Review of China Eastern flight from Singapore to Shanghai in Economy

CES

MU - China Eastern

Flight taken on 20 December 2017
MU544
00:25 05h 15m 05:40
Class Economy
Seat 67C
FiamaArin
5,604 · 37 · 6 · 6

SIN - PVG MU Y / A330-200: HERE
PVG - FUK MU Y / B737-800: Link
FUK - PVG MU Y / A321-200: Link
PVG - SIN MU Y / A330: Link
Two weeks after returning from Tokyo, I'm headed off to Japan again. This time, I'm heading to the southern island of Kyushu. I stayed at the cities of Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Beppu.
China Eastern Airlines
MU 544
Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN) - Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)
A330-200
B-6538 in SkyTeam Livery
Economy Class
Gate B6

China Eastern flies to Singapore four times daily with MU566 and MU544 within 2 hours of each other at around midnight.


photo img_9630

Boarding Pass for this sector. MU is becoming my most flown airlines, accounting for a third of all my reports so far.


photo img_9631

Crossing airside to rest at the gate for this red-eye flight.


photo img_9634photo img_9635

The FIDS at Terminal 3 of Changi.


photo img_9638

We arrived early at gate B5/B6 and they were currently processing SQ passengers bound for LHR. We had to wait for our turn at enter the waiting area.


photo img_9641

The waiting area of gate B6. There are several places for passengers to charge their devices and a drinking fountain .


photo img_9645

Our bird for this flight. An A332 in SkyTeam livery.


photo img_9644

Boarding commences are we take the aerobridge down to the plane.


photo img_9646photo img_9647

Both Chinese and English newspapers are available for passengers at the door.


photo img_9650

We pass through the J-cabin which was completely empty at this moment.


photo img_9651

And into the Y-cabin of the plane. The seats are arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration. MU's cabin looks plain and the blue seats just seem generic compared to other airlines.


photo img_9652photo img_9654

Taking my seat, I find the seat comfortable enough and the IFE is sufficient for the flight although I suspect I will be sleeping for most of it. On a side note, the IFE remote was slightly faulty as several buttons were not working and the touchscreen was misaligned as pressing the spot on the screen will not correspond to the button you would want to press.



A quick POV shot.


photo img_9662

I decided to take a quick trip to the lavatory before the flight. It's clean with all the basic amenities.


photo img_9658

MU's IFE interface and the flight information. I really like the system used in MU's IFE as it is much more detailed compared to the older generation IFE systems.


photo img_9666photo img_9661photo img_9665

The seatback materials include an airsickness bag, IFE guide, Duty-free catalogue and safety information card.



A view of the cabin after take-off as a passenger retrieves her bag from the overhead bin.


photo img_9673

The meal options on this flight are rice with fish or mushroom pasta. Both mains are served with sides of cut fruit, prawn salad, a bun and drinks. The meals are sufficient but quite poor compared to other carriers.


photo img_9674photo img_9675

The crew collected the meal trays and served another round of drinks before dimming the cabin lights.


photo img_9677

As expected, I fell asleep for most of the flight and only woke up when the plane had already touched down.


photo img_9678photo img_9680

After a fairly long taxi, we reach the remote stand and passengers begin to grab their belongings and disembark. I had forgotten that Shanghai would be cold and my coat was in my check-in luggage so I had to endure the cold wind in my T-shirt.


photo img_9682photo img_9683photo img_9684

A final look at our plane from the ground.


photo img_9685
Display all

Product ratings

Airline

China Eastern 7.1

  • Cabin7.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew7.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering7.0 / 10
Departure airport

Singapore - SIN8.6

  • Efficiency9.0 / 10
  • Access8.5 / 10
  • Services8.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.5 / 10
Arrival Airport

Shanghai - PVG6.8

  • Efficiency6.0 / 10
  • Access7.0 / 10
  • Services7.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness7.0 / 10

Conclusion

A very average flight on this sector. Nothing special to talk about or discuss. I guess MU is just providing the most basic service at the lowest cost to expand their market share.

Did you enjoy reading this?

Let the author know by sharing a clap! It will be greatly appreciated!

6 Clap

FiamaArin 's latest reviews

Comments (6)

  • Thanks for this FR.

    Basic meal but the seat looks comfy enough.

    I guess MU is the cheapest non -LCC option to get to Japan.

    • Hi KL651,

      Thanks for reading my report! MU's seat is decent enough. I've taken this route enough times to know what to expect.

      MU probably has the best timings as well for the price. I've seen VN with better prices but their layover is almost 10hr long.

      Thanks,

      FiamaArin

  • Hi FIAMAARIN, enjoyed your report as usual. Beautifully photographed as always! MU, like many of the Chinese carriers, is nothing fancy but seems to get the job done with a decent product at a good price. A short red-eye like this is rough, so I commend you on a thorough report--and still being able to fit in some sleep! I probably would have fallen asleep the second my butt hit the seat.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Hi Kevin,

      Thank you once again for coming to read my reports. I think I'm about to be too old to continue doing this but I'll do my best to provide the best reports I can.

      Thanks,

      FiamaArin

  • Hi! can i ask if the IFE system onboard china eastern is 1 pin or 2 pins (like if i bring my own earphones would i require an adapter) Thanks!

    • It depends on the cabin. The newer cabin used a 1 pin while the older cabin uses a 2 pin. It would be safer to bring an adapter just in case.

Login to post a comment.
Hi, it seems that you are using an ad blocker.

Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist.
We understand that ads can be annoying, this is why we only display a maximum of 2 non-invasive ads per page.
 
To continue using Flight-Report, we invite you to add Flight-Report to your blocker's "white list".
 

I have added Flight-Report on my white list

 
How to add Flight-Report to my white list?