mraquinas

In business school they call it a comparative study.... ^

shokan

Flew on the exactly same flight in Dec 2009. Very very average experience. Depending on the aircraft used, but the CGKPEK flight tend to be on the old 737-700 with no AVOD, or even any entertainment. No earphones will be provided until you ask. You will get some kind of video playing and more likely the program will be called "just for laughs". The cabin crew lucked English or Indonesian. Seat config is 2 X 2 with 2 rows. Try to get the seats in Row 1 as the seats in Row 2 don't fully recline, and you will most likely be sharing the cabin with Cockpit Crew using it as their 'Rest Seat'. All catering is be done in Beijing or Xiamen as its a return flight. You will either served a quick cold meal or if you pre-order a special meal like seafood meal (I ordered), is a slice of salmon with mashed potato and its hot meal. Only red or white Chinese wine is available. Other alcoholic drinks available is only Chinese Beer. Ground handling is done by Garuda with only 2 or 3 checkin counters open and that include 1 for J pax. All with massive queues. Lounge (Didn't use so cannot say) Boarding is chaotic with people shoving to get on flight first to store their luggage. It is a night flight, light will be turned off as soon as meal service is done. So don't expect much. Seats is alright for 4 hours. Transit in Xiamen have to go through Chinese customs where you get you passport stamped and be taken to a large waiting area where you be board by buses. You arrive into Beijing Terminal 3. Make sure you go through the international channel in Beijing as the flight is shared by domestic pax from XMNPEK. So bring ALOT of reading material or ipod. As you will only be provided with an English version of China Daily. Otherwise just sleep. Cabin crew is nice but seemed tired as they are doing the return flight and try to get some rest themselves. BEWARE of cigarette smells coming from the cockpit, as it is known world wide Chinese pilots smokes in the cockpit and maybe you can see the cabin crew spraying air refreshers!

mraquinas

Thanks Shokan for the great insight...
I am certain now that it is my awful mistakes in choosing CA for my return lag via PEK :-:

moondog

Well, SQ wasn't available, right? With free tickets, it's often necessary to take flights that no one else wants. I'm sure you'll survive, especially if you enjoy warm beer/soda.

mraquinas

SQ and TG are still available up to today for AC SE KK award access if we choose ex-sin, of course CGK-SIN is on our own. A cheap seat can be bought just for $200 for LH CGK-SIN and will gives us miles too ...
On the other hand, Moondog is correct, all problem and hesitation can be solved with alcohol...cheers ^

moondog

In spite of the fact that I'm not an SQ booster (i.e. overrated airline), I'd take SQ Y in a heartbeat over the CA flight in F.... but, I probably would not spend $200 for this.

That having been said, if you can score SQ in C, then the $200 up charge starts to pencil.

kapepo

I took this flight before and i must say it is the WORST flight experience i ever get.

The crew look tired and they will be sitting in the same Y seats but they will be taking the first and second front rows. Food was disgusting from XMN-PEK i got a horrifying meal, i forgot what it was but it was something like mash potatoes with a cake. Horrible and just plain gross! Seat pitch is a nightmare, The seat can't recline properly and when i board off in PEK, my whole body aches.

But sadly this is my only flight option if i want to arrive in PEK in the morning

Clipper801

The experience on CA will be very route dependent. My experience has been on routes with “strong” competition, you will find CA’s services to be very good. On routes with little competition, I found services to be still generally satisfactory in business class. I’ve never flown CA’s economy. My most recent trip was HKG-PEK on an A321. The meal and inflight services were as good as if not better than many North American carriers, including AC for flights of comparable distance. On this 3½ hour flight, we had a hot lunch with 3 choices of entree, appetizers consisted of a salad and a Chinese soup, choices of desserts and you may take more than one. The usual newspaper service and overhead IFE showing a Chinese movie. Pillow and blanket at every seat. FA’s spoke limited English but certainly were trying their best to help you. On arrival at PEK, we were assigned to an outer bay but CA arranged a special mini bus for the business class passengers to take us to the terminal quickly and separate from the rest of the economy passengers. Checked baggage delivery was fast and my bag was on the belt by the time I got there. CA’s lounge at PEK T3 is very good and is better than any AC Maple Leaf Lounge that I visited.

Here’re some trip reports on CA posted on FT:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...sfo-new-c.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...t-pek-jfk.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ew-member.html

I have no hesitation flying CA again in the future.

mpiotrow

I know this is an old thread, but I couldn't find anything newer on the FT website. I'm looking to fly GYS to PEK on a CA 737-700 soon, and I see that trip.com has a "business" fare for only about $30 more than the economy fare. However, having just flown PEK to GYS the other day, I don't recall seeing any "business" class seats. Sure, there's first class, but that's listed separately on the trip.com website also. Basically, trip.com lists fares for all 3 classes of service. Does business just include more luggage (listed at 30kg, rather than 20kg for economy), or did I miss different seats while I was boarding?

moondog

There's no difference at all, afik.

travelinmanS