Best routing to get to Asia?

[Anonymous]

We fly IAD to Tokyo direct. Spent a few days there. Flew from Tokyo to Bangkok, Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai to Hong Kong, and then Hong Kong to SFO and then IAD. It was all very easy.

[Anonymous]

Fly IAD to Seoul.

Seoul to Bangkok.

Bangkok to Tokyo.

Tokyo to IAD.

[Anonymous]

For 2 weeks, I would do IAD direct to Seoul, then to Beijing, (maybe to Hong Kong or Singapore if you have time) then to Tokyo and direct home to IAD.

Could leave SE Asia and India for separate trips. If you want to do more though, could do Seoul to Bangkok + Chiang Mai, to Beijing to Tokyo. But that’s a lot.

Also depends when you are going. Summer would be a brutal time to visit Southeast Asia and India.

[Anonymous]

I fly to Asia a lot for work and can provide tips of OP wants to be more specific. OP mentioned 3 regions of Asia, and I have different strategies for each. For example, if going to India, you have the direct on Air India to Delhi (but Air India isn't great service-wise), or fly to Newark and take United, or take a middle eastern carrier from Dulles. All 3 of those optinos mean you have one long flight where you can get proper sleep.

[Anonymous]

It also depends what airline you want to use regularly and if you want to accumulate points.

For example, united flies a lot out of SFO to Asian cities, but Emirates is also great and goes though Dubai. Which one would you rather redeem on for future travel?

[Anonymous]

Ive done it both ways. For Japan definitely do the non stop from IAD. I’ve also gone to HK and Singapore via Dubai because the business class fare was very reasonable and Emirates business class is super comfortable. It was more time on the plane but more efficient connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ive done it both ways. For Japan definitely do the non stop from IAD. I’ve also gone to HK and Singapore via Dubai because the business class fare was very reasonable and Emirates business class is super comfortable. It was more time on the plane but more efficient connections.

I fly to Japan a lot and the two directs from IAD (United and ANA) can be really expensive. I often go via Toronto or Montreal on Air Canada, for about half the price. It adds about 3 hours of travel/waiting time though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an odd post. There are nonstop from Dulles to Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing. If going elsewhere, you can connect from one of those to the vast majority of cities in Asia. Trip will be much longer if you do a stop in the US.

That depends on the destination. When I am heading for Singapore, I fly to SFO and then take a non-stop SFO-SIN. I think there also is an option NYC-FRA-SIN, but we would rather not fly over Russia, Iran or the Middle East right now.

There's also the Singapore nonstop from NYC, but it is very pricey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asia is a continent not a country. What country are you trying to go to?

I should have been more clear. We'd like to visit 2-3 countries, open to East Asian, SE Asia, India. Just wondered whether most people fly direct from here to one of the big hubs like Tokyo or whether they might go through Europe or the ME. Have not been that far before, only to Europe and Central/South America before. Sorry for sounding ignorant and appreciate all the responses so far!

How long are you going for? What time of year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get to Singapore there are connections all over.

Same with Dubai (which is also in Asia).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ive done it both ways. For Japan definitely do the non stop from IAD. I’ve also gone to HK and Singapore via Dubai because the business class fare was very reasonable and Emirates business class is super comfortable. It was more time on the plane but more efficient connections.

I fly to Japan a lot and the two directs from IAD (United and ANA) can be really expensive. I often go via Toronto or Montreal on Air Canada, for about half the price. It adds about 3 hours of travel/waiting time though.

Yeah when I priced it recently the nonstop was $1000 more.

[Anonymous]

Asia is big. Which part of Asia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fly IAD to Seoul.

Seoul to Bangkok.

Bangkok to Tokyo.

Tokyo to IAD.

This is a good itinerary. Another option:

IAD to Dubai

Dubai to Singapore

Singapore to either Tokyo or Seoul

Tokyo or Seoul to IAD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fly IAD to Seoul.

Seoul to Bangkok.

Bangkok to Tokyo.

Tokyo to IAD.

This is a good itinerary. Another option:

IAD to Dubai

Dubai to Singapore

Singapore to either Tokyo or Seoul

Tokyo or Seoul to IAD.

Don't travel to SE Asia just to go to Singapore. You may as well just go visit Tysons.

[Anonymous]

So it's not as hard flying west. We did loooong trips because I strung together cc points for our flights in prem econ (not on US airlines but on foreign airlines that was well worth it). We did a stop in LAX and TPE before hitting Shanghai. On the way back flying from Beijing, we hit Japan. On the way back we stopped in LAX again. I thought it would be excruciating because of so many stops but it actually was fine. Flying prem econ helped 1000% even with time lost stopping.

For background I am Asian and grew up there most my life over summers so flying back/forth is something I've done many times. My experience stopping more but flying more comfortably beat flying direct on econ. But that's just me - it depends on your needs. I liked being able to lean back to be more comfortable and I just liked the amenities better than made the trip easier.