9W- PVG-SFO in Biz (Long TR with pics!)
Oct 31, 2008, 9:49 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 9
9W- PVG-SFO in Biz (Long TR with pics!)
Route: Shanghai Pudong International - PVG (Terminal 2) - San Francisco International (SFO)
Airline: Jet Airways
Flight Number: 9W 210
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300 ER
Distance: 6150 miles
Duration: 12:30
Background:
Being a frequent traveller to Hong Kong and Shanghai, I have always chosen CXs offerings- indeed the consistency in their service often outweighs the cramped confines of their new J cabin. But this time, a late afternoon meeting in Shanghai gave me a wonderful excuse to plead my case of flying with 9W. I have heard a lot of great things about them and my first flight with them earlier in the year on a KUL-MAA in Y only reaffirmed this belief.
So even though I am eligible to fly in J on ULH trips, I decided to agree to fly Y on the outward leg between ORD-PVG (an eminently forgettable flight). Being an AA Plat meant that I would have to forego the Elite Bonus miles that comes with flying OW partners. But I had set my mind on 9W- and 9W it was.
Check in:
I arrived at 6 pm courtesy of a colleague who had to catch an earlier flight to ICN. And with nothing to do, I decided to kill my time plane watching. PVG might be the gateway to the most populous country in the world, but it’s going to be a while before it starts generating the same sort of traffic that HKG or SIN. It’s a monster of a facility though.
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The AI checkin zone:
Check in was fairly easy- because there was only one passenger ahead of me! In what was an ominous sign of things to come, only one other elderly couple checked in (there were 3 manned counters).
I asked the check in agent if I could do a quick trip on the MagLev before getting on the flight. In my five previous visits to Shanghai, I had never gotten an opportunity to sample this high speed wonder and I wasn’t going to let this chance slip, considering there were 3 good hours before I could get on the plane.
The Maglev promises a 7 minute trip into downtown from the airport, and has turned out to be a nightmare for Chinese authorities in terms of ridership. There were about 30 people on my train- and none in my compartment.
Inside:
Starting out at 0km per h
At top speed
After a quick trip into town and back it was time to head back to the gates, and ahead of me the 9W crew were clearing immigration. I followed them around for a bit until it was time to hit the lounge!
The lounge that 9W uses at PVG is a non airline operated one – and was as deserted as the rest of the terminal. I was the only passenger in what was definitely not a bad looking lounge!
Slices of raw bread!
Oh yes! Massage chairs! (but with a Chinese controller- I finally figured out how to use them though)
After being bounced about a bit in the fancy OSIM chairs, I decided to head down to the departure gate. And yes- there was a grand total of 5 people (including me) ready to board this flight! I had heard about mediocre loads on this flight but 5 people on a transpac run? Surely something must be wrong?
Airport view from the lounge:
Departure Board:
The 77W- one gorgeous bird. (Image courtesy, Wikimedia)
I was the last to board the plane – and my worst fears were unfounded when I saw a near empty J cabin. There were a grand total 8 people in the entire J section, all clustered around the rear end. I was one of two passengers on the front portion. Not sure why the seats were assigned like this considering the meal trolleys had to be wheeled all the way to the end of the cabin each time? (drinks, meals, desserts, towels?)
The seat across me:
IFE Controller
Immediately we began to back out and roll away into take off mode. The 77W is a beast of a machine, and a gorgeous one at that! This particular model was spanking new, and considering the loads in the J cabin, wasn’t used much!
A quick cold towel service started followed by a drinks run- and in between a slightly timid FA asked me if I would like to change into my pyjamas! Wow! I was comfortably dressed and declined (in hindsight, why did I decline?). A second FA passed me my amenity kit- a nice Bulgari travel kit. I assume the others had already received theirs when they boarded at BOM.
Another FA passed me a wine list in spite of me protesting that I didn’t feel like it. And considering I had been overdosed in myriad forms of soya, bean curd, tofu (I am a vegetarian) over the last week, I was longing for proper desi food. I don’t know if it was the look on my face or the way I asked it, but the FA seemed to understand and said “Certainly sir!”
Dinner consisted of some great curries- aloo gobi on one side, and panner mutter split by a miniscule mound of basmati rice. Two small ornate cups each carried even smaller portions of dal and raita. There was some fruit on the side as well. The quality of the meal was excellent- but for an airline that prides itself of exemplary kitchen services, the quantity was a big disappointment. I finished the meal only feeling half full – and yes I could certainly have had one more meal with no trouble at all! Sorry no pictures here- I was halfway into my basmati before I realized I had forgotten to take pictures!
Soon it was dessert time, and a rather curt FA rolled in a trolley and said “what do you want”? Considering that by now I had dealt with quite a few crew members who were eager to please, this was surprising. And of course, there was Kheer on the dessert menu, and when I asked what the other choices were, she looked at me and answered something in Hindi.
It’s too bad I didn’t get to hear what she said, but she immediately switched into English with a hyper embarrassed demeanour and kept apologising profusely all the way while pulling out a delicious cup of Haagen-Daaz mango ice cream!
In between I managed to capture some shots of the cabin and the seat.
The colour scheme is really nice with gentle browns, creams and whites, but having gotten used to CX’s ultra long beds in J, I got the feeling that the seats in lie flat mode were still too short for comfort- and I am only 6’0 tall. The other thing that annoyed me was the pullout IFE screen- you wouldn’t know whether to pull, push, slide or yank the thing out. After a few chipped nails I realized one end of the steel bar under the screen was in fact one giant, creaky button. The nice thing though is the monitors, once retracted can be swivelled around to suit your recline, unlike in CX where all monitors are perpendicular to the ground and watching TV while lying down is virtually impossible. The seats are also wide enough for a good toss and turn while you sleep without bumping into the partitions.
IFE- 9W’s in flight options have a long way to go before they match SQ, CX or EK. The big touch screen is nice, but like the food, the options were limited. And considering this was a flight that was departing from China, the options for entertainment in Mandarin were virtually zero.
And so, In between some uber boring scenes of Halla Bol, I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up about 4 hours before touchdown and did a quick trip to the restroom and my first reaction was “Wow”! This was twice the size of conventional J toilets and cleaener than my kitchen! The amenities were well stocked- Bulgari perfume, soap, aftershave, and even half a dozen cheap disposable razors. What I particularly liked was the lights on the mirrors that were in a halo pattern- that when you looked into made you look like god!
I got back to my seat and a fourth FA came over and said ``Sir, you were asleep while we did the last meal rounds, would you like to have breakfast now``.
I said sure, and waited for half an hour before another FA peeked through the curtain, took pity on me and finally laid out the table. During this period I managed a quick chat with her and a couple of other FAs about this flight and learnt a few interesting tidbits. There were 2 in the first class cabin, 8 in J and about a 100 in economy. On a 77W, these are ridiculous loads! And this was a Friday, so I can only imagine how the weekday loads looked like. They said this was likely to be downgraded to an A332, but had no idea if an 332 could do a TransPac nonstop. Some of them were on their first trip on the PVG-SFO sector and seemed to be really excited about the trip. Apparently all of them have to do a year in the domestic sector before they are considered for international ops.
This is when my IFE froze up, the touch screen would simply not respond. After 3 reset attempts and trying to humor myself by looking at the boot screens, I finally gave up. Same trouble- the JetScreen splashtop would appear and be utterly non responsive to my touch. I finally gave up.
A quick peek at my meal.
By now we were well into our descent and even the galley screen had frozen up showing “0 Miles to destination” for a good hour before we finally rolled into the breezy tarmac of SFO. The usual three gazillion immigration questions later I was back on American soil.
Scenes at SFO:
General observations:
1. Seat and Cabin:
a. Much better than CX while seated. But I found it a tad short at full recline. What compounds this is that the head rest is shaped like a giant egg and at full recline (if you sleep on your side like I do), your head falls off into open space! Not good for people who don’t use pillows!
b. I couldn’t find the magazine stowaway for a good 3 hours- thats because half the rack disappears behind your seat while in seated position.
c. The drink placement mini table is a neat feature. Plenty of space to keep at least one bottle and 3 glasses.
d. Mood lighting was an excellent feature though I didn’t see any star lights on the ceiling.
2. IFE:
a. Poor choice of IFE options. People used to EK or CX or SQ wouldn’t feel too happy.
b. Great screen quality while it worked. Like I said before, the tilt screen option is nice to have.
c. Took forever to grab the control module out of its stowaway- obviously someone had stuffed it in with all its cabling still trapped in the pocket.
3. Crew and Service:
a. Seemed reasonably efficient and all requests were agreed to with a smile. However they gave me the impression of being a little too eager to please and came away looking a tad clumsy. Quite beats the poise and maturity on SQ or even AI.
b. The curt FA surprised me. Or maybe because I had impossible expectations from 9W that I totally forgot the ruthless cruelty of some AF crew I have encountered!
c. No serious ground presence at PVG. There was one Indian wearing a worn suit trying desperately to communicate in English to the Chinese checkin agents. Their office seemed pretty responsive though the previous day when I called in to confirm my meal request.
d. Amenity kits were the best I have seen. The crew also ensured that the restrooms were clean throughout the trip. (Brownie points for 9W here)
4. Catering:
a. More food. MORE FOOD!
b. Quality was very decent- and presentation was quite good as well. Some poise and lesser nervousness while serving lunch would have helped though!
What’s interesting was the night I got off the plane was the day when this announcement was made! Considering the load factors I wouldn’t be surprised, but this is where Indian aviation loses out. We simply don’t have the clout, support or backing like AF/KLM or EY/EK to weather out route development costs.
Hopefully things improve before the snap off date of Jan 13th. 9W is a good airline and I wouldn’t hesitate to fly it again, but lack of EQMs or elite status bonuses (I lost out on a 100% bonus on base mileage) will definitely stand in the way. I just hope they can align themselves to OW or Skyteam – otherwise they will have to be content on filling up the front of their cabins with wealthy businessmen only out of DEL or BOM.
Airline: Jet Airways
Flight Number: 9W 210
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300 ER
Distance: 6150 miles
Duration: 12:30
Background:
Being a frequent traveller to Hong Kong and Shanghai, I have always chosen CXs offerings- indeed the consistency in their service often outweighs the cramped confines of their new J cabin. But this time, a late afternoon meeting in Shanghai gave me a wonderful excuse to plead my case of flying with 9W. I have heard a lot of great things about them and my first flight with them earlier in the year on a KUL-MAA in Y only reaffirmed this belief.
So even though I am eligible to fly in J on ULH trips, I decided to agree to fly Y on the outward leg between ORD-PVG (an eminently forgettable flight). Being an AA Plat meant that I would have to forego the Elite Bonus miles that comes with flying OW partners. But I had set my mind on 9W- and 9W it was.
Check in:
I arrived at 6 pm courtesy of a colleague who had to catch an earlier flight to ICN. And with nothing to do, I decided to kill my time plane watching. PVG might be the gateway to the most populous country in the world, but it’s going to be a while before it starts generating the same sort of traffic that HKG or SIN. It’s a monster of a facility though.
Advertisement for Expo 2010
The AI checkin zone:
Check in was fairly easy- because there was only one passenger ahead of me! In what was an ominous sign of things to come, only one other elderly couple checked in (there were 3 manned counters).
I asked the check in agent if I could do a quick trip on the MagLev before getting on the flight. In my five previous visits to Shanghai, I had never gotten an opportunity to sample this high speed wonder and I wasn’t going to let this chance slip, considering there were 3 good hours before I could get on the plane.
The Maglev promises a 7 minute trip into downtown from the airport, and has turned out to be a nightmare for Chinese authorities in terms of ridership. There were about 30 people on my train- and none in my compartment.
Inside:
Starting out at 0km per h
At top speed
After a quick trip into town and back it was time to head back to the gates, and ahead of me the 9W crew were clearing immigration. I followed them around for a bit until it was time to hit the lounge!
The lounge that 9W uses at PVG is a non airline operated one – and was as deserted as the rest of the terminal. I was the only passenger in what was definitely not a bad looking lounge!
Slices of raw bread!
Oh yes! Massage chairs! (but with a Chinese controller- I finally figured out how to use them though)
After being bounced about a bit in the fancy OSIM chairs, I decided to head down to the departure gate. And yes- there was a grand total of 5 people (including me) ready to board this flight! I had heard about mediocre loads on this flight but 5 people on a transpac run? Surely something must be wrong?
Airport view from the lounge:
Departure Board:
The 77W- one gorgeous bird. (Image courtesy, Wikimedia)
I was the last to board the plane – and my worst fears were unfounded when I saw a near empty J cabin. There were a grand total 8 people in the entire J section, all clustered around the rear end. I was one of two passengers on the front portion. Not sure why the seats were assigned like this considering the meal trolleys had to be wheeled all the way to the end of the cabin each time? (drinks, meals, desserts, towels?)
The seat across me:
IFE Controller
Immediately we began to back out and roll away into take off mode. The 77W is a beast of a machine, and a gorgeous one at that! This particular model was spanking new, and considering the loads in the J cabin, wasn’t used much!
A quick cold towel service started followed by a drinks run- and in between a slightly timid FA asked me if I would like to change into my pyjamas! Wow! I was comfortably dressed and declined (in hindsight, why did I decline?). A second FA passed me my amenity kit- a nice Bulgari travel kit. I assume the others had already received theirs when they boarded at BOM.
Another FA passed me a wine list in spite of me protesting that I didn’t feel like it. And considering I had been overdosed in myriad forms of soya, bean curd, tofu (I am a vegetarian) over the last week, I was longing for proper desi food. I don’t know if it was the look on my face or the way I asked it, but the FA seemed to understand and said “Certainly sir!”
Dinner consisted of some great curries- aloo gobi on one side, and panner mutter split by a miniscule mound of basmati rice. Two small ornate cups each carried even smaller portions of dal and raita. There was some fruit on the side as well. The quality of the meal was excellent- but for an airline that prides itself of exemplary kitchen services, the quantity was a big disappointment. I finished the meal only feeling half full – and yes I could certainly have had one more meal with no trouble at all! Sorry no pictures here- I was halfway into my basmati before I realized I had forgotten to take pictures!
Soon it was dessert time, and a rather curt FA rolled in a trolley and said “what do you want”? Considering that by now I had dealt with quite a few crew members who were eager to please, this was surprising. And of course, there was Kheer on the dessert menu, and when I asked what the other choices were, she looked at me and answered something in Hindi.
It’s too bad I didn’t get to hear what she said, but she immediately switched into English with a hyper embarrassed demeanour and kept apologising profusely all the way while pulling out a delicious cup of Haagen-Daaz mango ice cream!
In between I managed to capture some shots of the cabin and the seat.
The colour scheme is really nice with gentle browns, creams and whites, but having gotten used to CX’s ultra long beds in J, I got the feeling that the seats in lie flat mode were still too short for comfort- and I am only 6’0 tall. The other thing that annoyed me was the pullout IFE screen- you wouldn’t know whether to pull, push, slide or yank the thing out. After a few chipped nails I realized one end of the steel bar under the screen was in fact one giant, creaky button. The nice thing though is the monitors, once retracted can be swivelled around to suit your recline, unlike in CX where all monitors are perpendicular to the ground and watching TV while lying down is virtually impossible. The seats are also wide enough for a good toss and turn while you sleep without bumping into the partitions.
IFE- 9W’s in flight options have a long way to go before they match SQ, CX or EK. The big touch screen is nice, but like the food, the options were limited. And considering this was a flight that was departing from China, the options for entertainment in Mandarin were virtually zero.
And so, In between some uber boring scenes of Halla Bol, I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up about 4 hours before touchdown and did a quick trip to the restroom and my first reaction was “Wow”! This was twice the size of conventional J toilets and cleaener than my kitchen! The amenities were well stocked- Bulgari perfume, soap, aftershave, and even half a dozen cheap disposable razors. What I particularly liked was the lights on the mirrors that were in a halo pattern- that when you looked into made you look like god!
I got back to my seat and a fourth FA came over and said ``Sir, you were asleep while we did the last meal rounds, would you like to have breakfast now``.
I said sure, and waited for half an hour before another FA peeked through the curtain, took pity on me and finally laid out the table. During this period I managed a quick chat with her and a couple of other FAs about this flight and learnt a few interesting tidbits. There were 2 in the first class cabin, 8 in J and about a 100 in economy. On a 77W, these are ridiculous loads! And this was a Friday, so I can only imagine how the weekday loads looked like. They said this was likely to be downgraded to an A332, but had no idea if an 332 could do a TransPac nonstop. Some of them were on their first trip on the PVG-SFO sector and seemed to be really excited about the trip. Apparently all of them have to do a year in the domestic sector before they are considered for international ops.
This is when my IFE froze up, the touch screen would simply not respond. After 3 reset attempts and trying to humor myself by looking at the boot screens, I finally gave up. Same trouble- the JetScreen splashtop would appear and be utterly non responsive to my touch. I finally gave up.
A quick peek at my meal.
By now we were well into our descent and even the galley screen had frozen up showing “0 Miles to destination” for a good hour before we finally rolled into the breezy tarmac of SFO. The usual three gazillion immigration questions later I was back on American soil.
Scenes at SFO:
General observations:
1. Seat and Cabin:
a. Much better than CX while seated. But I found it a tad short at full recline. What compounds this is that the head rest is shaped like a giant egg and at full recline (if you sleep on your side like I do), your head falls off into open space! Not good for people who don’t use pillows!
b. I couldn’t find the magazine stowaway for a good 3 hours- thats because half the rack disappears behind your seat while in seated position.
c. The drink placement mini table is a neat feature. Plenty of space to keep at least one bottle and 3 glasses.
d. Mood lighting was an excellent feature though I didn’t see any star lights on the ceiling.
2. IFE:
a. Poor choice of IFE options. People used to EK or CX or SQ wouldn’t feel too happy.
b. Great screen quality while it worked. Like I said before, the tilt screen option is nice to have.
c. Took forever to grab the control module out of its stowaway- obviously someone had stuffed it in with all its cabling still trapped in the pocket.
3. Crew and Service:
a. Seemed reasonably efficient and all requests were agreed to with a smile. However they gave me the impression of being a little too eager to please and came away looking a tad clumsy. Quite beats the poise and maturity on SQ or even AI.
b. The curt FA surprised me. Or maybe because I had impossible expectations from 9W that I totally forgot the ruthless cruelty of some AF crew I have encountered!
c. No serious ground presence at PVG. There was one Indian wearing a worn suit trying desperately to communicate in English to the Chinese checkin agents. Their office seemed pretty responsive though the previous day when I called in to confirm my meal request.
d. Amenity kits were the best I have seen. The crew also ensured that the restrooms were clean throughout the trip. (Brownie points for 9W here)
4. Catering:
a. More food. MORE FOOD!
b. Quality was very decent- and presentation was quite good as well. Some poise and lesser nervousness while serving lunch would have helped though!
What’s interesting was the night I got off the plane was the day when this announcement was made! Considering the load factors I wouldn’t be surprised, but this is where Indian aviation loses out. We simply don’t have the clout, support or backing like AF/KLM or EY/EK to weather out route development costs.
Hopefully things improve before the snap off date of Jan 13th. 9W is a good airline and I wouldn’t hesitate to fly it again, but lack of EQMs or elite status bonuses (I lost out on a 100% bonus on base mileage) will definitely stand in the way. I just hope they can align themselves to OW or Skyteam – otherwise they will have to be content on filling up the front of their cabins with wealthy businessmen only out of DEL or BOM.
Nov 23, 2008, 8:03 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: All over
Programs: AA-LTP, HH-DIA, Marriott-LT+AMB, Hyatt-Globalist, Hertz-PC, UA-GS
Posts: 6,828
Great report. Did you happen to look at the rest of menu, what were the other offerings? I'm surprised of the loads. Maybe they will be doing some specials during off peak. Alot of people travel during Dec and from the west coast, I believe this is the only Jet flight out to PVG to connect in India? I dont know if I'll be trying them on a paid flight, maybe an award, as I hate to lose bonuses as well 
Thanks
Thanks
Nov 23, 2008, 11:01 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2004
Programs: NW Gold, '06. Good times.
Posts: 7,364
This was a wonderfully written, thorough critique of an airline still finding its international footing.
About your A330 range question, an A330-200 could probably make the PVG-SFO run. AF flies an A332 NRT-CDG, which the Great Circle Mapper says is 100 miles less that PVG-SFO.
About your A330 range question, an A330-200 could probably make the PVG-SFO run. AF flies an A332 NRT-CDG, which the Great Circle Mapper says is 100 miles less that PVG-SFO.
Nov 23, 2008, 2:09 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: United 1kMM; AA EX Plat, Hilton Diamond and SPG Plat
Posts: 2,014
nice report, it is a shame that the route is going away and 9W is so quickly adandoning SFO. Maybe w/ oil dropping so much and the *A connaction we may see it again.
Nov 27, 2008, 12:05 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,329
Agreed. I think its fabulous trip reports details. I don't think 9W is not too comfortable for you at all. I knows CX is much more conveniently where flying into J class section. I'm sure that you will appreciated it for your contribution where you were flew on 9W. Beside, I think he can go on next trip on UA is much better than 9W.