NAVJOT SINGH - WRITER & PHOTOGRAPHER

Route: Hong Kong to London Heathrow Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 15th January 2009 at 23:55pm

Flight Number: CX251

Flight duration: 13 hours 05 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 747-400

Punctuality of the flight:

The plane departed bang on time and landed around 5 minutes prior to the listed arrival time. In terms of punctuality, you cannot get any better than this.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, smiled and very professional. There was no problem what so ever. I had arrived around two hours before departure.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (Coca Cola, Orange etc.) were all branded under the Cathay Pacific Logo. A lovely choice of Whiskey, Vodka, Beer and Cognac were also on offer. Oh, you cannot resist those tempting pretzels for the flight. The packaging is all branded in the Cathay Pacific logo.

Comments regarding the First meal:

Dinner was served around 40 minutes’ after departure from Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific doesn’t disappoint when it comes to in-flight meals’. The main dish consisted of Sweet and Sour Pork served with boiled white rice and some vegetables’. The Pork could be described as being scrumptious- just right and not too touchy with the oil either. The rice was perfect- not the kind of gooey type that some airlines offer as part of their in-flight meals.

A lovely Tuna Salad was provided with freshly cut olives (only two of them) and slices of apples. It’s not too often that a non-tinned Tuna is served at 37,000feet.

For the desert Cathay Pacific provided a bright Tangerine covered sponge cake blended in with a slight hint of mango. That glistening touch of an Orange on the top of the cake was just perfect. What’s more is that nothing tasted well than having a short Dairy Milk Chocolate bar. Hey, come on, I’d been living in China for like 6 months without any Cadbury’s Chocolate and so this was a sheer treat at 37,000feet.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Alcohol was served.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Passengers’ could help themselves to “Pot Noodles”, Arnott’s “Tim Tam” Chocolates and Arnott’s Biscuits’.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

Cathay Pacific feeds you like there is no tomorrow! A delicious breakfast was served at around an hour and a half prior to landing at Hong Kong airport. The main dish contained a fabulous Spanish omelette made up of Red and Green Peppers, a lovely portion of button Mushrooms and two neat slices of British bacon. For a One World airline like Cathay Pacific this was one of the best breakfasts’ I have had on a flight. Accompanying the meal was an attractive looking pot of Strawberry Yogurt.

As with all airline meals there was a pot containing a few fresh slices of fruit- including those cute Tangerines (and yes, they were fresh).

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The IFE system of this flight was full of an interactive extravaganza of movies and songs.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The staff were very professional, always had a smile on their faces and were quick to respond to any kind of request from the passengers. The meal and the drinks were served at the right time without any delay. The beauty of the meal service was that the timing between the main meal and the drinks serving was timed perfectly so that passengers would not need to finish eating their meal in order to get the drink. So the drinks arrived just in time after the meal.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps have mood lighting when the aircraft is flying in between different time zones (morning, afternoon and evening) - hey, I could honestly find nothing else wrong with this flight!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Boeing 747-400 was clean, and had a fresh smell. The seats were coloured in the Cathay Pacific green colour. The aisles were also clean. In the toilets, Cathay Pacific uses toiletries provided exclusively by “Murad” (Refreshing Cleanser, Vitamin C “Body Cream”, and “Perfecting Night Cream”).

For this long haul flight each passenger was treated to a sleeping bag that contained a pair of socks, eyeshades and a tooth care bottle (Containing Toothbrush and Toothpaste).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10

Route: Beijing Nanyuan Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 16:20pm on the 19th November 2010

Flight Number: KN2275

Flight duration: 3 hours 10 minutes (excludes the 3 hour delay to the flight!)

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-800

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight was delayed by over 3 hours without any reason given- it finally departed at 7.20pm. Nanyuan Airport lies around 7km to the south of Beijing’s central area. The airport is an active military aviation field, and even houses the President’s aircraft- including 2 Russian built Tupolov Tu-154 aircraft. It’s only recently that Nanyuan Airport started operating civilian flights using Boeing 737-800 aircraft for China United Airlines. Nanyuan Airport also has a kind of real hardcore communist feel to it- by this I mean the airport portrays an image of how airports’ in the communist era may have been like. The Arrivals and Departure lounges look almost ancient with period furniture, the waiting lounge makes you feel as if you have come back to the 1930s age of flying- Fans gently rotating on the ceiling instead of modern air conditioning, staff hardly speak any English, and toilets are anything but clean (lack of washing up liquid or tissue paper). This example is perfectly displayed with its open large windows with wooden frames, a non-interactive atmosphere (there is hardly any modern technology to display flight times- almost all flight times are displayed using magnetic strips onto a board, the majority of the staff walk around wearing military uniforms (including some of the Pilots of China United Airlines) and there is hardly any choice for decent quality food as well (fancy buying a Green Tea bottle for 8RMB? (Approx 1.4 USD).

I actually found out in the end that it wasn’t just flights at Nanyuan Airport that were experiencing major delays’ but also flights at the main airport (Beijing Capital) were also experiencing problems due to heavy fog, and air traffic problems in the region.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, and professional. However, they could not speak proper English- it was barely minimal conversational English. All I got was a mumble and a random smile because the Check-in-staff were embarrassed at their lack of communications skills in English.

Comments regarding the pre-flight delay Service:

Passengers were treated to a very OILY dinner (served at around 6.15pm). It was so oily that the food shone like a gem in the Gobi desert even if I did not use the flash from the camera lens. I, along with the other unfortunate passengers that had lined up to take this miserable flight, had been left with only two choices- either to wait for to eat on the plane (and at this moment I was not aware if food would be served on China United Airlines or not), or to tuck into the Oily food and prey that I wont have to frequent the toilets the following morning.

I decided on the latter- I was yearning for something to eat (really). When you look at the food, it really makes you wonder- do I actually want to eat this?! There was a piece of round Tofu, some pork meat, vegetables and some cucumber with cubed tofu. The meal was served with boiled white rice. The only good thing about this meal was the rice. Everything else seemed like an experiment to cook by whoever had been put in charge of the kitchen. I started growing more suspicions’ about the effectiveness of staff at Nanyuan Airport- something surreal lied behind those rotten walls of this communist airport. A good chef always tastes the food prior to serving it to the guests- I wonder how much of this food did the chef actually taste. It seemed rather unfit for human consumption. You can imagine the headlines’ across the world had this gone horribly worse than it already did: “Passengers fall sick while waiting for delayed flight” and so on.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola). There was no alcohol served on this flight. The coffee was already mixed with milk and sugar; so there was no choice for passengers that did not prefer to have milk or sugar with their coffee. 

Comments regarding the First meal:

To my surprise there was a full service dinner served on this flight- and it was much better than most of the other flights I have taken with any other airline in China (even Air China).

The main dish was nothing short of being scrumptious. It consisted of delicious Cod fish balls blended in neatly with boiled white rice and vegetables. It was not oily at all- and not too soft to the mouth either. The Fish balls were delicious. There was also a blend of cubed carrots and green shoots in the meal.  

With the main dish came a box full of “goodies”, including a Packet of Peanuts (tasted nice and freshly roasted), a Packet of Chinese Pickle, a soft bread roll (just lovely), a biscuit sprinkled with Sesame and a pot of freshly cut cubes of Pineapple and Orange blended in with a sweet syrup.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Again no alcohol was served.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

In this 737-800 the only IFE was the overhead PVTs that came down prior to take off (to show the safety demonstration). During the flight there was no IFE system in place. The

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

All the cabin crew could speak good English- up to an understandable level.  

Improvements that could be made:

There were no major issues when it came to the subject of excellent airline crew, the in-flight meal and the comfort of the flight. However, there are some serious concerns in terms of the facilities that were offered by this airline at the airport.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The aircraft is a brand new plane, and the interior of the aircraft was clean. There was no bad smell as well. In fact China United Airlines’ have gone to great lengths to make themselves have a good image with the customer- well they have to because they are a government owned airline (much more so closer to the government than the other state owned airlines (such as Air China))

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):8

Route: Funchal International Airport (Madeira Island) to London Gatwick

Departure date and time of flight: 16:00pm on the 4th of August 2009

Flight Number: TP0348

Flight duration: 3h 45m

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A320-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed from a very quite Funchal Airport on time, and landed at Gatwick without any delays.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

Checking in at Funchal seemed very straight forward. The airport is not that busy- with the majority of the flights being intended within Europe. The majority of the flights are charter flights for tour operators, and not scheduled flights as one would expect from an international airport.  

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola), and wine. Champagne was also offered.

Comments regarding the First meal:

Lunch was served around 35 minutes after departure. The meal seemed to be fresh because the flight departed from its home base. For starters there was a fabulous Penne Pasta Salad (blended in with Black Pepper and some boiled vegetables), and a soft bread roll served with a small amount of Portuguese butter. The main dish contained fish with boiled rice and a dish consisting of a Spanish Omelette. The beautiful thing about this meal was that it was not messy. What I mean by this is that a passenger that is eating this meal would be able to eat the contents without spilling the all over the place (as it usually happens on a flight!). The fish was delicious- neatly dressed in a thick tomato and herb sauce.

To polish off the meal, a lovely thick cubed shaped rich fruit cake was served. All that was missing was a hot custard or chocolate sauce to top the cake.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal- this also consisted of wine and Champagne.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

Only the overhead PVT screens were in place.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The Cabin Crew were very professional and polite. Despite the flight being full, there was certain calm in the cabin- no noise, no complaints. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

This was a great flight, and on such a short flight, it is difficult to find any faults. Everything was just fine.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The A320 has a standard 3-3 configuration for Economy class and 2-2 for Business Class. TAP Air Portugal has a clean and fresh looking interior. The airlines colours of lime Green and Red are portrayed on the design of the seats. The seats are very comfortable, with a recline enough to stretch the legs during the short haul flight (although it can be sometimes classed as Medium Haul because it approach almost 4 hours)

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10

Route: Beijing Capital to Kunming International

Departure date and time of flight: 14:30pm on the 17th November 2009

Flight Number: CA4170 (Operated by Shandong Airlines on behalf of Air China)

Flight duration: 3 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-800NG

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Beijing Capital Airport. I was on a transit flight in from the UK with Air China, and so this was a code share flight with Air China.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including Tea and Coffee.  

Comments regarding the First meal:

All we got was a Chinese style “Burger”. What seemed like a hard labour’s effort of the Air China chefs’ to create the perfect in-flight burger turned into a disaster. It tasted more like one of those deep fried Potato pastries. No wait a minute, it tasted more like an expired hot dog. I took one bite and that was enough. Air China and their partners’ Shandong Airlines have a long way to go in terms of in-flight food.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No Alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The Cabin Crew were OK and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

The in-flight food drastically needs be improved for a flight of 3 hours. Just an attempt at serving a hot Chinese style burger does not seem to justify the costs that people are paying for this flight (or any flight that is over 3 hours). It was horrible.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort):

The 737-800 plane had a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all economy seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):3

Route: London City Airport to Manchester Ringway International

Departure date and time of flight: 16th March at 07:50

Flight Number: VG210 (Has a VLM Code but was operated by CityJet). At the time of the flight, the airline was just known as VLM, however now it has merged with CityJet.

Flight duration: 1h 10m (excludes the 15 minute delay to the plane)
Class: Economy

Aircraft type: A Fokker 50 aircraft was used for this route (these have now been phased out of the fleet).

Punctuality of the flight: The flight departed around 5 minutes late because there was a delay in the in-coming flight, and so this had a domino effect for flights going back to Manchester. Interestingly enough, the flight back to Manchester only took around 25 minutes from London LCY.

Any baggage issues: There were no baggage delays on this flight.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

No issues. London City Airport is an airport which predominantly caters for the business community- with the close proximity to Canary Wharf, and the Square Mile. The beauty of departing from London City Airport is that no matter what the time of the day it is and irrespective of how busy the airport terminal is, the process of catching a flight seems to be a very smooth one. There is no rush and no long queues for check-in or security. Indeed, most of the time you can easily complete the whole process, right from Checking-in to the waiting lounge, in around 10-15 minutes.  

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola)

Comments regarding the First meal:

The passengers were treated to a cold Bap consisting of Salami meat and salad. Simple, easy and neat. Only took a few bits to finish it off!

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the sandwiches.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Lovely Fox’s Boiled sweets were offered by the Cabin Crew

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

Very professional and polite.

Improvements that could be made:

This was a great flight, and on such a short flight, it is difficult to find any faults. Everything was just fine.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Fokker 50 aircraft is tiny....with a seat configuration of 2-2 it was still a bit uneasy to cram into the seats. The seats themselves are narrow and seem rugged.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):8

Route: Shanghai Hongqiao to Guangzhou Baiyun International

Departure date and time of flight: 19:45pm on the 23rd December 2009

Flight Number: CZ3504

Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 777-200LR

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Hongqiao Airport. I find the operations at Hongqiao much more efficient than those at Pudong Airport. It’s not that busy, which makes it easy for the speedy whisk through security and onto the departure gates.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including Tea and Coffee.  

Comments regarding the First meal:

The dinner box contained the following interesting items: Apple Chips (tasted more like Wine flavoured crisps), a plain and boring bun, a few slices of melon and a packet containing preserved spicy pickle which you can put onto the main food. The main hot dish contained a very generous portion of healthy Chicken noodles and vegetables. The food did not look edible, but in saying this I was impressed with the taste of the Chicken noodles- not bad actually (though it did look like as if someone had stamped their feet onto the chicken noodles).


Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No Alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The Cabin Crew were OK and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

I cannot really comment much on the in-flight food or the environment because it was not a long flight. But it was OK for a short 2 hour flight- all I can say is that I had a good sleep when I went home and I had no stomach problems.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The 777-200 plane had a seat configuration of 3-4-3 with an all economy seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too. It was not full at all. Not bad a flight after all. The crew were friendly too.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):7 (sorry but the food lets the flight down)

Route: Shanghai Pudong Airport to Beijing Capital

Departure date and time of flight: 22:25pm on the 13th August 2006

Flight Number: CA1856

Flight duration: 2hours 05 minutes (With delay it was 4 hours 10 minutes!!)

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 767-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed two hours late- no reasons given. All the passengers were asked to sit and just wait. They put on “Tom and Jerry” on the IFE screens to keep everyone amused!

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. I took the Maglev train from downtown Shanghai to Pudong airport, and arrived well in advance.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Drinks (including Alcoholic – only Tsingtao Beer!), and including Tea and Coffee.  

Comments regarding the First meal:

Just a packet of Peanuts and a biscuit. It wasn’t enough to fill.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No Alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The Cabin Crew were OK and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps have more cleaner toilets, and a better in-flight service.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort):

The 767-200 aircraft had a seat configuration of 3-3-3 with an all economy seat set up. The plane was not clean and the toilets were not clean too. All in all it was a bad experience for all the passengers on this flight. We arrived in Beijing at 2 in the morning.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):2

Route: London Heathrow Airport to Beijing Capital Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 17th November 2009 17:40pm

Flight Number: CA938

Flight duration: 10 hours 20 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A330-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (Coca Cola, Orange etc.) were all branded under the Air China logo. Alcohol was also served on this flight (including Tsingtao Beer!)

Comments regarding the First meal:

Dinner was served around an hour after take-off. The main dish consisted of sweet & sour Pork served with boiled white rice and a few sticks of Pea Pods. The Pork looked as if someone had stamped on it. Mind you this food was not freshly packed at Heathrow, but in fact was the stored food on the flight that had come in from Beijing that same afternoon. So actually the “Dinner” which I was about to put down my throat was around about 24 hours old- hope that puts things into perspective! It didn’t taste as bad as it looked- let’s just keep it at that for now. The pork blended in nicely with the sauce and the rice. The accompanying dishes were made up of a salad bowl (nothing special by Air China except that there was a splosh of mayonnaise cream along with the single slice of cucumber and a single Tomato slice (yep, apparently that’s meant to fill in for your Healthy options!!).

Oh, you wouldn’t want to know what was in for a dessert- would you? Well, it was meant to be an Apple Crumble, but one that had gone horribly wrong. Because the in-flight meal had been stored in the aircraft’s fridge, so when the crew served the meals, they somehow forgot to “thaw” the Apple Crumble that had been in the fridge. So what you had was passengers’ being served a very cold (and slightly hard to bite) Apple Crumble that had been not only in the fridge but also had been exposed to sub-zero temperatures while it had been in the hold (because the flight route in from Beijing took the plane over Siberia and Russia etc). Can it get any worse? Can you imagine if the passengers had any health problems in international airspace, and if the pilot had to do a diversion, and the amount of millions it would have cost the airline?

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

Breakfast was served around about two hours before landing (too early I think). Looking at the quality of the Omelette, the Chicken Nuggets and the Sausage- this meal was again packed and stored onto the aircraft in Beijing and not in London. There was nothing “fresh” about this meal. The Omelette tasted as if it had been in the fridge for some time. Serving Chicken Nuggets in an in-flight meal is not the best thing because fried food tastes bland and very chewy at 37,0000feet!! Another bad innovation by Air China’s in-flight catering department.

A delicious pot containing Strawberry Yogurt was served with the meal. This could easily have been a substitute for the highlight of the whole in-flight food service on this flight! The lovely bowl of fresh fruit was also very good. Presentation could easily have been better for Air China’s international service- I mean; come on this is a national flag carrier of one of the biggest countries on this planet! The slightly soggy tasting Croissant was not too bad either.

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The A330 aircraft had a back seat IFE system- however to my surprise not many of the channels worked. In fact, the only English Channel that worked was the BBC Radio Worldwide Service; and the rest were Chinese songs and movies. There were no games to be played. Having looked at the in-flight magazine, I could see that not everything advertised was available on the IFE.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

For the international flight, all the staff could speak adequate levels of English, and were very professional. The highlight of the flight was when the majority of the Economy class staff gathered around me whilst I was taking photos of the lovely mountains over the Gobi Desert and over the outskirts of Beijing.

Improvements that could be made:

Whilst the toilets were clean, however the cabins were filthy and need to be cleaner. The seat IFE needs to be maintained properly. The in-flight food is a disgrace; however I fear that this would not improve as it’s the same for most Chinese airline companies. Rather scary but upon our arrival in Beijing (whilst on the ground and taxiing to the terminal) our aircraft electricity failed for around 5 minutes- thank god this did not happen whilst in flight!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The aircraft was not clean at all. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, the cabin had a strong stench of urine and an air of discomfort. It was the kind of smell you may have got on an Old Russian Aeroflot Il-62 or Il-86 aircraft! The seats were comfortable but for some reason there was a smell of urine everywhere, and I wonder why.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):5

Route: Beijing Capital Airport to London Heathrow Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 24th November 2009 at 12:35pm

Flight Number: CA937

Flight duration: 11 hours 20 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A330-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time; however we landed around 20 minutes late because of the afternoon traffic at Heathrow.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (Coca Cola, Orange etc.) were all branded under the Air China logo. Alcohol was also served on this flight (including Tsingtao Beer!)

Comments regarding the First meal:

Lunch was served almost straight after take off (say around about 20 minutes). This was a good thing because that gave plenty of time for the passengers to have a good rest for this rather long flight (also taking into account that for the flight to London we had to add an hour because there is no trailing jet stream to help us).

I couldn’t help resist to see what was in store for me when I got my meal. It was the kind of feeling one would get when you are presented with a gift or a surprise toy whilst at school. Well, after opening the package of the main meal, I could not help but think why on earth did I travel by Air China. When one looks at the quality of the food you wonder why did manage to travel by Air China!

Hey, I am not going to moan about everything, and yes, the presentation was good. However, just take a look at the main dish and you will see if I have anything interesting to write about. The main course was Chicken, boiled potatoes and mushrooms with rice and some boiled lettuce- nothing exciting and certainly not tasty enough. But it was filling for the stomach. There was a delicious salad (always is delicious) with a cherry tomato (always with just ONE cherry tomato!) and some shredded cucumber and lettuce. There were two round slices of Salami as well- Not bad.

In true Chinese style of meals there was no real dessert except the fruit bowl that consisted of melon and watermelon (Chinese meals seldom have cakes or chocolate puddings as desserts- only have fruit).

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Passengers could help themselves to complimentary drinks (including alcohol) if they wished. However no nuts or other snacks were available.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

This must have been the first flight I have taken where both the meals were “Lunch” (or late lunch). The second meal was served around an hour prior to landing at Heathrow and we must have been over Amsterdam. The presentation of the second meal was good. This time around we were treated to Sweet and Sour Pork (we had this on the trip to China from London as well) with boiled vegetables and boiled white rice. I wouldn’t say this was a five star quality meal but hey this food was good- not just adequate as in the previous meal which was served after we took off from Beijing. It was so good that we were treated to a sauce of “Thousand Island Desert” to spread across our salad that contained lovely shredded Carrot and cauliflower.

Forget the Bun with the butter, the highlight of this meal was the Double chocolate chic cake presented to us in a neat rectangular fashion. After being in China for such a long time, it was a nice feeling to eat the lovely piece of real chocolate cake. In China usually you get the Chinese style western cake that tastes like a hard sponge because the chefs have not used the evaporated Milk of the best quality (or they have not used Milk that is similar to say that used for Anchor Butter etc.). Maybe because this flight was heading out of its Headquarters, so therefore the food was far more fresher than that offered on the flight in from London to Beijing.

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The A330 aircraft had a back seat IFE system- however to my surprise not many of the channels worked. In fact, the only English channel that worked was the BBC Radio Worldwide Service; and the rest were Chinese songs and movies. There were no games to be played. Having looked at the in-flight magazine, I could see that not everything advertised was available on the IFE.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

For the international flight, all the staff could speak adequate levels of English, and were very professional. No major problems what so ever.

Improvements that could be made:

Whilst the toilets were clean, however the cabins were filthy and need to be cleaner. The seat IFE needs to be maintained properly.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

Air China has a wide variety of aircraft- and the contrast between the good, the bad and the ugly cannot get any worse than with its range of aircraft types. To my surprise for an international flight this aircraft was not clean at all. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, for some reason the cabin had a stench of urine and an air of discomfort. It was the kind of smell you may have got on an Old Russian Aeroflot Il-62 or Il-86 aircraft! The seats were comfortable but for some reason there was a smell of urine everywhere, and I wonder why. It did not really help me to sleep either. I asked the air hostess to put some air freshener but they did not have any. It just spoilt the whole mood of flying.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):7

Route: Kunming to Beijing Capital

Departure date and time of flight: 4th November 2009 at 09:40am

Flight Number: CA4169

Flight duration: 3 hours 5 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 757-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the checking in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal Service:

Choice of drinks (Standard- Tea, Coffee, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Lemonade or Coca Cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (Coca Cola, Orange etc.) were all branded under the Air China logo. There was no alcohol served on this flight.

Comments regarding the First meal:

“Brunch” consisted of a mixed bowl of sliced salad (Cucumber, Lettuce and a single Cherry Tomato!) served along with a dish of “Spicy Chicken” mixed with peppers and vegetables, and served with boiled white rice. A tube of “Yuzu” salad dressing was served along with the meal. The diced chicken was delicious, not over or under cooked but just the perfect blend between the type of chicken you may get in KFC and the type you may get at a decent style restaurant. A simple bun accompanied the meal- though there was no butter to accompany this. The bun was boring- and I do mean to mention this term rather bluntly because it just does not make sense to serve a bun without butter.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Again no alcohol was served.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

There was no IFE on this flight.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

As with the standard of the majority of the Chinese airline companies, some of the staff were professional but their English level was below par international standards- perhaps Survival 2 or A1 in accordance with the European CEFR standard! (For Flight attendants’ the required English level should be around B2 globally!). The crew are aware that their airline is perhaps not up to the standards matchable to, say, airlines from western countries or that are seen to be more advanced.

Improvements that could be made:

On this particular flight everything seemed to be OK. The only thing I could find to write about is that the plane was old- which directly meant that the interior was a bit shabby (this included the smell, and the sad condition of the seats- and the filthy toilets).  

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The aircraft was not clean at all. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, the cabin had a strong stench of urine and an air of discomfort. It was the kind of smell you may have got on an Old Russian Aeroflot Il-62 or Il-86 aircraft!

The seats were comfortable but not clean. There was a horrible stench lurking in the whole of the fuselage.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):5