warakorn

I would never trust seatmaps, especially not for an intercontinental flight to or from China, where lots of big tour groups (who might have not assigned any seats in advance) are travelling.

TennisNoob

Could you let us know if they accepted the $520?
I'm sure they'd take it since over half there J cabins fly out empty.

Seatmaps are terrible especially for Chinese Airlines.
They will over book the flight and as warakorn said, they don't give seat assignments in advanced to the tour group travelers.

Therefore, your chances of being upgraded @ $520 is super high because there's a huge chance the over booking in Economy screwed them.

If you realistically think about it, you pay $520 to be first inline for the upgrade incase they overbooked LOL , so technically air china made more revenue?

beofotch

Can anyone who has flown this recently comment on the champagne and wine list these days? Still Cattier Brut for Champagne? What are some of the "better" wines? The most recent review I can find which includes this information is this trip report from June 2013.

http://fabflyer.net/air-china-b777-300-forbidden-pavilion-first-class/

JONEZY00

This review is from our IAH-PEK trip in March and they were serving Cattier

http://www.travelingwiththejones.com...light-service/

TennisNoob

Good review!

I forgot to ask, that VIP Lounge at the time was it Air China exclusive?

Both time I went to the Terminal D Lounge, they were almost a year a part.
Once in August before the remodel and once in May after they remodeled the whole thing.

But it didn't have that nice silver door so was curious if you went else where.

beofotch

Thank you for sharing the trip report. We are going to potentially attempt the first ever recorded case of beer pong on a commercial flight if the rest of the F cabin goes out empty as predicted

JONEZY00

We got the old lounge, which during the time of the flight was only used by CA. The new lounge which is shared with the other airlines was due to open a in a few weeks (this was in late march). Was able to peak in and from a distance the new lounge looked nice enough.

TennisNoob

That's weird

Your travel date was march 2014

I think it's cause they were remodeling that lounge at the time.

My travel date was august "13 and May "14

b8b

My recent experience in First Class PEK-IAH. Great hard product on the plane, but everything goes downhill from there. Same champagne (awful), wine and food from business class, just put in different dinnerware. Food was awful. Service also awful, with flight attendance balking or refusing to do the most basic things: example, I asked only to be woken up two hours prior to landing, they woke me up over three hours prior to landing, only to give me noodles for lunch since it was "all they had" - so I asked for a Bailey's on ice, but they refused saying that they don't serve alcohol at the lunch service. I asked if this was a rule, and the attendant said yes, so I asked if she could ask the purser, who allowed it. Wow. Late night snack menu showed many things on the menu, but they didn't have any of them, all out. They hardly speak english, confuse your orders, forget to get what you asked for, no proactive attention in first class, and I was one of only three passengers with two flight attendance dedicated to first class. When I got up to use the restroom, they were always just eating all the food, never acknowledged me or asked if I wanted anything. Many more stories just like this. Spent over an hour on the tarmac before takeoff, same as last time I flew them (consistently late). There were only two Western new release movies, terrible IFE. An airline best avoided.

BF263533

I am flying out next week, IAH-PEK. Looking for an ANA flight through ORD or JFK if it opens in first. You would think that a great country like China would reflect their quality and pride in their first class service.

Can you special order meals?

moondog

I would go with the non-stop. Time is money... and, NRT-PEK is a serious drag after spending 12+ hours in a metal tube.

TennisNoob

Hit or miss service on this route. One time the FA tried telling me during dinner that they didn't have Haagen Daz's Ice Cream. I pointed out to the menu and she said they ran out.

Did you push the FA call Button? That's how I got the attention of the crew a few times when I needed my bed made and etc.

SFO777

We flew Air China First last month SFO-PEK. Excellent hard product and service. Food indeed was mediocre... more like Business Class although the wines were better than AA. I'd give the IFE a B-, certainly better than JL. Good quality video. Not a great selection of Hollywood movies but there were enough international features to entertain if you're up to broadening your horizons. My report.

It's no NH, SQ or KE. Agree with moondog, the nonstop trumps a connection IMO.

BF263533

Can you special order a meal from IAH-PEK? What kind of food do they actually serve?

TennisNoob

You can only special order any international outbound Beijing flight.

Although HK is considered an "international transfer" in Beijing, it's not considered international. Domestic routes they always serve chicken with rice.

Coming out of Beijing you can order some non-fancy dishes. No lobster, no good seafood. The best option I have yet to get was the Cod Fish. My dad tried the other fish they had (spicy) said it tasted bad. Peking duck 40k feet in the air sounds pretty cool but I can't imagine the taste though......

The 2nd meal you don't get to choose and it's usually a J Class Meal. Which I was served Beef noodles. <--- Pathetic!