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ilikepeanuts flew China Eastern Airlines Business, on a A330-300 (18/06/2010 06:32)

China Eastern Airlines A330-300(A333) Business Class

First Impressions: Arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport at 1545 for my 1715 flight, which is plenty of time to kill. China Eastern does not provide any tranportation service for its First and Business class passengers, although you can check-in online no matter what class you're in.

Check-in: Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 2 is moderate size. Larger than Terminal 1 but smaller than Terminal 3. The check-in counters for Chin Eastern First/Business class passengers was almost just in front of the entrance I used to enter the Terminal. The counters were placed in an open-spaced room with bright lights and red carpet. Of course, there was no queue. The check-in service was sit-down, and the girls behind the counters were friendly but not efficient. They apparently do not have very high English level skills. I know mandarin, but as I was being dealt with at one of the counters, a blonde-haired woman came up to the counter next to mine, and I heard them talking. The blonde-haired woman couldn't make out one word the girl behind the counter was saying, and so couldn't I. The check-in for me took about 3 minutes, which is disappointing for one of the largest airline companies in China. I asked them where the lounge was, and headed towards the security-check.

The Lounge: After passing the security check, which was quite swift, I headed to the lounge. Entering the lounge, I discovered that it was actually quite small with not much seats. There was a food counter in a corner but I could see that there wasn't a large variety of food and drinks. The lounge was pretty crowded so it took me a while to find a seat. After I finally found one, I set down my carry-on backpack and went to the food counter. There wasn't much snacks to choose from, but quite a variety of drinks. For snacks, there were only some biscuits, crackers, and chinese candy. As for the drinks there were, Coke, Fanta, Sprite, etc., and coffee, tea, Soda Water, Apple Juice, Orange Juice, etc. I wanted a cup of coffee, but found out while pouring that there was only a drop left. So I pushed the dispenser for coke, only to find that it was actually Fanta that was coming out of it! I wanted to faint! The boarding announcement for my flight rang, I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door. Not very impressed with the lounge, so if you're going to use it, bring some snacks yourself.

Boarding: Having the priority to board first, I was expecting an air bridge at least, but bewildered at finding out that I will have to ride a shuttle bus to get to the plane. On the bus, I could see that this wasnt' going to be a full flight, since there was only about 10 people in the same bus as me, and there is, as I heard, 38 seats in business class on the Airbus 330-300 of China Eastern. We arrived at the plane a few minutes later, relieved that there were stairs leading to the entrance of the plane, and boarded.

The Seat: During check-in, I was lucky enough to recieve an aisle seat--2C, although I did not request it. Business class is in 2-2-2 configuration. My seat was dark blue-coloured with purple headsheets. You can recline the seat pretty far but of course not all the way down. There is a screen that blocks your view from others and a small built-in tray on the armrest. There is also a massage function on the seat and a miniature IFE screen on the back of every seat that can be controlled by a pull-out remote controller on the armrest. The table tray is also pull-outable. When I arrived at my seat there was already a pillow and blanket set on the seat (although I really don't see the point of it since the flight is only about 2 hours long). I put my backpack in the overhead luggage bin(China Eastern still hasn't got rid of that yet)and sat down. The seat was actually pretty comfortable for sitting, so was the massage, and just as I was getting settled, the Coach class passengers filed in the aircraft. The crew then passed out hot towels, juice, and newspapers (Chinese). Once everyone was settled, the plane started to taxi, a few seconds before take-off, I checked my watch. The plane was on time and punctual.

The Flight: As soon as we were airborne, the crew started serving dinner. I pulled out my tray table from the armrest, and the crew gently set a piece of yellow tablecloth on the table, and then the first cart carrying drinks rolled out of the galley. I ordered coffee, since I didn't get it in the lounge, and it was served in a real coffee mug. Then the second cart came out, serving us our meal. Slightly disappointed to see that the meal was served in a tray just like Coach, but also happy to see that the food was served in real plates with real silverware, unlike the aluminum bowls and plastic tableware. There was a choice of curry rice or noodles, and I chose curry. The main course, of course, was curry and rice, but it was accompanied with boiled shrimps and beef, and a sidedish of vermicelli+cucumber salad. The "dessert" was bread with butter plus fruits: kiwi(one thin slice), watermelon(two small blocks) and cantaloupe (one small block). So as you can see, China Eastern isn't very generous with their food and drinks. The food tasted all right, but the beef tasted a little overcooked and the rice is a little bit hard.

In-Flight Entertainment: Although I had my iPod, I decided to check out the IFE stuff. When you turn it on, it takes a long time for the program to load. And then you see the main menu. I checked out the movies. There were only 3 and were all Chinese with English subtitles. As for the games, they were all very old games, like Zuma, Vexed Diamonds, Sokoban, etc. So overall, the IFE system on China Eastern business is all right for short-haul flights but definatly not okay for long-haul flights. So if you're going on a long-haul flight on China Eastern, better bring your own something.

Overall: The seat and foods are all good, but needs improvement on IFE and the lounge.

claire715 flew China Eastern Airlines Economy, on a A330-300 (19/11/2009 06:18)

Can check in over-size luggage if overall luggage does not weight over 20kg.. no extra charge.

Flight delayed 1 hr..luggage delivery in Shanghai Hongqiao airport is very slow..

Had to wait 30mins to get luggage..

claire715 flew China Eastern Airlines Economy, on a A330-300 (19/11/2009 05:56)

Efficiently express service between Beijing and Shanghai..but always delayed between these two airports..

ffidrac flew China Eastern Airlines Economy, on a A340-300 (07/10/2009 18:15)

Words fail me - Beijing to London necessitated an across town race from the old Shanghai airport to the new one - with no advice as to how to do, customer service in the old airport saying catch the interairport bus (but no details of where it goes from).

Only consolation was arriving at the new airport 10 minutes before scheduled departure time and be allowed on the plane

As for the food - well be prepared. There are websites of photos previous passengers have taken of what is supposed to be food. In fact I think the photos were better looking than what was presented. Certainly had no idea as to what it was supposed to be

The old business class seating had ancient type entertainment (as bad as that on old United airlines)

Crew speak little English, safety briefing almost non-existent, only 2 bottles of wine for the whole business class cabin (which were consumed by Australians in the time it takes to drop a hat)

All of which makes Ryanair a luxury airline