Family-friendly airport guides

The big children's playspace in Terminal 2 at Chicago O'Hare Airport.

For many families, the adoption trip to China may be their first time across the Pacific or even out of the country. Even for experienced road warriors, a flight home from Asia may take them into an unfamiliar airport. Combine that with serious sleep deprivation and taking care of a new little person whom you've just met and are still trying to bond with, and you may not even be able to find your way through your own hometown terminal.


We're starting a new series of articles at weninchina.com to guide you through the primary North American gateways to Asia. We'll talk about your arrival, how long it will take to get through Customs, where your connecting flights are, and the features of the airport from a family-travel perspective. How are the restrooms? Where can we sit quietly and decompress? Where can the kids blow off excess energy?


This season, we've already posted guides to Seattle/Tacoma, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Chicago O'Hare, with Portland OR, and Vancouver BC next on the list.


If you have suggestions, feedback, or want to share your stories with other travelers, please leave a comment here or email us at weninchinainfo (at) mac (dot) com. Hope you find these new guides useful.

Gotta disagree with Anthony Bourdain (in one small way)

My wife and I went to listen to Mr. Bourdain a few weeks ago as he swung through the Twin Cities on a speaking tour. In person, he's the same guy as he is on the Travel Channel and in his books; intelligent and inquisitive, the 'bad boy' who really does care about ideas and words and authentic work.


Most of the hardcore foodies, restaurateurs, and hospitality workers of our city were in attendance that night instead of being on the job. They were looking for a good time from their hero and he certainly delivered, with frank talk about the compromised state of the food and media businesses, meditations on what it means to do something meaningful, and crazy travel anecdotes.


He advocates forcefully that the whole point of travel is to know a place and its people as they are, not as mere entertainment, and that a traveler shouldn't be plastic-wrapped from his or her surroundings, fed only the familiar food, media, and interpersonal interaction.


That means you as a traveler need to take people and experiences as they come. And getting back to food (it was a food talk), eating what the locals eat, where they eat it, and not demanding your familiar foods from home.


We liked his analogy of "when you're at your grandma's house, even if you don't particularly care for her cooking, when she makes you dinner, you eat it, because you love her and want to show respect." He also points out that you're much more likely to get better quality and safer food from the local cook sweating it out at the stand down the street, who serves his neighbors every day the foods they like to eat, than at the international hotel, where the  local staff doesn't have the familiarity with Ceasar salad, and they know you're gone in two days.


(The only time I got sick in China was from an undercooked room-service shrimp and pork stir-fry, so I'm nodding my head in agreement.)


He also delivered indictments of the fast-food industry regarding factory farming, marketing to kids, and nutritional deficits. From that he was adamant about never patronizing fast-food chains, ever.


And there's where the headline of this post kicks in. I'm pretty sure that you, reading this blog and the articles at weninchina.com, do patronize a McDonald's, Taco Bell, or Burger King on occasion. I do too.


And I know you may be anxious about the food you'll encounter on your trip to China. Tony and I would both encourage you to be brave and "just try it;" if you've gone to the trouble of flying halfway around the world it would be wrong not to experience food the way your hosts enjoy it.


But in our time in China, my wife and I witnessed numerous families - bright, intelligent people who triumphed over homestudies and government bureaucracy - utterly afraid of walking two blocks down the street to McDonald's to get a cheeseburger. Not because of thoughts of what was in the burger, but anxiety of figuring out how to order. Would they make fools of themselves in a big crowd?


My belief is that if I can help you walk those two blocks and order something you're familiar with - and interact with local people - then you're a lot more likely the next day to walk one block further to that little bakery or noodle shop, or stop at the grocery store. So yes, my little language cheat sheet definitely gives you the words you need to order Combo Meal #2.


Getting out of your hotel and onto the streets is the best possible way for you to soak in your child's local culture, and every interaction will give you more memories and experience to draw upon as you work with your child to help her learn who she is as she grows up.  I think Tony would agree with me on that one.


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Since we are talking about Chinese food, I have just posted new articles about Chinese Noodles (the original fast food) and Bao, those steamed buns with the great fillings.  There's also a great article in this month's issue of the travel magazine Afar about xiao long bao, the "soup dumplings" famous in Shanghai and Taiwan.

In Beijing, the airlines have the hots for slots

Whoa there buddy, don't get too confident about that start date...

Stuck in Chicago O'Hare for a month?

While US carriers are finally increasing nonstop service to China, the process this year hasn't gone all that smoothly.

American Airlines was due to start Chicago-Beijing flights on April 24, and had been selling tickets since November. Delta Air Lines has been advertising Seattle-Beijing service to begin June 4.

Even though both countries' governments have authorized the services (years ago, in fact), the airlines also need permission from the Chinese air traffic authority to land and take off at specific times at Beijing. 

In American's case, the takeoff and landing slots they requested would have put their flight into Beijing at 1:55 pm, and out at 4:50 pm - very convenient. American never received the OK to use those particular flight times. But, they kept planning as if they were going to get them - all the way up to the day of the inaugural flight. Which they had to cancel.

The slots that American was approved for had the aircraft landing in Beijing at 2:20 am, and taking off at 4:20 am. Not exactly what you'd want if you were doing business in Beijing - or for trying to get a hotel room on your arrival.

American ended up canceling the flight for an entire month; today (May 25) is supposed to be the new launch date. And they're stuck with the 2:20 / 4:20 slots.

You can't always get what you want, either.

In Delta's case, the times they'd requested would have their Seattle run leaving Sea-Tac at 3:30 pm, arriving Beijing at 6:05 pm, and the return flight leaving Beijing at 1 pm, getting into Sea-Tac at 9:30 pm.

These schedules would have allowed passengers arriving into China excellent same-day connections on Delta's SkyTeam partner, China Southern, to dozens of domestic cities. More importantly, the eastbound flight would have been perfect for same-day connecting traffic from domestic Chinese cities - and for adoptive families, would have given them the option to take either of the first two Guangzhou-Beijing departures on China Southern.

The 9:30 pm arrival in Seattle would have hooked up with the "red-eye" runs leaving there after midnight bound for Delta's other hubs at Minneapolis, Atlanta, Detroit, and Memphis, saving families the expense of a hotel room somewhere on the way home.

The requested slots were also a clever bit of engineering for Delta, in that they could use their aircraft coming in from Seattle to turn around to make a run to Tokyo, with the inbound Tokyo flight turning around to head for Seattle. Their airplanes would spend less time on the ground and more in the air, making money.

You shouldn't be surprised to read that Delta's plans didn't go how they wanted, either. Delta's slots were assigned just over a week ago. Instead of arriving in Beijing at 6 pm, the actual arrival will be 11:40 pm. And instead of leaving Beijing at 1 in the afternoon, the departure will be 8:55 in the morning.

Comparing the two airlines, Delta came out better than American; the eastbound arrival into Seattle will now be 5:30 am, so travelers can clear Customs and make all the morning flight banks to both coasts and all Delta's hubs. But Delta still doesn't have a chance of connecting to Chinese domestic flights inbound or outbound, and flyers going through Beijing are still stuck with an overnight stay in each direction.

And now once again I'll have to modify the weninchina.com Transpacific Flight Options page...

United and Continental to merge; no difference for adoption travel

By no means a surprise, the long-awaited completion of merger talks between fellow Star Alliance members United and Continental was announced last week. 


While the combination will take some time for regulatory approval - and then more time to actually go about the process of splicing the companies together - as far as Asian travel goes, you won't see much difference for many years.


Both carriers are in the same alliance, so you have already been able to earn frequent flier miles on either airline. Both carriers already cooperate on Transpacific flights, and coordinate arrivals and departures at Tokyo and Beijing with their fellow alliance partners All Nippon and Air China.


Also, no new routes to Asia in general (except for some tweaks to Tokyo) - or China in particular - are expected to come out of this deal. United has again pushed back its San Francisco - Guangzhou service by another year, there's no indication they'll be resuming the Washington DC - Beijing route. There are simply not enough long-haul airplanes in the combined fleet to do any more Pacific flying than they already do, until later this decade, when the new United will start receiving Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 long-haul super-efficient widebodies.


So for foreseeable future, this news should not impact your adoption travel plans one bit. 

China Eastern seeks SkyTeam alliance; eventually great news for family & adoption travel

China Eastern Airlines, that country's #3 carrier, announced Friday it was applying for membership in the SkyTeam airline alliance, aiming for entry in mid-2011.


SkyTeam already has the country's largest airline, China Southern, as a member. China Southern's key hubs are at Guangzhou and Beijing; China Eastern's main hub is at Shanghai. SkyTeam also includes Korean Air with its large Seoul hub, Delta - with its strong Transpacific network and Tokyo hub, and will be bringing Vietnam Airlines and Taiwan's China Airlines into the network shortly.


The potential value in this action is very strong - Shanghai is not just a major financial center, but also a great destination for family tourism - and the new international airport at Pu Dong (PVG) is well designed with plenty of room to grow and no noise or zoning issues. Shanghai has built a magnetic-levitation train connecting the airport with the central city, and is extending it out to the older domestic airport, Hongqiao (SHA).


The issues that SkyTeam has to work on to make this move a success include:

• China Eastern's limited international reach - only a few routes to Europe and Australia, a daily nonstop to Los Angeles, 5-per-week service to Vancouver, and 4-per-week service to New York JFK. The carrier has only a small fleet of A340 and A330 long-range craft (and a few old A300-600R mid-range birds); 787s are on order but only enough to replace the older A340s and A300s, and maybe get Vancouver and New York to daily frequency.
• The timing of the North American flights is not convenient for connections on either end. The LAX and Vancouver flights leave those cities after midnight; arrivals are too late to make any West Coast or mid-continent flights. The JFK flight arrives mid-afternoon and leaves at 4:35 pm; OK for Florida connections but not timed well for other traffic. 
• Right now, Shanghai's Pu Dong airport handles the international flights; while Hongqiao takes the domestic runs. Hongqiao is certainly more convenient for the city's residents and businesses, but the two airports are as far apart as Baltimore and Washington-National ... farther than JFK and Newark, or Houston-Intercontinental and Hobby.  Maybe when the maglev train is complete, shuttling between the airports will take only a half-hour, but today, that journey will run at least a couple hours. And you still have to re-clear security. 

So, in the next two years (since most of you in the adoption process will only be getting to China then...), SkyTeam needs to convince its members:

• To re-time its North American (and Australian) services to arrive Shanghai in early afternoon instead of dinnertime. Doing this also pushes the arrival times into North America early enough to clear Customs and make connections to inland cities.
• To build several banks of domestic connecting flights from Pu Dong
• Delta already flies a daily 777 run to its megahub in Detroit, but it doesn't connect with families leaving Guangzhou.  (China Southern only flies to Hongqiao from Guangzhou at that time of day.) Again, adding some early morning Pu Dong domestic flights would allow adoptive families to make an easy connection; Delta doesn't need to change the eastbound flight times by even a minute...
• Though, with better feed from inland Chinese cities, Delta might want to consider adding a few additional nonstops to major hubs - PVG to Minneapolis, Seattle, and Atlanta in that order

It's an interesting time to be watching the travel business. We'll keep you informed as to your Transpacific options on weninchina.com's flight planning page, updated every quarter.  A fresh update was loaded yesterday!


(Photo courtesy PhillipC via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 license)

China Southern Airlines' Guangzhou-Los Angeles nonstop: comments

Looking at the map, the only nonstop service from Guangzhou to the USA would seem to be the simplest choice for returning adoptive families. No intermediate connections, no ground travel to Hong Kong, no worries about your child’s visa and passport status.

Comments on other blogs recommend the inflight service on China Southern’s long-range flights (compared favorably to other Asian carriers – which means several steps up from US-based airlines, even in economy class…). You earn Delta SkyMiles and can even book the entire trip through Delta.

So, why hasn’t this flight been the automatic choice?

For many years, the flight ran only 4 days per week – which meant extra days spent on Shamian Island if your consular appointment didn’t mesh with the flight. With the Spring 2010 schedule, however, they’ve added a fifth day, so we will see if the added convenience translates into more business.

The flight arrives Los Angeles at 7 pm. After getting through Customs, most of the same-day connections to US cities have long gone, with only a few late, late night departures to the East Coast and some Midwest airports available. The LAX website says the China Southern flight averages a delay of 27 minutes (18% of the flights are delayed by more than an hour.) If your connection is missed, then you’ll have to find a hotel room in L.A. on very short notice, and that’s a hassle you’d like to avoid at all costs on this trip.

Arrival at LAX is at the Tom Bradley International Terminal, an experience regarded neither as smooth nor particularly friendly. Waits can be long, especially when there are numerous arriving flights – and there are plenty of Mexican flights arriving at 7 pm.  Also, the multiple-terminal arrangement makes it a hassle to move your bags and family – especially after a long haul – and after sunset.

 We’d like to offer some suggestions to China Southern and Delta:

• Move the departure time from Guangzhou up by 2 to 3 hours, allowing an arrival at LAX in the 4 pm – 5 pm range. This would open up connections to the entire West Coast, as well as permit Mountain Time Zone families to make the dinnertime flight to Delta’s Salt Lake City hub, where they could catch the last bank of flights to their hometowns.
• Departure from LAX could be moved up a bit as well without affecting potential connections. The arrival at Guangzhou would be earlier as well – around 5 am – but this would give families ample time to clear Chinese Customs, freshen up and stretch their legs, and have a good meal before continuing on to their adoption cities.  The China Southern Boeing 777-200 that operates this flight would have enough time to operate a turn to Beijing and back before heading out to L.A. again.
• As the economy begins to improve, be ready to add Monday and Thursday frequencies to make this a real daily service. SkyTeam won’t be able to make Guangzhou a genuinely competitive East Asian hub without strong frequency on key routes – in sharp contrast to Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific’s double-daily and triple-daily nonstops to L.A., San Francisco, Vancouver, etc.  Mainland carriers have to allocate their aircraft and staff less efficiently than we’d care for, and operate some routes for purely political reasons, but they still have to make some profit – and that comes from long-range routes to major business centers.

For the full discussion of all your Transpacific options, check our flight planning article at weninchina.com. We'll be posting another update there soon to reflect the Summer 2010 flight schedules.


(Photo courtesy Phinalanji via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 license)

JAL chooses to stay in oneworld; adoption travel choices through Japan still poor

In previous postings I'd discussed the changing landscape of US-Japan air service and how new possibilities for China adoption travel might come about. With the bankruptcy and re-organization of Japan Airlines, speculation was strong for a tie-up with Delta and the SkyTeam alliance, which might have been very interesting for new service between Guangzhou and North America.


However, this scenario will not be happening, as JAL has decided to stay in its current partnership with American Airlines and the oneworld alliance. JAL and American intend to form a joint venture to plan and market their Transpacific services. But JAL's bankruptcy recovery plan calls for sharply reducing international service, and American flies to Tokyo from only a handful of U.S. cities. 


Therefore I don't foresee the JAL-AA combination offering much new competition - whether in new city-pair connections, or through permanently reduced fares - anytime soon between the U.S. and China.