seeking china eastern business class review

[dmitri]

dmitri be prepared - bed may be ok but don’t set your sights too high on the food and IFE front.

I have 12hrs in Shanghai before the flight, if I'm hungry I've failed in my stopover duties.

 

[Forg]

^ Again, check, but I’ve read somewhere that China Eastern J gets you return maglev tickets ... if not too concerned about dying in a high-speed fireball, this might maximise your stopover entertainment time.

 

[dmitri]

^ Again, check, but I’ve read somewhere that China Eastern J gets you return maglev tickets ... if not too concerned about dying in a high-speed fireball, this might maximise your stopover entertainment time.

I'm really keen to get a ticket for this- 430km/hr sounds fun

 

[por930]

Compared to Economy, on a flight for 10 hours+ any seat in Business class will be much better. Not to mention the cost difference between 'other' carriers.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I'm really keen to get a ticket for this- 430km/hr sounds fun

Check the timetable - not all Maglev trips hit the top speed.

 

[Haplo]

I have redeemed both QF and MU flights for my parents. On QF being a non-member they were ignored, told off when asking for something and relegated to the last row (as most of you probably know even business class seat allocation on QF is dependent on status). On MU they got second row and got treated like they are flying business class.

I on the other hand gets treated well on QF being WP so i would say QF is really status dependent and MU is almost status neutral. QFF status dont come through on MU flight manifest (even on code share flights) so if you are flying on MU with QFF number then you will rank behind all sky priority members when it comes to choice of food, etc.

 

[Mattg]

FWIW I think I did 2 TRs on MU flts but I have no idea how to search but if someone who does can post the links it might help.

I found this one from 2012: MU - MEL-PVG - just for wilco

Not sure about the other.

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

@dmitri - have you flown your MU flights yet? Mrs W-K has a 2019 goal of running a half marathon. Great I thought, there is one in Auckland in October. But no, she wants to do the Niagra Falls one instead!

Lots of award availability on MU using QF points. Looking at AKL-PVG-JFK and YYZ-PVG-AKL - all in J.

I'd be keen to know your MU experiences if you have flown them.

 

[I love to travel]

Hi I was wondering whether there is any recent experiences with J? Thanks

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi I was wondering whether there is any recent experiences with J? Thanks

Nothing much has changed except they have introduced new planes on Aussie routes on some flights (new business class suites with closing doors - the 789s and A350s). Great seats, good crews, but limited by the soft product they offer compared with some of the top tier airlines. If the price is right and you can forego the bells and whistles they are as good a choice as any.

 

[Limewood]

We have booked the MU A350 in Bus. Class Plus seats one way ex SYD to PVG with QFF 228K points and $200fees (for 2) for Aug next.

New write up today here on ABT.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

New write up today here on ABT.

crikey hard and soft product looks totally enhanced from CE of old - still I would like to exp the soft product before commenting too much.

As for hard product again i would never trust ABT assessment - go find their reviews of SQ new 380 J seat - they were almost glowing IIRC - in actual fact it is a a dog of a seat.

Seriously going to burn some QF pts and try this bird into PVG some time soon

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Seriously going to burn some QF pts and try this bird into PVG some time soon

I suspect you're going to have much the same experience as Air China While the seat is more private, the food and beverage offering is almost identical (maybe plated slightly differently). The crew will be pretty much same same (which I think you agree are good, but limited by the product they have to offer).

Choice of aircraft is important for MU. They still have some A332s in their schedules (at least when I was looking). Those will be the old lie flats.

 

[I love to travel]

Thanks all. Its not my choice of airline but I think I need a backup for Asiana in case they cut routes which is strongly flagged by the airline. It will be better than 16 hours in Y from the US to BKK

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks all. Its not my choice of airline but I think I need a backup for Asiana in case they cut routes which is strongly flagged by the airline. It will be better than 16 hours in Y from the US to BKK

In business class there's absolutely nothing *wrong* with China Eastern. But they're not in the same league as most of their other Asian counterparts. The champagne is cold. The bed is flat. You won't starve (there'll be something you can eat). IFE can be limited, but I haven't come across worse IFE than NH yet (so anything's a bonus). But usually the price matches.

If they were flying angled beds it would be a game changer.

 

[Limewood]

Not our choice of Airline either, but 2 x J+ award seats available on new A350 for reasonable points, with bugger all fees, plus on dates we wanted to meet our ship, a no brainer, recon we can stand the daylight flight...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Not our choice of Airline either, but 2 x J+ award seats available on new A350 for reasonable points, with bugger all fees, plus on dates we wanted to meet our ship, a no brainer, recon we can stand the daylight flight...

For your purposes, absolutely fine. Actually the daytime flight might be a disadvantage here... not much to do on board. Unless MU's IFE is significantly improved over CA, you might be scratching around for something to watch.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

For your purposes, absolutely fine. Actually the daytime flight might be a disadvantage here... not much to do on board. Unless MU's IFE is significantly improved over CA, you might be scratching around for something to watch.

Definitely BYO IFE for ALL Chinese carriers - you cannot relive times long gone by watching Crocodile Dundee as you can on QF!

 

[Limewood]

For your purposes, absolutely fine. Actually the daytime flight might be a disadvantage here... not much to do on board. Unless MU's IFE is significantly improved over CA, you might be scratching around for something to watch.

My wife will be sitting beside me, we travel with huge library of video's and few new ones from iTunes on Macbook Air and iPad and like a chat - might meet a few new bods and we and have seats in J+ for four

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

At the moment MU will be flying A330s from AKL to PVG in October. I hope it changes to the A350. That new J class looks good. What are the chances??