itsaboutthejourney

No 36 Lounge is an ok physical space, agree upstairs is quieter and easier to find a variety of seating options. But the food and beverage is sub-par. I do appreciate that they have individual bottles of water. No need to spend a lot of time in this lounge.

Agree on the terminal offerings; the one saving grace is the Starbucks at the far end of the shopping row. Surprised the airport does not have a wider selection of both stores and places to eat (ie Western options).

That said, I found the overall airport and layout not to be as confusing or chaotic as others have reported. (3 different visits in the past 45 days to PVG).

moondog

Can you think of any airports in mainland China that have decent places to shop/eat, especially air side? SHA is much better than PVG (e.g. Wagas, Dunkin Donuts, Korean BBQ), but still underwhelms. The most frustrating for me is SZX because it has hundreds of retail stores, but most sell completely useless (for an airport) things (e.g. wedding dresses, anyone?).

exwannabe

The selection is limited, but they do have alcohol upstairs.

I find the lounge quite nice as there is almost always plenty of space. I never eat much as TPAC flights stuff me, but there looks to be a nice kitchen setup downstairs (upstairs food is meh).

navi_jen

Travelhive, It was actually a very easy terminal to get around in, signage, for the most part, is very good. If you are flying MU, unless you are flying business/first, get there early to board, LOTS of long lines of Pax to board. Food in the lounge is okay, certainly not great. Just a shame because the food on the MU flights range from passable to inedible...so when in transit, be prepared for 24 hours of meh eating. I don't care if I can get Western Meals, I just want one that is good (even if I have to pay for it). Though maybe pseudo Western is what I want, as bypassing entrails and feet, would be preferable.

What really gets my goat is that my planes were parked about 5 miles from the terminal, and we had to take stupid bus to board the flight. 3am in the morning, raining sideways, we are waiting on the jetbridge (is it a bridge if it's just stairs?) stairs for bus to pull up...then a 15 minute ride to the terminal. Awful. If there is one thing worse than the PVG food, lounge and lack of shopping options, it's this. And this is for their 'flagship' route from JFK to PVG? Awful.

mot29

Remote stands are a pain -- I also experienced it on the JFK-PVG flight, arriving about an hour early -- maybe they use the remote stand to kill time so you don't get to the terminal before immigration is fully staffed. Even with the wait and drive around, we were at transit security 40 minutes before it opened.
At least for the JFK-PVG flight there was a special bus for business class pax.
My connecting flight later that day -- PVG-TPE was also a remote stand, but no special bus for the business pax.
But I've also had remote stands at AMS (mostly intra-EU), CDG (although its been a while), and even LAX (also been a while and to the old AA remote terminal).
You could think about it as the DL 'picked me up in a bus.' You do get to see a lot.

navi_jen

Oh, and that stupid elevator that takes you from arrivals to security, I waited 30 minutes to essentially 'walk' down 1 flight of stairs. You are right that end-to-end time is not bad (less than an hour from touchdown to being in the lounge, waiting for next flight...but I just hate wasted time). Oops, off topic. Back to lounge.

moondog

My SOP is to board as late as humanly possible (when there is no line at all).

moondog

While I dislike remote stands on departure (because bus gates suck), I like them on arrival because the bus brings you pretty close to where you actually need to be.

exwannabe

Am I delusional, or is that forced elevator something that just came into being in the last year? I did not remember in on previous trips. Did there use to be an escalator/steps now out of commission or something?

As far as bus stands, agree with Moondog that (at PVGt) they are fine on arrival (particularly when in the front). Departure is a modest annoyance.

Some airport bus gates really suck though. At LAX upon landing on an international flight w/o a gate you circle the airport and much of greater LA to get to the stand, then the bus drive back can take forever to cross air traffic. Oh, and the last time I had to do that we had to wait at the remote stand for a gate. YGTBFKM.

bbbacres

I just returned from a RT that went through Shanghai both ways. I was unable to get into the China Eastern Lounge. I have a full Skyclub membership. But I am only Silver Elite. The attendant told me that were I Gold Elite or higher I would get in. But not as silver and the Skyclub membership did not help me at all. So the lounge access seemed to be Sky Priority centered.

RealHJ

SkyClub and SkyMiles status is irrelevant. That has nothing to do with SkyTeam.

You need to be SkyTeam Elite Plus to get lounge access, that has been always made very clear by SkyTeam.
ref. https://www.skyteam.com/en/lounges/

Currently, as DL Gold (and above) you will be STE+. So yes, you need to be DL Gold or above (currently) to get STE+ status, which is what really matters.

Johnusnsd

Just left PVG this morning (4.14 on DL582), and wanted to share some updated info regarding Security, Customs, the Lounge, the Terminal and boarding:
1. DL ticket counter opens at 0830am daily.
2. If you are flying PS or DO, you will be provided the MU #36 lounge pass (and Gold Elite get a pass too, if they are in the Main Cabin).
3. Security VIP line. After you go thru Customs, go to the far right of the Security Check Point, and show your Lounge Pass and that will get you into the VIP Security Check area. I was able to clear customs and security in less than 10min.
4. Lounge #36 . Nothing much to update - as the previous posts are very accurate.....very nice lounge. Definitely go upstairs once you enter the lounge (much more comfortable and quiet). VIP Lounge #37 (as others have described) is a complete joke (I went there simply because I wanted to see it - as a PP holder - and it was just as bad as previous posters have said). The PVG terminal is terrible, regarding shopping and dining. I was just happy to find the Dukin Donuts.
5. China is very militarized with the boarding process (you will not have to worry about someone from Main Cabin 4 boarding during Delta One). There will be DL reps holding signs for boarding groups and you line up in front of the sign. Boarding started 65min before departure, and doors were closed 20min before scheduled departure and we pushed-back 15min early. Boarding was very efficient and quick.

John

moondog

For this reason, I typically show up at the gate at T-22; wherever I happen to be waiting in the airport (i.e. fancy lounge or simple noodle shop) is a much better place to pass time than on the airplane.

wlau

I've flown out of PVG on DL many times. Efficient and quick are not words I would describe PVG boarding process. They often board well after the published boarding time, so you have loads of people lined up and wait and wait and wait some more...

The secondary security checks are done very strangely. Even you were previously questioned with a sticker to the passport, you could get reasked and then "ooh, someone already asked you.." when they see the sticker...

For every flight that they close the door and leave the gate on-time, there are plenty more that they are late on...

Many of the GAs are not Delta staff (contracted from MU) and they barely know DL's boarding process. With the new multi-group revised boarding process, even though DM can board with D1, the GA doesn't seem to know... It's not terrible but definitely not well organized.

Visconti

Thanks! Didn't know this. Will do this next time rather than waiting in the foreigner line which, literally, moves at a snails pace.

Nice, and no cutting or sob story cheese stuff--welcomed change to how we do it in the States. Only downside with DL is having to be in T1 vs. T2.