Review of China Eastern flight Taipei Shanghai in Economy

Airline China Eastern
Flight MU5008
Class Economy
Seat 36J
Aircraft Airbus A330-300
Flight time 01:40
Take-off 16 Dec 14, 15:05
Arrival at 16 Dec 14, 16:45
MU 173 reviews
tn92
By 2644
Published on 21st January 2016
2014 EOY Trip Flight #3
I am back for a series of report on the 10 flights we took back in December 2014 for our end-of-year trip. It was a great trip with 4 new airlines, 5 new airports and 2 new cities. The routing was SIN-SGN-TPE-PVG-ICN, GMP-PUS-GMP, ICN-PVG-TPE-HAN-SIN. To visualize the route we took, please refer to the map at the start of the report.

While our plan was only to visit my relatives in Taipei, and spend 10 days in Korea, the routing of our flights became more complicated as we decided to give up the direct flights available, so as to go for cheaper tickets that will also allow us to fly more!

This is a list of all the other reports in this series.

2014 End-of-Year Trip to Taiwan & South Korea
Click Here 09/12/14, SIN-SGN, Vietnam Airlines VN650, A321
Click Here 09/12/14, SGN-TPE, Vietnam Airlines VN570, A321
This Report 16/12/14, TPE-PVG, China Eastern Airlines MU5008, A330-300
Coming Soon 17/12/14, PVG-ICN, Shanghai Airlines FM827, B737-800
Coming Soon 20/12/14, GMP-PUS, Air Busan BX8811, B737-400
Coming Soon 23/12/14, PUS-GMP, Air Busan BX8816, A320
Coming Soon 26/12/14, ICN-PVG, China Eastern Airlines MU5034, A321
Coming Soon 27/12/14, PVG-TPE, China Eastern Airlines MU5005, A330-200
Coming Soon 30/12/14, TPE-HAN, Vietnam Airlines VN579, A321
Coming Soon 30/12/14, HAN-SIN, Vietnam Airlines VN661, A321

photo 001 DSC03503 Banner


China Eastern Airlines MU5008
Aircraft Registration: B-6126
Origin: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)
Destination: Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)
Date: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
STD/STA: 1505h (UTC+08:00) to 1645h (UTC+08:00)
ATD/ATA: 1525h (UTC+08:00) to 1719h (UTC+08:00)
Estimated Duration: 01 hour 40 minutes
Actual Duration: 01 hour 54 minutes
Flight Distance: About 425 miles / 685 km


Here is the route map for this trip.

photo 002 Map of Flights_Edited

(Image credit: GC Map)

This China Eastern flight was probably the one I looked forward to the most in this entire series. I am not sure why, but prior to this trip, I have always been rather curious about the services of airlines from China. While my curiosity encouraged me to book a series of flight with MU, I was reluctant to try any of the airline’s medium or long haul flights, as I really did not quite know what to expect. So, there we were, booked on four MU flights from Taipei to Seoul, via Shanghai. Perfect way to sample a new airline for me!

I decided to earn some Skyteam miles from this itinerary, even though the number of miles accrued is kind of insignificant. It didn’t really matter actually, since my main objective was to experience a few flights operated by a Chinese airline.

As I explored the options on Skyscanner, the following itinerary caught my eye and soon, we were booked on a return trip between Taipei and Seoul! I was glad that I got to try two new airlines – China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines in one itinerary.

photo 003 01 Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 11.06.24 pmphoto 003 02 Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 11.06.37 pmphoto 003 03 Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 11.07.02 pm

photo 1029 Slide01


On the day of our flight to Shanghai, we left home early with the intention of grabbing a quick lunch at Taoyuan Airport before our departure.

photo 1030 DSC03445 Taxi to Bus Stop

It was a little pricey to take a taxi all the way. So we dropped off at a bus stop near home and transferred on to an airport bus.



I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this “instructins” of how to operate the emergency exit on the bus. Three simple steps to do so:

1. Hard to push up.
2. In accordance with the arrows rotating red button up the pressure and to push up the board.
3. Open roof and attention to safety.

Oh, well…

photo 1123 DSC03450 Look at the English


photo 1148 Slide02


We got to still give the airport bus some credits it deserve: it was a really efficient, cheap and comfortable way to get to Taoyuan Airport – one that isn’t connected to the city with a railway line, yet. (The opening of the airport train line had been delayed again and again…)

Fortunately, there are many airport bus lines connecting various parts of metropolitan Taipei to Taoyuan Airport; making TPE a relatively accessible airport.

We arrived at the airport at around 11.50am; forty more minutes before check-in was scheduled to begin.

photo 1149 DSC03452 Check In Yet to Begin

Took some of these with us and went off for our lunch first.

photo 1205 DSC03457 Luggage Tag Iphoto 1205 DSC03458 Luggage Tag IIphoto 1205 DSC03460 Luggage Tag III

There are quite a lot of F&B choices in TPE, especially so after its recent renovation over the past few years. While the food choices you see at the airport may not be representative of all the amazing foods you can find all around Taiwan, they are all reasonably priced and thus there shouldn’t be any problem finding something to eat.

photo 1208 DSC03459 Eating Lunch

Returned to the check in hall at about 1pm.

photo 1254 DSC03461 Proceeding to Check In

Thankfully, the economy class queue wasn’t too long.
photo 1255 DSC03462 Economy Class Lanephoto 1257 DSC03464 Economy Class Counter

The red colour screens depict counters dedicated for passengers travelling in Premium cabins, those with Skyteam priority membership, or others who have completed online check-in.

photo 1256 DSC03463 Premium Counter and Web Check-In

I was expecting the queue to be much longer than this; after all, TPE-PVG is considered an extremely popular route in the region.

photo 1258 DSC03465 Not A Very Long Queue

China Eastern provides every passenger with a 20kg checked baggage limit. We used about half of our baggage allowance on the way to Korea; definitely very well prepared to shop for another 20kg of Korean products before we fly back.

On the other hand, the airline states that carry-on luggage can only weigh no more than 5kg per passenger. But that’s probably really just for reference.

photo 1304 DSC03467 Our Luggage Weightphoto 1304 DSC03468 Checked In


photo 1309 Slide03


At Taoyuan Airport, the check in agent will always require passengers to ensure that their bags have passed through the security screening before proceeding to immigration – not a procedure that I have seen in other airports that I have been to within Asia Pacific.

Is it the same in American airports?

photo 1310 DSC03471 Checked Luggage Security Screening

While we were technically just transiting in Shanghai, our transit time was too long for the airline to be able to tag our bags all the way to Seoul (according to the check in agent). Thus, we have to collect our bags in Shanghai, drag them to our transit hotel far away from the airport, and then check them in again the next day for our onward flight to Seoul.

photo 1317 DSC03472 Our Boarding Passes (Edited)

My first China Eastern boarding pass! It’s quite nicely designed in my opinion.

photo 1317 DSC03474 Boarding Pass (Edited)

We spent some more time in the check in hall, as I settled some calls before heading airside. At about 1.45pm (45 minutes to boarding), the MU check-in counters were already quite empty. Time to head airside quickly!

photo 1346 DSC03475 No Crowd at MU Check In Counter

Oh, it was the Christmas season! Yes, we are spending Christmas in Seoul!

photo 1348 DSC03476 Christmas Decoration

It’s been quite a while since I last departed from TPE’s Terminal 2. It has always been Terminal 1; where all the budget airlines depart from.

photo 1348 DSC03477 Departure Immigration Queue


photo 1358 Slide04


We passed through security and immigration clearance in about ten minutes – great efficiency here!

photo 1359 DSC03480 Airside in Ten Minutes

Immediately, we headed to our gate since we didn’t have the intention to shop.

photo 1400 DSC03482 Walking to Gatephoto 1401 DSC03485 Turn Left to D7photo 1402 DSC03487

The original departure time for MU5008 was 3.05pm. It was amended to 3.15pm after we checked in.

photo 1404 DSC03489 Arrived at Gate

Saw two A330-300s from my gate, both belonging to Star Alliance airlines.

First, we have Singapore Airlines’ SQ877 bound for Singapore.

photo 1405 DSC03490 SQ A333 Heading to Singapore (Should be SQ877)

And then we have Air China’s flight, which should be flying to Beijing.

photo 1405 DSC03491 CA A333

Gate D7 was decorated with exhibits about Taiwan’s traditional opera – ??? (glove puppetry).

photo 1407 DSC03493 Gate Decorationphoto 1410 DSC03494 Themed Decoration

10 minutes after the inbound flight’s scheduled arrival time, our aircraft was still nowhere to be seen.

photo 1410 DSC03495 Our Aircraft Not There Yet

China Airlines A330-300; a common sighting at TPE.

photo 1410 DSC03496 CI A333

I guess everyone who was familiar with MU’s operations knew that there was not point going to the gate early because flights to and fro China get delayed every other day.

photo 1416 DSC03498 Boarding Lounge still Empty

Before we finally get to see the aircraft for the day, allow me to just narrate my excitement prior to this flight. A day before I was scheduled to fly on MU5008, I turned on FlightRadar24 just to track 16 Dec’s MU5008. It was operated by B-6126, an aircraft that bears the People’s Daily Online special livery. However, what’s really interesting is the other fact about this aircraft which relates to an incident on 10 July 2012; two years back, when B-6126 departed TPE as MU5008 bound for Shanghai Pudong, its left engine unfortunately suffered a bird strike during the aircraft’s initial climb out of TPE. Subsequently, the aircraft was grounded for quite a long period of time in TPE till its engine got replaced/repaired.

photo 1442569686-2802304768_nphoto 1442569690-2674560740_n

B-6126 operated as MU5007/5008 the day before, so I did not think that it would come back to Taoyuan again that day. But I was wrong. As I waited for my aircraft’s arrival, I saw on FR24 that the exact aircraft was again flying into TPE as MU5007. Hurray! This means I can get to photograph this aircraft personally and even fly on it. Nice!

Looks like it was gonna be a good start for my first flight on China Eastern!





At 2.33pm, the aircraft finally taxied into Gate D7.

photo 1433 DSC03500 Finally the Aircraft is Herephoto 1434 DSC03502 A Closer Shot

Immediately, the ground staff sprung into action, preparing of a quick turnaround for this aircraft.

photo 1434 DSC03504 Preparing for A Quick Turnaround

Meanwhile, the SQ A333 that we saw just now has pushed back.

photo 1435 DSC03506 Meanwhile SQ Has Pushed Back

Everyone’s waiting to board. It was just 2.36pm so the flight shouldn’t be delayed for too long.

photo 1436 DSC03507 Waiting to Board

Many passengers took photographs of the aircraft with special livery as well! It was a pity that the weather was a little gloomy.

photo 1456 DSC03513 Looking at the Plane

The boarding lounge started to get crowded – I was right that TPE-PVG is a popular route among the Taiwanese and Chinese.

photo 1459 DSC03515 Getting Crowded

The announcement for commencement of boarding came at 3pm sharp. The efficiency of TPE’s ground staff is definitely amazing.

2.33pm: MU5007 arrived late
2.36pm: Announced that boarding will be delayed due to late arrival
2.59pm: Boarding commenced!

photo 1506 DSC03520 Boarding was Quick

We went ahead to join the boarding queue as well. Hello MU, nice to meet you!

photo 1509 DSC03521 Hello MU


photo 1510 Slide05


We waited a short while on the jet bridge before reaching the aircraft doors. While several different Chinese newspapers were available, there were no Taiwanese newspapers provided.

photo 1511 DSC03526 Boardingphoto 1512 DSC03528 Aircraft Doorphoto 1513a DSC03529 Newspaper Available

Because the flight was really full, it took us another few minutes before we managed to get to our seats.

photo 1513b DSC03530 Onboard A Full Flight


photo 1513c Slide06


The entire boarding process took about 20 minutes; thereafter, our aircraft was ready for its journey back to Shanghai.

Before we move on with the flight, let’s take a quick look at this version of MU’s A333.

Legroom was at about 32-33” so it really was quite comfortable and more than adequate for such a short flight across to Shanghai.

When a friendly FA saw that I placed some of my belongings in the seat pocket, she casually came over and reminded me to remember them at the end of the flight; and added on that they had already found numerous lost mobile phones that month. It was a nice touch to the service!

photo 1514a DSC03532 Legroomphoto 1514b 1647 DSC03586 Legroom View

As for the headrest, it was an adjustable one. But I can’t quite remember how comfortable it was given that this flight was really a very short one.

photo 1514c DSC03534 Headrest

On the overall, the seat cushion was good and not too hard; no complaints for a short regional flight like this!

photo 1515a DSC03531 Economy Class Seats

The cabin was slowly filling up as boarding progressed, and eventually, almost no seat was left empty.

On a side note, don’t you think that the red seats in the centre of the cabin are a little too bright for the otherwise simple cabin atmosphere?

photo 1515b DSC03536 Cabin Slowly Filling Upphoto 1515c DSC03537 Boarding Almost Done

The overhead panel was very simple too. No air vents on this aircraft.

photo 1515d DSC03538 Overhead Panel

Substituting the personal IFE screens were commercial advertisements such as this. Made this MU aircraft look a little like a LCC…

photo 1515e DSC03533 Seatback

Nonetheless, I still give the airline some credits for installing an additional cup holder on the seatback. It’s really a very convenient feature and I personally think more airlines should have it!

photo 1515f DSC03539 Tray Table and Cup Holderphoto 1516 1642 DSC03574 Tablephoto 1516 1642 DSC03575 Seat Back

Not many people were observed using the IFE on this flight. I mean, for me, it was basically impossible to watch the programmes screened on the overhead screens from my seat. And the reason for this is that, screens are only installed in the centre of the aircraft – which I find to be a little weird and illogical. (You can see a photo later on depicting what I mean here.)

Anyway for a start, headsets weren’t provided for this sector so there’s basically close to zero entertainment on this flight.

photo 1517 1719 DSC03591 Entertainment System

Looking out of the window, we have a Japan Airlines B738 preparing for its flight back home. (Really looking forward to my first flight with JL in May 2016!)

photo 1519 DSC03541 JL B738

Alright, time to depart for China!

photo 1522 DSC03543 Boarding Completed


photo 1615 Slide07


Soon after we were airborne (when the seatbelt signs were still switched on), some passenger eagerly got up from their seat to collect their belongings from the overhead compartments.

Oh well, the thing is – on all my flights with China Eastern / Shanghai Airlines throughout this trip, the seatbelt signs were never switched off during the flight.

photo 1617 IMG_0061 FA Uniform

Meal service began really soon after – just about 5 minutes from take off.

photo 1620 DSC03544 Meal Service Began

Once we cleared the cloud cover, the weather became much clearer; it was beautiful with the wingtip bearing MU’s logo.

photo 1620 DSC03545 Wing View

Getting our meal soon. We told ourselves not to expect too much from a Chinese carrier in terms of its catering, since we have seen so many photos of unappetising meals served by a Chinese carrier prior to this flight.

photo 1621 DSC03547 Getting Our Meal Soon


photo 1622a Slide08


Hmm… Are you curious about what’s the main “dish” served?

photo 1622b DSC03548 Here It Is

Before that, let’s see what else we had – fruits, a cake for dessert, a bottle of water, a small cup of orange juice and a pineapple cake (tart).

The fruits were fresh and sweet. The cake was alright but it didn’t leave much impression. And the pineapple tart was nice!



And then for the main, it was just “fried rice with a fishcake and a piece of pickle”. It definitely does not look too appetising, yet surprisingly, the fried rice much, much better than we’d expected!

photo 1625 DSC03551 Fried Ricephoto 1626 DSC03552 Surprisingly Not Bad

This small pack of chilli sauce comes in handy if you want to make your fried rice tastier; for us, the rice perfectly okay as it was!

photo 1634 DSC03558 Chilli Sauce

Anyway, most of the meal (apart from the bottle of water) was prepared in Taiwan; so I guess that helped quite a bit in making our first meal on MU surprisingly tasty – here’s the evidence.

photo 1636 DSC03559 All Clear

Service was really efficient on this flight; a minute after I was done with my meal, the FA came down the aisle collecting the trays.

photo 1637 DSC03561 Collecting Empty Trays

The flight was passing by quickly and I wasted no time after the meal in laying out the seat pocket contents.

photo 1638 DSC03562 Seat Pocket Contents

This was the duty free catalogue named “Eastern Mall” – how creative.

photo 1639 DSC03563 Duty Free Catalogue

The in-flight magazine named “connections”.

photo 1639 DSC03565 In Flight Magazine

And then there was this magazine on golf; unfortunately I wasn’t particularly interested in browsing it.

photo 1639 DSC03566 Golf Magazine

The design of the safety information card was nothing out of the box as well.

photo 1640 DSC03567 Safety Instructions Card Iphoto 1640 DSC03569 Safety Instructions Card II

The network map for both China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines was just a typical world map. It’s interesting that Taichung and Tainan (two relatively small international airports in Taiwan) were not included in the map. Along with Taipei-Songshan, Taoyuan and Kaohsiung airport, MU serves a total of 5 airports in Taiwan.

photo 1641 DSC03572 Route Map Iphoto 1641 DSC03572 Route Map Iphoto  Taichung Not Included)

Just before the cabin preparation for landing began, I took a break from my seat so as to get some more shots of the cabin and its lavatory.

In this photo, you can now see what I meant just now – overhead screens are only available in the centre of the aircraft. Safety videos were also just screened on those monitors; so strictly speaking, those of us seated by the windows weren’t briefed about the aircraft’s safety feature thoroughly, since we almost couldn’t see what was playing on the screens.

photo 1643 DSC03576 Cabin View

Towards the end of the flight, the lavatory was still kept really clean. Kudos to the FAs!



Back to my seat soon after, and took one more shot of our pair of seats on our very first flight with a Chinese carrier – so far so good! But what will be my comment about the airline’s service standards by the end of this flight? We shall see.

photo 1647 DSC03585 Our Seats


photo 1653 Slide09


Since our flight wasn’t severely delayed that day, we quickly began our descent into Shanghai Pudong Airport. It seemed to pass even faster since I was snapping photos all the way.

photo 1654 DSC03589 Prep for Landing

Just before the FAs began preparing the cabin for landing, the cabin service manager made an announcement to thank everyone and to get us prepared for the arrival. At the same time, all the FAs stood at each aisle and bowed together at the end of the announcement. I happened to be filming a short video of the “cabin view”, but I guessed an FA thought I was taking a photo of her and therefore came to me and told me to delete the photo.

While it was a misunderstanding, I adhered to her instructions and deleted that short video immediately. She was satisfied and before she left, she told me “it’s okay to take photos of the cabin but please don’t take photos of us”. All these were however said in a relatively professional and respectful tone, so I do appreciate how the matter was dealt with.

So… Since this was my last interaction with the flight crew on this flight, what did I eventually think of the standard of the service provided by the FAs? Frankly speaking, and I have to say I felt quite apologetic to have had this little “stereotype”, I boarded this MU flight with an impression that the service wouldn’t be too good since I have read terrible reviews about the airline before, but to our surprise (my girlfriend, who’s not an avgeek, agrees with me) the service standards on our first MU flight was really professional. They were not exceptionally friendly or chatty, but good enough to make this short flight a pleasant one. Even the way I got “confronted” about the photography issue was professional too!

photo 1715 Slide10


The approach route of MU5008; while I have heard about the extremely unpredictable ATC in Shanghai, and also about how busy this airport can get at times, we were lucky to be granted a very direct approach route. Half an hour after our scheduled arrival time, we touched down in Shanghai Pudong Airport.

photo 1716 IMG_0097 Approach  Route

photo 1718 Slide11


The situation of our delay was further improved when our taxi to the gate took just 4 minutes; and another 3 minutes later at 5.21pm, we were already disembarking from the aircraft. Efficiency at its best, since the beginning of this flight back at TPE.

photo 1719 DSC03590 Arrived at Gatephoto 1721 DSC03592 Disembarking

Here’s a quick look at MU’s business class. Not a product that I will go out of my way to try in future, but it still looks decent I guess.

photo 1722 DSC03593 Business Class

Into the terminal and then a bit of a walk to the immigration counters.

photo 1724 DSC03594 Pudong Airport

photo 1733 Slide12


We got over the arrival formalities really quickly too, and before we knew it, our bags were already seen on the carousel.

Anyway, since China Airlines and China Eastern Airlines are alliance partners, they codeshare a lot on each other’s flights; CI codeshares with MU on this flight as CI8001.

photo 1734 DSC03596 Baggage Claimphoto 1734 DSC03597photo 1735 DSC03598

It was also nice to see trolleys being deployed nicely by the carousel – definitely a nice touch on the part of the airport management!

photo 1740 DSC03599 Trolley Placed at Carousels

With our luggage back with us, we cleared customs in no time and quickly made our way to the hotel. Want to make a guess what was our choice?

Metro, Maglev, Airport Bus or Taxi?

photo 1745 DSC03601 Guess Our Choice

This is the linkway connecting Terminals 1 and 2. It also connects both terminals to the Metro and Maglev Train stations.

photo 1746 DSC03602 Linkway to Terminal 2

photo 1756 Slide13


Okay, here’s the answer! We decided to try the Maglev Train service even before we arrived in Shanghai. I mean, it just sounds really interesting to be able to speed into Shanghai within 8 minutes, isn’t it?

photo 1757 DSC03608 Maglev Train

While the Maglev Train works on really sophisticated technology that I find really amazing, I don’t think I was as amazed with regards to the train’s interior design… Well, it was just an 8-minutes ride, anyway!

photo 1757 DSC03609 Luggage Racks

The round trip tickets cost RMB80. Not exactly cheap in China, and that’s a possible explanation for the Maglev Train’s seemingly low utilisation rate.

photo 1758 DSC03611 Train Tickets

We were not allocated seats on the tickets even though every seat had a number allocated to it.

photo 1759 DSC03612 Seat Numbers

In the evening, the train travels at a maximum speed of 300km/h. However, it can get faster depending on the time of the day.

photo 1804 DSC03616 Maximum Speedphoto 1805 DSC03617 Just A Short Ride

We then needed to transfer to Metro Line 2 at Longyang Road Station, the only other station on the Maglev Line.

At the exit of the Maglev Train station, there will be a lot of taxi drivers trying to persuade tourists to take a ride. We ignored them and headed straight into the Metro station.



It was peak hour! We totally forgot about that fact and therefore had to squeeze onto the train with the crowd, carrying two huge luggage… Fortunately, our destination was just three stops away.

photo 1820 DSC03627 Three Stopsphoto 1822 DSC03628 Peak Hour


photo 1914 Slide14


Ah finally in the hotel!

photo 1915 DSC03630 Reached Hotel

We felt really pissed off when the hotel’s check-in staff took forever to process the short queue of guests waiting to check in. To make matters worse, she looked like she just didn’t wanted to be working at all and thus her service was really bad.

Oh well, the bed was comfortable and we were looking forward to a good rest.

photo 1941 DSC03631 Our Room

But just as we began to feel relaxed, our stomach began growling for food. Oh man, Shanghai was so cold in December but we had no choice but to go out on to the streets again to satisfy our hunger… ):

Anyone wants to guess what we had for dinner eventually?


(To be continued)


This report was completed on 30 January 2016.
Originally posted in Traditional Chinese on http://tn92.pixnet.net/blog/post/305213349.
See more

Verdict

China Eastern

7.0/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi4.0
Meal/catering8.5

Taipei - TPE

9.1/10
Efficiency8.5
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness10.0

Shanghai - PVG

8.0/10
Efficiency7.5
Access8.5
Services7.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

China Eastern Airlines performed better than my expectations and I was really happy about that. It's always nice to report the positive of an airline rather than the negative. The downside probably was that the A333 lacked personal IFE screens. It was bearable on such a short flight but probably not on one that's 2-3 hours or longer. I shouldn't have rated 4 for entertainment since newspapers were at the very least provided during boarding; but... The selection of newspapers just weren't that interesting I guess? (Just my personal opinion here.) Meal wise, I was satisfied! The fried rice didn't look that nice but it was surprisingly tasty! The cabin comfort was decent and the crew was professional; these are important factors determining the kind of customer experience an airline provides to its customers, I am glad to say that MU has passed with flying colours on this flight.

----------

I have reviewed Taoyuan Airport quite a bit here. It's a pleasant airport and I really do like it a lot (but you can argue that I am biased). xD Everything was good and smooth that day so there's really nothing much to fault here.

----------

Shanghai Pudong Airport was relatively crowded that day, but I guess it was considered a really good experience already. (Just take a look at the next MU report in this series and you'd know why.) The Maglev service provides a decent and really efficient way to and fro the airport, so I'd argue that the airport's accessibility is good - there's also the Metro Line 2.

Information on the route Taipei (TPE) Shanghai (PVG)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 4 compagnies sur la ligne Taipei (TPE) → Shanghai (PVG).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est EVA Air avec 8.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 41 minutes.

  More information

5 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 156238 by
    dw55 45 Comments
    Nice report! Thanks for sharing! I really like your timelines. You keep track of time precisely!
    Service seems better than I expect too. Nice touch for the FA to remind you of your personal belonging.
    Looks like the FA handled the photo incident professionally. I would expect them to bark orders at you.
    I don't quite get the blue-red-blue color scheme. The ad right in front of your face looks quite annoying.
    No Taiwanese newspapers provided. - censorship?
    I have the same stereotype about Chinese airlines too. We gotta give them credit sometimes for good service.
  • Comment 156252 by
    Numero_2 TEAM BRONZE 10415 Comments
    Thanks Kevin !

    What ?? There's a Din Tai Fung restaurant at TPE Terminal 2 ??? How cool ! :)

    A MU aircraft coming from a busy airport like PVG can only be delayed. Haha
    I'm surprised that there's not a lot of freight to disembark in Taipei... On my TPE-HKG last September the BR A332 (coming from CAN) cargo hold was very full.

    Anyway, most of the meal (apart from the bottle of water) was prepared in Taiwan; so I guess that helped quite a bit in making our first meal on MU surprisingly tasty -> My experiences with BR have shown that the catering prepared in TPE was worse than the one from BKK or CDG... Sadly.

    I've flown MU just once back in 2012 from HKG to XIY and I can't say it was disappointing.

    Yeah the Maglev cabin is minimalist and the ride is quite bumpy in my souvenirs.
  • Comment 156544 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this FR!

    5 flights to get from SIN to PUS, that’s pretty non-direct, lol.

    TPE looks nicer on the inside after the remodel, but the spotting is still terrible.

    The MU seats look quite comfortable. I had this same style A333 when I flew PVG-HKG. NH domestic planes are the same way where there are only overhead monitors in the center sections. The catering looks good, very full tray for a flight of less than 2 hours. There is more food on this tray than US carriers offer on long-haul Y meals.

    I had the same weird observation about MU, I have no idea why they have the GolfEra magazine in their seatbacks. It sounds like the photography incident was handled well, better than my OZ incident where my camera was literally grabbed from me.

    A lot of people quickly stereotype the Chinese carriers, but I’ve yet to have a bad experience on CA and MU (never tried CZ yet). They aren’t fantastic experiences, but they are solid carriers that just come with a different type of service that is different than the other Asian carriers.
    • Comment 333872 by
      tn92 AUTHOR 173 Comments
      Thanks for sharing this FR!
      5 flights to get from SIN to PUS, that’s pretty non-direct, lol.
      Hi NGO85! Yeah, the itinerary was built up bit-by-bit. But I spent long enough in Taipei, Seoul and Busan so I guess I wasn't it transit all the time.

      TPE looks nicer on the inside after the remodel, but the spotting is still terrible.
      Yup, agree with this. It's the same for my home airport - SIN, really not easy to take nice photographs of aircrafts. (I always, always enjoy reading your spotting sessions in Japanese airports!)

      The MU seats look quite comfortable. I had this same style A333 when I flew PVG-HKG. NH domestic planes are the same way where there are only overhead monitors in the center sections.
      That seat was really not bad, and I wouldn't mind travelling a little longer on it. But... There's no PTV and this may put me off a lot. I believe these planes are mainly used on regional routes if I am not wrong.

      The catering looks good, very full tray for a flight of less than 2 hours. There is more food on this tray than US carriers offer on long-haul Y meals.
      I will finally get the chance to fly a AA domestic (also my first flight with an American carrier) this May. What should I expect? My flight's about 5 hours.

      I had the same weird observation about MU, I have no idea why they have the GolfEra magazine in their seatbacks.
      I wonder why... It might have been an advertisement too. We never know.

      It sounds like the photography incident was handled well, better than my OZ incident where my camera was literally grabbed from me.
      I read about your incident on OZ! (Read most of your reports but have not yet replied to many, my apologies. You can regard me as your loyal reader though =P) The OZ FA definitely did not keep her calm, I must say.

      A lot of people quickly stereotype the Chinese carriers, but I’ve yet to have a bad experience on CA and MU (never tried CZ yet). They aren’t fantastic experiences, but they are solid carriers that just come with a different type of service that is different than the other Asian carriers.
      Hmm... Also in May 2016, I will get to (FINALLY!) try JL's long-haul flight! My first flight on a Japanese carrier too. I guess I will be able to compare MU's service with JL's after flying 4-5 JL flights in May.

      Thank you for your comment!
    • Comment 333910 by
      NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
      What should I expect? My flight's about 5 hours.
      - A can of coke, lol. Maybe some peanuts if you are lucky. There is no domestic catering on flights in the US (regardless of duration, even a 8 hour flight like JFK-HNL gets nothing).

      JL's service will be better than MU's service. But MU's service will probably be better than AA's service.

Login to post a comment.