I was on the road again, this time I needed to work in Kunming for about 1 week. I took a taxi straight from work to the airport, taxi to airport from Taipei downtown costed me NT$900 with advanced reservation, it was about US$30, for a distance of 17Km ride, it is not expensive.



For some reason, I thought the departure time was 6:10pm, and I was wrong, it was one hour later 7:10pm. So the counter was not open for check-in the time I arrived. I went downstair to the food court for an early dinner.


Sichuan airlines uses TransAsia for their ground service. they had two entrances, one for group check-in, and another for everyone else. I was the only independent passenger at the time of check-in, all others were in group travel. The check-in service was mediocre, but she did asked me aisle or window seat, it was done quick and efficient.



The security check and immigration are on level 2.



I used the E-gate at immigration station.


On my way to the gate.






The boarding gate.


Single aisle aircraft Airbus 320 used on this flight, the boarding started with rear end rows passengers, I boarded on the last minutes as I had 4D seat. The leg space was really limited, the seat pitch is probably no more than 30 inches, judging by the space between my knee and the front seat. I am a short person, and I did not feel comfortable. There was no individual inflight entertainment system, I watched the program on overhead screen, and there was no headphone distributed.






After door closed, head flight attendant made a announcement that we were not leaving the gate for next 30 minutes due to heavy traffic in runway. During the waiting hour, FA offered warm water to passengers.

We finally took off, and soon dinner service started. We had choices of chicken rice or pork rice. The drinks selections were limited. The food tasted good.


The flight was peaceful, we landed at Kunming airport with more than 1 hour delay. Because we were the only oversea flight arrived, the immigration process was very quick, but we waited for more than 30 minutes at baggage claim for my checked bag.








(Airport name clarification) Kunming Changshui International Airport opened on June 28, 2012, replacing the old Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, which is demolished.
900 TWD to reach the airport is a decent fare.
Funny, I never realized there was a food court at level -1, probably because I never looked for some place to eat.
I made this ridiculously small double escalator in TPE famous in the FR community when I was based there :)
That seat pitch looks indeed very tight. The new KMG looks so huge and modern compared to the old airport I used shortly before it was decommissioned !
Thanks for sharing !
PS : the flight should be referenced 3U8958
Thanks for you comment, I have made a correction on flight number as you pointed out. One other thing is that he name of Kunming airport is wrong on the website. The new KMG airport has a new name of Changshui.
Thanks for taking care the name problem!
I forwarded your request for correction to the administrators of the website. I remember this issue, the problem was that Kunming did not change the IATA code of the airport, so KMG refers to both Wujiaba and Changshui. But the only reports posted on Wujiaba were mine, and I accept the wrong naming since there is no way around. A hypothetical writer of a FR landing landing at Kai Tak (the former HKG) would have the same problem.
Great photo report, I hope oneday I will visit to Sichuan to re-unite with my College best friend!!