So I have a one off trip and can book business class.
Going from Manchester UK, to Thailand for two days and then on to China for four days and then Home.

Having never travelled business class what’s people recommended airlines and routes for the best experience.

Cheers people

Any specific places in either country? Using BKK and PEK, I would recommend SQ, or maybe CX or QR for the flights to and from MAN, though I don’t know about from Thailand to China.

China is a big country, so it would be handy if you specify where in China you need to be. Same for Thailand, although this is smaller and the obvious destination would be Bangkok but it could be somewhere else. That all should be taken into consideration.

So I spent a lot of the day looking at flights.
Flying Emirates via Dubai to BKK on the 20th of Feb gets me two A380 flights.
Shanghai to Man on the evening of the 26th is another two A380 flights.

Looked at SQ but that was a Q800 to Düsseldorf before flying via Singapore to BKK. Q800 not quite on my tick list.

Looked At SQ to fly BKK to Shanghai, but that’s flying 3 hours the wrong way, but could fly the 777-300ER if I can swing that.

Quickest is Cathy via HK but their business class is supposed to be pants.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

China is a big country, so it would be handy if you specify where in China you need to be. Same for Thailand, although this is smaller and the obvious destination would be Bangkok but it could be somewhere else. That all should be taken into consideration.

Apologies, just confirmed it’s Bangkok and Shanghai as destinations.

Struggling with the BKK to Shanghai leg on the 24th Feb.

Any recommendations?

There are 8 airlines flying between Bangkok and Shanghai:

Air China
China Eastern
Juneyao Airlines
Orient Thai Airlines
Spring Airlines
Thai AirAsia X
Thai Airways
Thai Lion Air

Note that some of these airlines fly from Don Mueang airport, which is the old Bangkok airport instead of the newer bigger Suvarnabhumi airport. This doesn't have to be less convenient however.

I think for a business traveler my choice would be either Thai Airways or China Eastern, but you might check the other airlines as well.

Thank you.
I did have a look a THAI and they appeared to be booked up.

lowbank wrote:

So I spent a lot of the day looking at flights.
Flying Emirates via Dubai to BKK on the 20th of Feb gets me two A380 flights.
Shanghai to Man on the evening of the 26th is another two A380 flights.

Looked at SQ but that was a Q800 to Düsseldorf before flying via Singapore to BKK. Q800 not quite on my tick list.

Looked At SQ to fly BKK to Shanghai, but that’s flying 3 hours the wrong way, but could fly the 777-300ER if I can swing that.

Quickest is Cathy via HK but their business class is supposed to be pants.

Where did you hear that CX J is "pants"? It's one of the best products around, and would probably rank above EK J most of the time, especially on the high density A380s (not sure which fly the MAN, BKK and PVG routes).

SRQKEF wrote:

lowbank wrote:

So I spent a lot of the day looking at flights.
Flying Emirates via Dubai to BKK on the 20th of Feb gets me two A380 flights.
Shanghai to Man on the evening of the 26th is another two A380 flights.

Looked at SQ but that was a Q800 to Düsseldorf before flying via Singapore to BKK. Q800 not quite on my tick list.

Looked At SQ to fly BKK to Shanghai, but that’s flying 3 hours the wrong way, but could fly the 777-300ER if I can swing that.

Quickest is Cathy via HK but their business class is supposed to be pants.

Where did you hear that CX J is "pants"? It's one of the best products around, and would probably rank above EK J most of the time, especially on the high density A380s (not sure which fly the MAN, BKK and PVG routes).

Yes, this is very true. I would recommend CX over EK. In fact, you could book them for all segments (except you can’t return February 26 on them). HKG-MAN-HKG is a beautiful brand new A350 and HKG-BKK-HKG is as well, and the HKG-PVG-HKG flights would be on a Cathay Dragon A320.
If you do want to return on February 26, you could take Finnair PVG-HEL-MAN, again on a new A350, which would be very nice as well, and I believe you could book that through the CX website (though I assume they only codeshare in flights out of HKG)

By the way may I ask what is a Q800? I assume you mean Q400, the 70 seat turboprop made by Bombardier?

lowbank wrote:

So I spent a lot of the day looking at flights.
Flying Emirates via Dubai to BKK on the 20th of Feb gets me two A380 flights.
Shanghai to Man on the evening of the 26th is another two A380 flights.

Looked at SQ but that was a Q800 to Düsseldorf before flying via Singapore to BKK. Q800 not quite on my tick list.

Looked At SQ to fly BKK to Shanghai, but that’s flying 3 hours the wrong way, but could fly the 777-300ER if I can swing that.

Quickest is Cathy via HK but their business class is supposed to be pants.

I've arrived a little late for the party, so forgive me if it's already done & dusted.
Firstly, I am quite confused as to your requirements.
I get that it's a business class trip, and presumably somebody else is paying. What are you aiming to achieve out of it?
Flying a particular aircraft type?
Flying with a variety of airlines?
The best & most comfortable seat?
Free alcohol on board?
A direct flight at all costs?
An indirect flight with connections at interesting places?
Could you stretch the itinerary to include extra days (of your own time) allowing an extended stopover at one or more locations.
i.e. How flexible is your patron?

For instance, if it was me, for the outbound flight I could select Aeroflot, connecting via Amsterdam and Moscow, precisely because it offers a few hours "sightseeing" at SVO. Plus the opportunity to fly in three different aircraft types with two different airlines, and that is just for one leg of your journey.
It also happens to be the cheapest solution, but as I'm not paying.....
Obviously many people would find that itinerary just a little tedious. Not to mention reservations regarding Aeroflot service.....

So I will ask again - what are you absolutely aiming for?

Thank you for all your inputs.
I work for Rolls Royce and have to travel to support a new supplier for the components I am technically in control of.
Unfortunately I am travelling with my boss who just wanted to get from A to B as he travels a lot.
I had this one trip to travel Business class as it’s paid for by the company, as they won’t ask me to go again.

I was hoping to swing a flight on an A350, an A380 and a 777-300 Er

Plus any more I could get on.

Nearly got him to do the Cathy but it’s all booked now.

Emirates to BKK on the 20th Feb, both legs on A380.

Ended up on China eastern BKK to Shanghai, two days ago that was a new A330.

Back home is two A380’s legs on Emirates.

Really looking forward to the A380 but just wish I could got away with getting on an A350.

So got back from my trip to Thailand and China.
Emirates business class flying was awesome. They really do look after you.

I was hoping for a new plane on the first leg and got MSN 009, not the you could tell from the inside.
Dubai to Bangkok was MSN 229 so flew with Our T900 ‘s that I make parts for.

Flying the A380 is the best flights I have ever been on. Top Top aircraft.

lowbank wrote:

So got back from my trip to Thailand and China.
Emirates business class flying was awesome. They really do look after you.

I was hoping for a new plane on the first leg and got MSN 009, not the you could tell from the inside.
Dubai to Bangkok was MSN 229 so flew with Our T900 ‘s that I make parts for.

Flying the A380 is the best flights I have ever been on. Top Top aircraft.

Really late to the party I am...glad you had a great trip!! Spent some time in Thailand last month...tops! Not to rub it in but I did SQ A350s basically "around the world" doing SFO-SIN (SIN-BKK-SIN was on A330 up and 772 back) then SIN-MAN-IAH. It was in Y but it was row 48 window on the A350s which has no seat in front of you so it is easy to get up and move about.

You say the company will never ask you again...let's hope that's not the case and you'll get to try out some more planes.

Moe

Well if they do ask again I will have to get creative to try other aircraft.