Air China A330-200 business class

Originally published on businesstraveller.com 05/08/2009   RSS

BACKGROUND Air China offers 15 daily direct services from Beijing to Hong Kong, six of which are operated directly by the Chinese state-owned carried and the remaining nine are codeshared with Cathay Pacific and Dragonair. Unlike its Oneworld Hong Kong partners, Air China is part of Star Alliance and has its own Phoenix Miles programme. Hong Kong Express and China Southern also operate on this route.

CHECK-IN I arrived at Beijing’s still sparklingly new Terminal 3 from a hotel transfer car, which dropped me exactly at the entrance nearest the Air China desks. The Business Class queue was short and I was dealt with in a couple of minutes. I checked in my luggage requested a window seat and was allocated 14A. I headed through immigration and customs, which were mercifully easy compared to previous experiences at the older terminals, and took the shuttle train to the main gates.

Signage is always a problem in mainland China but I did eventually spot the signs for the business class lounge and took the escalator to the next level up. The lounge was very crowded but I found a seat. The lounge drinks and snacks offering appeared to be quite poor. Some of the better items turned out to be hidden around the back and I didn’t spot them until it was too late but nonetheless the seating was comfortable and staff regularly cleared tables.

THE SEAT The plane was an A330-200, with a 2-2-2 configuration in business class. Seat 14A is the last row in the first section of business class and so you have no one sitting behind you although you are next to the toilet and galley. The seat was a standard business class seat and not one of Air China’s newer products. The IFE was rather limited in choice so I used my iPod. Rows 11 to 16 are business class, offering a total of 36 business class seats on this 251-seater plane.

FOOD AND DRINK The main meal course was a choice of chicken noodles or fish and rice. The poultry dish was rather bland and disappointing. There was a variety of cheese and pre-wrapped crackers and a limited choice of flavours of Haagen-Dazs ice creams. Later there was fresh fruit and the offer of cognac. Flight attendants were attentive and helpful.

ARRIVAL Business class passengers were disembarked first and, within less than 25 minutes, I was on the Airport Express train heading toward Hong Kong Central.

PRICE Air China’s online booking offers Business Class return flights for HK$9,611 (US$1,240)

VERDICT Air China has some way to go to compete with DragonAir on this route. While the hospitality was warm, the poor foreign-language skills of the flight attendants can make for some awkwardness.

CONTACT airchina.com

Kenny Coyle