Mainland Chinese airlines J class videos

[Melburnian1]

The Taiwanese airlines China Airlines and EVA Air have a good reputation. I've been on Eva multiple times and found it good, pre-COVID. There's no shortage of J class YouTube videos showing various lounge and flight experiences.

However in a quick search for mainland Chinese airlines China Southern, China Eastern and Air China, I couldn't find any 'post-COVID' Australia route YouTube videos.

Like it or not, they're gradually increasing frequencies to Australia, and will do so further given late last week the 'green light' was given by the mainland Chinese government for group tours to visit Australia (plus UK and a few other nations).

This may reflect how the three have only fairly recently recommenced flights to and from Oz, and perhaps also how not many videographers seem to fly them to or from Australia.

Nor could I find Australia-China or return YouTube videos of airlines like Xiamen or others such as Capital. Yet Xiamen allegedly isn;t that bad, not that I've flown any of them.

Do you know of any videos showcasing these carriers on the Oz routes?

Is it accurate to suggest that of the 'big three', CZ is usually best, MU next and CA a distant third? And that MF is as good as CZ if not better?

 

[GDale]

Not too surprised with the lack of blogger/vlogger coverage of the Chinese carriers in recent times, as the country is really still just opening up, so just throwing in some of my personal opinions below (I don't have much to say about MF though - no experience with them).

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate flying with any of the Chinese carriers to Europe if the price is right (e.g. sub $5K in J, ~$1200 or less in Y); they'll all get you there safely and in relative comfort. Having said that, yep CZ would be my top pick if pricing was comparable across them.

Seat: good hard product across the major Chinese carriers now, with CZ, MU and CA all flying current gen aircraft to Sydney and Melbourne (787/350 for CZ, 787 for MU, 350 for CA and 787 for MF) with new products to match, which was not the case pre-covid (MF was the only one flying 787s to Australia back then).

Service: CZ has consistently been the best of the 3 (I have no experience with MF) - FAs are well intentioned, polite and hardworking. English skills are still rather basic (but improving), so don't expect any chit chat. MU and CA service generally unmemorable but not otherwise awful. Don't expect too much from any of the carriers on this front.

Meals: None of the carriers can match the top tier players in this regard. CZ was trying hard pre-COVID but has fallen a fair bit post - maybe it's because they've only just resumed catering discussions at outstations, but even meals coming out of their CAN hub have not been great. CZ does generally offer a western option on their international flights, whereas it's not always the case with MU and CA.

IFE: None of the carriers are great at this unfortunately, with each offering a relatively small selection of English content (and the titles/shows offered are pretty random). There's enough to keep you entertained, but probably not enough to make you feel like there's real choice.

Airport Experience: CAN (CZ) is better than PVG (MU) and PEK (CA) - CAN is well organised, and more money had been invested into the transit experience there than the other two (but the experience has definitely gone backwards as compared to pre-COVID, when they used to provide things like metro tickets to encourage you to explore the city a little, transit maps, etc). CZ and CA both offer free overnight accommodation for all tickets except for deep discount economy fares if your flight itinerary necessitates a stay. MU has a similar offer going but only if you book directly with the airline. PEK in particular is not really set up for transit (just not convenient geographically, so low demand for transit), but the city itself is probably the most interesting to explore.

Lounge: The CZ lounge in CAN (now a Priority Pass lounge, probably due to low utilisation in recent times) is the best of the lot, with good dining and seating options and decent shower rooms. PVG and PEK lounges are both dingy.

Fares: MU, CZ and MF have already started offering deep discount economy fares to and from Europe, but only on certain dates and routes, and including one way trips. Haven't really seen this with CA yet (could be because CA has been the slowest to resume routes). Business fares haven't dipped yet it seems.

Points and Status: Earn wise, MU is probably the most useful given the tie in with QF, followed by CA (crediting to UA, AC or SQ), then CZ (crediting to DL or AA - DL to keep the points alive, or AA if you can earn a decent haul to use before it expires). There is mandated status recognition on both MU and CZ, even for partner elites - sounds great but it really just means you'll get a greeting from the FA during the flight and usually not much else. CA FAs don't give two hoots about your status.

Hope this helps!

 

[jase05]

Haven’t flown since pre Covid on Chinese airlines but in my experience MF and HU have been streets ahead of the others in almost every measurement IMO. CZ was ok without being great. I’ve had mixed experiences on MU that varied between ok and downright terrible.
CA was very average but that was many years ago and haven’t been with them since

 

[elanshin]

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate flying with any of the Chinese carriers to Europe if the price is right (e.g. sub $5K in J, ~$1200 or less in Y); they'll all get you there safely and in relative comfort.

I'd be very careful with that logic. They do overfly Russia and if the plane needs to go to ground for whatever reason, it can be a very uncomfortable situation being an Australian (or other western nation) stuck on Russian soil.

This wasn't something I thought about until it was brought up in an aviation podcast and frankly probably the majority of the flying public don't consider these things, but it is a risk, one which if things go sour could be life changingly bad.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I'd be very careful with that logic. They do overfly Russia and if the plane needs to go to ground for whatever reason, it can be a very uncomfortable situation being an Australian (or other western nation) stuck on Russian soil.

This wasn't something I thought about until it was brought up in an aviation podcast and frankly probably the majority of the flying public don't consider these things, but it is a risk, one which if things go sour could be life changingly bad.

This happened with an Air India flight from India to San Francisco in June. There were no problems.

I can appreciate that what happened then isn’t guaranteed to happen if this occurs again and that the angst factor could make things feel very uncomfortable regardless but untimely I do suspect these situations would be handled in a rather practical manner.

Air India plane flying to San Francisco lands in Russia's Siberia after engine problem

An Air India flight from New Delhi to San Francisco has been diverted to Russia after it developed an engine problem. The airline says the plane, a Boeing 777 carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members, landed safely at Magadan airport in Siberia in the country’s far east.

apnews.com