jacob_m

Boarding

The gate was already manned when I arrived around 40 minutes before departure and at the service counter there was a boarding pass waiting with my pre-assigned seat 16K.
They handed me the boarding pass in exchange for my paper ticket and I also asked them to double-check the baggage tag number to make sure they got all the digits right over the phone.

Around 30 minutes before departure boarding was announced with priority boarding for business class as well as passengers travelling with small children.



Just one passenger bridge in use for door 1L, so all passengers had to pass through the business class cabin.
At the door I was warmly welcomed onboard, I was escorted to my seat and the friendly crew offered to help me with my hand luggage.

The Airbus A330 was equipped with the new business class cabin and the new Cathay Pacific herringbone business class seats.
The cabin is certainly very modern and gives a very good first impression. There is also a very nice mood lighting system which is used on evening and night flights.

There were 14 rows of business class, however as you might expect there was no first class cabin on the flight.



A few moments later another FA arrived at my seat, welcomed me onboard and offered me a pre-departure drink.
The nice tray had a choice of champagne, orange juice and water. Easy choice!

International newspapers were also offered as well as a rather nice amenity kit, a nicely designed black bag with “bon voyage” written on it.
The black bag included the standard stuff but also some creams from demalogica.
Finally landing cards for Hong Kong were offered.

Business class ended up being reasonably full, maybe a load of 80%.

Pics
The gate area
Welcome onboard
The business class cabin
The second aisle
A glass of champagne before departure
Amenity kit
The last passengers are boarding

Sydney-Hong Kong, flight CX 100 operated by Cathay Pacific
Departure: 14:15
Arrival: 21:45
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Class: Business Class
Seat: 16K

Boarding was completed quite quickly and the doors were closed a few minutes before scheduled departure time.
The captain welcomed us onboard and announced an expected flight time of 9 hours and 22 minutes to Hong Kong. I believe he was British based on his accent.

A safety video was shown on the monitors in English and Cantonese before we pushed back, actually five minutes ahead of timetable.

Take-off at 2.25 pm from runway 34L, the weather was still grey and rainy so the view turned into clouds almost immediately.

Pics
Safety demonstration video
Lining up for departure, very rainy outside
The inflight service in the cabin has started

The menu

After take-off the very friendly female purser passed through the cabin, addressed each passenger by name, welcomed us onboard once again, and handed out the menu and the wine list for the flight.

During the 9 hours and 22 minutes onboard there would be two meal services, a lunch service straight after departure and a light meal/dinner around two hours before landing in Hong Kong.

Here is the menu and drink list for the flight:

Pics
The business class menu and wine list

The meal service

The menu sounded pretty nice, especially the different main courses. I was also impressed by the rather extensive drink list.

Shortly afterwards a first drink round was made in the cabin and drinks were offered from a rather nice table. I had a look in the drink list and decided to try one of the Cathay Pacific signature drinks and the choice fell on the Pacific Sunrise, a combination of champagne and Drambuie with a zest of orange and lemon.
Pretty tasty, possibly not the right drink for me, but still nice to give it a try anyway.
The drink was also rather nicely decorated! They also served assorted nuts with the drinks.



Hot towels were then offered and the tables were prepared for the meal service with white table cloths.

The starter was basically a seafood platter including salmon, prawn and scallop with dill and caper mayonnaise. Pretty nice and quite filling!

A bowl of mixed salad was also offered as well as a nice selection of bread rolls.

I asked for some red wine to drink, they had two red wines and I chose the Australian RockBare McLaren Vale Shiraz.



There were as many as four choices of main course: lamb, beef, cod or chicken korma.
I went for the lamb which was served with parmesan polenta and vegetables. Not bad!
More drinks were offered as well as refills of the water.



The table was cleared and the crew offered fruits, cheese and crackers.
I asked for some brie cheese and some slices of fresh fruits.

Finally the dessert arrived, the blueberry yoghurt cake. I was not particularly hungry by now but it looked too appetising.
The cake was delicious but very filling and the FA also cut extremely large slices.
Coffee and tea were offered and finally chocolate pralines in a small bag.

I was close to bursting after the meal, so much food!



All-in-all the meal service was pretty nice, the food was very tasty, excellent choices of main course and frequent refills of drinks.

Pics
A Pacific Sunrise cocktail
The drinks trolley passing my seat
Appetiser
Main course
Fresh fruits, cheese and crackers
Coffee and dessert
Chocolate pralines

The seat



The seat onboard was the new Cathay Pacific business class seat.
My first impression when I arrived onboard was very positive, the cabin felt fresh and modern.
My second impression when I finally settled in the seat was not quite the same, the business seat felt claustrophobic!
The seat width is 20”, that’s probably no more no less than many other business class seats, but there are walls dividing the seats and the walls are very high (above a meter in height, and they are wide as well) and eventually they just give a very cramped feeling. I was not at all impressed!
After half an hour in the seat I had got used to it and things were feeling a bit better, but the design will still reduce my rating of the seat.
Interestingly I have tried the Air New Zealand Business Premier seat, which has a similar design, but I found it completely different.

The seat itself was rather nice though and it can be reclined to a fully flat/horizontal 81" bed.



There is a seat panel in the seat located on the wall, in my case on the right side of the seat.
The seat panel included a rather advance seat control, power socket, the inflight entertainment control and the screen. The panel was rather strategically placed and all of the features were easy to reach and use.

The personal screen in business class is widescreen version with a size of 15”. The resolution was excellent and noise-cancelling headphones were provided in business class for proper enjoyment.
However eating and using the screen at the same got a bit cramped.

The seat also has a good reading lamp and decoration lighting along the wall opposite the seat panel.



There are 41 business class seats on the Airbus A330-300 with a 1-1-1 configuration. Business class is divided into a larger cabin (10 rows) and a smaller rear cabin (4 rows).
If you travel alone (or prefer more privacy) it’s best to choose a seat on the right side of the cabin as you will only face a wall and there will obviously be less people using the aisle.

Pics
The business class seat
The business class cabin
The screen, IFE control, power socket and seat controls
Nice lighting along the seat wall

Inflight entertainment system



The Cathay Pacific inflight entertainment system is called Studio CX and is a very nice, very advanced and very extensive AVOD system.
Studio CX includes over 100 movies, 350 TV shows, 888 CDs, 22 radio channels and over 70 video games (no I didn’t count, I just have to trust what’s written in the CX adverts ).

I watched a few episodes of Friends and listened to a few CDs in the audio section including The Best of James Bond and the soundtrack of We Will Rock You.
The selection of audio CDs was most impressive.

Both the picture quality and the sound were excellent onboard!

Pics
The inflight entertainment system
The entertainment menu
Very nice selection of games
Watching an episode of Friends
The best of James Bond
The IFE control

Second meal service...or rather some sleep



Well as much as I enjoyed the flight, the serice, the food and the IFE, eventually the fatigue inevitably caught up with me.
I had already been travelling for a fair number of hours and it would take three more flights and over 24 hours before I would see a hotel bed again.

I reclined the seat a bit to relax and listen to some nice music, but eventually I reclined it properly to a fully flat bed and got the duvet from the storage behind the seat.

I had only planned to get some rest, but I actually fell asleep and also slept through the second meal service, so sorry guys, you won’t see anything more of the second meal service than the menu.

The seat was excellent for sleeping, I found it very comfortable and both the pillow and the duvet were soft and comfortable.

Pics
The cabin darkened
My fully flat bed
The mood lighting in the cabin turned on before the descent

Arrival in Hong Kong



We started our approach to Hong Kong just after 9 pm and the rather nice mood lighting effects were turned on in the cabin.
I raised my seat, got rid of the duvet and went to the lavatory to freshen up a bit before the seat belt sign was turned on.

Cathay Pacific also has a cooperation with one of the main charity organisations (I think the Red Cross) so during the flight they handed out envelopes and asked passengers to donate any remaining currencies they wanted to get rid of.
I still had some French Pacific Francs which I left in the envelope.

We finally landed right on time at 9.45 pm on runway 07L at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok airport.

Pics
Approaching Hong Kong according to the seat map
Nice blue cabin lighting
Hong Kong airport in the far distance

Verdict

On the whole it was a nice flight.
The FAs were excellent, the inflight service was flawless, well coordinated and no request was too much trouble. There is absolutely nothing to comment about whatsoever!

Both food and drinks were pretty good, nice options of main course and good food quality. Nice drink list as well!

The inflight entertainment was excellent, great resolution on the 15” screen and very good sound through the noise-cancelling earphones.

However, as you probably expect, my only negative comment is about the seat, I found it too narrow and cramped.
I am not a large person by any means, but they should have made the seat/the suite slightly wider and possibly made the walls a bit lower and less wide.
I think the amount of privacy would have been the same, but the seat would have felt less cramped and isolated.
The seat was excellent for sleeping in though, I had no problems to fall asleep onboard.

Other than that a pleasant flight with Cathay Pacific!

blug

I don't know what to say. Amazing. ^^^

jacob_m

If I have many times mentioned flights I was really looking forward to, then my thoughts about the upcoming flight were rather the opposite: an overnight flight from Hong Kong to Seoul.
I would have preferred an overnight stay in Hong Kong, but unfortunately there were no morning flights that would fit in the itinerary, the earliest flight from Hong Kong arrived way too late in Seoul.
There was no choice but to book the midnight departure. Well as I would be flying business class it wasn’t too bad after all...

I was very surprised to find as many as three airlines operating overnight flights between Hong Kong and Seoul: Asiana, Cathay Pacific and Korean Air. There must be one heck of a demand for air tickets on this route!
I could have chosen any one of them and they all left just after midnight (actually within a time frame of 30 minutes), but eventually the choice fell on Asiana as there would be a lie-flat seats onboard (which I knew were comfortable for sleeping), and then of course Asiana offered me the best point earnings.

Transfer in Hong Kong



The Cathay Pacific flight from Sydney parked at the very end of the Y-shaped terminal building, quite a trek from most airport facilities.
Since I did not have a boarding pass for the connecting flight I headed to the Asiana transfer desk which was located in transit area E1, right next to the immigration area.
The quickest way to get there was to take the airport transfer train.

I approached the designated Asiana transfer desk in area E1 and asked the guy if he could help me with a boarding pass to Seoul.
The guy was apparently expecting me, without even touching his computer he answered:
“You must be Mr jacob_m, arriving from Sydney”.
Well it’s always nice when people are expecting you!

The check-in process was very quick, I showed my paper ticket and baggage receipt and within a minute I was given my boarding pass with the pre-assigned seat 03A as well as a lounge invitation.

The transfer security was very quick and within minutes I was standing in the main transit hall.

Pics
The transit hall in Hong Kong

Dragonair G16 Lounge, Hong Kong

Asiana uses the Dragonair G16 lounge in Hong Kong.
This may sound a bit strange since Asiana is part of Star Alliance and Dragonair part of OneWorld, but I think one of the main reasons is in fact this very late departure.
Of course with a business class ticket/Star Alliance gold card I could have used any Star Alliance lounge in Hong Kong, but the SQ lounge nearby closes at 10 pm and both the TG and UA lounges are too far away from the departure gate and also close before midnight.

At the end I did not mind, I got to try and review yet another lounge in Hong Kong, in fact this would be the seventh lounge I visited in Hong Kong (after TG, UA, AF, CX, SQ and KE).

As I finally remark, the name of the lounge (the G16 lounge) is of course due to the location of the lounge, right opposite gate 16.

After using the escalator opposite gate 16 I was standing right in front of the lounge entrance. I presented my lounge invitation at the reception and was invited inside.



The lounge was reasonably modern with white and red armchairs and couches.
It’s in fact quite a large lounge as well, there is definitely space for a fair number of visitors, however at 10.30 pm the lounge was pretty empty with just a few passengers waiting for the late evening departures.

There was a self-service buffet in the lounge with finger sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, bread rolls as well as some hot food. On offer they had pineapple fried rice and spaghetti Bolognese.
There was also a reasonable selection of drinks including beer, wine and spirits.

On the whole the selection of food and drinks was OK, adequate for the time of the day, but nothing remarkable.



I got some snacks and some orange juice from the buffet and had a seat in one of the empty couches.
The lounge is located on a balcony with a view of the transit hall and some of the departure gates. I could spot gate 19 right below the lounge where boarding was just about to start for flight SQ 2 to San Francisco. This was the very flight I used earlier during the trip between Singapore and Hong Kong.
Next to it at gate 18 there was a Finnair departure to Helsinki and I was most surprised to hear announcements in both Swedish and Finnish.

Still quite a bit of time left before departure at 0.30 am, as the lounge was rather empty I laid down on the couch and tried to get a bit of rest. The eye shades from the amenity kit also came rather handy.

Pics
The entrance to the Dragonair lounge
Inside the lounge
Sitting areas and the self-service buffet
First part of the buffet: Soft drinks, fruits, soup, and hot food
Second part of the buffet: Sandwiches, more hot food, coffee, wine and spirits
Finger sandwiches and pasta bolognese
View of gate 19 from the lounge where boarding is just about to start for SQ 2 to SFO

Boarding

I left the lounge around 11.45 pm, the gate used for the Asiana flight to Seoul was gate 15, a very short walk from the lounge.

Boarding started at midnight and there was a separate exit for business class passengers on the left side of the counter. I was one of the first passengers to board the aircraft.



The aircraft in use to Seoul this night was a Boeing 767-300. When I booked the ticket my booking confirmation indicated it would be operated by an Airbus A330, but a couple of days later there was an aircraft change.

On the Boeing 767 there are only three rows of business class in a 2-1-2 configuration, this means 15 business class seats in total.
The flight was surprisingly full and 11 seats of 15 were occupied in business class. Economy class seemed almost completely full, which I had not at all expected considering the late departure time (and two other airlines operating overnight flights to Seoul).
I had pre-booked seat 03A on the third row, fortunately the seat next to mine (03B) remained empty which provided some extra space during the night.



Once in my seat I was approached by one of the friendly FAs who welcomed me onboard and offered me a pre-departure drink: OJ, water or bubbles! Didn’t have to think twice about that!

No proper amenity kits were offered during the flight, but they did offer eye shades and ear plugs.
Before departure hot towels were also offered as well as landing cards for Korea.

Pics
Boarding just about to start at gate 15
The Asiana Boeing 767
The business class cabin
Safety demonstration video
The business class cabin ready for departure

Hong Kong-Seoul/Incheon, flight OZ 724 operated by Asiana
Departure: 00:30
Arrival: 05:05
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Class: Business Class
Seat: 03A

Despite a very full flight boarding was completely rather quickly. There was only one passenger bridge in use for door 1L, so all economy class passengers had to pass through the business class cabin.

While most passenger were still boarding I made a visit to the lavatory to change into my ANA sleeper suit pants so I could recline my seat and get some sleep straight after take-off.

Once the doors were closed a safety video was shown on the monitors in Korean and English. We finally pushed back at 0.25 am, a few minutes ahead of timetable.



A long taxi followed and we took off from the other end of the airport at 0.40 am from runway 07R. As we were climbing I could see the entire airport lit up, quite a sight! It’s such a massive terminal building!

Before departure a friendly female FA had passed through the cabin to ask if we wanted anything to eat during the flight.
Despite the time of the day they did offer a proper meal service onboard. I think the meal included some cold cuts as well as a full drink service.
Since I had planned to sleep the entire flight I declined the meal and cannot give any more details. I guess there was a menu, but I obviously did not get it.

I had a full day of travels coming up so I really needed to get as much sleep as possible onboard and reclined the seat and lowered the window shades the same moment the seat belt sign was turned off.
I slept pretty well onboard and got nearly three hours of sleep during the flight, but unfortunately there was quite a bit of turbulence which required the seatbelt to be fastened almost the entire flight.

Pics
Taxiing to the runway
The massive terminal building seconds after take-off

Seat and inflight entertainment

Not many months ago the Asiana B767 aircrafts were still equipped with old recliner seats in business class, however fortunately these have now been reconfigured with new lie-flat seats.



The seat was pretty much identical to the business class seat on the Boeing 777, which I flew between Seoul and Sydney, however I got the impression there was slightly less legroom on the Boeing 767 than the Boeing 777 (although I could be wrong).

No matter what the lie-flat seat is comfortable to sleep in, it reclines 168 degrees to become something not too far from a horizontal bed.
The interesting configuration onboard the B763 with a 2-1-2 layout means the middle seat (01D/02D/03D) is probably the best seat if you travel alone, however personally I do like window seats as they are often more secluded, and of course they do have a view.

I was very positively surprised to see they had proper AVOD onboard (in contrast to the Boeing 777 on ICN-SYD), just too bad I slept the entire flight and never got to try it properly.
There was a much more modern IFE control at the seat and on top of that the screen itself was touch screen, I tried it and it worked perfectly. The IFE menu also looked completely different from the one in the non-AVOD system, it had a much more modern design.



After take-off when I had reclined the seat one of the crew members discreetly turned off my screen so my seat would be a bit darker, however when I turned it on again at the end of the flight I realised he had also changed the language to Korean. Since Korean uses a completely different alphabet I had no chance to read and navigate the menus and give the system a proper try.
I could have asked the crew for assistance, but there was not much point as we we had already started our descent.

Anyway I do appreciate they are installing proper AVOD also on Asiana and I hope to give it a better try next time.

Asiana is also very proud of their recent Skytrax awards, which is shown on a separate page in the IFE.
Asiana won the award "Airline of the Year 2010" and of course also the "Best Airline Asia" award.



Pics
The business class seat on the Boeing 767
Seat controls
The IFE control
The inflight entertainment menu
Asiana -winner of the Skytrax award “airline of the year”

Arrival in Seoul

Due to bad weather in the region the captain made quite a detour and we flew over Taiwan and the southern part of Japan which is not really the shortest routing (the most direct routing would have been crossing China).
It resulted in an actual flight time of 3 hours and 30 minutes (previous flights on the same route were only about 3 hours).
Since I wanted to maximise my sleep onboard I obviously did not mind whatsoever.

During the descent I changed back to my regular clothes and I also asked the crew for a glass of water which was duly delivered to my seat.

We finally landed at 5.10 am on runway 15L at Seoul Incheon airport.



Inside the passenger bridge there was a large widescreen monitor welcoming us to Korea, showing the direction for passengers who were terminating in Seoul as well as passengers with connections.
The same monitor also indicated the baggage reclaim which would be used for the flight.
Such a nice feature! This is just one of the reasons why I think Incheon is a superb airport!

Just a short walk to immigration from the gate, this would be my third visit to Korea in just two weeks and for the third time I was giving “transfer to another flight” as a reason to enter the country!
Well actually this time I had also indicated “tourism” as a second reason (which was in fact partly true).
I was really concerned they would start asking questions due to my third visit in a very short period of time, and of course my extremely strange itinerary, but in fact immigration was absolutely painless. The officer didn’t say a word and the whole process was even quicker than both my two previous visits.

Baggage delivery had already started when I arrived at the baggage reclaim and the priority-tagged bags were of course the first ones on the belt, including my suitcase.

I was standing in the arrivals hall with my checked luggage within 20 minutes after landing. Very well done Asiana! ^

Pics
The flight map, quite a detour to get to Seoul
Final approach to Seoul
Just landed at Incheon airport
Welcome to Korea! This is why I live Incheon airport!
Inside the terminal building heading for baggage reclaim

Verdict

Just a short night flight so not much to comment about.
The crew did the most out of the flight and were just as friendly and polite as always.

The seat was very comfortable and I managed to get three hours of proper sleep during the flight and given the circumstances I felt surprisingly energetic when I got off the plane.
Nice to see proper AVOD installed onboard with a nice touch screen, just too bad I didn't have enough time to try it propery.

Kiwi Flyer

Enjoying your report very much.

I wrote about a flight on Air Calin A320 in J back in 2005.

Thank you for flying and writing about Air Austral. I've been tempted a few times since they started NOU-SYD-RUN service but so far always held back completing a booking.

jacob_m

Ah OK, I actually searched for reports on Air Calin before I booked the ticket, but I missed that one. I have just seen one more (with pics that didn't work).

So first Air Calin report with photos then...

Well the flight was fine, but I do hope they will switch to a Boeing 777-300 on the route which has a better business class product.

Thor3

You have an amazingly detailed trip report, yet you never mention taking time to document this leg of the trip on your computer or on paper. How did you manage to do it?

fumitani

Excellent Report.

I took the same HKG-ICN flight May this year. It was a pain. They flew the 747 and got the old F seat. Nobody in the cabin of 11/12 ate anything during the flight. The cabin attendants only served water.

Also HKG-ICN flight I made the initiative to walk over to the RCC. They are open because of the late night flight NH to HND(I even got to shower!). This will of course change on Oct 31st when the HND flight changes to a daytime flight.

Big_Foot

This is crazy. I kind of feel sorry for you...

jacob_m

I took notes during the trip, some details and personal thoughts about every flight. I usually have a good memory for details, but there is no way anyone could remember all of it. Then of course you can get lots of info from the photos.

Yeah the flight is a bit too short for a night flight. Departure just after midnight, arrival at 5 am, and then one hour time difference.
Actually quite a few passengers took advantage of the meal service during the flight, which surprised me.
Lounge access is a major advantage for this flight as you can also get some rest before the flight.

Crazy - Absolutely! (hence the title of the report)
But certainly no need to feel sorry for me, this was something I chose to do and it was lots of fun! I had a blast!
But then again, a fair number of people just wouldn't understand why anyone would voluntarily spend 108 hours (or anything even remotely close to it) in an airplane. I think you need to become really addicted to this first.

jacob_m

I had a couple of hours before my next flight.
Since I had to reclaim and recheck my luggage at Incheon and check-in would not open for another six hours (and hence my chances to get airside) I decided to deposit my luggage at the left luggage office in the departure hall and head to downtown Seoul to have some breakfast and do a bit of sightseeing.

The most convenient and comfortable way to get to downtown Seoul is to use the KAL limousine buses. There are five lines that cover the major hotels and places of interest.

I laughed to myself the first time I heard about the “limousine buses”, I mean really, how much can you make out of an airport bus? It just sounded a bit exaggerated.
But seriously, the bus ride to Seoul was one of the most comfortable rides of my life.

If this report is about first and business class travels, then the KAL limousine bus is the business class of airport buses.
The buses are modern and spotlessly clean, there are large comfortable leather seats with a very decent recline, and there is plenty of legroom. There is even a widescreen LCD TV at the front.
I tried to get some rest during the ride to downtown Seoul and found the seat to be excellent.

The bus driver was also very friendly, although didn’t speak much English. He even bowed in front of the passengers before he had a seat and we departed from Incheon airport.



The bus ride to Seoul was surprisingly quick, just about an hour (it can take much more than that if the traffic is bad).
I got off at the Lotte hotel in the Myeong-Dong district and had breakfast at a nearby cafe.

Seoul is a massive city with 10.5 million inhabitants (25 million in Greater Seoul).
On every visit to Korea the Koreans have proved to be very friendly, courteous and helpful. Korea is in fact a very interesting country and I am surprised so few westerns make it there.

hbush

True. But then again this trip report is mostly for Flyertalk folks who understand you quite well and appreciate everything up to smallest details

jacob_m

Indeed so, and fortunately so, as I am rather extreme when it comes to detailed reports!

jacob_m

It’ time to start returning back home...slowly. Still about 10,000 miles left to fly.

The next leg will be on Shanghai Airlines in business class, one of the more unusual Star Alliance members. There has been very little coverage of the airline here on FT.



I was back at Incheon airport just after 11 am and slept all the way back to airport on the comfortable KAL limousine bus.

The 2.10 pm Shanghai Airlines departure to Shanghai Pudong was listed on the departure board, but there were no check-in desks assigned.
While waiting for more information to appear I enjoyed the great apron view from the panorama windows in the departure hall, which also overlooked the active runway for landings.

Eventually some check-in info appeared for FM, in fact just one desk was assigned for the flight according to the screen, desk F14.

Pics
Apron view from the terminal building, an Asiana A321 is landing
A Korean Air A330 on final approach for runway 34

Check-in



I got my luggage from the left luggage office and headed to check-in desk F14.
The check-in desk was located next to the China Eastern check-in area but it was empty. The monitor indicated it would open at 11.40 am, 2 hr and 30 mins before departure.

I had a seat in front of the empty desk and finally around 11.30 am three check-in agents arrived and started preparing the desks for check-in. Eventually three desks were used rather than just one desk.

Rather interestingly check-in for Shanghai Airlines was handled by Korean Air, it would have made more sense to use Asiana since both airlines are part of Star Alliance.
Anyway, the young female check-in agent was friendly and was fully aware of all the Star Alliance rules and procedures.

The destination of the flight was Shanghai Pudong, however I was continuing a few hours later on another flight from Shanghai.

Transferring in China is slightly different from most other countries as you need to reclaim any checked luggage, pass through immigration and customs, and recheck your luggage again during an international transfer. It does not matter if both flights are on the same ticket.
Beijing is different though where international transfers are handled like most other international airports (as covered earlier in the report).
Shanghai is also different, but in the sense that citizens of some countries can enter China and stay in Shanghai up to 48 hours without a visa, as long as you make an international transfer within 48 hours at either Shanghai Pudong or Shanghai Hongqiao airport.
This exception applied to me as an EU national and fortunately the KE check-in agent was aware of the rule and checked me in without any doubts, even though I had no visa for China.
I had a printout from the Chinese embassy, just in case.

A priority tag was attached accordingly but my suitcase was only tagged to Shanghai, as expected.

Finally a lounge invitation was prepared. I asked her if the invitation would be for the Asiana lounge (due to FM being part of Star Alliance) or for the Korean Air lounge (as KE handled check-in for FM).
I was most surprised when she said the invitation was for none of these lounges, it was for the China Eastern lounge!

Well great! Another new lounge to try! I did not mind...

Both security and immigration were very quick, however the immigration officer looked strangely at my passport, then he looked at me, and then again at the passport.
Eventually I had to ask him if there was a problem, he was quiet for a moment, and then said “no, there is no problem, but I just wonder...have you lost weight?”
Haha!! I would rather have expected him to say the opposite, but in fact I think the sun tan made the difference.

Pics
Shanghai Airlines check-in desk

Asiana Business Lounge, Seoul/Incheon (Infield terminal close to Gate 119)

I took the skytrain to the infield terminal which is used by all non-Korean airlines at ICN, including Shanghai Airlines of course.

I had no idea what the China Eastern lounge would look like, there is no lounge info on the Shanghai Airlines webpage so I had not looked up the lounge as I didn’t know they used it.

However there is also an Asiana lounge in the infield terminal which I could obviously access with a Star Alliance Gold card and a business class ticket.
Having travelled for over 30 hours I was dying to get a shower and a change of clothes and I knew there were showers in the Asiana lounge.



The lounge attendants were a bit surprised when I arrived and presented my travel documents.
In fact the boarding pass had been printed on Korean Air stock (the main competitor of Asiana), so initially they were puzzled why I was at their lounge and I actually had to ask them to look carefully at the boarding pass highlighting I was travelling on Shanghai Airlines.
Eventually they noticed the small print and realised the boarding pass was fine.

I mentioned to them the main reason for coming to the lounge was to take a shower, and after they had noted down my flight details one of the attendants escorted me to an empty shower room.
Oh, and that shower did wonders!



I visited the Asiana lounge in the infield terminal last year. Back then they were doing major renovations inside and the lounge felt like a dark windowless dungeon.

This time they had completed the renovations and the lounge looked quite the opposite, I thought it looked absolutely great! I got a very good first impression.
The bookshelves in the inner part of the lounge are really cool and create a nice and cosy atmosphere. ^

In fact I do think this lounge is now nicer than the other Asiana lounge in the main terminal building (covered before the ICN-SYD flight) despite the lack of windows.



The self-service buffet in the lounge had an adequate selection of food and drinks including some hot food, soup, instant noodles, vegetables and a very spicy pasta salad.
The selection of drinks was also OK but not exceptional. Just a standard selection of beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks.

I got some snacks from the buffet and had a seat in front of one of the widescreen TVs showing CNN.
Not a lot of people in the lounge, most visitors were leaving on the Lufthansa afternoon flight to Frankfurt.

There was also a business centre in the lounge with several internet computers.

Pics
The entrance to the Asiana lounge
Inside the lovely lounge
The restaurant and self-service buffet area
Soft drinks
Wine and spirits
Hot food and instant noodles
Vegetables and pasta salad
Several large widescreen TVs in the lounge
Very nice overview of the lounge

China Eastern Lounge, Seoul/Incheon

The China Eastern lounge was also located one floor above the main departure level, just a short walk from the Asiana lounge.
I was a bit excited when I arrived as I had absolutely no idea what to expect. It’s always nice to try new exotic lounges.

However the lounge did not disappoint. It was a really cool supermodern lounge with a spotless interior, a waterfall and several palm trees. Very nice! I liked it! ^

The lounge was not particularly crowded, just a handful passengers. Most of them were obviously Chinese and the lounge in general had most signs in Chinese and TVs showing Chinese TV-channels. Of course not very surprising..



The self-service buffet was very well-maintained and contained a nice selection of snacks and drinks.
The food selection included canapés, sandwiches, pastries, fresh fruits and some vegetables and sauces. I believe there were also noodles available.
As for the drinks there were two large fridges with beer and soft drinks and a rather good selection of spirits with some better brands.

I was not very hungry as I had some snacks in the Asiana lounge, but I got some drinks and a cup of coffee.



There were a few more fun and high-tech features in the lounge.

*There were four internet computers, however instead of regular desktop computers they had modern laptops. Never seen that anywhere else!
There was also a printer connected which could be used for free.

*There were four rather advanced massage chairs in a separate room, controlled by a nice and quite advanced control panel. In front of the massage chairs there was a large widescreen TV.

*Very modern restrooms. The toilets were very advanced with all kinds of buttons that should take care of everything for you. I was actually a bit nervous since all buttons were in Chinese and I had no idea what the descriptions said.
Even the washbasin was interesting. Rather than a tap there was a small bowl which poured the water into the basin. Quite nice!



All-in-all a surprisingly nice lounge! With some better food it would have reached quite high on my list.

Pics
The entrance to the China Eastern lounge
Inside the very modern lounge
One of the sitting areas, and internet computers (actually laptops!)
The self-service buffet with a nice selection of snacks
Beer and soft drinks
Selection of spirits
Lounge interior with palm trees
Four advanced massage chairs in the lounge, in front of a TV!
Nice and interesting washbasin in the restroom!

Next it’s time to test the 19th member of the Star Alliance – Shanghai Airlines, in business class.

Another flight I was looking forward to, and it did not disappoint!

jacob_m

Time to test an airline I had not flown before, and had very little idea what to expect of.
A two hour flight on Shanghai Airlines in business class between Seoul and Shanghai.



Shanghai Airlines

Shanghai Airlines is the fifth largest airline in China with its base not surprisingly in Shanghai at the international Pudong airport and the domestic Hongqiao airport.

Shanghai Airlines joined Star Alliance in 2007 but has now announced it will leave the alliance in October 2010 due to a merger with China Eastern.

The fleet consists of around 50 aircrafts. The vast majority are Boeing 737 aircrafts, but the airline also operates Airbus A321, Boeing 757 and Boeing 763.
Shanghai Airlines has also placed an order for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Although a rather sizeable airline the network is almost entirely limited to domestic China.
The very few international routes are from Shanghai to Phuket, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Macau, Seoul and Osaka.
Most of these destinations are served just once a day or a few times per week.

Boarding

I left the lounge around 40 minutes before departure and headed to gate 127 used for the afternoon departure to Shanghai.

It took a bit of time before boarding started and in the meantime I could see the plane being loaded, apparently not a lot of checked luggage on the flight and I could easily spot my blue suitcase on the cart.

Eventually boarding started at 1.50 pm, just 20 minutes before departure.
No priority boarding was announced as far as I can remember, but on the other hand it was just a Boeing 737 with a very small business class cabin and probably not too many status passengers.
No matter what I ended up being the first passenger to board, always an advantage if you want to take cabin photos.



I was greeted at the entrance with a cheery “Ni hao” and directed to my seat 02A on the second row.
There were only eight business class seats on the Boeing 737-800, two rows in a 2-2 configuration. I found the cabin to be in a rather good condition.

Once seated a male FA arrived at my seat and offered me a refreshing towel.
A few moments later he was back and offered a pre-departure drink, on the tray he had water, orange juice and something that looked like a cocktail.
I asked what the last option was and it was apparently a wine cocktail. Wow! Quite different from the usual selection, and they had made a serious effort to make it look appetising. Very nice! ^

Newspapers were also offered, Korean and Chinese papers as well as the China Daily.

Pics
The departure board
The bright and airy infield terminal building
The Shanghai Airlines Boeing 737 at the gate
Another photo of the FM B737 with the main terminal building in the background
The business class cabin during boarding

Seoul/Incheon-Shanghai/Pudong, flight FM 828 operated by Shanghai Airlines
Departure: 14:10
Arrival: 14:50
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Class: Business Class
Seat: 02A

Despite a rather full flight boarding was completed quite quickly.
When all passengers were onboard a welcome announcement was made in English, Mandarin and Korean followed by a safety demonstration video on the monitors, in Mandarin but subtitled in English.



The flight time to Shanghai was expected to be 1 hour and 35 minutes (although it ended up being a bit more than that).

Pushback right on time at 2.10 pm and take-off a few minutes later at 2.25 pm from runway 33R.

Pics
Safety demonstration video

The menu

After take-off the menu was handed out. Yes, there was actually a menu for the flight, in spite of a flight time of just 90 minutes.

Pics
The business class menu

Here is the menu to Shanghai:

The inflight service

That’s certainly not bad for a flight of less than two hours! A three courses meal with two choices of main course.
On a similar flight within Europe and you would probably be served a plate with some cold cuts.

Before the meal a drink service was performed in the cabin. I asked for a beer which was served with Chinese snacks.



A few minutes later the FA was back, white table cloths were laid on the tables and the meal tray was handed out which contained both the appetiser and the main course. There were two options of main course and I chose the beef which was served with rice.

The entire meal was very nice, very filling, and there was certainly an impressive amount of food on the tray. The meal was in fact so filling I could not manage to finish all of it. But it was very tasty, I especially liked the soup.
My only small complaint regarding the meal was that they didn't remove the plastic cover from the appetiser.

Refills of drinks were also offered, I asked for some more beer and the female FA very nicely brought the Tsingtao beer and poured it in front of me on a small tray. Very elegant!



The table was cleared and the dessert was offered, a very nice tiramisu dessert and a bowl with some fresh fruits. I was also offered coffee or tea and asked for a cup of black coffee.

All-in-all a very nice meal service!

Pics
The meal tray with appetiser, soup and main course
Dessert and fresh fruits
A cup of coffee

The seat



There were two rows of business class in a 2-2 configuration.
The seats were typical domestic business class seats, not really comparable to some longhaul business class seats I have tried, but perfectly adequate for a shorter flight.
The seats were quite wide in dark blue leather, quite hard to give an estimate of the seat pitch, but probably around 40-45”.

I found the seat to be comfortable and have no complaints whatsoever regarding the comfort onboard.

Pics
The business class seat
The business class cabin

Arrival in Shanghai

On the flight I sat next to an American guy from California who was going to Shanghai to visit his father.
We had a very nice chat about destinations, airlines, jobs and the current rapid development in China.
Since he seemed rather interested in air travels and how to maximise point earnings (he flew to Shanghai on an award ticket) I actually introduced him to Flyertalk.
So Peter, if you are here. Hello from your seat neighbour!

We started our descent at 2.30 pm Shanghai time (one hour time different from Korea) but it took a lot of time before we were finally cleared for the final approach, probably due to heavy traffic.



We finally landed at 3.15 pm on runway 34, 25 minutes behind timetable, despite the very punctual departure.
It took a bit of time before we had finally arrived at our assigned gate at terminal 2.

After the seat belt sign had been switched off one of the FAs immediately rushed into the cabin to block the aisle between business class and economy class so business class passengers could collect their belongings and get off first.

Pics
The view seconds before landing at Pudong airport

Immigration

I was still slightly worried there would by problems at immigration as I did not have a visa for China and had to rely on this “exception”, but it all worked out extremely well.
The line for the “foreign passports” counters was quite short and within minutes I was waived over to an empty desk. I explained my situation, transfer to another international flight the same day, and showed the officer my e-ticket receipt.
After taking a photo of me I was asked to go to another counter, just like a few other passengers. After showing my passport and my landing card (where the first officer had made some notes) to the officer at the second counter my passport was stamped and I was welcomed inside China.

At the end the whole process was quick and completely problem-free, although I still don’t understand why I had to visit two counters.
Interestingly all counters in the immigration hall had small customer satisfaction panels where you could indicate by pressing a button your opinion about the officer and the process/service.
I thought that was great! Well it mostly shows that the Chinese are serious about creating a positive, smooth and problem-free experience for arriving foreign visitors, trying to get away from the old slow bureaucracy. I think that’s worth a hands up! ^

Baggage delivery started quite quickly but in no particular order, probably harder to get the priority baggage delivery right on a Boeing 737. Well there were not a lot of bags anyway...

Pics
The baggage reclaim

Verdict

All-in-all the flight really exceeded my expectations!
The whole flight from start to finish was as far as you can possibly get from old bureaucratic communist China.
The crew spoke perfect English (and made announcements in Korean as well). They were driven and motivated and provided a level of service that could just as well have been on Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific.

A very nice welcome drink (wine cocktail), a proper menu, white table cloths, drinks poured elegantly on a small tray at the seat, and the FA blocking the aisle between economy and business class after landing. Not much missing...

The meal was more than I had expected on a flight of 90 minutes in length. The food was nice, very filling and of good quality. Two options of main course, and the soup and the tiramisu dessert in particular were very tasty!

The seat was comfortable and adequate for the flight and the China Eastern lounge in Seoul was a very positive surprise.

My verdict about flight FM 828: a delightful experience! Especially considering the flight time... Very well done Shanghai Airlines! ^

1apreferably

This is like a novel. Astonishingly well done!

If everyone on this board sent this guy a dollar (or your currency of choice) it would be worth it to read his report on how the monies were used.

Thanks for the time you have spent on this.