Just like my Qatar Airways trip to the States, not a great start.
About two weeks before that trip, I went on a school trip to Switzerland.
Every year, my school offers several destinations at the beginning of June, including Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, and destinations across China. Last year, I skipped Switzerland because it came with three hours of French lessons every day. But my friends who went got to fly Emirates, and I was jealous. So this year, I picked Switzerland.
At first, our teacher told us we would be flying Emirates. I was already looking forward to trying the A380 and the retrofitted 777. Unfortunately, because of the conflict in the Middle East, the flights had to be changed to Air China instead. I really wish there were no conflict. If everything had gone as planned, I would've been flying an Emirates A380 and retrofitted 777.
But at least we ended up on Air China's newest widebody, the A350, instead of one of their crappy old A330s or 777s.
Since it was a long flight, I also paid an extra 1,600 RMB ($236.22 USD) for exit row seats for the round trip. Definitely worth it.
A LOOOOOOONG TIME
Check-in was an absolute mess. The line was ridiculously long, and it took almost an hour just to get my boarding pass.
Then, just when I thought we were finally done, we had to wait for almost another hour because one student thought he could enter Switzerland visa-free. Turns out he couldn't.
So all of us ended up sitting on the floor, waiting for almost another hour. And In the end, he didn't make it to Switzerland.
There was a Lawson nearby, so I bought a pack of gummy bears and a braised egg.
Finally, after the student's parents came to pick him up and take him home, we were able to head to security.
And guess what? The security line was also looooooong. More waiting… exactly what we needed after everything that had already happened.
After security, we took the AirTrain over to immigration. Luckily, that part was pretty straightforward.
For me, immigration was pretty quick because I have a Chinese Permanent Resident Card, so I could use the Chinese citizen lane. That line was much faster than the regular foreign passport line.
Unfortunately, I still had to wait for everyone else, which took quite a while. I also wasn't allowed to walk around the terminal to do some planespotting. We had to stay together right after immigration and wait for the rest of the group.
Kind of a shame, because PEK's international concourse is a great place for planespotting.
BOARDING
By the time everyone finally got through immigration, boarding had already started, so there was no extra time for planespotting :(
Here she is, B-1083. This aircraft used to have the Expo 2019 special livery, but it got repainted back into the normal Air China livery in late November 2019 😭
This was my second time flying on this aircraft. The first time was back in August 2024, on a flight from Beijing to Shanghai.
Here's what it used to look like.
WOW
2 AM… finally made it to my seat, 49L.
Look at all this legroom!
This is the best Economy seat on the plane, and honestly, it was a great investment. For a long-haul flight, having this much extra space makes a HUGE difference.
The IFE screen is stored under the armrest. The size is pretty good, and its Air China's newest red-themed system. The interface looks much newer compared to their crappy old A330's. I still remember the old screens on those aircraft overheating.
The tray table is also stored in the armrest. It's foldable and has a pretty good size.
There are also some quick controls on the armrest for the lights, calling the crew, and changing the IFE volume. Exclusive for bulkhead and exit row seats.
A blanket, pillow, eyemask, earplugs, and headphones were also provided.
The headphones though… 🤮🤮🤮
Alright, now let's talk about the downsides.
First, because this is an Exit Row seat, the cabin crew sits right in front of me during takeoff and landing. Kinda awkward and embarrassing.
Also, even though the recline is pretty good, I had to pull the seat back myself for it to return upright.
These are just small downsides though. Overall, this is a very good seat.
IFE
After takeoff, I got to see the beautiful sunrise outside the window!
Okay, moving on to the IFE.
The IFE is really responsive, has a good amount of content, and the flight map is pretty nice. China Eastern and China Southern have exterior cameras on their A350s, but Air China doesn't have them. Would have been really cool to see the camera view during takeoff and landing.
Also, there was a small bug. I chose English, but when I opened the flight map, it showed Chinese at first. The second time I opened it, it switched back to English.
Air China's A350s are also the only aircraft in their fleet that have actual Wi-Fi. It's free, but only messaging is supported.
Sadly, I couldn't use it for most of the flight because we were flying over Russia.
LATE NIGHT SNACK
Because it was 3 AM, we got a light meal.
There were two choices: a hot dog or a Mexican wrap. I went with the hot dog. It came with some mysterious potato salad, cantaloupe, and butter, but no bread. Kinda weird. And for the drink, I got orange juice.
The potato salad looked mysterious, but actually tasted pretty good. The hot dog was the same one I had on my first solo trip from Beijing to Hangzhou on Air China’s COMAC C919. It kind of tasted like a Starbucks panini. The hot dog was a solid 10/10.
WC
After the meal service, I went to check out the "First Class Suite," aka the lavatory.
It was pretty basic, but clean.
MORE FREE FOOD 😃
After sleeping for a few hours, I took a short walk around the cabin and was pretty surprised to find a mini snack bar in the galley stocked with snacks and water.
I wasn't even hungry, but hey, it's free.
MEAL TIME AGAIN
I got the teriyaki chicken with Coke. The sides were the same as the last meal: the mysterious potato salad and cantaloupe. The only difference this time is that there was bread, so the butter finally had a purpose. 😂
The bread tasted like typical airplane bread, nothing special. Also, the Coke was only a small cup. C’mon man, other airlines give you a whole can.
The main course looked pretty plain, but it tasted pretty good.
IFE HAVING A BAD DAY
So I noticed two bugs with the IFE.
First, when I exited the IFE, my movies disappeared. Luckily, they came back after I restarted the system.
Second, when we passed Finland, the flight map froze and basically stayed like that for the rest of the flight. It only came back to normal when we started descending.
Not a big deal, but still annoying.
NEW CONTINENT UNLOCKED: EUROPE
Okay, so that flight went by quicker than I thought. We were already getting ready to land.
The views outside were beautiful.
Taxi time was unusually short.
A final look at B-1083.
Etihad A321LR from Abu Dhabi.
I was surprised by how small the airport was. I thought it would be much bigger since Geneva is Switzerland's second-largest city.
Even though the airport was small, customs still took quite a while.
