JY and I are thinking of making a trip to Shanghai to see her parents. We still haven’t decided whether to go yet, it really depends on how our baby’s ultra-sound result come out.
However, for the past few days, I’ve been researching traveling options, trying to make the flight from SFO to PVG (Pudong Airport) more pleasant.
There are a few options. It’s a really hard decision. United charges $5000+ for business class fair, Air China charges $3,000+. I’ve been thinking about creative ways to get the tickets so we won’t go broke before the baby even gets here.
The best option right now seems like United Economy Plus. These are special seats on United that gives you a few inchs of additional space, which will definitely help. It will also make upgrade to business class easier if there are operational upgrades available.
United just came up with a new plan that will sell you one year of economy plus access for $299. It applies to a Mileage Plus account holder, and allows the account holder and a guest to book E+ fares. It even works with Award Tickets.
JY and I can sign up for E+, get two tickets in E+ for our trip, then take operaitonal upgrades if offered at check-in. It’s the best I can come up with.
There are actually other options. If any of you have 90,000 miles with United, please contact me, I’d like to see if I can purchase them from you so I can get a business class reward ticket directly. If you have any United System Wide Upgrades, talk to me as well, I may want to buy a couple from you for the E+->Business upgrade.
Pray for us that the baby will be healthy and that we can learn the gender of our baby tomorrow.
A very helpful website for frequent flyer programs:
FlyerTalk