China Eastern's Sydney-Auckland flight

[Justinf]

I’m trying to book MU for some internal flights in China but all CRs have disappeared from QF (and DL looks the same…). Plenty via AF/KL…but I don’t have any FB miles anymore)…May e I should look elsewhere but I suspect they’re all as bad as each other?

I looked for award flight on QF Beijing to Shanghai and nothing is available. Nada.

 

[markis10]

I looked for award flight on QF Beijing to Shanghai and nothing is available. Nada.

Take a train, 4 hours or so and a lot less hassle

 

[Justinf]

Take a train, 4 hours or so and a lot less hassle

I really want to, but I have issues.
Serious issues.
Lunar new year day.
I just can’t in my own mind wait until 14 days before the day of travel to book the train.
The stress level is not worth it.

 

[markis10]

China is very good at moving people, in my experience the trains work a lot better than planes

 

[Rayesfeg]

Made the trip SYD to AKL this weekend onboard their A330.
Check in at the airport had a very large queue which snaked out and around the counter as there were two flights checking in around the same time. There was a staff member checking passengers entering the Business and Premium Economy queues, which were both empty.
In Sydney, Business class passengers can access the Qantas business lounge.
The overall journey was comfortable. Priority boarding was enforced and I was shown to my seat when I got to the plane which was a nice touch. Cabin layout was 3 rows of 2-2-2, which was surprising because I could not find this layout in Aerolopa, which is usually very reliable.
Onboard, the seats were more than comfortable for a 2 hour 50 minute flight. Entertainment was pretty limited so ended up watching some pre-downloaded shows off my own device.
Meal orders were taken before take off and there were 3 options to choose from, by the time the flight attendant made it to me in row 3, there were only 2 options left: chicken noodles or a beef pie. The pie was surprisingly good and was served on a tray from the galley (not from a trolley). Flight attendants were all round friendly and proactive with drink refills.
One detail that fell short was the Captain's announcement which was barely audible - perhaps the microphone in the coughpit needs replacing.
The biggest disappointment was the arrival at Auckland Airport, having arrived at a remote stand we had to wait a good 15 minutes for the stairs to be connected and then bussed to the terminal. It's worth noting that business class was not allocated its own bus, instead they filled the bus to capacity with Business and Economy class (the horror). Then another 20 minute wait for bags to make their way to the conveyor belt - though priority bags did come out first.

One interesting observation was there was, what I assume to be, a Chinese Air Marshall sitting in one of the business class seats. Not an airline staff based on what he was wearing and the clipboard he had. At one point he attached a body cam and walked down through the entire plane recording it when we got to cruising altitude.

 

[markis10]

The security person is a legal requirement for all mainland carriers, often the airlines get over this by using a crew member, often a second officer.

 

[RB001]

Cabin layout was 3 rows of 2-2-2, which was surprising because I could not find this layout in Aerolopa, which is usually very reliable.

MU semi-converted some of their A330s in 2020 to assist with getting medical supplies to Europe - most of the J cabin and 40-odd economy seats were kept, leaving the middle of the plane essentially ready for boxes of facemasks, etc...
It would appear that when they converted back, at least one plane didn't get the mini cabin seen in the 33E configuration shown on all of the seat maps (including MUs own!)