Chinese Airlines Business Class - Any good?
Dec 25, 2018, 2:56 pm
#17
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta PlM, 1M
Posts: 6,363
Food can be such a matter of taste, but I am not impressed by MU's.
That said, it is easily my favorite option for TPAC flights as .of now (unless somebody is going to buy me an F ticket in SQ or such)
Dec 25, 2018, 3:08 pm
#18
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
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The angled 2-2-2s aren't that good (full flats but angled towards the aisle or window in pairs). But on their A330s the 2-2-2 is full forward facing, wide, and super super long (like around 81 inches IIRC). No cubby holes or boxes or anything to restrict your feet. That's right up there in first class territory. My favourite seat!
Dec 25, 2018, 5:26 pm
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2018
Programs: UA 1K, DL PM, AA Nobody, Marriott Ambassador Elite
Posts: 564
The angled 2-2-2s aren't that good (full flats but angled towards the aisle or window in pairs). But on their A330s the 2-2-2 is full forward facing, wide, and super super long (like around 81 inches IIRC). No cubby holes or boxes or anything to restrict your feet. That's right up there in first class territory. My favourite seat!
Dec 25, 2018, 5:33 pm
#20
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
The crew is often really good.
Dec 26, 2018, 3:38 am
#21
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: SE England
Programs: AF-KL Platinum, ALL Platinum
Posts: 755
I flew XiamenAir (MF) B787-9 on AMS-XMN (KL B789 on return). Enjoyed the MF flight: reverse herringbone seats, nice food, pleasent crew. Would use them again on this route. Landing at 05:30 in XMN is handy, as it was the first flight in so arrivals was quiet and went from aircraft to taxi in no time with luggage.
Might try MU A332 next year as they’re starting from LGW-PVG and J class fares are lower than on the MU B77W LHR-PVG.
Might try MU A332 next year as they’re starting from LGW-PVG and J class fares are lower than on the MU B77W LHR-PVG.
Dec 28, 2018, 6:49 am
#22
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Netherlands
Programs: FB Gold
Posts: 399
I've flown 6 Long Haul sectors in CZ C class, they are fine. Flat bed seats, plenty of perfectly edible food, crew are friendly and do their best, though not all have good English language skills, service is sometimes more Chinese than generic 'Western', but it is all part of the experience.
Dec 28, 2018, 11:03 am
#23
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta PlM, 1M
Posts: 6,363
I've flown 6 Long Haul sectors in CZ C class, they are fine. Flat bed seats, plenty of perfectly edible food, crew are friendly and do their best, though not all have good English language skills, service is sometimes more Chinese than generic 'Western', but it is all part of the experience.
Very likely, the pax is flying to someplace where there will be even a lower overall level of English/Western service than on a plane. I am 100% certain that I could order my food/drinks w/o a single word if need be.
People need to get used to this when traveling to Asia.
Dec 28, 2018, 3:09 pm
#24
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: EWR, PHL
Programs: UA1k 3MM, AA Plt, peasant on everybody else, elite something or other at a bunch of hotels.
Posts: 4,637
I have always found the complaints of less than ideal English/Western service kind of humorous.
Very likely, the pax is flying to someplace where there will be even a lower overall level of English/Western service than on a plane. I am 100% certain that I could order my food/drinks w/o a single word if need be.
People need to get used to this when traveling to Asia.
Very likely, the pax is flying to someplace where there will be even a lower overall level of English/Western service than on a plane. I am 100% certain that I could order my food/drinks w/o a single word if need be.
People need to get used to this when traveling to Asia.
Unless the savings are incredibly great, I would prefer to take a non-Chinese carrier, especially if I can avoid a domestic connection in China, which can be very dicey.
Dec 30, 2018, 12:29 pm
#27
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta PlM, 1M
Posts: 6,363
But if the "less than ideal English/Western service" is important to people, traveling on a non-Chinese airline is a way to reduce the amount of time exposed to it.
Unless the savings are incredibly great, I would prefer to take a non-Chinese carrier, especially if I can avoid a domestic connection in China, which can be very dicey.
Unless the savings are incredibly great, I would prefer to take a non-Chinese carrier, especially if I can avoid a domestic connection in China, which can be very dicey.
I can put up with some poor simplified English if need be for that much cash :-)
Jan 5, 2019, 9:14 pm
#28
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
I flew CA yesterday from MEL-PVG. Granted, I have a sample size of one flight vs many I have done on UA, but here is my comparison:
Seat on the A330 was less comfortable than either the UA787 or new Polaris seats, but had significantly more room in the 2-2-2 config. The bedding was also better on UA
Food was about the same between both airlines. The appetizer on CA was really good, prawn and smoked salmon, but the main course was a bit of a letdown.
the service was significantly better on CA than any UA experience I have had. Extremely attentive throughout the whole flight
Seat on the A330 was less comfortable than either the UA787 or new Polaris seats, but had significantly more room in the 2-2-2 config. The bedding was also better on UA
Food was about the same between both airlines. The appetizer on CA was really good, prawn and smoked salmon, but the main course was a bit of a letdown.
the service was significantly better on CA than any UA experience I have had. Extremely attentive throughout the whole flight
Jan 5, 2019, 10:41 pm
#29
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
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I flew CA yesterday from MEL-PVG. Granted, I have a sample size of one flight vs many I have done on UA, but here is my comparison:
Seat on the A330 was less comfortable than either the UA787 or new Polaris seats, but had significantly more room in the 2-2-2 config. The bedding was also better on UA
Food was about the same between both airlines. The appetizer on CA was really good, prawn and smoked salmon, but the main course was a bit of a letdown.
the service was significantly better on CA than any UA experience I have had. Extremely attentive throughout the whole flight
Seat on the A330 was less comfortable than either the UA787 or new Polaris seats, but had significantly more room in the 2-2-2 config. The bedding was also better on UA
Food was about the same between both airlines. The appetizer on CA was really good, prawn and smoked salmon, but the main course was a bit of a letdown.
the service was significantly better on CA than any UA experience I have had. Extremely attentive throughout the whole flight
I haven't flown the new polaris seats. What I like about CA's seats on the 332 is the sheer space. At 6'3 it's what I need.
Jan 8, 2019, 12:42 pm
#30
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: IAH
Programs: Delta Platinum & 2MM, Marriott Lifetime TIT, Hertz Pres Club, IHG Gold, *A Gold
Posts: 1,253
We flew CZ CAN-YVR in biz yesterday on their 787-8. No evidence of flight crew smoking and I'm very sensitive to smoke, We were seated in the third row (row #7 ). The seats were comfortable and spacious. The service was excellent and the food was just OK. I didn't like that they asked for your 2nd meal (and beverage) choice before take off. How am I supposed to know what I'm going to want to eat 8 hours later? They did ask if you preferred not to be woken for the 2nd meal service.
The flight boarded, departed and arrived early.
The service was way better than my last biz class CZ experience seven years ago on the A380. I almost had the feeling that they were going out of their way to please me as a current Delta Diamond Medallion since CZ will leave SkyTeam this year.
My wife's wired remote was broken so she was offered an iPad-like device or the option to change seats. The IFE is very limited.
The seat map on Seat Guru is wrong for the aircraft we were on. There was no 1st class. There were only three rows of biz class (numbered 5 through 7) in a 2-2-2 configuration. If a solo flyer, I would not suggest a window seat as you have to jump over your seatmate (unlike the KE 777) to get out.
Even the description of cabin layout on the CZ website didn't match our aircraft:
The flight boarded, departed and arrived early.
The service was way better than my last biz class CZ experience seven years ago on the A380. I almost had the feeling that they were going out of their way to please me as a current Delta Diamond Medallion since CZ will leave SkyTeam this year.
My wife's wired remote was broken so she was offered an iPad-like device or the option to change seats. The IFE is very limited.
The seat map on Seat Guru is wrong for the aircraft we were on. There was no 1st class. There were only three rows of biz class (numbered 5 through 7) in a 2-2-2 configuration. If a solo flyer, I would not suggest a window seat as you have to jump over your seatmate (unlike the KE 777) to get out.
Even the description of cabin layout on the CZ website didn't match our aircraft:
Last edited by CO-PLAT; Jan 12, 2019 at 12:39 am