First part of this report will cover Air China, the national airline of China.
Many people questioned when they heard I was going to fly Air China, but I really wanted to give the airline a try, with realistic expectations, especially as they are now part of Star Alliance and the flights qualify for point earnings.
To the airport and check-in at Arlanda airport
I arrived at the airport around 4.45 pm, in good time for the 7.10 pm departure.
I had spent the day celebrating my birthday, so I was pretty tired and was looking forward to a relaxed drink in the lounge and some sleep onboard the plane.
The weather this afternoon was really bad, it was raining extremely heavily and since the drop-off area at the airport is a short walk from the terminal entrance it meant I had to wait in the car a few minutes not to get soaking wet.
Air China had its own check-in area in the old part of terminal 5, there were two business class desks and two economy class desks.
The line for the economy check-in was very long and several Chinese travellers thought they could beat the system by talking their way to one of the business class desks (the business class desks were checking in economy passengers as well, whenever possible, but obviously from the front of the line).
I was quickly checked in by a friendly young woman at one of the business desks, my bag was priority-tagged accordingly but she could only check me in for the first flight.
I asked her about the rather chaotic check-in area and she just sighed and said she was so tired of sending people away all the time, people who came to her desks with all kind of arguments why she should prioritise them. We just laughed at it before she wished me a nice flight.
Prior to leaving for the airport I had made an attempt to use the Air China online check-in, mostly as I wanted to check my seat assignment.
The CA online check-in was really strange, it wanted both my name and ticket number (that’s ticket number, not booking ref) and strangest of all...my mobile phone number!
I actually managed to retrieve the booking, but what followed next were a long number of error messages, at the end I just gave up.
Pics
Busy Air China check-in at Arlanda terminal 5
Air China business class check-in
Economy class passengers trying their luck at the business check-in, no success...
SAS Business Lounge, Stockholm/Arlanda
The fast track security was a breeze. I passed one of the electronics stores to buy new earphones before heading for the lounge. At the same time I could see the Air China crew arriving.
The SAS Scandinavian lounge (gold card lounge) was closed for refurbishment so all passengers were directed to the business lounge. I was not very surprised as they do it every summer, they usually close each lounge for about two weeks and let all passengers use the other lounge.
As for the interior the business lounge is much more basic and it lacks the comfy couches they have in the Scandinavian lounge.
Fortunately during these closures they also move all the drinks, to the delight of business class passengers without status who get spirits and better wines (usually just wine on tap in the business lounge).
I had a few drinks and browsed through some newspapers, it had been a hectic day and I really needed to stress down a bit. The lounge was surprisingly crowded, despite being in the middle of the summer.
Pics
The entrance to the SAS lounges
Inside the business class lounge
One of the sitting areas in the lounge
View from the lounge, very rainy afternoon
Boarding
75 minutes before departure boarding was flashing on the monitors, that obviously made absolutely no sense and of course the real boarding did not start until 30 minutes before departure.
I was a bit surprised as they are usually quite honest about these announcements at Arlanda, but considering the chaotic check-in area, maybe it was needed?!
Boarding took place at the newer F-pier of terminal 5 and the gate lounge was again rather chaotic. The gate staff actually had to physically push away passengers from the podium so they could do their job. What a scene!
Eventually boarding was announced and the Chinese gate agent loudly and clearly explained in mandarin the exact boarding process and that there would be no exceptions.
For the first time people seemed to respect this. A first boarding announcement was made for business class and passengers travelling with small children.
Pics
The departure board. The flight is boarding 55 minutes before departure? Yeah right!
People waiting at the gate lounge
The gate agent making a serious attempt to describe the boarding process
The Air China Boeing 777 at the gate
Stockholm/Arlanda-Beijing, flight CA 912 operated by Air China
Departure: 19:10
Arrival: 09:40
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Class: Business Class
Seat: 12A
There were three classes onboard the Boeing 777-200.
First class was completely empty. Business class had 7 rows with a 2-3-2 configuration divided into a larger and a smaller cabin. That would make 49 seats, but we were only about 10 passengers in total so space was certainly not a problem.
Pre-departure drinks were offered including water, orange juice and champagne. Easy choice! There will be more of this during this trip...
Amenity kits, slippers and newspapers were also offered. On Air China rather than just handing out the slippers they actually remove them from the cover and place them on the floor in front of you. I thought that was very nice!
The amenity kit was a nice little grey and brown bag but with just the basic contents including a small toothbrush, toothpaste, earplugs, eyeshades, comb and some whitening emulsion (the only thing on the small bottle not written in Chinese).
Pushback slightly late at 7.30 pm and take-off 10 minutes later from runway 19R.
Pics
The business class cabin
Hot towel and a glass of champagne
Amenity kit
Taxiing past a rainy terminal 5
Lining up for take-off runway 19R
Meal service
Unfortunately I have no menu to post for this flight. Not because I misplaced it, but because there were no individual menus.
The FA passed around the cabin with one menu which each passenger could look at for a few seconds, then she took the meal order, asked to get the menu back, and continued to the next passenger.
Although I was probably the only passenger really annoyed by this it just felt a bit substandard.
The meal order was taken already on the ground which I very much appreciated as I wanted to get as much sleep as possible during the flight. A first drink order was also taken which was served straight after take-off with some peanuts.
There were three lists shown: a menu, a drink list and a tea list.
The appetizer was smoked salmon with some kind of pate, which I washed down with another glass of champagne. Actually pretty good!
There were three choices of main course including beef tenderloin or Bohuslän salmon filet (can’t remember the third choice). I had the salmon with potatoes, it was very tasty although a dish I would rather expect to find onboard SAS than Air China (typical Swedish dish).
Finally the dessert was offered, either cheese or cake (although I’m sure you could have both). The cake was a crusty apple pie with strawberry sauce. I declined coffee but asked for a glass of whisky to finish off the meal, they served Glenfiddich onboard if I remember correctly.
Overall the food was good but not spectacular, still no complaints whatsoever.
The meal service was also very fast (without feeling rushed), it was completed in about an hour or so which I greatly appreciated. Some airlines keep the meal services way too long on shorter night flights.
Pics
Appetizer
Main course
Dessert and a glass of Glenfiddich
The cabin just after the meal service
Flying over north-eastern Russia heading for China
The seat and inflight entertainment system
The business class seat was an old type recliner seat. I read Air China used to operate Airbus A330 to Stockholm, with proper lie-flat business class seats, but they switched to Boeing 777 which only has recliner seats (I believe they switched because B777 can take more passengers).
Despite being only a recliner seat I managed to find a good sleeping position and slept reasonably well onboard. The seat itself was pretty comfortable and the seat pitch acceptable.
With a light load in business class the seat next to mine was empty which provided even more space.
The inflight entertainment system was an older type non-AVOD system with 12 channels and small individual screens. It didn’t matter that much on this flight as most of us wanted to maximise the sleeping time, but it might have been different on a day flight.
I know Air China has proper AVOD on some of the newer aircrafts.
Pics
The business class seat
Seat controls
The screen
Standard IFE remote control
Breakfast
90 minutes prior to landing the lights were turned on for breakfast.
Breakfast orders were taken earlier during the flight which again reduced the length of the meal service.
Hot towels and soft drinks were offered before the breakfast was served.
There were two choices of breakfast: Chinese breakfast with porridge or continental breakfast with an omelette. I had the continental breakfast.
Everything was served on one tray with fruits and cereals. The FAs offered coffee, tea, juices and croissants, but interestingly no bread rolls.
Pics
Breakfast
We have just left Mongolia, soon starting the descent to Beijing
Landing in Beijing
After crossing Mongolia and the capital Ulan Bator we started our descent around 9 am Beijing time. Information about some gate changes for connecting passengers was given by the crew before the cabin was prepared for landing.
We finally landed at 9.20 am on runway 36L. Beijing airport was extremely grey and foggy and it literally felt like we had landed in the middle of nowhere due to the low visibility.
It took absolutely forever to get to the gate at terminal 3, we kept on taxiing for nearly 30 minutes before we were safely parked.
Pics
There is supposed to be an airport there somewhere…
Three Boeing planes, but still no airport
UA and LH…and a terminal building. There is an airport there after all!
After the seatbelt sign had been switched off I ended up waiting in the empty first class cabin while the passenger bridge was positioned and decided to take a photo.
There were two rows of first class with a 2-2-2 configuration. Just like in business class the first class seats were an older version, but with a very good seat pitch. Definitely no lack of legroom.
Pics
The first class cabin onboard
Verdict
On the whole the flight was fine. The FAs were very courteous and helpful and the food was pretty good. I also appreciate they took various measures to minimise the length of the meal service which meant I got about five hours of sleep on this eight hour flight.
On the negative side communicating with the FAs was sometimes a problem as many of them only had a basic level of English. Everything was always sorted out and the crew always did their outmost to be attentive and responsive, but a more in-depth conversation with them was out of question.
Would I fly Air China again? Well it probably wouldn’t be my first choice, but yes I would, if I find a good deal. Although next time I hope it will be on a newer plane.