Originally Posted by
Conflipper
I am flying Air China from LA to Beijing and I saw on their website that carry on baggage can be no more than 5Kg. Has anyone flown on them recently and can confirm this? This seems like almost nothing. I have seen 10 Kg on budget airlines in past (EasyJet) but never 5Kg. They do allow 2 free checked bags but I found carry on odd.
I haven't flown with them from LAX, but flying out of PEK, I've successfully got on the plane with a wheeled carry-on that was about 12kg. Nobody seemed at all interested in the size or weight at any point.
Originally Posted by
Conflipper
Also what does anyone know about using phone or having battery pack on the plane? I have read somewhere that one of the Chinese airlines would not allow you to use phone on plane (China Eastern maybe). And they did not let you take any batteries on the plane with you and I am just not sure how accurate that is.
This is a much hotter topic for the Chinese than carry-on weight. Using a phone is fine (although I once got told off for using bluetooth headphones while taxiing), but they do say in all their announcements that you're not allowed to use power banks at any point during the flight. I've done it, and nobody noticed, but depending on the aircraft, you might have a USB charging socket at your seat anyway.
Power banks are also a big thing at airport security in China. You have to separate it from the rest of your baggage, you're only allowed one power bank per person, they can only be 20,000mAh max, and they have to have a model/serial number visible (apparently). Flying LAX-PEK that won't be an issue, but something to be aware of when you're leaving PEK.