What a coincidence to transit in Beijing for the second time on my trip. Transpacific award space was extremely difficult to find for travel on the last day of Christmas and new year holidays. Air China first class was the only thing I could find. While Air China alone is totally not worth the miles I paid, adding two Thai Airways flights and a stopover in Bangkok makes it a worthwhile redemption. See previous reports for my flight experience on TG.
It was very cold (at least for me) and hazardously smoggy in Beijing, but I wasn't going to waste my stopover in my hotel room, so I decided to explore the city a little bit. Places I visited include Tiananmen, Jingshan Park, Beihai Park (outside), Wangfujing, and snack street.
I took the Airport Express from and to the airport. It's inarguably the fastest mode of airport transportation, given how bad traffic is in Beijing. The trains are not luggage friendly though. There's a luggage rack on the train, but I challenge you to find someone who's willing to leave his bag there during the train ride. Most people keep their bags on the aisle, making it hard to pass through. Also, the platform at the downtown station Dongzhimen is really tight and can easily be flooded by passengers and their bags. The older subway lines don't even have escalators. It was quite a workout to go from the airport to my hotel.
PEK Terminal 3 (taken from my previous visit)
There are check-in counters designated for first class passengers. No special treatment for first class passengers other than a red carpet, not even a warm welcome. It was around noon, and immigration and security was very crowded and took me around 30 minutes.
I haven't had breakfast, so I checked into the Air China First Class Lounge, which is almost identical to the business class lounge. Both are accessible by Priority Pass members. So what's the point?
Air China Business Class Lounge (taken from my previous visit)
View from the lounge (taken from my previous visit)
Some hot dishes and awful tasting sushi
Look at that smog… I mean look at the 777-300ER.
First class cabin with two rows of seats in 1-2-1 configuration
Suite 2L. L'Occitane amenity bag, slippers, newspaper and headphones waiting in the suite.
My seat
The monitor
2H, which I used for breakfast later. Seat map showed six seats occupied, but there was only one other passenger. Some of the seats were used as beds for crew members and/or pilots.
Pre-departure oshibori, hot water with lemon, and mixed nuts. The amenity bag is of average quality and I probably won't reuse it.
I was given large size pajamas, which were quite large for me, but I didn't take them home anyway.
British Airways B772 and Air China B777-300ER in Love China livery
Lufthansa B747-8
It may be smoggy down there, but once airborne, it looks so picturesque.
Amuse bouche
Bread basket, appetizers, and soup. So far so… meh.
Finally something good! Quanjude roast duck. Really small portion though.
So I asked for another entree from the menu. What the heck is this! Are you kidding me?!?
Dessert and fruits
I was going to get some sleep on the flight so that I could start afresh after landing in the morning, but I just couldn't fall asleep at daytime and kept rolling on the bed, which was quite comfortable.
About six hours after lunch, I was served breakfast. Portuguese style chicken rice. It tastes okay, but definitely not first class quality.
Back to southern California
It's LAX right there, but we aren't going right down.
The LA basin. Downtown LA in the middle.
Freight tracks
Another view of downtown Los Angeles
Interstate 110
Inglewood
Final approach
Landed at LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal. Look at those Australian birds.
This concludes my 10-day, nine-segment and seven-carrier adventure to Asia.
See more
Verdict
Air China
7.3/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering6.0
Air China First Class Lounge - 3
5.2/10
Comfort6.0
Meal/catering5.0
Entertainment/wifi4.0
Services6.0
Beijing - PEK
7.2/10
Efficiency6.0
Access9.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness8.0
Los Angeles - LAX
8.2/10
Efficiency10.0
Access6.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
Pros: - Comfortable seat - Award seat available in the highest peak season - Flight attendants took good care of me, like my aunts. - Quanjude roast duck for lunch
Cons: - Lack of ground service - Mediocre lounge and catering - Business class (even economy class) quality meals - Below average amenity kit
This flight certainly did its most important job of taking me from Asia back to the US. Other than that, it was quite an uninspiring flight. I would describe it as a first class flight with economy class service. The seat is pretty comfortable. Crew members have good attitude, but far from international first class standard.
Immigration and customs at LAX were a breeze with Global Entry. There weren't many travelers at that time anyway. But it took really long for my bag (and my fellow first class pax's bag) to arrive. Not sure if it was Air China or LAX's problem. Bags with a transfer tag seemed to arrive first, and priority bags came much later. I was not in a hurry, but it was another point deducted in my mind.
Thank you for reading the series! I hope to write about my two previous round-the-world trips in the near future.
0 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
You didn’t get the chauffeur service with CA??? That was one of the best perks when I flew them in J is that they offer complimentary limo service to/from PEK in a Mercedes. The pickup was excellent and even had someone escort me all the way up until the security checkpoint.
The PEK Lounge is really disappointing, I normally just go to grab some water bottles and leave to go sit in a corner of the airport and spot.
Having flown with CA, I will say the catering looks no different than J. In fact, I think that dessert is almost identical to the one they served me PEK-NGO. Serving the second meal on a tray is inexcusable in F.
The suite itself looks up to F standards (same as used by many other carriers), but the rest of the CA product doesn’t really reach to what their Asian competitors can offer. I have a soft spot in my heart for CA and would have no problem flying them in the future; I find them personally to be a step up from UA.
No, my award ticket wasn't eligible for chauffeur service. It would have saved me all the weightlifting in subway. Sounds like a great service by CA! I wonder why there isn't a decent *A lounge at PEK. I flew on J before and thought it was decent. F is not worth the miles I paid, but it was the only thing available on that day. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for this last report in this awesome series!
It was very cold (at least for me) and hazardously smoggy in Beijing, - That's too bad! I thought Beijing tended to clear up over the winter months. I guess that's not always the case!
Great pics of Beijing! I always appreciate night photography.
It was quite a workout to go from the airport to my hotel. - Haha, I guess it's good to get some exercise before indulging in the lounge and onboard offerings.
I haven't had breakfast, so I checked into the Air China First Class Lounge, which is almost identical to the business class lounge. Both are accessible by Priority Pass members. So what's the point? - Yeah seriously! What is the point? So there's no difference between the F and J lounges?
Look at that smog... I mean look at the 777-300ER. - Haha, yeah you can barely see it though the smog!
Once onboard the experience seems a bit better. I actually like the look of the F cabin and the seat/suite looks comfortable and private without being too enclosed.
Catering doesn't seem to be elevated enough to be called First class. So basically, the lounge and ground experience is the same as Business and the catering is essentially the same as Business, so the only real difference is the seat. Sounds like Air China needs to do a better job of differentiating the First product from Business, otherwise the value proposition doesn't seem worth it.
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186 reviews
7 Comments
The seat does look very comfortable, but I'd agree that the food looks pretty underwhelming.
All best,
Matthew
Thanks for reading!
You didn’t get the chauffeur service with CA??? That was one of the best perks when I flew them in J is that they offer complimentary limo service to/from PEK in a Mercedes. The pickup was excellent and even had someone escort me all the way up until the security checkpoint.
The PEK Lounge is really disappointing, I normally just go to grab some water bottles and leave to go sit in a corner of the airport and spot.
Having flown with CA, I will say the catering looks no different than J. In fact, I think that dessert is almost identical to the one they served me PEK-NGO. Serving the second meal on a tray is inexcusable in F.
The suite itself looks up to F standards (same as used by many other carriers), but the rest of the CA product doesn’t really reach to what their Asian competitors can offer. I have a soft spot in my heart for CA and would have no problem flying them in the future; I find them personally to be a step up from UA.
Landing in LAX is always a visual treat.
I wonder why there isn't a decent *A lounge at PEK.
I flew on J before and thought it was decent. F is not worth the miles I paid, but it was the only thing available on that day.
Thanks for reading!
It was very cold (at least for me) and hazardously smoggy in Beijing,
- That's too bad! I thought Beijing tended to clear up over the winter months. I guess that's not always the case!
Great pics of Beijing! I always appreciate night photography.
It was quite a workout to go from the airport to my hotel.
- Haha, I guess it's good to get some exercise before indulging in the lounge and onboard offerings.
I haven't had breakfast, so I checked into the Air China First Class Lounge, which is almost identical to the business class lounge. Both are accessible by Priority Pass members. So what's the point?
- Yeah seriously! What is the point? So there's no difference between the F and J lounges?
Look at that smog... I mean look at the 777-300ER.
- Haha, yeah you can barely see it though the smog!
Once onboard the experience seems a bit better. I actually like the look of the F cabin and the seat/suite looks comfortable and private without being too enclosed.
Catering doesn't seem to be elevated enough to be called First class. So basically, the lounge and ground experience is the same as Business and the catering is essentially the same as Business, so the only real difference is the seat. Sounds like Air China needs to do a better job of differentiating the First product from Business, otherwise the value proposition doesn't seem worth it.
Thanks for a great series!
Love the group shot of all the boarding passes.
I wish I could keep the whole boarding passes.
Thanks for reading!
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