China Southern Airlines (CZ). Business Class. International long haul and Domestic.

[Austman]

So that’s my TR so far.

I’m now in China and have mastered DiDi, with some help from translation apps. A foreign card is fine.

Also AliPay is a must have app for buying just about anything. Even hawker food stalls prefer AliPay over cash!

In a few more days, my return journey starts.

 

[AIRwin]

Also AliPay is a must have app for buying just about anything. Even hawker food stalls prefer AliPay over cash!

I didn't end up registering for Alipay and managed to use cash all the way when I visited Xiamen earlier this month... Perhaps I was lucky?

 

[Austman]

The three most important new apps for me:




Those and the regular Maps app all work off public WiFi.

To use things like Google or Facebook, international roaming is needed. Or a VPN.

And as you can see from my screenshot, Telstra WiFi Calling works here.

I have a 5G phone but have only ever seen 4G when using roaming.

 

[AIRwin]

To use things like Google or Facebook, international roaming is needed. Or a VPN.

And Whatsapp

 

[kamchatsky]

The three most important new apps for me:


View attachment 403233

Those and the regular Maps app all work off public WiFi.

To use things like Google or Facebook, international roaming is needed. Or a VPN.

And as you can see from my screenshot, Telstra WiFi Calling works here.

I have a 5G phone but have only ever seen 4G when using roaming.

I find Wechat Pay more widely used than AliPay, but Wechat Pay requires uploading your ID to verify yourself which you may not like.

I also used Baidu Maps in China to get around.

 

[ellen10]

Thanks for your review. I may look at them for options.

 

[AIRwin]

I also used Baidu Maps in China to get around.

Yes I found that Google Maps was not up to date and not showing metro stations in Xiamen

 

[Austman]

I find Wechat Pay more widely used than AliPay, but Wechat Pay requires uploading your ID to verify yourself which you may not like.

My original plan was to use my cards where accepted and otherwise cash.

But trying to use cash caused me problems from day 1. Eventually after about 4 or 5 merchants all pointed to the AliPay logo, I investigated and decided to download and use it.

It’s pretty easy to set up and use. So far I haven’t had a merchant not accept it. I might just be lucky.

 

[Austman]

Yes I found that Google Maps was not up to date and not showing metro stations in Xiamen

Yes, forget Google. I found the Maps app to be not too bad. It certainly found all the metro stations in Kunming. The DiDi app has maps too of course.

 

[AIRwin]

Eventually after about 4 or 5 merchants all pointed to the AliPay logo, I investigated and decided to download and use it.

It’s pretty easy to set up and use.

Does Alipay also require uploading your ID?

 

[kamchatsky]

Does Alipay also require uploading your ID?

I never have to for AliPay. Definitely required for Wechat Pay.

 

[kamchatsky]

So that’s my TR so far.

I’m now in China and have mastered DiDi, with some help from translation apps. A foreign card is fine.

Also AliPay is a must have app for buying just about anything. Even hawker food stalls prefer AliPay over cash!

In a few more days, my return journey starts.

No one likes to take cash there. They look at you strangely if you try to pay in cash. In fact some of them don't even have change for you if you pay cash.

 

[Austman]

Kunming.

This TR is meant to be mostly about China Southern Airlines. But with Kunming as my CZ destination, I’ll add a bit about the city.

I’ve had 5 days in Kunming and I really enjoyed them.

It has an altitude of 2,000m. The weather was in the twenties during the day, cool at night. Clear air and low humidity. The metro is easy to use. DiDi is too, once you get the hang of it. There’s quite a few lakes. The major shopping centres have all the big brands. There are charming older areas with walking streets. Restaurants are everywhere, of course!

 

[Austman]

A few photos of Fuxian Lake, about an hour out of Kunming, where I stayed another 5 nights.

In order:

1. The view from my hotel room balcony. The white building is a solar observatory.

2. Walks around the lake.

3. From one of the hotel's Executive Lounge terraces, during happy hour, at sunset.

 

[Austman]

Time to head home.

I wanted to stay a few more days. It was so lovely! But it was probably going to be quite a hassle to change my return ticket. It couldn't be done online.

So keep to the original. That's KMG-xCAN-MEL. Kunming-xGuangzhou-Melbourne.

A day before, I checked the flight status of KMG-CAN flights and just about all flights, including mine, were over 6 hours delayed! What a mess. Weather in Guangzhou again, apparently. I was worried if it could happen to me. But not much I could do. I had allowed about 4 hours for the transit to cater for delays. But not 6+ hours delays!

I also thought to change my CAN-MEL seat from 5K to 7K but could never see 7K as free. Then, the day before, bingo!




But alas, even though I could select 7K, the system wanted my phone number as part of the change process. I entered it in every format I could think of but it kept getting rejected due to "incorrect number format".

An hour later, it was gone. And never did return.

 

[Austman]

Flight 3. KMG-CAN 14:50-16:50 CZ3416.

This time it's an A320 with 8 seats in Business Class:



Flights CAN-KMG and vice versa seemed to be operating on-time today, so I arrived at KMG airport about 2 hours before my flight. After finding the China Southern Business Class check-in desk - it was not beside economy - all was good and they issued both my boarding passes.

China Southern does not have a lounge at KMG. And there's no mention on their website of getting lounge access. But at check-in, I has given this:

 

[Austman]

Then off to Domestic security.

It's a pretty large airport. With quite substantial lines at security. At the first security entrance, I asked if there was a First/Business Class line and there was! Silly me was not paying attention enough to the overhead signage.

So a bit of a walk to a separate area, complete with red carpet! And almost no queue.

Then off to find lounge V6.

It was a lounge. Nothing really special but pleasant enough. There was food, soft drinks (no alcohol) and comfortable seating. I wasn't really hungry or thirsty and just took a seat and a bottle of water.

Here is the lounge:

 

[Austman]

Then to the gate.

Boarding was a bit of a mess, not because is wasn't done properly, but because there was very little room for pax to line up at the actually control desks.

The aircraft was pleasant. Crew were delightful. Pre-departure water and juices were offered. Meal orders taken. This time it was a choice of 3 meals. Again I took the dim sum.

Departure was just 12 minutes late.



There's a huge back box on the floor under the seats that affects the window seat legroom more than the aisle. But for a ca 2 hour flight, who cares? The photo makes it look worse than it was. There's still good leg room.



The meal:




There was beer available, Chinese or German. I had one of the former. All very nice.

Despite the near on-time departure, the flight arrived 40 minutes late. Guangzhou weather was blamed again.

At least it was to an air bridge.

Then a long, long walk to "international connections". At passport control, the line was short.

Interestingly, there's no further security check. It seems domestic security at a previous Chinese airport can be sufficient for international departures!

 

[Austman]

After passport control, there's very clear signage to the China Southern lounge which is not far away.

It's a pretty pleasant lounge. I only had some drinks (French wine and Evian water) but I suspect the food would be pretty good. My plan was to have a main meal on my overnight long-haul flight and then sleep.



I was more interested in perhaps having a shower before my overnight long-haul flight. And there was a shower room immediately available.



It was a great shower room!

Annoyingly, they loudly announced all fights. In two languages, of course. With the "final and last call" for flights announced about 4 times....

 

[AIRwin]

I was more interested in perhaps having a shower before my overnight long-haul flight. And there was a shower room immediately available!

Great shower room!

First I've seen mineral water in a shower room