I'm booking a ticket to Beijing,and Air China is the cheapest at $532, direct. But I've seen lots of horrible reviews on this airline. Can somebody advise?
I'm sure you can go cheaper than that with other (budget) airlines, just have to be creative with routing / destination. If you are just looking for the cheapest, then there's not much to fuss about the quality / service. Afterall it is just SIN - PEK, mid/short-haul flights. The question here is how much more expensive is the other airlines. Also, some or few horrible reviews might not mean your flight will be horrible. It all depends on which flight attendants you get. I've had my fair share of shitty attendants as well as fantastic ones on the same airline, same route. Just that some airlines have more "fantastic" attendants than others.
It's at least a 16 hr flight to the US versus a couple of hours in a lounge.
Lol. If really flying alone or with friends, I'm actually fine, just bring ipad / books to self entertain. The seat is usually similar, then just bring some personal snacks along. Usually, plus a few movies, the reading and ipad will actually force you to sleep. Nowadays seats come with USB port so can actually charge iPad / phone inflight, or I usually bring portable charger just in case.
I've actually have hard time sleeping on SQ (even in first and business class) due to the multitude of movies available. To fly these "lesser" airlines (on my own dime) so that I can get miles for status as well as redeem flights on SQ first and business class for family.
I've taken both Air China and Cathay Pacific before. I prefer Air China though. CX seems more 'rowdy' to me. I hate the 'noise' produced by the passengers on CX all the time. I don't seem to have this much of a problem with Air China or any other airlines.
Depends on the crowd and the customer base too. Invest in a good noise blocking/cancelling earphones, then just pretty much ignore everyone else on the flight (even crying babies, as long as he doesn't kick my seatback).
