Review of Air China flight Beijing Harbin in Economy

Airline Air China
Flight CA1643
Class Economy
Seat 29A
Aircraft Airbus A321
Flight time 01:33
Take-off 26 Jul 19, 08:55
Arrival at 26 Jul 19, 10:28
CA 186 reviews
Harry_He
By 896
Published on 24th November 2019

Routing

  • CA984 - Economy - Los Angeles → Beijing - Boeing 777-300ER Past
  • CA1643 - Economy - Beijing -> Harbin - Airbus A321 You are here
  • CZ6269 - Economy - Harbin -> Xi'an - Airbus A320 Coming soon
  • CZ6270 - Economy - Xi'an -> Harbin - Airbus A320 Coming soon
  • ZH9621 - Premium Economy - Harbin -> Shenzhen - Boeing 737-800 Coming soon
  • CA769 - Economy - Shenzhen -> Los Angeles - Boeing 777-300ER Coming soon

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After my lovely 12 hour flight from Los Angeles, I have a 3 hour connection before flying home to Manchuria.


It said no picture on the gate but oh well didn't see it.


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Chinese immigration: Not friendly, but they can't deport me
American immigration: Friendly until they put me in the detention centre.


Beijing capital international airport terminal 3 international to domestic transfer


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Golly this airport is hot! (Not its appearance but its lack of air conditioning).


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Follow the domestic transfer sign. (No need to reclaim my bags since Air China would check them straight to my destination HRB.)


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Gotta swipe my boarding pass to get in the transit area.


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And it led up domestic security.


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Transfer done within 10 minutes!


tulip garden - beijing edition


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Well, I expected real tulip…


air china terminal 3c domestic lounge


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My mom went inside with her business class ticket. I have priority pass and a boarding pass in economy so I have to wait until 6am for it to open up for PP guests. (Second time she had abandoned me today)


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Thanks American Express. I saved $15 from eating airport food!



Decent lounge for domestic flights. My only complaint is that the fridge is not cold enough!


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Breakfast. Chinese tropicana comes in a glass bottle but no straw.  


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And ham sandwich with no ham and chinese yogurt with a straw that's too short for my tropicanna.


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I have a dream that one day passengers will be able to plane spot from longues. I have a dream that one day we will not have to choose between the lounge and the public area with no outlets to plane spot. I have a dream that one day PEK will take down those annoying steel glass frame.


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There is a map…


boarding


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Book store selling fancy airpods


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My gate was only a short 3 minute walk from the lounge. 


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Thundershower? Nah it's Manchuria we don't really care.


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Funny thing. When I booked the flight, the seat map showed a 332, and so did flightradar24. But it was changed into a 321 2 days before departure.


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You would think we're boarding from the jetbridge. 


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Brand new Air China A350-900.


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We didn't. Instead, we were put on a crowded bus with no AC to remote ramp.


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Here it's my ride today, a good old boring A321.


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Really hoping that one of them fall over so that I can enjoy real world dominoes.


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It may be boring but still billion times better than the plane I fly in the states (Cessna 172).


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ANA going to Japan. Coming soon March and April 2020.


air china a321 economy


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Metal tube for the next 2 hours or so.


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Legroom is wonderful. I really did wear matching clothes today!


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Non adjustable headrest but plenty of padding.


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Pushing Back


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And the passengers switched seats in the middle of pushback.


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FA did nothing to stop them.


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Spoilers checks. (Ugh dirty window)


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And we are off. WTH we took off on schedule? This never happens!


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Somewhere, China.


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Snack box on a 90 minute flight!


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I'll take the kit kat and the jelly. Not bad, eh?  
Exact same food serve on this very flight CA1643 last year…
https://flight-report.com/en/report/37179/air-china-ca1643-beijing-pek-harbin-hrb


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No entertainment onboard. I brought a magazine with me. It was hardly entertaining… 


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Before I knew it, we started our descent.


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On final for runway 23. Back to where I was 6 hours ago!


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Swift taxi to the terminal.


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Walked over to baggage claim. Bag came out 5 minutes after. I was already in the parking lot before our schedules arrival time. This trip has been so smooth and calm so far… 


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Welcome to Harbin, China!

See more

Verdict

Air China

8.5/10
Cabin9.5
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering10.0

Air China First Class Lounge - 3

7.5/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering7.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Services10.0

Beijing - PEK

8.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access9.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Harbin - HRB

8.1/10
Efficiency10.0
Access7.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness7.5

Conclusion

Easy transfer, decent lounge, painless domestic flight, and low fares. Thanks for another great trip Air China!
Coming November 2019
China Southern Domestic A320 Economy Class
"A trip to the terracotta warriors"

Information on the route Beijing (PEK) Harbin (HRB)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Beijing (PEK) → Harbin (HRB).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est China Southern avec 7.6/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 42 minutes.

  More information

1 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 532167 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6731 Comments
    Hey Harry, thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to see domestic China reports, especially since the products are so hit or miss depending on whether you get a newer aircraft or not...then again, it's exactly the same here in the US lol.

    Golly this airport is hot! (Not its appearance but its lack of air conditioning).

    This made me laugh because I always notice how warm airports feel outside the US. I guess I'm too used to the air conditioning being set to Arctic-Blast ❄ in the US haha

    WTH we took off on schedule? This never happens!

    A big win for a domestic China flight!

    The seats look nicely padded and the legroom looks really good. I would have though you were in the Extra Legroom seats up towards the front so was suprised to see you were in 29A.

    Thanks for sharing!

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