drzoidberg

Great TR! Is the AC lounge in PEK open 24/7?

EIPremier

The pictured J seats look very similar to the new LH lie-flat J seats, especially the seat design and the way they are angled inward.

UA_Flyer

Actualy, their seats are almost identical to PMCO BusinessFirst seats.

EzzerBKK

Just did BKK - PEK - BKK again and it was ok - except the lack of IFE was a bug bear as I wanted to see the flight progress.

On return, it was not the 777-2 but an oldish 737-800 and I was pretty appalled:

1. Asked for an extra hot towel which I used to wipe down surfaces near my seat - one quick wipe and it was Black! Windows are never cleaned as well (any China flights). It's just horrible.
2. Booked the ticket 10 day in advance and confirmed the special meal at booking, at ticketing, when they called me in BKK to ask what it is. Got it from BKK - PEK. At the other end, rechecked at airport 6hrs before flight (another connection) and of course nothing in booking. Detailed my request to ground staff and they said they will try. Got to PEK and on board, of course no special meal - meaning I had a 12hr day on AC C seat with no food.

3. Plane was so old and small and much lesser a plane to the domestic flight I connected from. When TG flies A330s and UL 330s and 340s on the same route.... Plane was beyond packed. Why not fly a bigger plane and something newer?

All in all, felt cheated having paid for C travel and an appalled at the lack of cleaning abilities.

YuropFlyer

EzzerBKK, you can't compare a regional narrow body with a longhaul flight.. and it's common to use A320s or B737s for those kind of flight length all across the world.

Also, you said you couldn't eat for 12 hours - I guess you must have really special dietary needs, why didn't you packed some suitable food for you? Also, the flight PEK-BKK does take approx 6 hours, not 12 hours. If you arrive hungry with an empty stomach and you have to be picky about food, it's not wise with ANY airline to not have packed some emergency food. Mistakes happen.

Airline code for Air China is CA, by the way, not AC (That would be Air Canada)

I'll enjoy CA C on an older A330 soon too - after the "old" F in their 744 last year, which was still a very decent experience, I can't wait for this one

EzzerBKK

I had a 12 hour trip because of an earlier domestic transit with CA (yes, my mistake) and yes, had some emergency snack (I'm not picky, I have become allergic to everything under the sun). I am a native Chinese speaker and tried 6 times during the trip to confirm I get some food. I think that warrants my rant!

And I flew on A321 domestically (newish) and 737-8 (v old) PEK - BKK.

Main complaint was old and small plane when everyone else flies newer or wide body on the same route. Oh and the cleanliness which I cannot emphasis enough.

No IFE, no in-flight power which compares very poorly with their 777-2.

Don't think you need to be making excuses for them here.

drzoidberg

How does longhaul Air China in C compare to United in C?

Trying to decide between business class flights on PEK-IAH with Air China or a similar route on United.

wheresmybagba

PEK-IAH is about as good as it gets on CA as it is operated by 77W. So you should expect the product that was the subject of the photos on this trip report.

Soft product is hit and miss - my friends recently flew MEL-PVG (well actually PEK due to irrops) on CA and later a flight from the US to BRU on UA - they FAR preferred UA, which came as a surprise to them! Their experience of CA was jaded however by absolutely awful customer service then their PVG flight was re-routed to PEK due to bad weather. Even as business pax they were given no assistance by CA to help them meet their next day flight out of PVG - they had to leave the airport and beg US (who had booked the award travel) to sort it out even though it should be under CA's control. Awful.

drzoidberg

The hard product, from this trip report, definitely looks good on the 77W! On the other hand, your story regarding their non-existent customer service sounds positively horrible.

travelinmanS

I avoid CA, MU and CZ whenever there are other options available for precisely this reason. Mainland airlines basically tell you to "stick it" when it comes to irregular ops. When flying from China to the US take a US carrier and when flying to Europe take an EU carrier. To SE Asia there are so many nice choices that taking a Mainland carrier should only be done for cost reasons and then expectations should be low, and you may be pleasantly surprised. They are getting better equipment and seats but the service still leaves a lot to be desired.

matrixwalker2012

If you're going nonstop IAH-PEK, it'd be pretty hard for CA to screw up your trip with IRROPS. For my family, we're based out of AUS, so the most vulnerable part of the ticket would be the return PEK-IAH-AUS and even that would be hard for CA to really screw up. Say they get us late to IAH and we miss the downline UA flight, IAH-AUS has tons of flights per day and worse comes to worse, a one way rental car can fix the problem easily.

I think the problem with their IRROPS is if you have further connections in PEK, which can be a problem with their poor IRROPS training.

imm2b

I'm flying SFO-PEK at the end of this year. Any news of CA switching over to the 77W for this route?

gradsflyer

The last I read somewhere back in the spring it was supposed happen sometime this fall I believe, but I don't remember for sure.

UA_Flyer

The easiest thing is to simply going to the Air China English website and do flight search for the dates you plan to travel....just like you would do it on United.com to find out the types of aircraft on those flights you plan to take.

TonyBurr

I cannot open the pictures?