Dragon Air First Class. Shanghai PVG - Hong Kong. KA 805.

[MEL_Traveller]

Apologies for the terrible photography! Taken on my ipad and only designed as a data point rather than for aesthetics


Trip reports for Dragonair First class seem relatively hard to come by so I thought I'd take the opportunity from a recent PVG-HKG flight to share some thoughts.


For a general overview of the first class cabin the Dragonair website has the stock-standard pictures... and it is pretty much as shown... angled lie flats that are kind of first generation.


Notes:

• the crew were no different to those you'd find in business or economy class... there was pretty much the same level of engagement (little) and while you obviously get more 1-on-1 time they aren't really any more friendly or engaging. Their english skills aren't any better than you'd find in any other cabin.
• as stated in other reports, there is no hot towel service. You are given a pre-packaged refreshing towelette.
• there are no slippers. They offered to lay a blanket on the ground... but I wanted to use them to go to the WC without having to put my shoes on. Anyways - nice thought of them.
• the pillows have two types of cover... cotton or some sort of polyester material. the cotton ones are much more comfortable!
• I didn't take any pictures of the meal. Courses are served individually and the presentation was good, but the taste was only so-so. I ordered a vegetarian meal, but noticed on the menu a vegetarian main is carried anyway.
• ice-cream was the standard Haagen-Dazs tubs - rock solid - but we were presented with all three flavours to choose from
• IFE was dismal
• there is a sweet spot (for me at least) for seat comfort - the legrest can be made to go completely horizintal - but it takes a fair amount of juggling between the 'recline' button and the 'legrest' button. There is only one point during the recline process when the leg-rest will go full flat. Before and after that point it slopes off. (the attached picture will show you what's possible)
• with the leg-rest horizontal it was quite comfortable for sleeping, even on your side, especially if you snagged three-four pillow
• my flight was only 3/14. Equipment substitutions are common and this is the first flight out of the last five where I have actually been accommodated in an F cabin rather than being downgraded to business class. (downgrades are compensated with the fare difference being refunded.)
• some may ask if it's worth the extra $$? Certainly ex HKG for the First class section of the Wing. And in general I would think it is worth it anyway as the surcharge is small over the standard business class fare and you get the #1 commodities - peace, quiet and privacy.

So to the photos (cringe)


Menu


There are two menu options - Asian and Western. You are free to mix-and-match.


General lay-out (3 page rather than 2):



Asian:



Western:



Wines:




Seat


(full angled flat is possible but fairly uncomfortable. this position with horizontal leg-rest was good)

 

[RooFlyer]

Great to hear about Dragon Air; I've long been curious.

You say the past 4 times you booked F they had an equipment sub and you got bumped down to J? (with cash difference refunded). This is obviously (to me) not planes going u/s, but yield management - not enough bookings, so downsize the plane operating the service.

Do you think that's been the case? If so, and that many times, that's a reason I'd avoid it, if there was a comparable alternative.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Great to hear about Dragon Air; I've long been curious.

You say the past 4 times you booked F they had an equipment sub and you got bumped down to J? (with cash difference refunded). This is obviously (to me) not planes going u/s, but yield management - not enough bookings, so downsize the plane operating the service.

Do you think that's been the case? If so, and that many times, that's a reason I'd avoid it, if there was a comparable alternative.

of the 16 or so KA/CX flights a day to PVG, only one daily, and sometimes a second (non-daily) are scheduled to have a First class cabin. With ATC congestion frequent on all flights between HKG and China - it's often just a matter of KA running a flight with whatever they have available. I have conversely been on a flight where a 3-class was used in place of a 2-class and a lot of pax had to be bumped.

CX suffers from the same problem with its intra-asia F cabins - bit of a lottery whether or not you'll actually fly in that cabin. But better to take the flight you can rather than hang around (sometimes until the next day) for F.

To be honest I was waiting for the call to advise me of the downgrade this time, but it never came. And on the day of travel all flights were running on time like clock-work. It was a most unusual travel day!

 

[boomy]

Thanks for the report!

I flew Dragon Air a few times in Y and was very happy with them.

Will love to try F next time, the menu looks interesting.