The tour of China over, it was time to visit my extended family in Northern Italy. I'm extremely fortunate to have family that live along the Swiss Italian border between Lake Como and St Moritz. If you could have your choice of anywhere in the world, relo's with a house on Lake Como would have to be right near the top of the list.
But first I have to get there.
Beijing Aiport is new with Terminal 3 built for the Olympics. It's absolutely world class and a pleasure to travel through. First hurdle is that Business Class check in is in a different row and it wasn't sign posted or shown on the monitors. I guess a regular Beijing traveller would know this but it took a bit of finding for me.
After checking in you catch a metro style train to take you to terminal three where several layers of security are implemented. Each provides a red stamp to your boarding pass so they end up looking like this:
Terminal 3 is modern and stylish.
The lounges, although not well sign posted are up one level in this open plan environment with good views outwards and a light and airy feel to them.
There is plenty of food including a buffet dining area with real tables and chairs. What a great idea. There's also cold snacks, beer, soft drinks but minimal wine. There was an empty bottle of white and a half empty bottle of red open in a bar area at the far end of the lounge (just around the corner from the dining room).
For WiFi access to have to scan your passport in a machine at the lounge reception area to get a username and password.
Being a busy airport the lounge was at times quite and at other times quite full. When busy there simply weren't enough toilets even with the full-time bathroom attendant. I couldn't find a shower although there was a paid shower room and hourly hotel in the public area if needed.
The main downfall of the lounge was the eating habits of the Chinese. (Please don't take this as a criticism, just pointing out a cultural different here.) Noodles, soup etc were all available from the dining area to bring to the rest of the lounge. But even a banana becomes a slurpathon and it became quite grating after a while.
I've now worked out why every restaurant we went to had a separate room for tour groups. It wasn't to keep us away from the locals, it was to keep the locals away from us!
The view from the lounge is not totally dissimilar to Milano (my destination). It had rained the night before so the air was actually clear for a change. There's a large flat plan and in the distance one could see mountains. Much the same as Malpensa.
Boarding commenced a relaxed 40 mins prior to departure. I arrived at the gate 30 mins prior and boarding was almost complete. Imagine my surprise to see the same Star Alliance painted aircraft and rego number (B-6093) on the plane as the plane that took me from Sydney to Shanghai. What are the odds?
Business class boarding was through 1L, economy through 2L.
Business class was again about 50% full which provides a more spacious feel.
My faulty tray table from last leg had been fixed, but there were still a few loose panels etc.
I rejected the kind offer of slippers because of my massive plates of meat (feet) and the FA looked genuinely puzzled, "but it's a long time" she reasoned. She shortly returned with the menus.
The flight was smooth. This is about as rough as it got:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
Appetizer was bought out before nuts and pre lunch drink (this was a day-time flight) and as soon as one course was finished the next was brought out to take its place and wine topped up.
Piping hot chicken soup and lobster medallions for entree and very tasty.
The wines weren't bad with the 2008 AOC Bordeaux Blanc Jacquet Chateau a perfect match for the lobster with wasabi sauce.
I changed to the french red wine to go with the beef medallion which was served piping hot again. Lots of mashed pumpkin and vegies, but again pretty good.
One hour 20 mins after push back and lunch service is finished. While our flight path took us towards desolute high country of northern Russia.
Then I worked it out. To get a decent sized drink on Air China you order whiskey. They serve Glenfiddich and if it's low tide on Champagne pond it's high tide on Whiskey River.
I've now tested this several times and it seems to be a consistent thing. A full glass of whiskey, a dash of water from your water bottle and settle back to ignore the AVOD and watch your movie on an iPad. (Because once again the AVOD selection is poor, the best thing on it is the flight mode.)
In fact was I watching K-19 (a great Russian Submarine movie) on my iPad while flying North of Moscow drinking Glenfiddich!
Dinner service started 2 hours prior to landing in Milano.
On a few of the Chinese flights towards the end of the flight they make an announcement thanking you for your patronage and the FAs stand at the front of the cabin and bow. It's a nice touch.
The flight landed one hour ahead of schedule, but I suspect this had something to do with confusion with daylight savings time because my calculations were also out by one hour.
By the queue at the luggage carousel I suspect the entire plane had a low loading factor, but this being Italy, the bags still took a while to arrive. (But more on Malpensa next post.)