FlyerTalker

I would have ZERO qualms flying on a 737MAX. Of far more concern, IMO, is that you know what "business class" on Copa entails. You would be on 737s with recliner-type seating, NOT lie-flat as you would find on most non-stops to the USA. You also would have a connection in Panama along the way. Which is why you are finding your "great deal". Not that it's a MAX. Caveat emptor.

Both are excellent. Al Safwa is much less populated, and at a higher level. But both will be worth your time, if only for some comparison.

I am going to assume that your DXB-DOH-CMN will be on Qatar. If so, there is an interesting "hack" at work. Business class flights within the Middle East on QR price out as "business", but get coded as "first". So a business class ticket that includes DOH-DXB on QR will be a "first class" segment - and that gets you full access to the Al Safwa First Class Lounge, which is an awesome destination on its own. It has full ala carte dining, a collection of art from the Doha Museum of Islamic Art, and many other delightful touches. Plus a superb bar with very premium spirits and wines. On our last visit, we passed on going out into Doha on a long connect and just enjoyed the lounge.

Anyone buying that UA ticket has FAR more money than sense. Take ANA. My only further suggestion is that in your research you use BJS as the code for Beijing and TYO for Tokyo. These are "city codes" and will give you all the airports, not just Beijing Capital (PEK) and Narita (NRT) - as Haneda (HND) is much closer to your port areas in Tokyo than Narita. That ANA pricing is a reasonable one for that kind of routing.

So, your two options are: 1) Fly LAX-PEK, land tour to HKG, cruise to TYO, Fly TYO-LAX 2) Fly LAX-HKG, land tour to PEK, Fly PEK-HKG, cruise to TYO, Fly TYO-LAX I personally doubt that you will be able to find business class tickets PEK-HKG low enough to offset any savings by going to HKG vs PEK for the first leg. But only actual research will answer that question.

If your land tour is either PEK-HKG or HKG-PEK, it makes far more sense, IMO, to end the tour in the city where the cruise starts. One less flight involved and the tour gets you to where you need to be. Thus, your flight booking would be LAX-PEK with a return of TYO-LAX. The land tour takes care of getting you to HKG. For the routing noted above, I would suggest JAL or ANA. Both would bring you back non-stop from Tokyo to LAX. I would also be comparing your options and pricing with Korean, EVA and China Airlines as all have at least equivalent product with ANA/JAL. The mainland Chinese carriers may have lower pricing for their tickets. Only you can determine what the right price/product evaluation is. Remember that simplicity often has a cost.

WHOA!!! Who ever said anything about "women's ability"? Or are you claiming that women have some special ability unique to themselves? Back on topic, please.

You miss my point. Both ER and BM spent time taking their eye off the ball. Even the best customer generates what, maybe half to three quarters of a million in gross income. In the big picture, that's a drop in the bucket. Yep...that's what an individual may want...those great strokes. OTOH, from a company standpoint, is that the best use for a CEO's time and energy? And from my standpoint, I would want my CEO to be focused on making the company, and product, the best it can be. Want to be a touchy-feely, help the customer kind of executive? Lead the customer relations team, not sit in the CEO chair. And to keep this cruise oriented, compare this with the people who want charming, engaging, and sociable captains. Personally, I don't care about those things -- what matters is how they run their ship. Francesco Schettino is a prime example.

FWIW, I was never a fan. Be that as it may, the above statement is quite telling. IMO, the CEO of a multi-multi-million dollar company should not be helping individual travelers. She has far more important duties and responsibilities. And if she has that much free time on her hands, then there shouldn't be any issues within the company that require executive action. But we know that's not the case - there are many decisions necessary to steer a winning course for the company. Yes, it was nice for those select few that got the personal touch. Was it good for the company? In a way, reminds me of Edie over at Crystal. She didn't focus enough attention on the well being of the company, but was busy doing "other stuff". In any case, I wish her well in whatever endeavor she undertakes.

All hotel shuttles operate on the upper level at LAX at the red signs. Since there are FIVE Hyatt hotels in the LAX area, perhaps contacting your specific hotel directly can give you more information on the frequency of the shuttles.

One other questions is: What kind of refund are you looking for? Fares can come with refundability in the form of airline credit or credit back to your form of payment. Just what kind of "refund" are you desiring? Recognize that the latter is often far more costly than the former. Like Zach, I rarely buy a fully refundable to payment type of fare. I've found that refunds to flight credit often work out just fine, and I can't think of when I wasn't able to use those credits at some point for other travel. Interestingly, I just bought some tickets on ANA for business travel from Asia. They offered two types of tickets - those that were refundable to airline credit and refundable to cash. The fare difference was only $75, so in this case I bought the one refundable to cash. Now the point to note is that you only got this option after digging into the buying process -- the option and pricing wasn't offered at the very start of the flight search. So remember: Effective air travel purchasing requires more than just simple point and click -- you can get search results quickly and you can get them economically, but rarely in the same time.

Be aware that Zipair is a very ala carte product. Though you can buy a "business class seat", you have everything else as an add-on charge. You want a meal...that's extra. You want to check a bag....extra. You want lounge access....extra. How about a blanket? Yep, extra. So by the time you add up everything, it's not that much of a bargain. Plus, you would now need to buy a completely separate ticket from Tokyo to China/Hong Kong (still not sure what you are trying to accomplish).

You really need to ask yourself about your choice of Hong Kong vs Beijing. Significant differences in both carrier options and pricing. Plus over 1200 miles apart. One other thing you need to be looking at is how pricing varies between the four coastal gateways - LAX, SFO, SEA and YVR. There is the most competition into LAX, but that doesn't always translate into the best pricing. For example, for a recent flight from Asia, it was significantly less expensive to fly into SEA rather than either SFO or LAX. In addition, you should look at connection routings through Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei. One other item of note: IMO, there is a significant service differential between the mainland Chinese carriers and other Asian airlines. By mainland, I mean Air China (NOT China Airlines, which is much different), China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan, and Shenzhen. OTOH, both China Airlines and EVA, from Taipei, are quite good. Same with JAL, ANA, Korean, Cathay and Singapore. So don't just be focused on price.

FWIW, there are lots of refundable fares out there to ATH and back from BOM or AUH. Might take a bit more looking than just a simple point and click, but air tickets should not be putting people off this trip. Anyone that wants advice, just ask.

Well, you could go to the LAX website and see. Or google maps. Or google earth. One man's "far walk" is another man's "short hop".

And I forgot to mention business class service on USA airlines. You might get your meal, you might get your drink. Heaven forbid that you would want a refill or something else during your flight, other than the minimum service requirement. And if you push the call button, either a) the crew develops instantaneous deafness or b) the glaring scorn will remind you to never do it again. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Asian and Middle East carriers?

Yes, that's part of an interesting dynamic for business class service. There are airlines where the FAs are almost constantly roaming the cabin, and others where they await the call button and jump into action between scheduled services for meals and drinks. The move towards doors in business is, IMO, moving more service to "call button" dynamic. Guess the feeling is that if you have the door closed, you want to be left alone. The double bed config is probably my favorite business class seating when with Mrs FT. Enough so that I will take a positioning flight just to get them.

You were likely on a code-share flight. And you ALWAYS check in with the operating carrier. Who's airplane was it? Just because it has an LH flight number doesn't make it a Lufthansa flight. You don't specify the routing, so it's conjecture on my part. And it is only confusing if you don't follow the airline instructions which tell you where to check in.

Any pair in the center will be the best for couples. That is, if you want seating where the couple can interact and talk during the flight. But even there, you will have separation. Biggest question would be, do you want your side-table to be on your right or on your left? Personally, Mrs FT and I rarely take the two seats together. Much prefer the privacy of the single window seats, especially those closest to the window. Plus, you will be wanting to sleep on the way to LHR, so how much do you really need to be together? Now, put us in Q-Suites and it's a different story.

Not sure why you say "sister". Lufthansa and Air Canada have completely separate ownerships, unlike Lufthansa's ownership of Austrian, Brussels, Swiss, Edelweiss, Discover and Eurowings. Those are the sister companies of LH. Now, they are together in the same alliance, but that is far from being tied together. There isn't even a joint operating agreement.

Just how does using FlightEase make the "difficulty of getting there from Houston" any easier? In fact, it has the potential of making things even more difficult, as FE may have fewer options to get to DBV than buying directly from the airlines. And why do you think that the cruise will change its itinerary? Do you know something we don't?

Acceptable to whom? And in what ways are you asking "acceptable"?

KLM, BA, Virgin and Lufthansa do not fly non-stop between the USA and CDG. What you are seeing are code-shares on flights actually operated by Air France, American, Delta and United. Or you are seeing connections through AMS, LHR, FRA or MUC.

Don't forget one key word on that website (bolded for emphasis): "For your convenience, here are links to many of our air partners’ websites. " Which means that the list is not all-inclusive.

Bidding For Travel was a great resource for the original PL "name your price" process. Since then, both PL and Hotwire have gone to fixed pricing on opaque hotel listings. However, there is still an excellent resource for sussing out what hotels you are likely to get with a opaque choice. www.betterbidding.com Better was originally along the lines of BFT. However, with the change to PL, they shifted and are still relevant today.