roastpuff

I flew back on China Southern from Singapore to Vancouver via Guangzhou. Here are a few of my impressions. I am a non-Medallion SkyMiles member.

SIN-CAN leg went fine. They did not allow me to purchase an upgrade at the check-in counter, did not refer me to the ticketing office at Changi at all. Plane was an A321, relatively new. The flight was 70% full in Y, PE and Business were pretty empty which makes me scratch my head – why not let me purchase an upgrade, then? Surely some more revenue is better than no revenue. Food was so so, I had the Hainanese chicken rice. The chicken was fine but the rice was terrible – how did SATS screw this up? It’s fairly easy to make… The rice was dry and a bit hard, seemingly undercooked. Drop-down TV from the overhead was really bad in terms of color and viewability. Plane was quite warm but the overhead air jet made it bearable. Service was okay, the stewardesses were fairly friendly.

Guangzhou Airport is big, empty, and not very well laid out IMO. Typical Chinese airport layout with little shops everywhere. The food selection was terrible, I popped into Blenz and another little café place. The usual non-working wifi unless you had a Chinese SIM card to retrieve the passcode. I stuck to the vending machines. Not enough seats, funky cigarette smoke smell and so-so washrooms. Was not able to purchase an upgrade either, was plain denied here.

CAN-YVR leg was on a 777-200, with a 2-2-2 Business layout. The flight was quite full in Y, half-full in PE (maybe more?) and I couldn’t peek into the Business class cabin to check. The plane was old, the seats terrible (no adjustable headrest, uncomfortable cushions, creaky!) and the non-AVOD IFE non-existent. My screen was crooked, and the plane was in a pretty sad shape overall. My seat had a few rips, the seat pocket for magazines only held the safety card and was torn in a few places and the table did not lock into place securely. The food was even worse than the SIN-CAN leg. The salads were inedible, the meat funky, the potatoes very bland and the desserts were poor on average. Again, the plane was quite warm – I felt overheated and barely managed to stay cool with slipping off both my socks and shoes as well as unbuttoning my polo shirt. The seats would creak and bounce whenever we hit turbulence, which did not help my in trying to sleep. The service in the flight was indifferent, the attendants seemed to congregate around the rear galley and chat a lot. The bathrooms did not get cleaned frequently and were messy when I used them mid-flight.

The second leg gave me a very poor impression of CZ, and I would probably not fly them again for the CAN-YVR leg as the plane and food was very bad in Y. I might fly them again if I was able to get PE or Business class fares for cheap, but definitely not in Y.

yurrikiong

Hi,

I booked a ticket through one of online agent for China Southern 1 way from Tokyo to Jakarta (transit at Guangzhou for 23hours)
However, a friend of mine have a 1 letter mispelled on her last name.
Instead of Y, it's spelled as J

I have called China Southern office and they said they can't do any correction, we have to cancel and re-issued from the online agent.
Then i contact the online agent, and they said to cancel and book another ticket, it seems the only available ticket is business class so I have to pay another 800+.

Does anyone have the misspelled name before? Does it gives problem on custom or on transit?
Or does anyone know another way to solve it?

Thanks

percysmith

Most airlines allow 3 character mistakes as an unwritten practice, but there is no evidence any Chinese airlines follow this.

Chinese airlines also do not permit name modifications, only reissue.

Can you risk it? I'll let others answer, but ABC168 in http://www.backpackers.com.tw/forum/...p/t-80079.html ended up reissuing because his (Chinese) name was miswritten (wrong Chinese character).

yurrikiong

Hi Percysmith,

Yes, I checked most of airlines do allow 3 characters.

I called to the China Southern office rep again today, and she did say the only problem is when we arrive at Guangzhou airport. Other airport usually not so strict.

However, since my ticket is Tokyo - Jakarta (with Guangzhou transit 23hours), I would think that the boarding pass already issued through and through when in Tokyo usually? If that's true, I think the chance of a problem arise in Guangzhou airport should be minimized, at least I hope so.

Anyone else have any insight or have experience this issue?

Thanks

percysmith

I forgot CZ might not necessarily have own staff in Jakarta, and might have outsourced gate agents who may follow international norms.

But just because you've been let on the CGK-CAN flight doesn't necessarily mean you'll be let on the CAN-NRT plane. The rep office is right - you'll be subject to a repeat check in CAN by CZ own staff who won't care you've been let on the plane in CGK.

fromYXU

Looking at MSP-HAN either with Delta and Vietnam Airlines or Delta and Southern Airlines, in Business,

With VN: MSP-SEA-ICN-HAN
With CZ: MSP-LAX-CAN-HAN

Any thoughts regarding service VN vs CZ? I am familiar with Delta's service.

Thanks