Flying Dublin to Beijing, China. Best Route.

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Grizzly

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Planning a family trip to Beijing in 2027. Four adults and one child.

Which is the best recommended route to take and airline?

I have had a look at Skyscanner but I am interested to hear from those who have flown this route in the past with their tips and recommendations.

Business Class might be considered if not too expensive.

We have flown with Etihad and Qatar to Hong Kong in the past. We did not like the Etihad Business Class experience. Hot stuffy planes, hard seats. Qatar, we flew economy class and seats were very tight, packed plane with little room to move about. We found Abu Dhabi airport pretty awful (Etihad) but Hamad (Qatar) airport lovely.
 
Due to local issues, there are few flights going via the middle east at the moment. Qatar cancelled flights we had booked and it took multiple emails to get all the money returned. They returned flight portion of the tickets, but seat bookings and lounges were not returned for several months...

We ended up going with Air France via Hong Kong and then onwards. Air France are flying new A350-900s for the long haul section of this route. DUB to CDG via HOP (Regional Air France), CDG to HKG via Air France. The connections in CDG were all in Terminal 2E Gates K, this just required a short walk, and recheck through security. No messing around with trains or shuttle buses between terminals.
 
If you don't like Etihad business class not sure who will be to your taste have generally found business class on Emirates and Qatar to be better than most of the competition and their lounges in their local airports are very good.
 
Savvy said:
Have you considered the direct flight with Hainan Airlines. Not taking it myself but one to consider.
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I would love to hear from anyone who has flown Dublin to Beijing with Hainan. I have been reading some of the reviews and if you can get a plane with a 1-2 -1 cabin layout it looks good.
 
Grizzly said:
lanning a family trip to Beijing in 2027. Four adults and one child.

Which is the best recommended route to take and airline?

I have had a look at Skyscanner but I am interested to hear from those who have flown this route in the past with their tips and recommendations.

Business Class might be considered if not too expensive.

We have flown with Etihad and Qatar to Hong Kong in the past. We did not like the Etihad Business Class experience. Hot stuffy planes, hard seats. Qatar, we flew economy class and seats were very tight, packed plane with little room to move about. We found Abu Dhabi airport pretty awful (Etihad) but Hamad (Qatar) airport lovely.
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Hainan airways direct from Dublin to Beijing is the fastest and cheapest, have used it several times in the past couple of years...
 
Grizzly said:
I would love to hear from anyone who has flown Dublin to Beijing with Hainan. I have been reading some of the reviews and if you can get a plane with a 1-2 -1 cabin layout it looks good.
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We did Hainan to Beijing on an A330-300, they announced that a direct Dublin-Shanghai route would start some time this year.
 
Leo said:
We did Hainan to Beijing on an A330-300, they announced that a direct Dublin-Shanghai route would start some time this year.
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That's interesting. We had hoped to travel to Shanghai for a few nights. It would be great to fly in to Beijing and out of Shanghai or vice versa.

The trip is planned for 2027.
 
Grizzly said:
The trip is planned for 2027.
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We went to Beijing for a few days before taking the fast train to Shanghai (4.5 hours for ~1,300 km), flying back from Shanghai with a stop-over in Beijing. If the Shanghai direct flight does come to pass, you'll be able to avoid the stop-over.
 
Grizzly said:
out of Shanghai or vice versa.
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I've travelled to Shanghai a few times over the last few years with work. It's been ORK -> LHR -> PVG usually with BA but once got a last minute change by the airline to Air China (I think)

I'm not so bothered by the standard of different airlines. At the end of the day you are still stuck in a seat for a considerable time. I would usally try to arrive 24 hours before any planned activities and use the first day to recover in a nice hotel

My preference is always for a one longer flight which at least gives some chance for sleeping. I know other colleagues have broken it up differently with connections in Middle East but I find those 6-7 hour flights to be more annoying with food service. At least there is a bigger gap between food service on a 12 hour flight

Others in work have taken additional holidays after work and travelled to Beijing by train before returning home through Amsterdam (usually)
 
I usually use Star Alliance, Lufthansa or Air China via Munich or Frankfurt. I will try one of the direct flights at some point but the frequency and timetable usually doesn't suit me.
 
peemac said:
Shanghai route launched a couple of weeks ago - operated by China Eastern
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China is a fantastic country, so glad they are opening new direct routes.. so many cities that far exceed anything the US has, and so many other sites to see...
 
I found the Etihad experience dreadful. Hot stuffy cabins. When lights were switched off they upped the heat in the cabin to make everyone fall asleep. As I don't sleep on planes I felt I was sitting there being slowly roasted. I was in Business class but no cabin crew in sight for a number of hours.
The Qatar experience was not great either but at least they had the air conditioning just right. This was economy class. Very tight seats and when the person in front of you reclined their seat it was almost in your face.

I would love to hear from anyone who had a comfortable inflight experience and on which airline.
 
Grizzly said:
Very tight seats and when the person in front of you reclined their seat it was almost in your face.
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For this reason three cheers for the low-cost airlines, obviously only applies to the short-hauls.

Colin4444 said:
China is a fantastic country, so glad they are opening new direct routes.. so many cities that far exceed anything the US has, and so many other sites to see...
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Only been once for a very short visit but I was also impressed. The new world order...
 
Going business class with Turkish Airlines Dublin to Beijing, back from Hong Kong, in October. Both flights connecting via Istanbul.
Will report back afterwards.
Usually went to Asia with Emirates or Etihad (I prefer Etihad), but thought to try something different this time. Also of course due to the Iran situation.
 
newirishman said:
Will report back afterwards
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Thank you. I had looked at that route so I would be interested to hear. We have been in Hong Kong twice, visiting family so we thought that we might meet in Beijing or Shanghai next time for a change.....then also fly home via Hong Kong.
 
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