Anyone taken China Eastern Air recently?
Jan 16, 2016, 1:19 am
#226
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SIN (with a bit of ZRH sprinkled in)
Posts: 9,456
(But it's probably also the easiest city to get around for someone not having been to China before)
Mar 31, 2016, 5:13 pm
#227
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,319
To follow up, MU NYC-PVG.
- New plane, clean, large screen VOD with lots of choice
- Seat selection made online (through somewhat arcane, mostly Mandarin, interface) did stick.
- Seat pitch an honest 33" (by feel - better than United E+), seat cushion mildly firm with great support. So good, in fact, that this will be my "go to" seat unless I can get UA emergency row.
- Good food on the way there, ok-ish on the way back.
- Flight attendants professional, pleasant, on the way there friendly (all female) crew, on the way back mostly male, still professional but very serious.
- Full plane, but boarding process not terribly messy (especially for China), though they do seem to have issues with row order boarding, especially at PVG where we had to use a bus gate.
- Wifi on board is free (with pre-registration online). It works, however - it is a censored Chinese internet, which means no access to Google, Facebook and variety of other western sites. It is also excruciatingly, unusably slow (as in - 10x slower than the usual internet experience I've had on TPAC flights). It's only good to send and receive a handful of imessages or, may be, load a single web site.
Transfer at PVG was a breeze, so quick, in fact, that I had a chance to get out into the "city" (outside area of terminal, to get some food) during the less than 4 hour transit. Immigration officer did ask us "do you really have to go to town" but a polite and friendly "yes" solved that question
So, all in all, a very good experience - wouldn't hesitate to repeat it.
- New plane, clean, large screen VOD with lots of choice
- Seat selection made online (through somewhat arcane, mostly Mandarin, interface) did stick.
- Seat pitch an honest 33" (by feel - better than United E+), seat cushion mildly firm with great support. So good, in fact, that this will be my "go to" seat unless I can get UA emergency row.
- Good food on the way there, ok-ish on the way back.
- Flight attendants professional, pleasant, on the way there friendly (all female) crew, on the way back mostly male, still professional but very serious.
- Full plane, but boarding process not terribly messy (especially for China), though they do seem to have issues with row order boarding, especially at PVG where we had to use a bus gate.
- Wifi on board is free (with pre-registration online). It works, however - it is a censored Chinese internet, which means no access to Google, Facebook and variety of other western sites. It is also excruciatingly, unusably slow (as in - 10x slower than the usual internet experience I've had on TPAC flights). It's only good to send and receive a handful of imessages or, may be, load a single web site.
Transfer at PVG was a breeze, so quick, in fact, that I had a chance to get out into the "city" (outside area of terminal, to get some food) during the less than 4 hour transit. Immigration officer did ask us "do you really have to go to town" but a polite and friendly "yes" solved that question
So, all in all, a very good experience - wouldn't hesitate to repeat it.
Apr 20, 2016, 9:02 pm
#228
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta Diamond
Posts: 36
Hi. I just booked biz class on MU--JFK/PVG/TPE. But for the life of me I just couldn't figure out how to check my reservation on flychinaeastern.com. I tried PRN, passport #, e-ticket...etc.
So I registered an account in their FF program so I could log in and I saw my reservation. But there's no way to select seats. Is that even possible on their website? My seats have already been assigned since I booked directly with MU NYC office. But I want to see the passenger load and if I can re-select seats on my own. I appreciate any help!
So I registered an account in their FF program so I could log in and I saw my reservation. But there's no way to select seats. Is that even possible on their website? My seats have already been assigned since I booked directly with MU NYC office. But I want to see the passenger load and if I can re-select seats on my own. I appreciate any help!
Apr 21, 2016, 4:25 pm
#229
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SFO/SJC/OAK
Posts: 522
May 5, 2016, 3:21 am
#230
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: China
Posts: 817
May 5, 2016, 4:42 am
#231
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,053
Some posters mention a rather warm cabin upthread, most date a while back though. So I'm wondering what to expect on my upcoming trip in J. Is it going to be a JL sauna or a standard Asian "warm" cabin (i.e. ~24C)? Any recent intel is appreciated 
May 5, 2016, 5:02 am
#232
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,051
Aug 10, 2016, 11:20 pm
#234
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: USA
Programs: DL Gold / AA Gold
Posts: 609
Seats can be selected here (Chinese language only): http://www.ceair.com/server/asr.html#
I see that you can now do it on the English site but these seats cost extra online. Anyone has experience requesting it free for E+?
Dec 30, 2016, 2:27 am
#235
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Cape Town, WC
Programs: AF LTP, LH Sen, M Amb
Posts: 400
Hi folks!
Has anyone had recent experience in FM 767 J? See some extra low fares available, though I remember FM 767 J used to be horrendous. Then I came across such a piece of news:
http://www.chinaaviationdaily.com/news/51/51348.html
If their J looks like on pics I would be a happy camper considering the price. Does anyone know if all of FM 767-s feature those updated cabins?
Has anyone had recent experience in FM 767 J? See some extra low fares available, though I remember FM 767 J used to be horrendous. Then I came across such a piece of news:
http://www.chinaaviationdaily.com/news/51/51348.html
If their J looks like on pics I would be a happy camper considering the price. Does anyone know if all of FM 767-s feature those updated cabins?
Jan 14, 2017, 9:34 am
#236
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: DL SkyMiles PM/2MM, AA Plat, IC Diam. Amb., Peninsula regular, amanjunkie
Posts: 5,848
My husband I and flew China Eastern recently, and it was quite an experience. We were in Business Class, ticketed BKK-PVG-JFK-vv. Trip started on January 3, 2017, with the 1:55 am departure from Bangkok.
FWIW, if you're a Delta SkyMiles member, MU is a great way to earn tons of miles on discounted tickets. The change to dollars-based earnings on DL and its JV partners gutted the miles you could earn on BKK-USA roundtrips on Delta metal. But the %-of-distance rules for MU mean you can still earn almost 30,000 MQM's and over 50,000 RDM's (counting medallion bonuses) on an MU flight in Business, even on discounted tickets, which these were.
After we bought these tickets, MU downguaged the BKK-PVG sectors from A330 to A320. I was unenthusiastic about that, for good reason. Our A320 had only two rows of Business Class, and we got the bulkhead, which had basically zero legroom.
Trying to sleep on an A320 recliner seat with no legroom on a 4-hour overnight flight is not a lot of fun. Oh, and we could definitely smell cigarette smoke coming from the cockpit during the flight.
But the real fun started on the approach to PVG. We were doing some circling in the air, it was taking a while longer than planned to land, and you could see thick cloud cover. So the purser for the flight came over and told us each personally that we had to divert to Shanghai-Hongqiao Airport due to very low visibility at PuDong. We landed without incident about 20 minutes later. Safe on the ground, happy for that.
Airstairs were rolled up to the aircraft promptly but we were held on board for nearly two hours. The crew was not given any information from ground staff for a long time. The wait went on so long with no end in sight that first the pilot lost his sh!t at the ground crew (we were watching), then the purser did too. It was ridiculous, or seemed so. Later, we learned that about 15 aircraft diverted to Hongqiao, including a few widebodies, and the Immigration hall was just too small to hold everyone in a line. They kept us on the plane until there was room in the hall for us to stand.
After landing at 7:45 am, we got to the Immigration Hall at 10:00 am. We cleared at 10:30, and our bags came up promptly. We were sent to the transfer desk for further instructions on getting to PuDong. A couple of young MU staff were trying their best to look after us, but there was just not enough of them, and there was no security to keep people in lines or groups or anything. We were led to the bus zone and told to wait for busses to PuDong. We were assured (incorrectly, as it turned out) that the bad weather at PuDong meant all the outbound connecting flights were delayed too. As a small bunch of people there grew into a large crowd, there was no organization. The wait for busses got long. Then it became a mad rush to push luggage aboard and scramble on board. Staff then told people who'd managed to get aboard that they needed to get off and pull their luggage off, because no standing allowed in China. The fight to get on the busses got very ugly and testy at times. Lesson learned: we should have pulled money out of an ATM and taken a cab.
We finally got to PuDong at 12:45 pm. The lines were massive, but not at the Business Class / SkyPriority zone. At first, the checkin agent didn't understand why we had "missed our flight." BECAUSE WE DIVERTED. BECAUSE CHINA EASTERN LANDED AT THE WRONG AIRPORT! Eventually she figured out what happened; apparently, MU didn't give front-line staff a heads-up about why all these connecting pax were turning up late at landside checkin. Our JFK flight was gone. She gave us BP's for the next one, that night. We went airside and straight to the new lounge, which is worlds better than the dinky old lounges. We had to wait there, catching up on sleep, for about 7 hours. Then we were on our way home at last.
Weather happens. Diversions happen. I get that. But MU, and Hongqiao airport staff and security, could have done a lot better to make this disruption not quite as stressful as it was.
FWIW, if you're a Delta SkyMiles member, MU is a great way to earn tons of miles on discounted tickets. The change to dollars-based earnings on DL and its JV partners gutted the miles you could earn on BKK-USA roundtrips on Delta metal. But the %-of-distance rules for MU mean you can still earn almost 30,000 MQM's and over 50,000 RDM's (counting medallion bonuses) on an MU flight in Business, even on discounted tickets, which these were.
After we bought these tickets, MU downguaged the BKK-PVG sectors from A330 to A320. I was unenthusiastic about that, for good reason. Our A320 had only two rows of Business Class, and we got the bulkhead, which had basically zero legroom.
Trying to sleep on an A320 recliner seat with no legroom on a 4-hour overnight flight is not a lot of fun. Oh, and we could definitely smell cigarette smoke coming from the cockpit during the flight.But the real fun started on the approach to PVG. We were doing some circling in the air, it was taking a while longer than planned to land, and you could see thick cloud cover. So the purser for the flight came over and told us each personally that we had to divert to Shanghai-Hongqiao Airport due to very low visibility at PuDong. We landed without incident about 20 minutes later. Safe on the ground, happy for that.
Airstairs were rolled up to the aircraft promptly but we were held on board for nearly two hours. The crew was not given any information from ground staff for a long time. The wait went on so long with no end in sight that first the pilot lost his sh!t at the ground crew (we were watching), then the purser did too. It was ridiculous, or seemed so. Later, we learned that about 15 aircraft diverted to Hongqiao, including a few widebodies, and the Immigration hall was just too small to hold everyone in a line. They kept us on the plane until there was room in the hall for us to stand.
After landing at 7:45 am, we got to the Immigration Hall at 10:00 am. We cleared at 10:30, and our bags came up promptly. We were sent to the transfer desk for further instructions on getting to PuDong. A couple of young MU staff were trying their best to look after us, but there was just not enough of them, and there was no security to keep people in lines or groups or anything. We were led to the bus zone and told to wait for busses to PuDong. We were assured (incorrectly, as it turned out) that the bad weather at PuDong meant all the outbound connecting flights were delayed too. As a small bunch of people there grew into a large crowd, there was no organization. The wait for busses got long. Then it became a mad rush to push luggage aboard and scramble on board. Staff then told people who'd managed to get aboard that they needed to get off and pull their luggage off, because no standing allowed in China. The fight to get on the busses got very ugly and testy at times. Lesson learned: we should have pulled money out of an ATM and taken a cab.
We finally got to PuDong at 12:45 pm. The lines were massive, but not at the Business Class / SkyPriority zone. At first, the checkin agent didn't understand why we had "missed our flight." BECAUSE WE DIVERTED. BECAUSE CHINA EASTERN LANDED AT THE WRONG AIRPORT! Eventually she figured out what happened; apparently, MU didn't give front-line staff a heads-up about why all these connecting pax were turning up late at landside checkin. Our JFK flight was gone. She gave us BP's for the next one, that night. We went airside and straight to the new lounge, which is worlds better than the dinky old lounges. We had to wait there, catching up on sleep, for about 7 hours. Then we were on our way home at last.
Weather happens. Diversions happen. I get that. But MU, and Hongqiao airport staff and security, could have done a lot better to make this disruption not quite as stressful as it was.
Jan 20, 2017, 2:12 pm
#238
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 130
Seats can be selected here (Chinese language only): http://www.ceair.com/server/asr.html#
Feb 28, 2017, 10:59 pm
#239
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 52
Never flown CE before but I see that I have access to 'preferred seating' through my SPG crossover benefits.
Can anyone speak to what CE's preferred seating selection is like and how easy it is to choose these seats? (As a >Silver member or even by paying for them... if they do in fact charge for those seats).
Can anyone speak to what CE's preferred seating selection is like and how easy it is to choose these seats? (As a >Silver member or even by paying for them... if they do in fact charge for those seats).
Mar 2, 2017, 12:36 pm
#240
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: SFO, SJC
Programs: DL G, UA G, IHG SA
Posts: 132
On MU's international flights, they charge everyone extra for selecting bulkhead/exit rows. As a silver you can request those seats for free at check-in but not guaranteed to get one.
Never flown CE before but I see that I have access to 'preferred seating' through my SPG crossover benefits.
Can anyone speak to what CE's preferred seating selection is like and how easy it is to choose these seats? (As a >Silver member or even by paying for them... if they do in fact charge for those seats).
Can anyone speak to what CE's preferred seating selection is like and how easy it is to choose these seats? (As a >Silver member or even by paying for them... if they do in fact charge for those seats).