East Coast to Bali

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, roothy123 said:

Also, why are codeshares often so much more expensive for the same flight as purchasing the flight from the "operated by" airline?

 

Conceptually, think of them as different flights even though they happen to share the same pressurised tube. One flight may have taken a big booking, so that airline can get on with selling more expensive tickets; the other flight may still have lots of unsold space needing lower prices to tempt buyers. In addition, the available tickets for one flight may have different fare rules from the available tickets for the other flight. To all of this, it is irrelevant that the two flights happen ultimately to share the same aircraft when it comes to the actual flying.

 

1 hour ago, roothy123 said:

Singapore connection time for the flight from Newark to Singapore to Bali is only 50 minutes.  Is that reasonable?    Would it be a mistake to book that flight?

 

I don't think I would do this. It's perfectly possible if everything goes right, and you'd get looked after if you misconnect. But it's bang on the official Minimum Connection Time, so there's a significant risk of a misconnection, and you'll end up with all of the "will we, won't we" stress when you could plan at the outset to take an overnight stop at Singapore.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

I'm departing PIT on Thursday for an EVA Air flight to Bali from LAX with a connection in Taipei.  Not quite the East Coast flight that the OP was looking for as I'm on a separate ticket from PIT and  I do have 2 stops.  Total travel time isn't too horrible though.  About 10 months ago, I had seen a r/t economy fare offered at under $600 and couldn't resist. 

 

Of note, and of special interest to some,  is that the TPE - DPS flight will take place on a Hello Kitty plane.  It's not just the livery, but, the service items and even some of the food items are also Hello Kitty themed.  I'm pretty tickled about this and I'll give up the East Coast departure this time to give it a try!  😂😍

 

http://www.evakitty.com/en/flight/routes.html#

[roothy123]

I finally decided on my tickets to Denpasar, Bali and back from Auckland.  Whew, that was not easy, and of course, business class is not cheap.  But I'm hoping Cathay Pacific will provide a fairly good experience for the money.   I'm also hoping that someone can help me figure out what Cathay Pacific's Airbus 350-1000 is like for business class.  I guess it's configured in what is called the herringbone pattern. On the A350-1000s, are those two seats in the interior section of the plane in the business section good for two people sitting together?  In the seating plan, there is a line down the middle which confuses me.  Is that a panel?  My husband and I are wondering what the most comfortable seats would be for the two of us.  There are plenty of aisle seats for him, and while I like window seats, for these horribly long flights, I'm looking for maximum comfort and being at least fairly close to my husband. 

 

I checked Seatguru but it doesn't really help.

 

Also, from Auckland to Hong Kong it looks like the plane will be an A350-900, with the seats described as recliners.  Those will not be nearly as comfortable, I assume, as the flat seats in the 1000 series Airbus, correct?      

[fbgd]

It's all personal preference as to which seats are best for couples. When I travel with my wife in seats similar to this we always pick window seats one in front of the other. We value looking out of the window over the ability to converse for a minute or two per hour. If we get up to stretch legs/go to the toilet then we'll stop by for a quick chat.  

 

There is no fixed divider but as this review shows and references pictorially you won't be able to see your partner in the centre seats without leaning forward. 

https://thepointsguy.com/reviews/cathay-pacific-a350-1000-business-iad-hkg/

 

AFAIK, Cathay Pacific don't have A350-900s with recliner seats in business class, they all have the reverse herringbone seating. They do have some A330s with recliner seats but I'd be surprised to see them on HKG-AKL, they're usually put on regional routes around SE Asia.

Edited February 27, 2019 by fbgd

[Globaliser]

8 hours ago, roothy123 said:

Also, from Auckland to Hong Kong it looks like the plane will be an A350-900, with the seats described as recliners.

 

7 hours ago, fbgd said:

AFAIK, Cathay Pacific don't have A350-900s with recliner seats in business class, they all have the reverse herringbone seating.

 

I was on a Cathay A350-900 a few weeks ago, and it was the same reverse herringbone concept as on the rest of the long-haul fleet. AFAIK, CX only has one 359 configuration.

 

Like fbgd, I would be surprised to see a regional aircraft put on a long-haul route. HKG-AKL is longer than HKG-SYD, and I know that flat beds are guaranteed on HKG-SYD.

 

CX has a reputation for random shuffling if you're flying on regional routes: whatever aircraft and configuration you're promised when you book and when you check-in, what actually turns up on the day is a bit like Forrest's box of chocolates. But this doesn't apply to long-haul routes.

 

7 hours ago, fbgd said:

There is no fixed divider but as this review shows and references pictorially you won't be able to see your partner in the centre seats without leaning forward. 

 

I seem to recall that you can move the seat forward without reclining, if you're in one of the middle seats and you want to make it a bit easier to talk to the person in the other middle seat adjacent to you. But it still isn't the easiest or most natural position in which to have a conversation. Nevertheless, my companion prefers that we are in two adjacent middles despite this difficulty.