dat4life

Trip Report Index
Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700/800 Economy Class HOU-MCO-STL-SFO; New Orleans Saints @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers December 2018
Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A350-900 Business Class SFO-HKG
Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A330-330 Business Class HKG-PEK
Exploring Beijing
Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A330-300 Premium Economy PEK-HKG
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
China Eastern Airlines Airbus A321-100 Economy Class HKG-PVG
China Eastern Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Business Class PVG-ORD

I joined FlyerTalk a little over ten years ago. At the time, I just started an internship that required extensive travel. And there was no better place to go to figure out how to maximize the benefits of frequent travel than FlyerTalk. I graduated from college a year later, and the internship had blossomed into a full time position, which meant I was on the road constantly.

It was glorious. I loved the nice hotels, fancy breakfasts, rarely flying coach, and seeing new places on the company dime (after quitting time of course). Best of all, my work travel helped fuel (i.e. fund) my personal travel. I loved every second of it, despite being away from home over 150 nights most years. Fast forward to present day, I’m now in my thirties. Well… chronologically, but mentally… it’s debatable. One thing is for sure, as much as I hate to admit it I am now very much over frequent traveling. Don’t get me wrong. I still love to travel. I just don’t love the need to spend every Sunday night packing for the week anymore. Fortunately in 2018, I was offered a job that required far less travel. I pounced on it, and I have to say a more regular schedule and being home most nights is also glorious. Of course, I experienced some travel withdrawal, especially when I look at my points/miles balances and elite statuses. But I still do enough traveling to maintain some status and halfway respectable balances for most loyalty programs.

I was so happy to be home that it took me until September of 2018 to realize, I really haven’t gone anywhere for fun during the year. In fact, the only international trip I took during the year was a quick weekend dash to Europe in January to burn my last two American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades and enjoy my Executive Platinum status one last time. This just won’t do.

When I first started traveling internationally for fun, my dad gave me earful about not visiting mainland China, the land of my ancestors, first. Fair point. I eventually went to the fatherland several times. What was ironic and hypocritical with my dad’s pontification is that he hasn’t been to mainland China since he and my grandparents immigrated to Hong Kong in the 1970s. Earlier in 2018, I helped plan a trip for my parents to go back to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to take care of a few things and then head to Beijing to visit for their first time. That trip ended up being shelved at the last minute due to some things popping up. It’s been years since I’ve been on a trip with my parents, so I got to thinking maybe we should try to do this before year end 2018. With the year winding down, the only time we could all get away from work was around Christmas.

For my parents’ part of the trip, it turned out to be much easier than expected. My dad’s ticket was the easiest as he had the unused ticket from the failed first attempt, and we were eventually able to apply his Delta Global Upgrade Certificates on it. For my mom, I was able snag a Business Class award from Houston to Taipei on Delta and China Airlines for a bargain 85,000 SkyMiles. From Taipei to Hong Kong, I was able to get my mom a very reasonably revenue Business Class ticket. And for my mom’s return, I was able to book her a Business Class award on China Eastern from Hong Kong to Chicago again using another 85,000 SkyMiles.

As for me, my return ticket was also very easy. I was able to snag the same China Eastern flights to Chicago as my mom using another 85,000 SkyMiles. I tacked on a couple of cheap American revenue tickets to get us back to Houston. But my outbound was another story all together. I was leaving a week later than my parents because of work and various other commitments. And there was absolutely nothing available on the day I needed to go to at first glance. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Finally, just a couple of weeks out, the old reliable Cathay Pacific released award space on their redeye service from San Francisco to Hong Kong. I flew this flight in First Class a number of years back, and I absolutely loved it. But the flight is now operated by an A350-900, which Cathay did not see fit to equip with First Class. At least, Cathay’s Business Class is also a rather comfortable ride too. After tacking on a segment to Beijing, where I would meet my parents, I was able to book the award using 70,000 AAdvantage miles and took advantage of 10% Citi AAdvantage mileage redemption rebate one last time before it foes the way of the dodo bird. Cue the tears…

Previous Trip Reports:
2017: The Ultimate Flake (AA F; SQ F and Suites; CX/MS/CA/MH/KL/JL J; TK Y)
2017: The Earth IS Round (UA/LH/HU/CZ/TR Y; CX/BR J)
2017: Something Old and Something New (SQ A350 J / AA J)
2015: Christmas in Asia (AA/CX/UA J; BA/AA/CX Y)
2015: A Manic Fall(AA/WN/UA/CX/FD Y; CX F; AA F)
2015: An Apartment in the Sky (Etihad Apartment First Class, AA Y, BA J/Y, QR Y)
2014: The End of An Era (JL/CX/TG/QF A380 F, OZ J, KA Y, and a Chinese Bullet Train!)
2014: A Tale of Two Cities (AA 77W J BA Y IB Y AF J)
2013: It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year (AA/MQ F AS Y)
2013: Geeking Out Across America (AA F)
2012: Around The World and From Sea to Shining Sea (AA F/Y, CX F, SQ F, UA F, DL F, WN Y)
2011: Everybody look at me because I'm sailing on a boat (KL J and DL Y)

dat4life

Another thing I absolutely do not miss from my traveling days is waking up at zero dark thirty to catch early an morning flight, which I did on a far too regular basis. It’s also a far less than ideal way to kick off a vacation. But when my alarm went off at 0330 on the day of departure, I shot straight out of bed and wasted no time getting ready. Moments after locking up, I was blasting down the darkened deserted I-45 toward Houston’s other airport, William P. Hobby International Airport. If nothing else, this little journey answered the question that has crossed the mind of anyone who has lived in the Houston area: when the heck is there no traffic on I-45? Apparently at 4AM on a Sunday morning. I tossed the keys to my rented dinky little Toyota Yaris to the bleary eyed Avis attendant and hopped on the far too warm and stuffy airport bus for a quick ride to the terminal. I walked into the terminal with quite the pep in my step. Of course, I was excited to scratch my traveling itch again, though that wasn’t my only motivation that morning.

The one or two of you who have read my past trip reports may have picked up on the fact I’m a huge fan of my hometown New Orleans Saints. Despite moving away from New Orleans 14 years ago, my affection for the Saints remains strong and unwavering. I try to make at least one game each season, but thus far during 2018 season I was unable to. With the season winding down, there were only a handful of home games left and all tickets to them exorbitantly priced as the Saints were in the midst of another successful season. Enter division rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whom the Saints were playing in Tampa in early December. Historically, the game at Tampa is a popular away game for Saints fans to go as tickets are typically plentiful and there’s plenty to do and see near Tampa making for a nice weekend. And since the Bucs were not having as fortunate of a season, tickets were cheap. Very cheap. I was able to grab a ticket for a field level seat for just $60. Factoring in the cost of a hotel room as well as the flights to Florida and positioning to San Francisco afterward, it was still much cheaper than just the ticket to one of the Saints’ remaining home games.

Yes, I am fully aware that I waited so long to write this report that practically a NFL full season has passed since this trip.

Clad in my favorite Saints jersey and in a particularly good mood, I overlooked my aversion to checking bags and took advantage of Southwest’s generous allowance of two free checked bags for everyone. That includes me flying on a surprisingly cheap $80 fare I found last minute. While I just had my standard carryon, I was also lugging a bag full of my parents’ winter clothes as they were spending some time near Guangzhou and Singapore prior to meeting me in Beijing. If I had to check in one bag, I might as well check in all of my bags. This was in hindsight a terrible mistake.

You see, I was also carrying something else for my parents: a gift for my relatives. Other than “be careful, it’ll break easily”, I was told nothing about said gift. I found out plenty after my backpack set off all kinds of alerts going through the x-ray. A couple “officers” huddled around the x-ray screen and had an intense discussion punctuated by intermittently pointing at the image of my backpack. This carried on for a solid couple of minutes, leading me to briefly wonder if my parents were secret weapons smugglers. Finally, one of the “officers” grabbed my backpack off the belt and beckoned me over to the secondary screening area. As we were walking over, she said that she just needed to check if the snow globe was under the maximum allowable dimensions. Ah! That’s what it was.

The snow globe was removed from its box for inspection. It was eyeballed and deemed to be ok. That should have been the end of the saga, but then the “officer” decided to search the rest of my bag. Fair enough. After all, she was just doing her job, which I can respect. My iPhone and tablet were removed and placed on the table with a good chunk of my tablet hanging precariously off the edge. As she turned toward the explosive detection machine presumably to grab a swab, she brushed just enough of my tablet to send it and my iPhone tumbling toward the floor.

Accidents happen. This was an accident for sure, but I wasn’t happy as it was due to the carelessness of said “officer”. I reached over to pick up my tablet and now shattered iPhone and hand it back to the “officer”. She snatched them from my hands and placed them on the table again with quite a bit of a force. I was nearly lost it, but I gritted my teeth and just calmly asked her to please be careful. Her response? “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

At this point, a supervisor shows up and asks what the commotion is about. By the end of the conversation, it’s my fault the “officer” knocked over my things because I was all “up in her business”. And now my snow globe is magically non-compliant. Of course, I protested especially since the supervisor didn’t lay eyes on the “contraband”. I was given two choices: check my bag or give up the snow globe. Realizing further conversation would be futile, I chose the latter and made the perp walk back landside escorted by both of the morons with whom I was having the delightful conversation.

Now I was really racing against the clock. And I shot myself in the foot earlier checking both bags as I now had to pay $75 for a third checked bag. I ripped out whatever I thought I needed from my backpack, before slapping the tagging and dumping it. I raced back to security, where a pretty substantial line had built up. Fortunately, armed with Clear and PreCheck I was through very quickly once again. As I went through the metal detector for the second time that morning, I got great pleasure from staring down the aforementioned morons, both of whom tried their best to avoid eye contact with me. It was very tempting to launch a four-letter word laced diatribe, but it would be far better for my health to refrain. So I did. Besides I had a plane to catch.

After racing down half the length of the terminal, I made it to the gate just as group B started boarding. Holding the B10 boarding pass, I pretty much walked straight onto the plane.

Once onboard, I put my Southwest open seating strategy into motion. On flights that aren’t too terribly full and I don’t have a tight connection, I head to the very back of the plane to maximize my chances for an open middle seat. It worked to perfection this morning as the seat next to me stayed empty.

After I sat down in my seat, I stuffed the handful of items that I grabbed from my backpack into the seatback pocket. It was at that very instant I realize I had done something incredibly stupid: I left my passport and tablet in the backpack. Yes, that very tablet. Despite all that talk about my tablet, even I forgot to grab it out of my backpack. While I was annoyed about my tablet, it could be easily replaced. I was downright worried about my passport. Losing my passport would really mess up my plans after Florida. Buzz sufficiently killed, I realized how tired I was and eventually fell into an uneasy slumber.

Next thing I know, we were airborne and the sun was peaking out on the horizon.



Sufficiently awake once again, I began alternate between panicking and rationally brainstorming a solution to my conundrum. Eventually I realized my backpack might not have even made it on the flight as checked it right at cutoff time. There was nothing I could do or make a decision on until I confirmed my backpack made it on my flight.

After what seemed like an eternity, I made it to baggage claim just as the bags from my flight were hitting the belt. Since my backpack was likely among the last of the bags check, theoretically it should be among the first unloaded. Ironically, my other bags were the first two to hit the belt. Then I waited. Waited. And waited some more. The last of the bags trickled onto belt, and no lime green backpack to be seen. My heart sinking, I trudged toward Southwest’s baggage office where I received even worse news. Apparently, Southwest does not have the ability to track bags at all. They have no way of telling if my backpack was already rerouted to the later flight or if it was even still in Houston. The later flight was scheduled to leave Houston in about an hour and would arrive in Orlando at 1:15PM. The game kicked off at 1PM in Tampa, which was over an hour away.

So much for sorting it all out on the ground. My conundrum now consisted of two unappealing choices: Head to Tampa for the game despite being uneasy and upset, or sit at the airport to wait to if my backpack made the later flight and miss the game. The entire point of this detour to Florida was the Saints game. There was absolutely no guarantee or way to check if my backpack was on the next flight, so I could potentially sit at the airport and miss out on the game and still have no backpack. So I decided on the former. The nice lady at baggage office took pity on my situation and offered to make an exception by taking down my phone number to give me a call if and when my backpack arrived, which apparently Southwest doesn’t do normally either.

I walked over the rental car center to pick up my car. While I prefer renting from National, I couldn’t pass up Avis who was offering a full size car for just $28 all in. That netted my a grand spanking new 2018 Toyota Camry with just 4 miles on the odometer. After a quick stop at my hotel, the Hyatt Place Orlando Airport, to drop off my remaining bags, I wasted no time hitting the road to Tampa. To cap off the less than ideal morning, sheets of rain started pelting the car a few miles outside of Orlando.



The rain was unrelenting and stayed with me until I was just outside of Tampa. Despite the bag fiasco, having to slow down because of the rain, and game day traffic, I pulled into a parking lot just outside Raymond James Stadium with plenty of time to spare before kickoff.



As I mentioned earlier, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a seat this good for just $60.



I was also right next to the visitor’s tunnel.







The Saints came into the game sporting a 10-2 record, leading their division by a comfortable margin and tied for top seed in their conference. Despite their excellent record, the Saints still had not locked up the division title or a playoff seed just yet. A win against the Bucs would achieve both. The Bucs had just won four of twelve games thus far and occupied the last spot in the division. It looked like a cakewalk on paper, but any lifelong Saints fan will tell you the Black and Gold have a maddening tendency to play down to the competition. Today seemed like one of those games. Thanks to a couple of Saints turnovers and overall sloppy play, the Bucs went into halftime with a 14-3 lead.

In short, it was absolutely awful just like my morning. On the bright side, I got a call at halftime from the Southwest baggage office in Orlando saying my bag arrived. So there was that.

Though the Saints got the second half kickoff, the Bucs were able to force yet another turnover on the opening drive of the half. Slowly but surely the tide started to turn in the Saints favor. It started with a pair of defensive stops. The first stop ended up in a missed Bucs field goal. The second stop was the spark that lit the fire underneath the entire team. With the Bucs trotting their punt team onto the field, I took the opportunity to flag down one of the beer vendors for some liquid nutrition. Fortunately, I completed the transaction quick enough to see one of the coolest football plays I ever seen firsthand. And it happened right there in front of me on the side of the field I sitting.

As the ball was snapped, the Saints third string quarterback and jack of all trades, Taysom Hill, burst through the Bucs protection on the left side and blocked the Bucs’ punt. Instead of starting their drive deep on their side of field, the Saints would be starting on the Bucs side of the field. A few plays later, they were just three feet from putting up six points on the. The Saints lined up in jumbo formation with two tight ends on the right side, two backs in an I formation, and one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever set foot on a football field under center. Snap, play fake to Mark Ingram to the right side, and a quick pass from Drew Brees to fullback Zach Line for a touchdown!



A quick pitch to the left to Alvin Kamara did the trick for the two point conversion, and suddenly the Saints were right back in it with the score now 14-11 still in the Bucs favor. Saints fans easily outnumbered Bucs fans in stand from the get go, but with the fire finally burning under our team we began to make ourselves known once again.

On the ensuing drive, the Saints pulled ahead 18-14 with a Drew Brees sneak right up the gut. A Wil Lutz field goal and a classic angry Mark Ingram run widened the margin to 28-14 with just a few minutes to go.

Marshon Lattimore made sure the score stuck on the defensive side of the ball, intercepting the Bucs in the end zone on their last ditch effort.



A kneel down made it official, the Saints were 2018 NFC South division champs!





After celebrating with a few nearby Saints fans, I made the trek back to the car in a far better mood. The Saints won, and reunion with my backpack was imminent. Everything was in good order, except for my stomach. I hadn’t eaten a thing all day, and I didn’t realize it until I was pulling out of the parking lot with all of the excitement during the day. So I ended stopping at an old roadside favorite of mine, Cracker Barrel, for the chicken and dumplings dinner. It hit the spot as usual. Stomach finally satisfied, the drive back to the Orlando International Airport was far more pleasant.

I didn’t have anywhere else to go the rest of my time in Orlando, so I returned the rental car and made the familiar walk back to the Southwest baggage office. After introducing myself as the idiot with the lime green backpack, the agent disappeared into a backroom and reemerged with the lime green backpack. Woohoo! I thanked the agent profusely and sought out a quiet corner so I could make sure everything was in place. My heart was pounding as I unzipped it. Would I have to rearrange this entire painstakingly put together trip? Passport? Check. Tablet? Check. Oh yeah, I had cash here as well! Check. Even the snow globe was in one piece! As frustrated and angry as I was this morning, I was incredibly fortunate that the whole fiasco only set me back $75.

I then hopped on the shuttle back to the Hyatt Place. Stay at one Hyatt Place, you might as well have stayed in all of them. That’s not meant to be a criticism. In my experience, Hyatt Places are consistently spacious, comfortable, and most importantly clean. The Hyatt Place Orlando Airport was no exception, and making it even more palatable was the very reasonable $80 rate for the evening. After a blissfully hot shower, I fell asleep while watching the Chicago Bears do the Saints a solid by manhandling Los Angeles Rams.

The goal for the day was to make it to San Francisco International Airport just before midnight to catch my Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. To achieve that goal, I had a pair of Southwest flights to catch, the first of which departed Orlando at 11:20AM. I really had get a move on it if I wanted to make that flight. And move I did packing up my bits and pieces. I was even able to sneak in a bit of breakfast downstairs before hopping on the 9:30am shuttle back to the airport.

I unloaded my bags at the surprisingly deserted bag drop, and headed to the mass of humanity that was the line of security. Once again, Clear and PreCheck sped me through security theatre quickly. The Boeing 737-800 taking me to St. Louis arrived shortly after I reached the gate.



Southwest offers one of the better experiences flying economy within the US, and now the Caribbean and Latin America. Sure the boarding process and open seating sucks, but Southwest more makes up for it. Of course, every ticket includes two free checked bags. But what I value most is the lack of change fees. I’m embarrassed to say how much I’ve spent on change fees over the years even though I’ve gotten a fee or two waived because of top tier status. Now that I no longer hold top tier status on any of the Big 3, I find myself booking more and more on Southwest and I’ve saved a ton of money because of it. Another thing Southwest has going are its employees, whom I find to be consistently friendly and pleasant to deal with. Though my bar has been lowered to “not view/treat passengers as an inconvenience “ after years of flying American.

Onboard, Southwest offers all economy class seating. The seats are as comfortable as can be for economy class, and pitch is better than the non Plus/Comfort/Extra/humane economy seats of the Big Three. The longest trip I’ve flown on Southwest was a mid-con, and it’s been years since I’ve done that. Today, I would be flying them from coast to coast albeit with a connection in St. Louis. With mid-pack boarding positions on both flights, I was able still to snag aisle seats for both flights. Unfortunately, both flights packed to the gills no empty middle. But everything was perfectly pleasant. Both flights departed and arrived on time. The seat acceptably comfortable even for 2,600 miles of flying. Flight attendants constantly roamed the aisles with offers for drinks. Southwest does offer streaming live TV with a whopping a few channels, which is better than nothing I suppose. Fortunately, I downloaded a few episodes of Criminal Minds onto my tablet in Orlando, otherwise it would have it would have been a long six hours. And best of all, both flights were on time.



My friend scooped me up from Oakland International Airport shortly after landing. Since she lives in Alameda, flying into Oakland was a far better option than making her make the trip to SFO in rush hour. Plus, it was a new airport for me! After checking out her new place, we went to a nearby Korean BBQ restaurant to catch up over mounds of delicious bulgogi, ribeye, and pork belly. She then humored me by heading out toward SFO for some nighttime plane spotting at the nearby Bayfront Park, before kicking me out in front of SFO’s International Terminal with a hug and promise to see each again soon.

dat4life

An agent with a dazzling smile was waiting for me at Cathay Pacific’s check in counters, and she efficiently freed me of my bags and printed my boarding passes. After making sure I knew how to get to the lounge, she wished me a pleasant journey and wished me a pleasant journey.

I was rather looking forward to this flight. It had been four years since I’ve had the pleasure of flying Cathay Pacific long haul. I had been incredibly fortunate to be seated in First Class for most of those flights, the first of which came on this very flight way back in 2012. In these modern times, it’s unfortunate though understandable that Cathay Pacific decided this particular flight didn’t rate a First Class cabin. Fortunately, Cathay Pacific’s Business Class is also quite nice, and I was still looking forward to this flight.

Security was fairly straightforward thanks to Precheck. From there, it was a short walk to Cathay Pacific’s very nice lounge. As with most of Cathay Pacific’s lounges, the SFO lounge is large, comfortable, with a nice selection of food and beverages. I was still very full from dinner, but I desperately needed a shower as I reeked of Korean BBQ. After a short wait, a shower room became available. I had been dragging the last hour or so, but shower was just enough to keep going until I could get on the plane an hour or so later.

Cathay Pacific Airways 851
San Francisco (SFO) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Depart: 12:50AM
Arrive: 6:40AM+1
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 21K (Business Class)

When I last flew this flight, a Boeing 777-300ER was doing the heavy lifting. It was fairly recently replaced by the world’s newest airliner, the Airbus A350-900. From the airlines’ perspective, the A350 offers a significant cost savings due in large part to improved fuel efficiency. From a customer perspective, it’s far quieter than older airliners and the extra width of the fuselage offers a feeling of increased spaciousness. Plus, the A350 offers nine abreast seating in coach which is far superior to the ten abreast configuration more and more airlines are cramming onto 777s these days. The first time I flew an A350 was back in February 2017 with Singapore Airlines from Houston to Manchester. It was indeed a comfortable ride, and I was interested in seeing how Cathay Pacific’s compared.

Upfront, Cathay’s Business Class cabin was equipped with an updated version of the excellent Cirrus reverse herringbone seats found across their longhaul fleet. I’ve flown this particular seat longhaul on several airlines, and found it to be very comfortable.

I selected seat 21K, which is in the 8 seat “minicabin” just behind door L2.





[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48319615832_c1e8cce911_c.jpg]

The touchscreen controller was a huge upgrade over the old analog controller. It was intuitive and responsice.



The seat had plenty of storage space. An amenity kit and water bottle was already placed in one of the storage areas.







Predeparture beverages were the typical choice of champagne, orange juice, and water. I took a glass of champagne.



I was dozing off by the time the door was closed, and the plane was pushed back. After a short taxi to runway 28R, the massive engines were spooled up and take off thrust was set. The A350 roared down the runway and soared into the night sky less than a minute later.

Try as I might, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I put the seat into bed mode with a touch of button and went straight to sleep. The bedding Cathay provides in Business Class consists of just a blanket and a pillow, falling behind the likes of even American, who provides a mattress pad and even pajamas in Business Class. But the seat itself is quite comfortable in bed mode, and I slept very well. I didn’t wake up almost seven hours after takeoff.

As I tossed the blanket and pillow in the overhead bin to make a little more room, a flight attendant came to offer me a drink. I asked for a cup of tea, and it was quickly served with a bowl of delicious caramel popcorn.



Having slept through the supper service, I was feeling a bit hungry. Fortunately, Cathay offers an excellent selection of snacks, many of which would do rather nicely as a main course. I’ve been a big fan of Cathay’s noodle soups, which are typically pretty good. On the menu tonight was the fish ball noodle soup; however, flight attendant sadly informed me they were out of the fish ball noodle soup but the cheeseburger was still available. Sheesh. #firstworldproblems

She confirmed my selection and warned me it would take about 20 minutes to prepare. True to her word, she reappeared with a tray bearing a really good-looking plate of a cheeseburger and fries.



The cheeseburger was consisted of a single decent size patty topped with cheese served on a surprisingly perfectly toasted bun with a crisp leaf of lettuce. A couple of slices of roma tomato and red onion were served on the side. All in all, it was a rather tasty burger and better than many I’ve eaten on the ground. The fries were a bit soggy but tasted just fine.

Perhaps the biggest improvement on the A350 compared to the rest of Cathay’s longhaul 777s and A330s is the entertainment system. The screen is a decent bit larger, and its resolution is leaps and bounds better than its predecessors. The A350’s entertainment system also features a brand spanking new interface, which is far more responsive and easier to operate. Of course, it still features an excellent and wide selection of entertainment options.



Despite the all of that great content, I settled on Crazy Rich Asians partially because I was sick of people being shocked that I haven’t seen it. Also, the movie inspired my parents’ current jaunt to Singapore so I might as well see it. I have to say they did a great job of showcasing Singapore, a place I would dare say a good chunk of the American audience knew much about. As for the movie itself, it was far too clichéd for my tastes. And seriously, how in the world can an A380 make it non-stop from New York to Singapore?? Details matter!!!

Breakfast was served about an hour before landing. I chose the western option, which consisted of a quiche, potatoes, roasted tomatoes and spinach. It looked nice, but it was practically tasteless.



After a smooth touchdown on Runway 25R, we pulled into gate 4 over an hour early.

dat4life

Because of award availability, my flight to Beijing wasn’t departing for another 12 hours. A day of lounge hopping would have been fun, and it would have likely been my choice in my younger days. But I was in Hong Kong, which is practically my second home. I don’t think I would have heard the end of it had I not tried to visit my relatives with such a long layover. So I made plans to meet one of my cousins. In the meantime, I had plenty of time to kill before I could even hop onto the Airport Express because of our early arrival.

For years, Cathay ran an arrivals lounge landside for inbound longhaul passengers. It was a nice place for a quick shower and breakfast, especially coming off of a redeye. Unfortunately, The Arrival closed a couple months before. That left the Plaza Premium Lounge as the only lounge option for arrivals. Let’s just say it couldn’t hold a candle to The Arrival. But it did have showers and sufficient seating to wait out an hour or so.

At 6:15am sharp, I hopped onto the Airport Express for a quick ride to Kowloon. There, I headed over to the Avenue of Stars where I stretched my legs with the gorgeous backdrop of the Hong Kong skyline.



My cousin joined me a short while later. After catching up over a delicious dim sum breakfast, we spent much of the morning hanging out in Kowloon until I had to head back to the airport in the early afternoon. Even in December Hong Kong remains a very humid place, so another shower was the first order of business. I made haste to my favorite Cathay Business Class lounge in Hong Kong, The Bridge. All of Cathay’s Business Class lounges in Hong Kong are pretty similar and rather nice, but I like The Bridge’s location pretty much right smack dab in the middle of the terminal.



Turns out my flight was leaving from right next door at gate 40, and I had plenty of time to enjoy a couple of drinks.





Cathay Pacific Airways 312
Hong Kong (HKG) – Beijing (PEK)
Depart: 5:00 PM
Arrive: 9:35 PM
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 14K (Business Class)

Boarding began just a couple of minutes late, but soon enough I found myself aboard the A330-300. This particular aircraft, B-HLS, was outfitted in a longhaul configuration; thus, sporting the same Business Class seats, albeit slightly narrower, as Cathay’s larger 777-300ER. I had actually flown B-HLS several times before, most recently to Jakarta in 2017. It was a pleasure to be back in the familiar comfortable confines of her Business Class cabin once again.



I was delighted to see that flight attendants were offering Cathay Delight in addition to the typical water, orange juice, and champagne pre-departure beverage selection. Cathay offers a number of signature drinks in the air and in its lounges. My favorite by far is the Cathay Delight, which is amazingly delicious blend of kiwi juice and coconut milk with a sprig of mint. A couple of years ago, a flight attendant caught on to my love of Cathay Delights and gave me the rest of plane’s supply of the juice and mix to go. No such luck today, but thanks to a ATC flow control delay I was able to enjoy a second and perhaps a third glass of green awesomeness before we pushed back.



I ended up dozing off at some point, and I woke up just as we were climbing out from Hong Kong. A quick glance at my watch showed over an hour had passed since I was last awake. So that must have been one heck of a queue for takeoff.

Service began with drinks not long after takeoff. I ordered a glass of champagne along with orange juice chaser.



Flight attendants then came to lay a crisp white tablecloth on tray tables followed by the meal tray setup. On the tray was the shrimp salad appetizer, bread plate, silverware, and water glass. Another flight attendant came around with the bread basket. Of course I chose the always delicious garlic bread. The shrimp salad was fine.



Another round of drinks soon followed, and then it was time for the main course. I tend to stick to the Chinese options on flight departing from Hong Kong, and the Chinese option this evening was stir-fried Chicken to broccoli and peppers served with steamed rice. It was very good.



Not wanting to do anything that required too much brainpower, I started watching Deadpool 2 just after takeoff. That certainly didn’t require too much brainpower, and carried me through much of the flight. After using the entertainment system on the A350 on the way to Hong Kong, using the old IFE system was a bit of a letdown especially in picture quality. But it worked.

Because of the delay in Hong Kong, we arrived in Beijing about an hour late. The delay was actually a good thing for me as I was going to wait for my parents who were flying in from Singapore a couple hours later. I mentioned earlier my parents wanted to visit Singapore after watching Crazy Rich Asians and stay at the Marina Bay Sands hotel, which I maintain is one of most elaborate and effective tourism promotional videos ever. Since my parents would have over a week in Asia by themselves before I could make it over, it was a good opportunity for them to visit Singapore for the first time. From my past visits, I knew they only really needed a couple of days to see Singapore. So it was fairly easy carving that out of their current itinerary. It was also a perfect Christmas present opportunity, as I had absolutely no idea what to get my parents. I bought them a couple of very reasonably priced “ScootBiz” tickets on Scoot (naturally) from Guangzhou to Singapore. While I would have preferred to get them a hotel room where I could earn points, the only way they could visit the rooftop infinity pool was if they stayed at Marina Bay Sands. So I booked them there for a couple of nights. And for the final touch, I redeemed KrisFlyer miles to book them in Business Class on a Singapore Airlines nonstop flight to Beijing. It would be their first SQ Business Class experience in nearly 20 years.

Despite the delay, I still had a couple of hours to kill. So it was time for Starbucks and chill. Fine idea, but it was near impossible finding an open table as a number of incredibly inconsiderate people were hogging several tables to keep their luggage safe. Eventually a table did open up and I gave a few death stares to stake my claim before pouncing on it.

It was just shy of midnight when my parents arrived and made through immigration, and started gushing about how awesome Singapore and their flight to Beijing was. My dad even declared SQ is the only way he would travel to Asia from now on, which made me gulp. I think I might have failed at managing expectations.

I had arranged a ride with the hotel because I didn’t want to deal with a cramped taxi at this hour. As promised, a representative was waiting for us in the arrivals hall bearing a sign with my name on it. We were ushered into a waiting van bound for our home for the next four nights, the Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing.

lamphs

Great report so far! Thanks for all of the detail...I especially enjoyed the Bucs/Saints game.

dat4life

Glad you enjoyed it! About to post the rest in just a minute!

dat4life

I booked the Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing using 17,500 Marriott points per night, which was far more palatable than the $200 nightly revenue rate. Using some expiring Suite Night Awards, I was able secure nice one-bedroom suite. The extra space was definitely appreciated with three of us in the room. I wouldn’t quite put the hotel in a five star category, but the Renaissance was comfortable and clean. The club lounge had very solid offerings for breakfast and evening canapés with really nice views.



And to top it all off, the location was convenient as it was just a 30-ish minute walk to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.





After spending the better part of the day exploring the Forbidden City, we headed across the street to Tiananmen Square.





On docket for the next day was the Great Wall, which was a good ways outside of the city. So I hired Henry, the same driver I used back in 2017, to bring us to the wall among other places. Henry was waiting for us in the lobby at 7am sharp, and we were off. It took us a little over an hour to get to the Great Wall.





On the way down from the Great Wall, I made a new friend.



After lunch, we headed to the Summer Palace. It was somewhat ironic visiting the Summer Palace on a downright chilly winter day.





We encountered a few ‘water artists’ while walking around the perimeter of the lake. They were most impressive.







And we finished off the day at the Olympic Park.







The next day, we went to the Temple of Heaven.







One thing that has disappointed me in Beijing, and in mainland China overall, is the food, which has been disappointing and expensive. In fact, most of my usual spots for Chinese food in Houston are far better than pretty much anything I’ve eaten in mainland China. It was more of the same this go around, which was actually very satisfying as my dad had refused to believe that it could be that bad. But we did find a halfway decent restaurant in Wangfujing near the hotel our last night.

dat4life

Our flight to Hong Kong departed at 10am, but we left the hotel just before 7am to avoid getting stuck in rush hour traffic. I again decided to use the hotel van instead of a taxi because we had a ton of baggage and it was far more comfortable for the fairly lengthy ride. Traffic was light as expected, and we pulled in front of the International Terminal at Beijing Capital Airport about 45 minutes after leaving the hotel.

While we could have used the Business Class check in counter because of my oneworld Ruby status, the Premium Economy line was far shorter and we were helped a few minutes later. Free of our massive bags and boarding passes in hand, it was off to the delightful experience that is airport security in mainland China. Then it was off to the delight that is immigration and security in Mainland China. Sarcasm intended, of course. My last couple of brushes with airport security in Mainland China actually the TSA look somewhat reasonable, my experience earlier this trip notwithstanding. But I made it out in one piece and avoided the gulag each time, which is what counts. Thankfully, it was more of the same this morning and we were through after a thorough probing.

With an hour or so to kill before boarding, it was off to Air China’s First Class lounge which I had access to thanks to Priority Pass. It’s certainly far from the nicest airline lounge I’ve been to, but it’s a pleasant and comfortable facility with plenty of space to spread out.

Here are some shamelessly recycled pictures from my visit the year before:











While there isn’t free flowing Krug or Habikiki, the Air China lounge has an excellent selection of loose leaf teas which were perfect for the chilly morning and pretty much as equally chilly lounge.

We headed to the gate maybe 30 minutes before departure. As expected with most flights to and from the Mainland, boarding was a total scrum. The gate agents attempted to get everyone into three distinct lines: Business Class and oneworld elites, Premium Economy, and economy. And wouldn’t you know it, the premium economy line was the most serene of them all. This was fortunate as my mom was having knee problems and all that jostling wouldn’t have done her any favors.

Cathay Pacific Airways 347
Beijing (PEK) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Depart: 10:00 AM
Arrive: 2:05 PM
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 30D (Premium Economy)



As our esteemed US airlines have been slow in adopting a true Premium Economy class until recent years, this was my very first Premium Economy flight. On their Airbus A330-300s, Cathay fit a tiny three row premium economy cabin arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration. Since there were three of us, the center section was perfect.





I selected seats D through F for us in row 30, which was the bulkhead row. The seats look fairly similar to domestic First Class seats on US airlines, albeit with a few more bells and whistles.



Seat controls are rather basic with just a couple of buttons for manual adjustments on the right armrest right next to the headphone jack.



An universal power outlet and USB charging port are located below that.



The IFE remote is located on the left armrest.



Cathay provides Premium Economy with the same headphones as Business Class, which I find to be pretty decent quality.



A drink tray is also located on the right.



Each seat is also equipped with a foot rest.



The boarding door was surprisingly buttoned up on time, and after a fairly short taxi we were off to Hong Kong. I had a little trouble unstowing the IFE screen, which was tucked away in my armrest a downside of sitting at the bulkhead. While I certainly prefer the larger screens in First and Business Class, I have to say it was much easier navigating the entertainment system via an easy to reach touchscreen. I settled on the Black Panther, which was easy enough to watch on this short flight.



Breakfast was a choice between stir fried noodles or scrambled eggs with sausage. I was wondering if Premium Economy would get any “extras”, though what was placed in front of me looked like the standard Economy Class setup. At least we were served first, which was much appreciated having not eaten thus far that day. Stir fried noodles turned out to be some variation of dan dan noodles with bok choy and shui mai. It didn’t look like much, but it was quite tasty.



We landed in Hong Kong a smidge ahead of schedule. Immigration and baggage retrieval were efficient in typical Hong Kong fashion, and we were in cab speeding toward the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong just over 30 minutes after deplaning.

dat4life

The Grand Hyatt is one of my favorite hotels in the Hong Kong. It’s a great property and has a central location in Wan Chai. Hotel rooms in Hong Kong are pricey, and nicer hotels like the Grand Hyatt command an even heftier premium. So I was surprised, but very pleased, to find a room at the Grand Hyatt for just $180 per night which is bargain for a hotel of its caliber in Hong Kong. And I was able apply an expiring suite upgrade to secure a fantastic Harbour View suite again.



















As the name of the room implied, it had a fantastic view of Victoria Harbour.



The harbour view was even better at night.





Most of our time in Hong Kong was spent hanging out with relatives as usual, but here are a few snaps from our time there.

dat4life

A 7AM flight meant an early night and an even earlier morning. We were up by 4:30 and out the door fifteen minutes later. One of my uncles insisted on giving us a lift to the airport, which wasn’t necessary but very much appreciated. And of course it came with the added bonus of being able to spend a little extra time with my uncle.

At Hong Kong International Airport, it took a good minute to locate China Eastern’s check in counters, which were at the far end of the hall that I can’t recall venturing to before. I was actually rather looking forward to flying China Eastern in spite of their not so stellar reputation. My experience with two other Mainland Chinese airlines, China Southern and Air China, were surprisingly pleasant, so I was rather curious to see what China Eastern had to offer.

So far, so good. Check in was swift and polite. Free of our massive checked bags and boarding passes in hand, it was off to immigration and security. While we were given invitations to whatever lounge SkyTeam uses in Hong Kong, our flight was departing from a bus gate which seemed to be several miles away from the lounge. So we just hung out at the gate.

China Eastern Airlines 726
Hong Kong (HKG) – Shanghai (PVG)
Depart: 7:30 AM
Arrive: 9:50 AM
Aircraft: Airbus A321-100
Seat: 35L (Economy)

A mass of humanity made a run for the door as boarding was announced. I guess everyone was really excited to be crammed into the bus taking us to the plane. On the way, we yielded to an American 777-300ER being towed to a gate, presumably to prepare for a journey back to Dallas/Fort Worth.



Then it was up the stairs into the fairly new A321 taking us to Shanghai.



I ended up giving my Business Class seat on this flight and took his economy seat, so he could sit with my mom on this leg as we would be splitting up in Shanghai.





Surprisingly, the plane wasn’t equipped with the newfangled slimline seats. Not that I was complaining as the seats were actually fairly comfortable.



Legroom was a little lacking, but it was good enough for this two hour hop.



As is fairly common in this part of the world, the ground crew waved as we taxied away from the stand.



Our route to Runway 7R thoughtfully included a grand tour of the airport before we joined the massive morning take off queue. Nearly an hour passed before we began speeding down the runway. With low-ish level clouds and haze, views on climb out were lacking but I was able to catch a glimpse of Kowloon through a break in the clouds.





The curtain was drawn, and man do they take the curtain seriously in these parts.



A full hot breakfast was served shortly after leveling off. I was somewhat surprised about as this particular flight spanned a relatively short 780 miles. But I suppose this is the norm for full service carriers in this part of the world. A choice of a Chinese breakfast or “egg” was offered. I went with the Chinese breakfast which turned out to be dim sum. The dim sum lacked esthetic appeal, but it was actually pretty damn tasty and wouldn’t be out of place at a decent dim sum restaurant on the ground. The side of fruit was ripe and fresh, though the strawberry yogurt was too sugary for my liking.



My seatmates both got the egg dish, which was actually an omelet with a side of mushrooms and a sausage, and it also actually looked quite good.

Impressively, the flight attendants were hustling down the aisle collecting trays and other rubbish not long after I finished eating. I can’t say enough good things about the flight attendants. No, they weren’t over the top friendly or personable. But they were polite, efficient, and constantly roamed the aisles doing something. Right after trays and trash were collected, they reappeared in the aisle for another drink run. Hot tea was constantly offered after that.

Onboard entertainment was non-existent, unless you count breakfast, and the ground below was shrouded by a thick layer of clouds all the way to Shanghai. Fortunately, I downloaded a few episodes of Criminal Minds onto my iPad which kept me occupied.

We finally broke through the thick clouds and smog in the final stages of approach into Shanghai Pudong International Airport as we crossed the Yangtze River





As the flaps were retracted and the plane turned off the runway, a song began playing over the PA system. That by itself wasn’t unusual, as many airlines play music on arrival. What was unusual was the song, which was Carrie Underwood’s Cowboy Casanova. Not exactly what I expected to hear on a Chinese airline, but what do I know

After taking a few laps around the airport, we finally pulled into a remote parking spot. Deplaning was done via stars, and we were ushered into a couple of waiting busses.

dat4life

I looked for my parents on the bus, but they were apparently whisked away in the premium passenger bus. Folks on the regular folk bus weren’t so lucky. I would dare say sardines had it better. We were packed in very tight, but fortunately it was a rather quick ride to the terminal.

On paper, our two hour in Shanghai looked like plenty of time to complete formalities and grab a drink at the lounge. In practice, it was barely enough time. I’ll never understand the concept of transit immigration in countries that allow visa free transits, but it is what it is and an unavoidable evil while traveling abroad. Unlike Beijing, where the transit process is fairly straight forward, Shanghai seemed hellbent on making the process as difficult as possible. Once off the bus, there was a labyrinth of Jet A reeking corridors through the bowels of Pudong International Airport before reaching the packed and poorly signed immigration hall. Naturally, there was exactly one poor soul tasked with directing the hordes of anxious passenger to the correct line. Fortunately, I spotted my folks in one of the lines so I figured that was the line for me too.

By the time we reconvened after security, it was pretty much time for our respective flights home. My dad was heading to Atlanta on Delta. My mom and I were hopping on a China Eastern 777-300ER to Chicago. We would be arriving back in Houston 18 hours later after traveling over 8,000 miles separately.

My dad was paged as we were saying our goodbyes at his gate. Thankfully, his upgrade to Delta One cleared or I would have never heard the end of it as mom and I were already confirmed in Business Class.

China Eastern Airlines 717
Shanghai (PVG) – Chicago (ORD)
Depart: 11:40 AM
Arrive: 12:40 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 12L (Business Class)

Boarding was well underway by the time we rolled up at our gate, and there was a massive line snaking into the corridor. An agent inspected our boarding basses and directed us to the front of the line. Boarding passes were inspected no less than five more times before we finally made it onto the plane.

I wasn’t able to select seats for us until we checked in at Hong Kong that morning, but we were able still able to snag window seats 11L and 12L in the larger aft Business Class cabin. Although this was my very first China Eastern flight, the Business Class cabin was very familiar featuring the very same seats EVA Airways uses trading the drab forest green colors for an even drabber tan and brown look.



As expected, the seats were comfortable and roomy. There was more than enough storage to stash the essentials, and the controls were intuitive.















An amenity kit and a pair of slippers were already at the seat.





The typical offerings of champagne, orange juice, and water were offered shortly after we settled in. I chose the champagne, which was fine. The pour, however, was rather skimpy.



I didn’t catch what champagne was served as menus were promptly collected after orders for all meals were taken before pushback. I’m a big proponent for reducing waste, but this seemed a bit excessive. But fear not, dear readers, I was able get some pictures of the menu before confiscation.







Orders for all three formal meal services were taken well before the door was closed which wasn’t ideal. I barely had time to decide what I want to eat for lunch in an hour-ish let alone what I want to eat a few hours later. Not ideal, but when in Rome…

Up until that point, interaction with the flight attendants was limited to smiles as they passed out the swag. Not much need for conversation for that. But it seemed like the flight attendants were much more comfortable conversing in Mandarin than English judging by watching interactions with other passengers. My theory held up as the flight attendant greeted me with a very tentative hello when she came to take my order. She brightened noticeably when I responded in Mandarin, which to be perfectly frank is barely passable. But it worked. She recommended a couple of dishes that were quite good as you’ll see in just a bit.

As the plane was pushed back, an idiot a few rows in front of me insisted on standing up and chatting with his friend across the aisle. Flight attendants attempted to shoo him back into his seat multiple times unsuccessfully, and the taxi carried as if nothing were amiss. If this happened in the US, the plane would have returned to the gate and said idiot would have been hauled away in cuffs. But this was China, and the plane continued on toward the runway. Finally, the idiot wrapped up his conversation ten minutes after pushback and sat down



Fortunately for the aforementioned idiot, there was a rather lengthy taxi in store for us. It was also rather fortunate for me, as there plenty of great plane spotting. The crown jewel of the morning was an Air China A350-900 that had just entered service just days before.





A solid 45 minutes after pushing back from the gate, our 777-300ER finally broke the surly bonds of earth into thick smog over Shanghai. Fittingly, smog began filling the cabin in the form of the haze of cigarette smoke began wafting through the cabin shortly after take off and persisted throughout the flight. It wasn’t unbearable, but it was certainly unpleasant and annoying. Yet, the flight attendants carried on as if nothing was amiss.

Lunch was cooking as the massive twin GE 90-115B engines roared as they pushed us eastward over the Yellow Sea. At seat 12L, I fired up the plane’s entertainment system, which was surprisingly good. The interface was a bit outdated and clunky though it was overall intuitive and functional. Naturally, content was heavily skewed to the taste of a Chinese audience, but there was a solid selection of western movies and TV shows. One thing I really appreciated was the lack of commercial before content was played. You hear that, Cathay and American?

I ended up watching Antman and the Wasp, which was pretty good.



Like any self-respecting airline, China Eastern saw it fit to provide each Business Class passengers with headphones. Let’s put it this way, those headphones could give the old school tube headphones sets a run for its money in terms of sound quality and comfort. I was rather pleased I brought my own headphones.



Consistent with seemingly all my other flights on Mainland China carriers, the smell of cigarette smoke wafted through the cabin. The smell wasn’t overwhelming, but it sure was annoying and lasted pretty much all the way to Chicago.

Tray tables were setup about an hour after takeoff, followed by canapés and drinks. I asked for a glass of water and Chivas Regal 12 year old neat, which is a pretty decent scotch in my very humble opinion. Canapés were described as of spicy shrimp with Chinese yam and an opened faced foie gras sandwich. The foie gras was tasty, and the shrimp, while fresh, was virtually flavorless and not at all spicy.



The sliced beef appetizer was unusual but good. The soup was on the bland side.



The flight attendant who took my order highly recommended the roasted eel and rice, which was quite good.



Another flight attendant followed entrees with the breadbasket stocked with white rolls, pretzel bread, and garlic bread. I asked for pretzel bread and garlic bread, which were both good. Seconds were offered a short time later.



Dessert was the choice of a cheese plate, brownie, or ice cream, none of which sounded appealing. I did end up asking for a cheese plate, which was consisted of a small piece of brie and a small sliver of cheddar with three grapes. It was fine.



A fruit plate was offered next. The fruit was fresh and ripe.



To finish off the meal, chocolates were offered. Completely stuffed, I declined. By the time the movie wrapped up, I was completely beat from the early start. I put the seat in bed mode, which was comfortable as expected. The pillow and blanket were both on the thin side and weren’t particularly comfortable, but they did the trick and I slept well. When I woke up, I could hear the clattering of plates and clinking of silverware. For a quick moment, I was really excited because I thought I had slept all the way to Chicago. Then I checked the moving map, and there was still over six hours to go.

China Eastern’s “light meal” was a far more elaborate multicourse affair than any midflight snack services I’ve ever experienced. It seemed like overkill since lunch was just a couple of hours ago, and I was still stuffed from that. But boredom and curiosity got the better of me and I ended up eating.

A smoked salmon salad kicked off the light meal. It could be more accurately described as an iceberg lettuce and olive salad with a few slivers of smoked salmon. A small packet of Thousand Island dressing was included. I love smoked salmon, olives, and I can deal with Thousand Island. But together? That's a weird flavor combination. I had a couple of bites, and called it.





Again, white rolls, pretzel bread, and garlic bread were offered.



On the recommendation of the flight attendant, I went with the braised pork cartilage with rice. On the surface, I could see how most people wouldn’t find it very appealing. But I’m not most people, and I eat just about anything including pork cartilage. It was excellent. The cartilage was very tender from being well braised and it was very flavorful.



A fruit plate was already on the tray. It was again fresh and ripe.

After trays were cleared, I caught up on some reading before firing up the entertainment system again. I ended up watching Justice League, which was alright. A couple of The Big Bang Theory re-runs carried me straight through to through a little over an hour outside of Chicago, aka breakfast time.

I was glad that I chose the lighter congee option as I was still full from the past two meal services. The congee was served with pickles, a salty egg, steamed bun, and a pan-fried radish cake. It was simple and very tasty.



Coffee and tea were offered as breakfast tray was cleared. I asked for tea, and what I was served was a comically weak cup of tea.



After brushing my teeth and packing away all my newfound swag, we were well into our descent to Chicago. We flew past downtown and went feet wet over Lake Michigan before turning back toward O’Hare.



Landing was smooth, and we pulled into the gate right on time despite the late departure from Shanghai. China Eastern was a very pleasant surprise. Of course, the behavior of some of my fellow passengers and the cigarette smoke detracted from the experience a bit. But everything within the airline’s control on both my flights was solid. Food and service was pretty good overall, and the hard product was comfortable. While they wouldn’t be my first choice to Asia, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly China Eastern again as long as the price is right.

After a week abroad, I was thrilled to back in the free and just one short hop from home. But of course it was a little bittersweet after a great week with my parents, and I was glad I was able to make this trip happen.

Thanks for reading and happy trails!

halfcape

Thank you for taking the time to post your report and photos. I enjoyed your report and I think it is wonderful that your family trip worked so well.

dat4life

Thanks for reading, halfcape!