Review of China Southern flight Zhengzhou → Chengdu in Economy

OK, let's face it, this vintage FR is not much of a report; I only translated it to complete the report of this triangular business trip from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China :)

Taipei - Zhengzhou : You were there
Zhengzhou - Chengdu : You are here
Chengdu - Taipei : You will be there

The telecommunication tower, seen from the expressway - it is not dark yet



Boarding is 30 minutes before departure



The plane is not pier-side, but it is not that cold. I am not the only one taking pictures



Once on board, the bad news is that it is an old 733, with a 28 seat pitch (I measured with makeshift tools - now I travel with a real measuring tape). It is really cramped, the laptop barely fits.



Note the seat numbering: in the entire China Southern fleet, the economy class starts at row 31, no matter if there are only two rows of business in narrow body planes on domestic routes. Being then FB Elite+, I am seated in the first rows in economy (this is actually the only tiny plus of FB in China, because this flight gets me peanuts in airmiles).



The second piece of bad news is that it is a much lighter meal than usual, possibly because it is late: only a piece of bread and a hot dish (compare with my other FR).



It would be unfair to claim a third piece of bad news: the relaxation exercises are not shown by the flight attendants, but only on the IFE. The passengers seem to be much less motivated compared to flight MU5702: few do them. Or maybe they simply prefer sleeping.



I did not know this massage could help counter colds



This picture was taken at 21:08: the plane is on time at destination, and it is again a remote parking stand.



The luggage is delivered at chute number 7, but I do not have any, and I exit by the nearest exit, before chute number 1. I look and look again for our driver, once again I can't find him (last time, he had the tiniest piece of paper in the hand, which was impossible to spot). A series of triangular phone calls in Chinese between his manager, him and I to eventually find each other (their thick Sichuan accent helped to put myself in the local setting). It was not his fault this time: he had seen on the display that the passengers of flight CZ3471 were arriving at Exit 2, at the far end of the luggage delivery room. But since I did not have any, I took the nearest exit, which was Exit 1. Chengdu is a major airport, with a continuous flow of incoming passengers: waiting until all passengers had left was not an option.