Cathay Pacific vs. China Eastern
 

Hi guys, having been back from my business trip to CTU from JFK, here's a comparison between Cathay and CE. My itinery was JFK-PVG-CTU

Staff Service: the F/As were surprisingly polite, and surprisingly unhelpful. "May I have another pillow please?" Reply: sorry, only one pillow per customer, bye. "May I have a cup of water?" Reply: food service starts in 2 hours, wait till then please. At least they were polite. Cathay 9; China Eastern 2

Food: the hot food smells bad. The fruits are surprisingly good. The salad they gave me made me had diaherrea for 2 days and almost killed my business presentation (I had to hold it in while presenting a project for 30 minutes.) The cup they use for water and drinks are smaller than kiddy cups at McDonalds. The only diet drink they have is water. Cathay 8; China Eastern 1

Flight Entertainment: multiple screens down the middle aisle, only 4 movies show consecutively. One of the movie was rated R and has extended naked people scenes. I feel sorry for the parents with kids. Cathay 10; China Eastern 1

Seat comfort: now, after flying exclusively with Cathay for so long I forgot how comfortable were the seats the actually falls back. I actually slept well in economy because of it. Also ample leg room and seat width. Cathay 7; China Eastern 8

Ground service: I arrived in PVG at 3:30 a.m. The next flight is 9:00 a.m. I needed to check my luggages out and recheck them in at the terminal. When asked why I needed to do that they told me "I didn't get the ticket that automatically transfer the luggages all the way." Huh? Cathay 10; China Eastern 1

Conclusion: no way I would fly China Eastern again, even with fall back seats.

I've been promoted to Acting Director after this trip, and luckily that means from now on I can buy my own tickets as long as the price isn't too ridiculous. YES!

Really? Which movie was that then? CX has a few uncut movies in its AVOD library, which can be a little embarrassing if the FA walks up and asks if there is anything she can do for you whilst there are naked bodies on the screen in front of you.

I didn't remember the name, but it's one of those Chinese drama movie that apparently has some extended naked scenes.

I think we need to define "naked" here. As I understand it, mainland movies are almost never allowed to show even a nipple, nevermind pubic hair or penises. I'd be astonished if a Chinese airline showed even a nipple on the big screen.

Then you understand wrong, because naked means naked here. As in the way you are when you are in the showers, unless of course you take showers with your clothes on.

I have had to travel on China Eastern on internal flights in the past couple of years, and once in the dark past I actually flew them across the Pacific.

Your comparison is actually generous to MU - they are far, far less attractive to fly than CX. I cannot imagine the circumstances where I would willingly book them on any route where they compete with CX.

Was that because you have to clear customs in PVG whereas you need not do that in HKG?

Do they allow you to recheck your luggage immediately, or do you have to wait until two hours before the next flight?

sounds god awful....

next time, take two ativan in just after take off after staying up the entire night before, i am sure you will not remember anything....

a little OT, i would rather see less violence for my child's sake (i.e. less guns really) versus a little T&A and some vulgar language....kids need to know guns are wrong....funny, that stuff never hits the cutting room floor in the "airline" versions....

Since it's 3:30 a.m. and the ground staff doesn't work till 7 a.m. (in reality they didn't work til 8 a.m.) then yes, I had to wait.

I was told by MU staff that I could (or should of) gotten a ticket that checks the bags all the way, which is why I'm kind of confused...

Yes, I would have to agree there is no comparison between CX and the mainland airlines. CX wins every time.
-UFFA

"a ticket that checks the bags all the way" is what I always got flying ATL-PVG (DL), then CZ (DL Codeshare) PVG-CAN.

It doesn't matter-- at PVG (or any mainland airport, IIRC), you must clear customs with our bags, and then there is not a desk/belt right there to drop off bags that have "a ticket that checks the bags all the way", like in most US airports.

You have to take the bags out of customs, then find the check-in counter for your next flight. And the earliest they will accept your bag for the ongoing flight is when the counter opens for check-in, so in my case, with a 5 to 6 hour layover both ways, I had to push my bags around PVG for many, many hours before being able to get rid of them. And of course no elevator to second level restaurants in the new PVG terminal, so felt like a ball and chain severely limiting where I could wander.

As I remember, left luggage service is available at PVG, for a fee.

I think the bet left luggage counter has probably been closed at 4am SHG time. Congratulation to Cathy Boy to escape from mainland airline!

1-- AGREE!

2-- The movie you refer to is probably Se, jie (otherwise known as Lust, Caution).

If it is then I'm really quite astonished that it was shown on a big screen on an MU flight (or any flight for that matter)!