Welcome to this short report, the third leg of my recent trip to China.
This flight takes takes me from Beijing Capital to Xi'an with China Eastern. Below is the list of flights for this trip
MAN-AMS KL1082 - see here AMS-PEK CZ346 - see here PEK-XIY MU2106 - this report XIY-PEK MU2115 PEK-AMS CZ345 AMS-MAN KL1073
This was my first trip with colleagues where I have taken photos for a report. I was a little embarrassed about doing it and hence I didn't take as many photos as usual - sorry. To make up for it here's a few tourist bonus pictures of Beijing and the Great Wall of China. Beijing has plenty to see and I hope to go back there soon to have a look at a few other sights if I get the chance. I'll try not to go in July again as it was a little too hot for me at 38C. The only other problem is the large number of tourists where ever you go in the city. Luckily we chose a spot on the wall around three hours from Beijing which meant we had the place almost to ourselves which was fantastic.
Back to the flight report.
We arrived at the airport sing the metro and the airport express dropping us off at the terminal. Unfortunately, we weren't flying from the impressive Terminal 3, instead our flight was from the older Terminal 2.
I used the VIP check-in counter as I am Skyteam Priority, so check-in and security passed without too much hassle (sorry I was too embarrassed and busy sorting everyone out at this point to take photos).
Airside there are a number of restaurants including McDonalds.
There wasn't much for me to eat being vegetarian so I ended up with a (pretty rubbish) sandwich.
Here's the view
After a few more minutes our gate was called. We would be bussed to out lane for this flight.
When we arrived the gate was already showing final boarding. You have to be on the ball in this place.
Off we went
Here's our aircraft for today.
The welcome on board wasn't anything special.
I took my seat in 56J. They have a strange system of seat numbers. After two rows of "first class", the economy seats begin with row 30 seats A,B,C & ,J,K,L
The usual magazines and safety card were provided.
The safety information was given on a recorded video in Chinese and English
Take-off was approximately on time. Once we were up in the air the meal service began. The meal was of a decent size for such a relatively short flight. Unfortunately, the China Eastern website is almost impenetrable and I was unable to order a vegetarian meal (or pick seats) online. The only option would have been to call the airline in China, which I couldn't be bothered to do knowing the price of the call and potential lack of english spoken.
Here's the (meaty) meal which I passed to my colleague in exchange for another bread roll
The remainder of the flight passed without particular note, arriving on time in Xi'an
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Verdict
China Eastern
5.0/10
Cabin6.0
Cabin crew5.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering4.0
Beijing - PEK
7.0/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness7.0
Xi'an - XIY
6.8/10
Efficiency7.0
Access6.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness7.0
Conclusion
A pretty standard flight with China Eastern, the crew were average.
Terminal 2 at Beijing is ok, but could do with a wider selection of services.
The meal looked ok, but due to the terrible website I was unable to order a vegetarian meal so ended up with bread
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Thank you for this FR ! Very nice pictures of your trip. No need to be embarassed, it's a way of advertising our strange passion for travel ;) The terminal in PEK is unimpressive, it's a shame all the operations aren't grouped in the large T3. Nice A321 with sharklets and modern cabin. As usual Asian airlines provide a much better soft product with a proper meal. You couldn't do much about the lack of veggie options.
Thanks for this FR. Nice bonus. Beijing is city to visit in the fall or spring I guess. Chinese airlines all have impossible websites for non chinese speakers... Nevertheless the catering is good for such a flight.
Looks like a pretty complete FR to me! Everything is there that should be :-) Seems like good service for Economy, overall. Nice bonus pics. Seems like the weather was nice with no smog ^^ Thanks for sharing!
Which section of the Great Wall did you visit ? I do not recognize it. You were right not to go to the always overcrowded Badaling section, anyway.
So-called "Final boarding" can last quite a long time in China, in my experience.
Economy seats starts at Row 31 (not 30) in quite a number of Chinese airlines. My uneducated guess is that it helps the staff know at a glance if the seat is Economy or Business, no matter the type of aircraft.
I don't know if you can order a vegetarian meal on domestic flights. (I agree that MU's website is terrible) The one which was served was typical of a Chinese domestic flight.
The section of the wall I visited was the Jinshanling section about 130 km northeast of Beijing. I'd highly recommend it, some great scenery and some parts are less heavily restored which adds to the charm.
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173 reviews
10 Comments
Very nice pictures of your trip.
No need to be embarassed, it's a way of advertising our strange passion for travel ;)
The terminal in PEK is unimpressive, it's a shame all the operations aren't grouped in the large T3.
Nice A321 with sharklets and modern cabin.
As usual Asian airlines provide a much better soft product with a proper meal. You couldn't do much about the lack of veggie options.
Nice bonus. Beijing is city to visit in the fall or spring I guess.
Chinese airlines all have impossible websites for non chinese speakers...
Nevertheless the catering is good for such a flight.
The catering did look good, if only we got such things in Europe :(
Seems like good service for Economy, overall.
Nice bonus pics. Seems like the weather was nice with no smog ^^
Thanks for sharing!
I was quite lucky with the weather, the day I arrived was a little smoggy, but there was some early morning rain the next day which cleared the air.
You were right not to go to the always overcrowded Badaling section, anyway.
So-called "Final boarding" can last quite a long time in China, in my experience.
Economy seats starts at Row 31 (not 30) in quite a number of Chinese airlines. My uneducated guess is that it helps the staff know at a glance if the seat is Economy or Business, no matter the type of aircraft.
I don't know if you can order a vegetarian meal on domestic flights. (I agree that MU's website is terrible)
The one which was served was typical of a Chinese domestic flight.
Thanks for sharing !
I fully agree in recommending this section.
I fully agree with your recommendation.
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