Chinatrvl

CAAC inflight magazine says all CA A333 have new full flat biz.

ROCruiser

Our recent experience on Air China:

TPE to PEK CA 186 (A330) Business--empty cabin, good service, OK food
PEK to KMG CA 4174 Economy--seats fine, terrible food
KMG to PEK CA 4173 Economy--Seats fine, food better than 4174
PEK to ICN CA 123 Business--great service, comfortable seats, OK breakfast
Air China Lounge Beijing, one of the better ones

This was our first experience on Air China flights and I was impressed.

TheCount2

Have you flown CA 982 yet, and if so how was the food, service and IFE? I will be booking an award in business.

mad_atta

I've been trying to figure out which version of business class the PEK-SYD route gets (flying in November 2013), and I'm totally confused.

The operating type shows as just "330" but the seatmap doesn't seem to match any of those on seatguru. Australian Business Traveller seems to think that SYD gets the new business class, but a subsequent article to that one said we get the 777 which doesn't seem to be the case.

This page on the Air China website includes Sydney under "New Routes with First and Business Class Facilities"... but I'm not sure if what that really means is "Routes with New First and Business Class Facilities"

Anyone have any recent experience of this?

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I picked a random date (20 November) and checked against flightstats... both air china flights are showing a330.

I would tend to believe the booking engine rather than any promotional materials or articles., but anyways... the a330s are full flat in business class anyway... so should be ok to book and if the air raft gets upgraded that's a bonus! (what does the seat map you found look like?)

as for seat maps... seatguru is sometimes a little out of step... especially for non North American Airlines.

mad_atta

Having looked at this again this morning, with a somewhat fresher brain, I see the seatmap on expertflyer matches the A330-200 seatmap on Air China's site. That references the Aura lite business class seat, which according to the manufacturer's website can be either lie flat or fully flat. It seems from the Australian Business Traveller article and the impressive quoted 80" pitch that Air China's version on the 332 is fully flat - is that right? If so, that looks like a pretty good product for an overnight flight...

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

80' pitch would indeed be full flat. I know while air china was in the process of I stalling their full flat seats they had two versions of each aircraft on line (refurb and non refurb). it seems the non refurb has gone?

dh01

The A330s are full flat in a beautiful cabin with lots of space

trooper

It seems to be the same seat (or a very, very similar one) to the latest TK Biz seat... IFE and booze were pretty ordinary... food was fine....

Quilt (packaged as "First Class") was excellent... bed was just as comfortable as TK's ....service was.. interesting.

slickalick

I just flew CA989 PEK-JFK in J as an Op-Up (I flew CA981 in Paid J a week ago). Seems the flight was oversold as there were quite a few op-ups on that flight.

In the past month, I've become quite an expert on CA with over 12 J sectors - mostly trans-pac after my preferred OZ completely priced themselves out of the market with flights on par with UA non-stops to EWR. Whilst CA offers an excellent J fare out of HKG for JFK.

The hard product on the 77W is excellent for what it is. The quilts are also very comfortable, try to get 2 and use one as a mattress pad. The amenity bag is a fairly basic with L'Occtaine balm and lotion. They do give out pyjamas in J however the quality is dubious and would only consider them as single-use.

Food is fairly good, both the western and chinese options. Wine list is nothing great but they do have a decent single malt and baileys available which is all im interested in.

Service is rather rudimentary, though if you can pass a few words in Mandarin, the crew will open up a bit i find.

Overall, whilst CA is not on par with OZ, from my recollection they are definitely superior to the CO flights to EWR. At the prices they are offering in both Y and J recently to JFK - it becomes a viable alternative to OZ and other one-stop options especially if you are a bit flexible on time - in case of irrops.

Interesting points to note - Although im TK *G, for the last flight in Y where i got op-upd to J, I had input my OZ *S - I was pretty low on the pecking order and thus was even more surprised that i got op-upd. On the return from JFK, no op-up to J however, our family of 4 (2 toddlers) were given two rows of 3 seats (blocked middle) - there was not a single other empty seats on the flight - allowing my kids to stretch out completely. Lots of envious looks from other pax on that flight! Somebody at CA sure is looking out for me!

Cruiser Elite

Anybody with recent experience CA PEK-MEL in J?

Particularly what Champers offered? What is general standard of meal?

no_idea

Has anybody an idea what kind of A330-200 CA intends to use for the new routing to HNL ? At KVS I see a 330 with 12 seats in C, must be one of the oldest configuration. I can not find any seat assignment on their homepage, only the newer/refurbised 330/33W

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

it's listed on the air china chinese site. 12 C with 58' pitch and 160 degree recline.

if this link works it's on this page: http://www.airchina.com.cn/en/info_a...08/15451.shtml

moondog

Yes, that's the correct plane. While it certainly isn't as nice as the lie flat 330s, it's not exactly a slave ship either. If you think about it, in addition to Hawaii being a beach market, PEK-HNL is also a monopoly route for CA... so they don't exactly need show off their best clothes in order to sell it.

no_idea

Thanks , I also think this is a good alternative to old UA domestic planes flying Form THW West coast. I will give them a try using HNL/PEK/LHR next time.