christep
Oct 15, 02, 9:18 am
My first real trip report I guess...
My girlfriend and I enjoyed a few days break in Beijing round last weekend. A strange combination of skimping and splurging - the cheapest Air China consolidator ticket we could find (about HKD2300 = USD280 each), plus two nights at each of the Great Wall Sheraton (for points) and the St Regis (for money). I'll do the flights here. The Starwood experiences are at: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/005302.html
Another highlight is described in my reply to http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum30/HTML/000130.html
CA108 HKG-PEK
We checked in as always at the HK Airport Express station - only one CA desk, but only one person in front of us. There is no advance seat reservation available on CA and we were close to the 90 min limit, so we ended up with a middle aisle and adjacent seat.
Being CX Diamond we enjoyed breakfast in The Wing, business class side. I guess it is nice to remind oneself how the other people live after months of flying CX and hence the first class side http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
After a short hike across to Gate 16 we boarded the 777-200 as more or less the last pax at about 20 mins before scheduled departure time. The plane was a 2-5-2 configuration and the seats were unexpectedly comfortable - pitch of (I guess) about 34" and quite wide for economy.
The safety "announcement" was just by a video with Putonghua sound and Chinese & English subtitles.
Personal TVs haven't yet made it to Air China, but we did get forward-looking cameras on the big screen (plus smaller repaters) for the on-time takeoff, followed by the downwards pointing view in the climb. Thereafter there was a selection of short features on the screen with audio in Chinese. The forward looking camera came back for the landing. We were too busy planning the weekend's sightseeing to check out any other audio options (or indeed whether there were any).
The F&B service commenced with a pass of the drinks trolley. My previous experience with mainland Chinese airlines in Y (MU) suggested that this would be tea, coffee, warm Coke from a big bottle, or warm Sprite similarly. Fortunately, things seem to have moved on in the intervening couple of years: CA has both cans of Diet Coke AND ice!
The next pass of the trolley offered a breakfast choice of noodles or "fried egg". MY g/f had what turned out to be the last of the noodles, which was quite a small portion, with what appeared to be chicken pieces. I wanted the noodles, but after a quick hunt they decided that they only had a few left and since I was a gweilo I guess they felt I would be happy with the fried egg (a sort of omelette thing, served with a slice of bacon and a grilled half tomato). It was clear that they had messed up the proportions of these two dishes because the 95% of pax who were Chinese almost exclusively wanted noodles, and many went without rather than have the funny foreign stuff. Both main dishes were served with just a large bread roll, butter, and strawberry jam. Overall the quality was about what I anticipated - I.e. at the bottom end of acceptable if you are hungry.
Two more passes of the drinks trolley followed with acceptable coffee, and the soft drinks. Towards the end of the 3 hour flight the stewardesses also passed through with trays of water/juice.
Throughout all of this the level of English communication from the stewardesses varied from non-existant to minimal. There were one or two who spoke Cantonese, but my girlfriend decided that her basic Putonghua (Mandarin) was the best bet.
There was the usual mad rush to the toilets after the trays were cleared, and despite all the announcements about landing being at the usual places, the stewardesses semed unconcerned about the fact that people were still queuing for the toilet below 3000' on the descent. Since everyone seemed to make it back to their seats before the wheels hit the deck then I guess they would say they were right!
Similarly everyone was up and at the lockers before the plane had stopped rolling and it took a while to get the doors open. We just sat and watched since we had minimal hand luggage. We were still about 15 mins early when we disembarked.
Immigration for foreigners was a bit slow - about 10-15 mins I guess since we seemed to have arrived just after about three flights full of people from Europe on Group Visas which seem to take forever to process. My girlfriend (HK citizen) breezed through the Chinese channel in a minute or so. The bag arrived at the carousel just after we did, and we were able quickly to pick up some cash at the ATM and a taxi straight outside the arrival hall with only a minimal queue.
All in all the flight was somewhat better than I had feared - the seats were OK, food tolerable and delays minimal.
CA117 PEK-HKG
Unfortunately this was to show a version of CA more in line with my expectations...
Check-in at PEK was horrendously slow - we arrived about 100 mins before the departure, but it took us over 45 mins to get to the front of the check-in line, largely because of a bunch of about 10 local women with loads of luggage who basically seemd to have put one person in each queue who all then simply barged into ours when it was the first one to reach the front. The result was that by the time we got there the only seats together were middle-middle seats.
We then proceed to outbound immigration where there were further queues, with the result that we only got to the gate area about 20 mins before scheduled departure time. Still, it was clear that we weren't going to be boarding for a while so we had time for some duty-free, which was about the same price as at HK (which is not as good as some places - e.g. US14 for a litre of Gordon's 47% or US$20 for a litre of Baileys).
Eventually we boarded about 15 mins late (a subsequent announcement said we had been waiting for connecting passengers). The plane was a 747-400 (B-2443 for the spotters out there) with 3-4-3 in Y. The legroom and seat width was much poorer than on the 777 - I guess about 30-31" pitch and very narrow. At 6'3" I found this very uncomfortable indeed. Again no PTVs, and the audio was on the "acoustic" (rather than electrical)earpieces. No cameras outside on this one.
On this sector there was the scruffiest looking steward I have ever seen on any flight anywhere, and judging from the two stripes on his shoulder he was the cabin purser. His shirt was badly frayed at the collar and cuffs, and disgustingly grubby. His top button was undone, and his tie about three inches down from his neck. I guess his excuse might have been the very high temperature of the cabin (significantly higher than ambient) while we were on the ground.
The captain was obviously trying to make up for lost time. The result was that we were half way down the runway before the safety video started to roll, and some thousands of feet up in the air before we were told what to do in the vent of a crash! Curiously the video also referred to the exit plan for a 744 Combi, when it was quite clear from the safety card and just looking at the plane that this was a "straight" 747-400.
We hit some mild "chop" as we hit cruising altitude, which was enough to make the stewardesses life tricky so after a while the captain tried to climb out of it, eventually going up to 12000m, which I think is as high as is allowed in Chinese airspace.
The meal service followed the same pattern as the previous flight. The choices were a chicken or fish dish, both with rice. I had the chicken, which was a sort of stew with peas and carrots, and my girlfriend has the fish which was a big chunk of what we think was mackerel. There was a starter of a piece of smoked salmon on a bed of pickled cabbage, a bread roll with butter, and a dessert which I think was a green tea flavour blancmange topped with the most synthetic cream imaginable. If anything I would say the quality of this food was actually a bit higher than on the way up, or maybe I was just hungrier having not had the benefit of any lounge access at PEK.
This time there were still people going into the toilets at 1500' but again they all made it back before touchdown.
The captains efforts on the gas pedal were successful, and despite a quick swing out over Macau and the South China Sea we landed about 5 mins early at HKG, and had a quick taxi to a very convenient gate.
Immigration was efficient as always (for residents) and the baggage arrived at the carousel as we did.
All in all it was about as I had expected. At only about 60% of the Dragonair price I guess it was about equivalent value (although had I been on KA I would have had lounge access in PEK and, I would hope, legroom seats or even an op-upgrade with my Elite card). It was also the first flight I have been on for a very long time where I didn't bother to get any miles, which would have involved signing up for the Air China programme (or possibly LH).
However, what we all really need is for CX to get back on these routes ASAP - then all will be well with the world! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
[This message has been edited by christep (edited 10-15-2002).]
My girlfriend and I enjoyed a few days break in Beijing round last weekend. A strange combination of skimping and splurging - the cheapest Air China consolidator ticket we could find (about HKD2300 = USD280 each), plus two nights at each of the Great Wall Sheraton (for points) and the St Regis (for money). I'll do the flights here. The Starwood experiences are at: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/005302.html
Another highlight is described in my reply to http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum30/HTML/000130.html
CA108 HKG-PEK
We checked in as always at the HK Airport Express station - only one CA desk, but only one person in front of us. There is no advance seat reservation available on CA and we were close to the 90 min limit, so we ended up with a middle aisle and adjacent seat.
Being CX Diamond we enjoyed breakfast in The Wing, business class side. I guess it is nice to remind oneself how the other people live after months of flying CX and hence the first class side http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
After a short hike across to Gate 16 we boarded the 777-200 as more or less the last pax at about 20 mins before scheduled departure time. The plane was a 2-5-2 configuration and the seats were unexpectedly comfortable - pitch of (I guess) about 34" and quite wide for economy.
The safety "announcement" was just by a video with Putonghua sound and Chinese & English subtitles.
Personal TVs haven't yet made it to Air China, but we did get forward-looking cameras on the big screen (plus smaller repaters) for the on-time takeoff, followed by the downwards pointing view in the climb. Thereafter there was a selection of short features on the screen with audio in Chinese. The forward looking camera came back for the landing. We were too busy planning the weekend's sightseeing to check out any other audio options (or indeed whether there were any).
The F&B service commenced with a pass of the drinks trolley. My previous experience with mainland Chinese airlines in Y (MU) suggested that this would be tea, coffee, warm Coke from a big bottle, or warm Sprite similarly. Fortunately, things seem to have moved on in the intervening couple of years: CA has both cans of Diet Coke AND ice!
The next pass of the trolley offered a breakfast choice of noodles or "fried egg". MY g/f had what turned out to be the last of the noodles, which was quite a small portion, with what appeared to be chicken pieces. I wanted the noodles, but after a quick hunt they decided that they only had a few left and since I was a gweilo I guess they felt I would be happy with the fried egg (a sort of omelette thing, served with a slice of bacon and a grilled half tomato). It was clear that they had messed up the proportions of these two dishes because the 95% of pax who were Chinese almost exclusively wanted noodles, and many went without rather than have the funny foreign stuff. Both main dishes were served with just a large bread roll, butter, and strawberry jam. Overall the quality was about what I anticipated - I.e. at the bottom end of acceptable if you are hungry.
Two more passes of the drinks trolley followed with acceptable coffee, and the soft drinks. Towards the end of the 3 hour flight the stewardesses also passed through with trays of water/juice.
Throughout all of this the level of English communication from the stewardesses varied from non-existant to minimal. There were one or two who spoke Cantonese, but my girlfriend decided that her basic Putonghua (Mandarin) was the best bet.
There was the usual mad rush to the toilets after the trays were cleared, and despite all the announcements about landing being at the usual places, the stewardesses semed unconcerned about the fact that people were still queuing for the toilet below 3000' on the descent. Since everyone seemed to make it back to their seats before the wheels hit the deck then I guess they would say they were right!
Similarly everyone was up and at the lockers before the plane had stopped rolling and it took a while to get the doors open. We just sat and watched since we had minimal hand luggage. We were still about 15 mins early when we disembarked.
Immigration for foreigners was a bit slow - about 10-15 mins I guess since we seemed to have arrived just after about three flights full of people from Europe on Group Visas which seem to take forever to process. My girlfriend (HK citizen) breezed through the Chinese channel in a minute or so. The bag arrived at the carousel just after we did, and we were able quickly to pick up some cash at the ATM and a taxi straight outside the arrival hall with only a minimal queue.
All in all the flight was somewhat better than I had feared - the seats were OK, food tolerable and delays minimal.
CA117 PEK-HKG
Unfortunately this was to show a version of CA more in line with my expectations...
Check-in at PEK was horrendously slow - we arrived about 100 mins before the departure, but it took us over 45 mins to get to the front of the check-in line, largely because of a bunch of about 10 local women with loads of luggage who basically seemd to have put one person in each queue who all then simply barged into ours when it was the first one to reach the front. The result was that by the time we got there the only seats together were middle-middle seats.
We then proceed to outbound immigration where there were further queues, with the result that we only got to the gate area about 20 mins before scheduled departure time. Still, it was clear that we weren't going to be boarding for a while so we had time for some duty-free, which was about the same price as at HK (which is not as good as some places - e.g. US14 for a litre of Gordon's 47% or US$20 for a litre of Baileys).
Eventually we boarded about 15 mins late (a subsequent announcement said we had been waiting for connecting passengers). The plane was a 747-400 (B-2443 for the spotters out there) with 3-4-3 in Y. The legroom and seat width was much poorer than on the 777 - I guess about 30-31" pitch and very narrow. At 6'3" I found this very uncomfortable indeed. Again no PTVs, and the audio was on the "acoustic" (rather than electrical)earpieces. No cameras outside on this one.
On this sector there was the scruffiest looking steward I have ever seen on any flight anywhere, and judging from the two stripes on his shoulder he was the cabin purser. His shirt was badly frayed at the collar and cuffs, and disgustingly grubby. His top button was undone, and his tie about three inches down from his neck. I guess his excuse might have been the very high temperature of the cabin (significantly higher than ambient) while we were on the ground.
The captain was obviously trying to make up for lost time. The result was that we were half way down the runway before the safety video started to roll, and some thousands of feet up in the air before we were told what to do in the vent of a crash! Curiously the video also referred to the exit plan for a 744 Combi, when it was quite clear from the safety card and just looking at the plane that this was a "straight" 747-400.
We hit some mild "chop" as we hit cruising altitude, which was enough to make the stewardesses life tricky so after a while the captain tried to climb out of it, eventually going up to 12000m, which I think is as high as is allowed in Chinese airspace.
The meal service followed the same pattern as the previous flight. The choices were a chicken or fish dish, both with rice. I had the chicken, which was a sort of stew with peas and carrots, and my girlfriend has the fish which was a big chunk of what we think was mackerel. There was a starter of a piece of smoked salmon on a bed of pickled cabbage, a bread roll with butter, and a dessert which I think was a green tea flavour blancmange topped with the most synthetic cream imaginable. If anything I would say the quality of this food was actually a bit higher than on the way up, or maybe I was just hungrier having not had the benefit of any lounge access at PEK.
This time there were still people going into the toilets at 1500' but again they all made it back before touchdown.
The captains efforts on the gas pedal were successful, and despite a quick swing out over Macau and the South China Sea we landed about 5 mins early at HKG, and had a quick taxi to a very convenient gate.
Immigration was efficient as always (for residents) and the baggage arrived at the carousel as we did.
All in all it was about as I had expected. At only about 60% of the Dragonair price I guess it was about equivalent value (although had I been on KA I would have had lounge access in PEK and, I would hope, legroom seats or even an op-upgrade with my Elite card). It was also the first flight I have been on for a very long time where I didn't bother to get any miles, which would have involved signing up for the Air China programme (or possibly LH).
However, what we all really need is for CX to get back on these routes ASAP - then all will be well with the world! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
[This message has been edited by christep (edited 10-15-2002).]