Thought I'd post a few observations on this recent flight I took, since I hadn't found anything when I was searching for advice on my route to work out whether the airline was worth flying with. I believe that Tibet Airlines is owned by Air China, as such we felt the safety should be fine for this trip
Route: LXA - CTU (Lhasa - Chengdu)
Class: Domestic First
Aircraft: A330 (yes a long-haul plane)
Time: 09:40-11:40 / TV9854
I was on holiday in Tibet for Christmas and whilst my travel agent had to book my flight to Tibet I was free to choose my return flight. For a long time all of the fares (economy or first/business) were at 100%, but about a week before travel Tibet Airlines dipped their first class seat to be around 50%, so I took two tickets.
We were on a long-haul plane, which was a treat domestically, and meant that we had fully flat (or nearly flat) beds in a 2x2x2 configuration. I'll put in a few observations to share the experience.
Check-in: There was some vague priority check-in that involved us being invited past disabled passengers to be issued our boarding passes at the priority counter, and then being led to a normal desk to hand over our bags.
Lounge: The 'usual' Chinese domestic lounge, by which I mean a square room plus sofas, a few free (soft+beer) cold drinks, coffee machine and wifi, with no view or character. Not exactly great for your home base.
Boarding: There was a priority lane, but it wasn't entirely clear how to be used as it was empty and closed off. By watching other first passengers it was clear you just pushed in front of the line of 100+ people and they would let you past. The flight was pretty much full in both economy and first.
On-board: A nice seat, free slippers and modern entertainment plus a ~12" screen - so a good hard product. The staff's English was basic, but sufficient to get us drinks and check we wanted 'refreshment' which was a very Chinese breakfast (i.e. main course of a purple potato, one dim sum and sticky rice, plus a bit of fruit) - just about edible for a westerner. The entertainment was modern with a mobile-like touch screen remote, but wasn't turned on until about an hour into the flight and had very limited options of around 30 films and 10 TV shows - which were in Chinese or French (do they use this to go to Paris I wonder?)
Arrival: Priority bags weren't prioritised and were some of the last off
Overall: Just like any other domestic Chinese flight in first really, but with a better plane than you'd typically have since they appear to use the long-haul plane for some domestic routes. As such I'd return to the airline based on price/schedule, but wouldn't be raving about them
Feel free to ask anything else of me. I do have some pictures but don't have anywhere to store them!
Edit: Managed to add the pictures directly