C W

I have never experienced MU smoking. Their long-haul flights are much better than domestic however. Crew, food, and planes are all very different.

PayItForward

Never experienced a MU flight that had crew smoking on board. Will have another opportunity for a JFK / PVG / SIN flight in a couple weeks time. I expect the flight to be smooth and smoke free like my past MU flights. Given that they are super strict and do not allow mobile phone operations regardless of the mode its in, I would be surprise they will violate the cardinal rule of no smoking on flights.

MegatopLover

Get ready to be surprised. Sat in row 6, the front row of Business Class on MU A320's BKK-PVG, and was awakened mid-flight on a painfully short redeye to the lovely smell of cigarette smoke wafting out from the cockpit.

Had not experienced it before on MU. But this was unmistakeable.

moondog

Cardinal rule?

PayItForward

Means basic / fundemental rule.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/cardinal_rule


On commercial flights, smoking is not allowed. It is a basic rule.

moondog

I understand the concept of cardinal rules, but missed the memo about the instant case.

355F1

After a beautiful 10/10 experience of flying LAX-ICN-SIN-DPS in J on SQ and a lovely two weeks on Bali it was time to come home on my first Chinese Airline experience.

Redeemed 80k Skymiles one way DPS-PVG-LAX for each of us and figured I'd post some thoughts and notes.

1. There was smoking on both flights. I cannot stand cigarette smoke and it was unmistakable for anything else.

DPS-PVG:
~Nice 6hr redeye flight A330
~Seatguru says all A330s have lie-flat; this is not true. We had angled flats. The seats were very firm but comfy when sitting or lounging. However, they sucked for trying to sleep in.
~We got slippers, a worthless eye mask, toothbrush but no amentity kit
~Meal was offered either right after take off or right before landing--nice to have a choice.
~English was spoken but FA's were robotic-like yet friendly.
~Food was edible, however, I would have to say it was like a jumbo-sized Y meal.

PVG:
~Airplane to brand new lounge in 14 minutes.
~No English on the espresso machine. Over half of the lounge was not Asian, and I saw a handful of people ask how to operate it.
~Wifi sucks. It logs you off like every 4 minutes. Couldn't figure out why on my iPhone or Macbook Air. I gave up.
~Breakfast sucks. Scrambled eggs and inedible sausage....everything else is Asian and soup-based. The fruit was terrible and unripe, too.
~The $8,000 massage chairs are literally the coolest thing I have ever seen in a lounge. They work VERY WELL!!!!


PVG-LAX:
~77W seats are extremely comfy in all positions although a bit skinny (23.6").
~Warm cabin...they set it on 23, I asked if she could turn my section down to 21 and she did it right in front of me.
~Food was surprisingly good and plentiful. Big portions and good flavor.Lots of bread choices, including fresh and hot garlic bread.
~Super Bright seat controls. You need an eye mask to sleep.
~Amenity Kits with Clarins face lotion and lip balm. Kit is nice, we kept them, and will be used later like all my Tumi kits.
~Arrived @ LAX over an hour early. No announcements from the cockpit, just sitting for 28 minutes and finally pulling to the gate.
~Very few PA announcements--made for a quiet flight.
~AVOD system is terrible. Movie selection is very sparse, TV selections almsot non-existent. Bring your own entertainment for this flight.

Here are some pics from my flight.

355F1

More pics from my flights:

Overall it was a good flight. Great redemption, but the lounge situation in PVG is a sore letdown considering it is brand new and beautiful inside.

Who doesn't have English on their espresso makers??? (Yes, I have been all over the world....).

355F1

Oh yeah....wanted to add one more thing.

I was offered a paid upgrade to First Class on MU 583 PVG-LAX on a J Skymiles Award ticket.....


That comes out to $4300 USD......

flyerCO

That is just the generic listing. If you had asked the FA they would have quoted the real upgrade price which is 15000 RMB not 30000 RMB. The system is still in roll out stages for the ordering from the seat back screen. It's basically a place holder till they actually enable you to process an upgrade directly via AVOD.

As for the brightness on the controller, you can turn it off, just like you can turn the screen off. I flew one last month PVG-YYZ and the movie/TV selection was adequate and they rotate regularly.

CO-PLAT

One of those $8,000 massage chairs grabbed me feet and wouldn't let go...even after turning the thing off. I literally had to tear my feet out of it. Then I turned it back on with my feet resting ABOVE the chair.

355F1

Still out of my price range for paid upgrades.

I meant the "seat controls" are bright, not the handheld device for the AVOD screen.

355F1

Hah! One of the other guests warned us about that chair! It was the one facing the corner on the right side! My gf tried it and she left her legs out of that part.

DL-Don

I had the same problem last year on China Eastern PVG-DEL. Seatguru and their web site asserted the A330 was 1-2-1 with lay flats but instead got 2-2-2 with angled flats. Most uncomfortable J seat I've had in a decade.

RealHJ

MU has four A330 versions:
2-2-2 angled (332)
2-2-2 angled (333)
2-2-2 lie-flat (33E)
1-2-1 lie-flat (33H)

SeatGuru shows all four. On the MU site you can see the aircraft type (332, 333, 33E or 33H) to know what it is on the flight and date in question. You can also (usually) see the seatmap on delta.com.

The problem is that aircraft tend to be often changed. I've had 333 changed to 33H only to be changed back to 333.

If you actually checked (tried to book the flight on en.ceair.com) and saw 33H aircraft type, then it was likely subbed out later. Happens often.