Originally Posted by eggzlot

I'll make this brief as I am not a professional blogger. But I would downplay any concerns flying China Southern. I recently booked award flights in business class (both legs) for JFK > CAN and then CAN > CHC.

The service on the JFK > CAN was a bit more "business" if you will, not much small talk, attendants getting their jobs done, etc. I noticed the quantity/plating of food varied a bit but in general if you asked for something you got it. Dishes were cleared quicker when moved to the side arm rest vs on the main platter (culturally I think they find it rude to take a plate away from you which is why I saw people putting it to the side and it got removed ASAP). They never approached asking if we needed anything but they had a snack/drink bar open the entire trip and if you hit your flight attendant button they were at your seat ASAP to offer help.

On both flights my wife explained how she likes iced tea and both flights made her iced tea at all meals and when she requested another.

the CAN > CHC flight the attendants were overly nice. I am a 6'3'' mid 30's male and they would not even let me put my bag in the overhead, they ran over to do it. They were always asking us if we needed anything else, etc. So a bit more accommodating than the first crew but some may prefer the more efficient/quieter crew from the first leg.

I did like the 777-300 ER business class better on the JFK > CAN flight. CAN > CHC is operated by the 787 but business class is 2-2-2- configuration - luckily we had the middle seats so easily aisle access for us. But on the side seats aisle access can be a bit tougher if someone is sleeping and the window seat wants to get out.

I booked these using Delta miles for 97,000 a ticket one way (flew home out of PPT > LAX > NYC using AA miles) and felt it was a fairly good deal. Finding 80k business class seats to New Zealand is tough and though these were 97,000, there was an 8 hour layover in China so we used the 72 hour visa policy to have a quick pit stop with dinner in China, so that was worth a few extra points as we have never visited China.

IFE was fine - was surprised to the amount of movies in English (not dubbed/subtitled). I had my iPad filled with content as a backup but there were enough quality movies in English.

Lastly, ZERO smoke smell in the cabin. And my wife has a great sense of smell and if she smelled smoke, it would have been a very long flight if you know what I mean....

If you want good award availability (or from what I hear strong USD pricing for cash purchases), an efficient crew, clean plane and a comfortable seat I would highly recommend CZ. It may not be fancy like some of their Asian rivals, but sometimes someone is more interested in the destination vs how they are getting there and they just want something comfortable and dependable and to me CZ checked those boxes. The routing was perfect (allowed for almost zero jet lag), award availability great, etc.