fortunecookie Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Does anybody here have any experience with flying to China going EAST instead of West???I have found some tickets with Air France that are reasonable and the flights seem to be pretty nice. Plus - we will get to see Paris for a few hours.Thanks,Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Does anybody here have any experience with flying to China going EAST instead of West???I have found some tickets with Air France that are reasonable and the flights seem to be pretty nice. Plus - we will get to see Paris for a few hours.Thanks,Scott There's actually not a whole lot of difference. The United flight from Chicago goes west (to the left of the pole). The Continental flight from Newark goes east (to the right of the pole), I would expect the Air France flight is just a little further east. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaRichard Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Does anybody here have any experience with flying to China going EAST instead of West???I have found some tickets with Air France that are reasonable and the flights seem to be pretty nice. Plus - we will get to see Paris for a few hours.Thanks,ScottWhat is the route, and how long does it take? I've always flown over the pole into Beijing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortunecookie Posted September 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Does anybody here have any experience with flying to China going EAST instead of West???I have found some tickets with Air France that are reasonable and the flights seem to be pretty nice. Plus - we will get to see Paris for a few hours.Thanks,ScottWhat is the route, and how long does it take? I've always flown over the pole into Beijing. It is Atlanata to Paris...... then onto Guangzhou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard & Li Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 I've considered it, but never tried it. If you take that route, let us know how it went... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Looks like Paris is more than a little bit out of your way, but you'll get some frequent flier miles! http://i26.tinypic.com/2vkhhep.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaRichard Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Looks like Paris is more than a little bit out of your way, but you'll get some frequent flier miles!Nothing like a good picture to put something into perspective, good one Randy The Continental flight from Newark goes east (to the right of the pole)The first time I flew to China the path was very close to directly over the pole, another time returning home we flew much further south, over the Bering Strait and thru Alaska. So maybe weather and other factors determine which route they take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Looks like Paris is more than a little bit out of your way, but you'll get some frequent flier miles!Nothing like a good picture to put something into perspective, good one Randy The Continental flight from Newark goes east (to the right of the pole)The first time I flew to China the path was very close to directly over the pole, another time returning home we flew much further south, over the Bering Strait and thru Alaska. So maybe weather and other factors determine which route they take. No, I think they always fly over the Bering Strait on the way back to take advantage of the jet streams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amberjack1234 Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 Looks like Paris is more than a little bit out of your way, but you'll get some frequent flier miles!Nothing like a good picture to put something into perspective, good one Randy The Continental flight from Newark goes east (to the right of the pole)The first time I flew to China the path was very close to directly over the pole, another time returning home we flew much further south, over the Bering Strait and thru Alaska. So maybe weather and other factors determine which route they take. No, I think they always fly over the Bering Strait on the way back to take advantage of the jet streams.Randy I have had our pilot tell us the same thing. By using the jet stream we saved 1 1/2 hours once on a strong jet stream and a lot of jet fuel but when we got to O'Hare they would not let us land for 1 hour. We had to circle and circle and circle. I was guessing to burn up some of the extra jet fuel I don't know. If it is not much more expensive I might consider that too. I never checked into it. Another if. If it was not to much more flying time I get pretty tired now going the old way. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S. Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 You could fly to Amsterdam, then from there to Abu Dhabi. Take a limo to the emirate next door, Sharjah, and from there fly to Urumqi. From there connect to elsewhere in China. It would be the long, long way but it would be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortunecookie Posted September 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Can someone please give me some examples of airlines that fly east. I assume flights leaving New York or Newark, NJ fly east - but this I am not really sure about. I would think it should be cheaper for me - i live on the east coast - to fly east - but I am not finding ticket prices this way. What carrier flies directly east to China from US east coast? And what cities do they depart from? Is ATL included? ThanksScott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnoblett Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Can someone please give me some examples of airlines that fly east. I assume flights leaving New York or Newark, NJ fly east - but this I am not really sure about. I would think it should be cheaper for me - i live on the east coast - to fly east - but I am not finding ticket prices this way. What carrier flies directly east to China from US east coast? And what cities do they depart from? Is ATL included? ThanksScottI live on the east coast too and have always flown west to Chicago and then on to China. The other "East Coast" city with service to China is Washington DC, direct flight from there to Beijing, over the poll. There are direct flights from NYC to Beijing and Shanghai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 (edited) The Continental flight from Newark to Beijing flies to the right of the North Pole. This is a shot I took of the sunset there (Sept 21) The in-flight map they displayed actually showed the plane turning right at Greenland and flying to the North of Siberia (in other words, traveling east). There is not a whole lot of difference between flying west (from Chicago) and flying east (from Newark) - they both fly pretty close to the pole. See my map above. If you want to fly across Europe and Asia, you will need to go through an intermediate destination in Europe or Asia. The airlines pretty much follow the shortest (Great Circle) routes. Going "directly east" adds a LOT of distance to the flight - it would be MUCH more expensive. The flights going "west" do not fly directly west - they fly closer to the Bering Strait or North Pole to follow the shortest (Great Circle) route Edited September 14, 2009 by Randy W (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortunecookie Posted September 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 The Continental flight from Newark to Beijing flies to the right of the North Pole. This is a shot I took of the sunset there (Sept 21) The in-flight map they displayed actually showed the plane turning right at Greenland and flying to the North of Siberia (in other words, traveling east). There is not a whole lot of difference between flying west (from Chicago) and flying east (from Newark) - they both fly pretty close to the pole. See my map above. The flights going "west" do not fly directly west - they fly closer to the Bering Strait or North Pole to follow the shortest (Great Circle) route I never knew this........ very interesting!!! Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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