At long last, business class deals are officially beginning to wash ashore along the United States of America. After years where a price under $3000 would be considered extraordinary, we’re now in the midst of sub $2000 deals, and even some around the $1500 mark.
Today, there are great Air China, JAL and China Eastern business class fares, which allow Star Alliance, SkyTeam or Oneworld loyalists to earn a nice chunk of points, and a great trip too. Oh and don’t worry, they’re available from both coasts…
Air China has superb prices on direct flights from Los Angeles to Beijing, with the option of the Boeing 787 or 777 en route. There have been some great fare sales on other mainland carriers, but few of them have been part of a major alliance. These fares price out to $1700 on most OTA’s, and can be had for less via the Amex Platinum IAP Program at AmexTravel.com.
American and JAL have another fantastic fare from Boston and San Diego to Beijing, which routes via via Tokyo if you elect to fly JAL, or via Los Angeles on American. This could be a brilliant option for an end of year status run, and both airlines offer an excellent business class experience. Well, JAL for sure. These fares price out to $1900 through JAL, but the IAP program and leading online travel agencies have them around $1700 round trip.
China Eastern is also in the mix for SkyTeam people, with $1880 fares from New York.
Unfortunately, these deals are fairly restrictive with the “when” part of it all. From San Diego, you can depart between December 23-31st of 2019, or between January 21st and January 30th. You’ll need to stay at least three nights to lock in the lowest prices.
The Air China deals from Los Angeles are similarly tight, with the best availability centred around the end of December, or more commonly at the end of January 2020, between the 20th and the 30th. Obviously, these aren’t much help for travel later in the year, but if you have some flexibility or were hoping to make a trip in the next few months, these are unbeatable.
Ok, no more small talk. These flights don’t have all that many dates available, so the cheapest fares will sell out fast. We’ve made easy to use examples on Skyscanner which take you directly to the lowest prices, like…
- $1535 Los Angeles to Beijing Business Class on Air China Round Trip
- $1757 San Diego to Beijing Business Class on JAL Round Trip
- $1847 Boston to Beijing Business Class on JAL Round Trip
- $1880 New York to Beijing Business Class on China Eastern Round Trip
If you have the Platinum Card from American Express, it’s obviously also worth searching on Amex Travel, in case their negotiated discounts are lower than these OTA prices, which they usually are. You never know until you try. Either way, enjoy Beijing!
If you want to use points…
Don’t forget that you can use points from Amex, Chase, Capital One and others to cover these fares. The two best options are via Chase Ultimate Rewards for Sapphire Reserve cardholders.
At $1535, you’d need just over 100,000 Chase Points to book one of these deals, and earn miles when you fly. If you have the Amex Business Platinum, you receive a 35% rebate when you cash in your points via Amex Travel, which makes for a solid option as well…
Thanks to Flyertalk user kentauta for the San Diego find.
Wow great price for mileage run! Any idea how many elite quality miles i’d get for Alaska if i book that Jal rt out of lax?