiana has recent question marks over safety.
They deserve more patronage from Australian residents.
I am assuming the vast majority of business travellers enjoy easily obtainable alcohol on board, without having to take it on board as BI makes one. From memory when I've been on it, it also declines to serve pork. Plus it's two stops to London, not one, and has a tiny number of long range aircraft so the chances of flights not operating tend to be higher. And it only flies from Melbourne.
I had family members utilise BI when they used to fly to PER. On the day they were returning, the Sultan wanted to borrow the plane, so they had a free ~18 hour stop over in Brunei all expenses paid.
Hi Traveller14, and thanks for sharing those thoughts. The review of Philippine Airlines business class is coming, it's just that these reviews take a solid slab of time to pull together (I allow between a half-day and a day) and I rarely have that 'spare time' given the other news and pieces we need to do. As for ANA, Asiana, Korean Air etc, you're 100% right that these would be good candidates, but we need to have the airline host us as media (as we definitely don't have the budget to pay our own way), which needs to fit into schedules (theirs and ours) but also depends on the airline approving such. This is one reason AusBT is looking to hire a new journalist, so Chris and I can have a bit more flex in our ability to do reviews of flights and lounges etc.
Great David. I'm sure many of us realise you cannot be in 10 places at once, and uploading all the photos plus just the logistics of getting from A to B and back again, plus concentrating on the first class writing you consistently deliver on takes time. And then you have to search for previous relevant site articles and link them.
You'd hope that these other Asian airlines would be aware of the huge 'pull' of sites like yours and give you the necessary freebie. They have good products in my humble view and deserve to be analysed by you (plural) to see whether my assertion remains true (and what the flaws in each are.)
One other advantage of these airlines, particularly if travellers have a bit of time up their sleeve is that depending on connections they may offer STPC free overnight hotel stays. Japan Air Lines and Korean Air have done this in the past. Often one has to arrange this directly with the airline office in Australia.
Coupled with the chance to experience marvellous Japanese food makes it a winner. I can't make the samer comment about Filipino or Korean food as neither is particularly to my taste, but that's subjective.
JAL is very much overlooked as in ANA for going to Europe.I have yet to experience them but the latter can provide one straight through connections to London with a flight time very competitive against the carriers via singapore,kuala lumpur,hong kong,bangkok and if lucky priced below them.
China Airlines (Taiwan) is also worth a look - new A350s servicing Sydney and a fantastic J experience from most accounts.
They're flying the A350s to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and also London now, so I'm putting their business class to the test very soon between Brisbane and London (A350 on both flights). :)
JAL is very much overlooked as in ANA for going to Europe.I have yet to experience them but the latter can provide one straight through connections to London with a flight time very competitive against the carriers via singapore,kuala lumpur,hong kong,bangkok and if lucky priced below them.
The difficulty with JAL that many Europe-bound travellers face is that JAL's flights from Australia arrive at Narita Airport, but many of JAL's European flights depart from Haneda Airport: not a big deal if you're planning a Japanese stopover, but tricky if you're looking to transit. (JAL does have some European flights from Narita, though.)
China Airlines (Taiwan) is also worth a look - new A350s servicing Sydney and a fantastic J experience from most accounts.
They're flying the A350s to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and also London now, so I'm putting their business class to the test very soon between Brisbane and London (A350 on both flights). :)
I can now say (from personal experience) that the China Airlines (Taiwan) J class on their new A350s is fantastic.
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
Lesser known Asian airline reviews
Traveller14
Traveller14
Member since 17 Sep 2015
Total posts 73
David and his colleagues are not magicians (although they pull a few rabbits out of hats.)
sgb
sgb
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
Member since 30 Nov 2015
Total posts 419
Don't forget Royal Brunei, they are advertising a lot on TV - Business and Economy class, a review of this Airline would be fantastic.
Traveller14
Traveller14
Member since 17 Sep 2015
Total posts 73
I am assuming the vast majority of business travellers enjoy easily obtainable alcohol on board, without having to take it on board as BI makes one. From memory when I've been on it, it also declines to serve pork. Plus it's two stops to London, not one, and has a tiny number of long range aircraft so the chances of flights not operating tend to be higher. And it only flies from Melbourne.
mannej
mannej
QF
Member since 21 May 2014
Total posts 176
Is this Melburnian1 in disguise?
I had family members utilise BI when they used to fly to PER. On the day they were returning, the Sultan wanted to borrow the plane, so they had a free ~18 hour stop over in Brunei all expenses paid.
David
David
Member since 24 Oct 2010
Total posts 1,021
Hi Traveller14, and thanks for sharing those thoughts. The review of Philippine Airlines business class is coming, it's just that these reviews take a solid slab of time to pull together (I allow between a half-day and a day) and I rarely have that 'spare time' given the other news and pieces we need to do. As for ANA, Asiana, Korean Air etc, you're 100% right that these would be good candidates, but we need to have the airline host us as media (as we definitely don't have the budget to pay our own way), which needs to fit into schedules (theirs and ours) but also depends on the airline approving such. This is one reason AusBT is looking to hire a new journalist, so Chris and I can have a bit more flex in our ability to do reviews of flights and lounges etc.
Traveller14
Traveller14
Member since 17 Sep 2015
Total posts 73
Great David. I'm sure many of us realise you cannot be in 10 places at once, and uploading all the photos plus just the logistics of getting from A to B and back again, plus concentrating on the first class writing you consistently deliver on takes time. And then you have to search for previous relevant site articles and link them.
Traveller14
Traveller14
Member since 17 Sep 2015
Total posts 73
One other advantage of these airlines, particularly if travellers have a bit of time up their sleeve is that depending on connections they may offer STPC free overnight hotel stays. Japan Air Lines and Korean Air have done this in the past. Often one has to arrange this directly with the airline office in Australia.
puppy79
puppy79
Member since 06 Dec 2017
Total posts 23
JAL is very much overlooked as in ANA for going to Europe.I have yet to experience them but the latter can provide one straight through connections to London with a flight time very competitive against the carriers via singapore,kuala lumpur,hong kong,bangkok and if lucky priced below them.
stmaus
stmaus
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 20 Nov 2017
Total posts 45
China Airlines (Taiwan) is also worth a look - new A350s servicing Sydney and a fantastic J experience from most accounts.
Chris C.
Chris C.
Member since 24 Apr 2012
Total posts 1,116
They're flying the A350s to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and also London now, so I'm putting their business class to the test very soon between Brisbane and London (A350 on both flights). :)
Chris C.
Chris C.
Member since 24 Apr 2012
Total posts 1,116
The difficulty with JAL that many Europe-bound travellers face is that JAL's flights from Australia arrive at Narita Airport, but many of JAL's European flights depart from Haneda Airport: not a big deal if you're planning a Japanese stopover, but tricky if you're looking to transit. (JAL does have some European flights from Narita, though.)
stmaus
stmaus
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 20 Nov 2017
Total posts 45
They're flying the A350s to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and also London now, so I'm putting their business class to the test very soon between Brisbane and London (A350 on both flights). :)
I can now say (from personal experience) that the China Airlines (Taiwan) J class on their new A350s is fantastic.