China Eastern Airlines
China Eastern Airlines
Recently I have returned from a holiday taking in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China and Okinawa, Japan. I purchased a ticket for this trip with all flights with China Eastern Airlines and its sister company Shanghai Airlines. They offer great fares and also the connections are not too bad, so overall this is a good option for anyone seeking an inexpensive choice to Asia and also beyond.
Below is feedback on each flight taken:
21 Jul 12: MU738 – Melbourne, Australia to Shanghai Pudong, China
China Eastern use their sister carrier Shanghai Airlines on the route from Melbourne to Shanghai, and they operate a Boeing 767 Aircraft. On boarding I was surprised by the roominess of the aircraft. I was seated in Row 52C which is an aisle seat on a 2 seat configured aircraft. The space between my seat and the seats in front was more generous that on many other airlines. The flight time was around 11 hours and even tho we left on time the flight arrived 1 hour late due high winds. The flight was comfortable, the meals and drink offerings were ok, but in-flight entertainment was only via screens in the ceiling. The earphones did not work and the subtitles were too small. The films on offer were not western movies and they run several (propaganda style programmes extolling the Chinese Communist party) Apart from this the flight was actually quite good and the crew were helpful and friendly.
21 July 12: MU725 - Shanghai Pudong to Hong Kong
My first concern with the late arrival of the earlier flight and a 2 hour connection was that we might miss this flight. The crew of the first flight moved us to the front of the airplane to get off quickly. This was later not required as this flight to Hong Kong was late departing around 2 1/2 hours. Communication at the airport was almost zero so keeping up with what was happening required asking questions. Once we boarded the A320 aircraft all went ok. The seating was comfortable, not as generous as the previous flight however. The meal selection was same as the first flight pork with noodles or fish with rice. The flight arrived into Hong Kong around 2.30am and the airline kindly laid on free bus transfers to the city as the normal services had already finished.
25 July 12: MU722 Hong Kong to Shanghai Honqiao
This flight was to be operated by the airlines stretch Airbus variant the A321 and I was seated in row 38K. I was already expecting some issues with this flight as the day prior Hong Kong was hit with it’s worse cyclone in over 40 years, measuring a 10 on the scale. We arrived at the airport and proceeded to the boarding gate. This was an area made over to flights that were not using jetways, but were to be bus boarded. Already the whole area was completely full so finding seating was hard. There was virtually no communication, except for staff walking around advising of delays or to proceed to boarding. The problem was that they spoke so softly it was hard to follow, also the flight numbers were not displayed at the gates, until that flight was due to board. I enquired at the desk and was told that two other flights were to be boarded prior to ours, and this was about 15 minutes before departure time. The airline kindly gave everyone plastic capes as there was a torrential downpour going on outside. Eventually we were asked to board the bus 1 hour late which then took us to the aircraft. We took our seats and waited. After about 45 minutes with no announcements from the crew, people starting asking questions and for water. Eventually an announcement was made that there was congestion at the airport and that we would likely leave in 30 minutes. After 3 ½ hours total delay we took off for our flight to Shanghai. Again the aircraft was clean and comfortable, the meal offering again pork or fish and the same inflight entertainment of propaganda documentaries were played.
28 July 12: MU287 Shanghai Pudong to Okinawa, Japan
This flight was to be operated by an Airbus A319, bus on boarding was an A320 variant. I was seated in row 32C. Again no issues with the aircraft or seating. The flight actually pushed back 20 minutes early so I thought we would be early, but we waited about 30 minutes to take off on a very busy runway. The meal choice was again pork or fish and same entertainment. The flight arrived only 5 minutes late into Okinawa.
31 July 12: MU288 Okinawa to Shanghai Pudong
This flight today was being operated by an Airbus A320. I was already a bit nervous as when we arrived to check in there was noise of delays to flights. As we only had a 1 ½ hour transfer for our flight to Australia this didn’t look promising. There was confusion at the departures area security screening as announcements were made about a serious flight delay on another flight to Hong Kong. This then meant the queue disappeared. One annoying aspect was that passengers were being asked to remove any toiletries from their bags and place them in sealed plastic bags. They did not provide these however, and those passengers had to go back to the shops an buy them. This caused unnecessary delays when they could have given them out at the security area. The flight departed on time, was again clean and comfortable with the same food and entertainment offerings.
31 Jul 12: MU561 Shanghai Pudong to Sydney, Australia
We checked in for this flight in the transfer area, and then proceeded back through a security screening and to the gate area. The flight departed around 1 hour late again, and with again no communication. Once on board the Airbus A330-200 in row 62J I settled into my fairly roomy seat. The space was not as good as the first Shanghai Airlines flight, but was still as generous if not a bit more than most competitors. The aircraft was clean. The flight was around 10 ½ hours long and being a night flight allowed a chance to sleep. The meal offering was again pork and fish, and then breakfast was eggs or noodles. Entertainment unfortunately was the similar offering
Summary:
On the whole the flights and service were adequate and definitely good value for money. The Chinese airlines are targeting Australia heavily at the moment and many passengers are using them due to the low fares, and in general good connections. One my trip though 4 of the 6 flights had delays and two of those quite significant. The only issue for many western travellers is that communication in this instances is either not present or minimal and at times only in Chinese. The aircraft were all goo, clean and comfortable, but to entice western travellers and families with children they need to offer audio video on demand rather than a central TV. The problem is that many of the films were Chinese or old western, but when the headphones don’t work, or when the audio is in Chinese and you have to read the subtitles, then this is extremely hard on small TVs that had in the walkways. I think if they can concentrate on providing better in-flight entertainment and communicate with their passengers, both on the flight and on the ground then they would be a much more popular offering.