Air China PEK-PVG-SYD Int’l Transfer Issues and Air China Business PVG-SYD

So here was where it got interesting. I booked it a bit late, so the only availability was PEK-PVG-SYD flight left. The PEK-PVG flight was considered domestic so I could not check in online nor would I be able to be able to transfer to the flight without going through immigration. Luckily I could get a 24 hour transit visa and cleared immigration and customs.

Once I did, I went to the business class checkout.

I was a bit nervous as it took about 10 minutes to check me into that flight to SYD. Somehow they were getting confused about my flight from FRA-KIX as being my next flight. It eventually got resolved with three different check-in agents. I also found out that my Air NZ flight SYD-AKL was also listed in the list of flights so at least I’ll be protected in case of any serious delay as my layover was four hours. I had booked SYD-AKL as a revenue flight and surprised it got linked.

I’m surprised they left the drinks out as someone could sneak in through the back of the check-in area and steal all those drinks.

As noted before, I would have one short domestic segment so the lines through security was really long even for a Thursday afternoon flight.

After security, the Air China lounge is just beyond security above the shops. Here is my review of the Air China Business Class Lounge at PEK (domestic terminal).

When I got to my gate, I saw that I needed to take the escalator downstairs, which means it would be in a remote gate. That was a bit weird but seeing how many passengers were getting on, it makes sense. There was only about 50 of us getting on so probably cheaper to just bus us over.

The seats were ok. As you can see, it is sort of lie flat. The top torso part of the seat is at a slight angle with the leg part and footrest being completely flat. It is easier to sleep in than the true angled lie flat.

We got a quick noodle dish as a snack between PEK and PVG. It was barely edible. I can’t stand the local Shanghai cuisine.

There was complimentary noise canceling headphones. Its no Bose but decent.

So we had to clear immigration before getting back on the plane. There was a few people to lead us to a dedicated immigration counter so we could go directly back into security and then back on the plane.

The amenity kits were handed out during this part of the flight. I got back into the same seat.

I had some champagne before takeoff. It was decent.

The IFE was bright and the screen had good resolution.

Below are some pictures of the menu.

I got the Chinese Menu. I wanted to try the Chinese food they offer as I can get western food whenever. Yea bad choice. Should have went for the western as anything has to be better than what I had. I don’t think I ever had a worst meal on a flight even in coach. I would’ve taken cup noodles (served to be on Air Canada) over this.

The fruit was good. That was about it. Everything else wasn’t good.

The following morning, there were a few tiny pieces of dim sum with porridge. Really, porridge in business class? Had no flavor at all. You might as well give me porridge in a can.

The saving grace for this flight was surprisingly the seat. It was not bad at all and a bit better than the angled lie flat seats common in business class. I managed to get about six hours of sleep on this flight as I was just so exhausted from all the flying the previous day.

So to summarize, the food was barely edible but the hard product was decent so I got some sleep. IFE was good as well with a good selection of movies.