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

[Austman]

First I've seen mineral water in a shower room

Evian at that! The toiletries and other supplies were good.

 

[Austman]

Flight 4. CAN-MEL 21:15-08:40+1 CZ321.

As per the MEL-CAN flight, this was a B787-9 aircraft.

Come boarding time, I asked the lounge staff how far away the gate was. It was close. But a bus gate...

Oh well, Business Class gets its own mini-bus. And it's coordinated to when the stairs to the aircraft door are free of other boarding pax. It was raining lightly.

On board was the usual delightful and helpful crew. Pre-departure beverages (including champagne), towels, menu orders taken etc all done very nicely.

The menu was substantial. I knew there would be no shortage of food.

Quite the opposite. I had to decide what to skip!

 

[Austman]

Again there was no drinks list, but for red wine it was French and Spanish. I had one glass of each.

 

[Austman]

And for the meal, I had the canapes (you get both) and the main of Beef Cheek.

I told the crew, I'm happy to skip all the other courses because I intended to get some sleep. No problem!





The main was of the best tasting and prepared dishes I've ever had on an aircraft!

So I skipped several of the courses and opted for some sleep. The food, two glasses of red wine and a long-ish travel day were enough for me.

I slept solidly for quite some hours. Until just before the breakfast service.

 

[Austman]

As you can see from the menu, there were lots of options for breakfast, including the usual choices.

I had coffee, a bakery item, the smoked chicken spinach frittata and some fruit:




The flight arrived on time, despite having to make a holding pattern above Bendigo. I suppose it might have been about 10 or 15 minutes early if not for that:

 

[Austman]

And that's my TR!

I was impressed with China Southern Airlines Business Class and would not hesitate flying with them again.

Crew are delightful. Food is plentiful. Cabins are comfortable. Amenities are good. I forgot to mention that when taking meal orders before take-off they always ask "if you are asleep when we serve the meal, may we wake you?".

Guangzhou airport, China Southern's main hub, although massive, is modern and efficient with good lounges. Interestingly, on my return flights to Australia, there was no further security check or secondary LAGs check at the gate in Guangzhou, after the domestic security check in Kunming.

I really did enjoy Kunming.

 

[cambriamarsh]

And that's my TR!

I was impressed with China Southern Airlines Business Class and would not hesitate flying with them again.

Guangzhou airport, China Southern's main hub, although massive, is modern and efficient with good lounges.

I really did enjoy Kunming.

Thanks for this they've definitely improved

 

[Austman]

And a bit, post flights, about FF earnings.

China Southern is not a member of any major alliance, but has partnerships with the following airlines:


I think that list is a bit out of date, with BA missing. You can see that CZ was once a member of SkyTeam.

For the CZ Sky Pearl Club, my trip earned 21,528 Award kms, 21,528 Elite Qualifying kms and 8 Elite Qualifying Segments.

It was not enough to reach any elite status but would buy eg, almost a one-way CAN-KMG flight in Business Class or an return CAN-KMG-CAN flight in Economy Class. Both need 24,000 Award kms.

 

[GarrettM]

Nice stuff @Austman
Was there something that inspired you to visit Kunming in particular? Apologies if I missed that info along the way.
China remains on my maybe one day list for a bunch of reasons, but I'm not sure it'll ever happen.

 

[Austman]

Was there something that inspired you to visit Kunming in particular?

When I look for a ca 14 days trip, I look to see where I have not been, has reasonably priced airfares (usually now in Business Class), has reasonably priced accommodation, is not a big hassle visa wise, has about the right climate and looks interesting.

Kunming ticked all of those boxes. And I knew people who had been there and liked it. So off I went!

 

[BjJames]

I have to admit that I avoid Chinese airlines, well, because they are Chinese, and I would have to negotiate a transfer in, well, China.

That's not to say I haven't done it in the past, but it can be a huge pain.

So, I don't bother with them, even though they can have some quite attractive fares. But YMMV.

This glaring prejudice amazes me. I am a Dinki Di Aussie and regularly visit China. it’s great! Safe, secure, and amazing infrastructure, food, people, and culture. Get over your prejudice !!

 

[BjJames]

And that's my TR!

I was impressed with China Southern Airlines Business Class and would not hesitate flying with them again.

Crew are delightful. Food is plentiful. Cabins are comfortable. Amenities are good. I forgot to mention that when taking meal orders before take-off they always ask "if you are asleep when we serve the meal, may we wake you?".

Guangzhou airport, China Southern's main hub, although massive, is modern and efficient with good lounges. Interestingly, on my return flights to Australia, there was no further security check or secondary LAGs check at the gate in Guangzhou, after the domestic security check in Kunming.

I really did enjoy Kunming.

Excellent report, Austman ... and great to see another Aussie happily spending some time in China and flying Chinese Airlines, of which Southern probably shines over the others.

 

[Chicken]

This glaring prejudice amazes me. I am a Dinki Di Aussie and regularly visit China. it’s great! Safe, secure, and amazing infrastructure, food, people, and culture. Get over your prejudice !!

Safe? Well, I transit via China in 2018 and 2019, but I would no longer, because I had gone to protests in Australia against Hong Kong government, and we know that Chinese and Hong Kong spies take photos of people like me and will deal with us later.

So I find the word "safe" pretty ironic, especially to people like me, with a price on our heads

Also don't forget that China does detain people for hostage diplomacy.

But back to CZ itself, it seems their soft product is better than what I got when I flew Air China in 2019. When I flew Air China, they were pretty indifferent with meal serving, and when my business seat would not go back to upright position for landing, there response was 'OK, what's the problem?!'

 

[jase05]

Fantastic TR and as someone who loves visiting China Its great to see that CZ has lifted its game as when I’ve flown with them previously long haul I found them ok and certainly better than some but a notch below Xiamen and Hainan which are my two favourite Chinese carriers. With CZ returning to ADL it does give us a direct route into China which is handy

 

[Melburnian1]

Your trip report was outstanding. Well done.

 

[flyinpod]

Thanks for posting this ive just booked MEL -LHR LHR- BNE in J for around 6.4k. I decided after my husband went economy with the kids earlier this year. He said the staff were absolutely delightful. My daughter had a bit of travel sickness and the staff put her in business class for the last couple of hours so she could lie down.