Visiting US in July

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2009-06-17 22:09 · United States

Visiting US from July 1 to July 9.

Always United Airlines - haven’t tried other airlines yet.

Always Avis - haven’t tried other car services yet.

Alternatives? Richard suggested JetAirways, but they have discontinued their service from Shanghai to San Francisco.

Moving to Pudong?

It is a tough decision about whether to move back to Puxi near my office in Xujiahui. I moved to Pudong 5 years ago. Now the traffic is really a problem. But, am I ready to move back to Puxi? Seems today, I am making some progress.

Shanghai is Not Hot

I am still not using air conditioning in my home yet. It is almost July. Shanghai is not that hot this year.

I am in Nanjing tomorrow

I will visit Nanjing tomorrow to attend a small-scale meeting, and will get back. Do you want a meetup? Late minute meeting notice is always my style.

7 Comments
Jianshuo,

Air flight, I think another alternative is Air China, PVG to SFO. You got to see pretty flight attendants from Air China :-)

Car rental, you may try Hertz or Enterprise, but I think Avis is just fine. They are pretty much the same.
— STLPlace · 2009-06-18 00:14
Sorry. I goofed. The Air China direct flight is from PEK to SFO. The only direct flight from PVG to SFO is United Airline (Air China has a code share agreement with UA).
— STLPlace · 2009-06-18 00:44
take the same flight to collect more airline points :-)
— DC · 2009-06-18 09:56
I have only flown UA nonstop from PVG-SFO. I have flown Air China (CA) to save money - PVG - PEK - SFO with a long layover. Not worth it, for just small savings. On my last trip to China, I noticed that my UA flight was remarkably empty, which was nice since I was flying coach.

Please let me know if you have time for a meetup while you are in town, and who else you would find interesting to get together with. Last minute (China style) is fine with me. You can introduce me to your favorite Vietnamese restaurant or we can do a meetup at my home. I'll get in touch around 7/1 to see how your travels are shaping up Jianshuo!
— elliottng · 2009-06-18 16:17
If nonstop is what you need, United is it.

Northwest Airline (NWA.com) could be an option, you'll need to stop by Tokyo... about 2h both ways. I, though fly to Beijing mostly, like it because it gives you some break in between... enough time to walk/shopping a bit. And also, I think NWA has newer aircrafts than United... especially from Tokyo to US... no big screen tv in the middle for sure; and better food too.

However if you fly first-class... I won't know the differences.
— GN · 2009-06-18 17:04
Last time I went to Shanghai, I took United, because of nonstop. But on the way back the flight was cancelled. Flew ANA to NRT then UAL the rest of the way. I think there will be more flight cancellations now since the airline business is not good - flying a half empty plane is not good business. So that's something to consider.

ANA and Korean are so much better than UAL, except for UAL's non stop. Better seats, screens at every seat even in coach, more legroom, better food, nicer staff.

The other nice thing about UAL is Economy Plus, a few more inches of legroom for $100 or $150 each way. That's nice for tall folks.

Thrifty or Dollar often has cheaper car rentals than Avis. Enterprise usually doesn't have on-airport but I'm not sure about SFO.

good luck on your trip!
— Greg · 2009-06-19 04:42
ANA is much better.

AVIS is a good choice.
— Wenchao Tong · 2009-06-20 09:33