China Eastern 544
Shanghai (PVG) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Monday, February 5
Depart: 1:20PM
Arrive: 9:05AM
Duration: 11hr45min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 1L (First Class)
After a long layover, I was so ready to get onto my longhaul flight to Los Angeles and get some proper rest. I once again boarded through door L1, where I was greeted by the cabin manager and one of the first class flight attendants, and escorted to my seat, 1L. The cabin was identical to the one on the previous flight, with a total of six private suites.
China Eastern 777 first class cabin
China Eastern 777 first class cabin
China Eastern first class suite
Unlike on my previous flight, I was happy to find that there were a few more amenities this time around.
China Eastern first class seat
China Eastern first class seat
Since I didn’t post a picture of it in the previous installment, I should mention that each first class suite has a small closet to the side of it.
China Eastern first class closet
Already waiting at my seat on boarding was a proper pillow and blanket. The blanket was pretty substantial, while the pillow was quite thin. Fortunately there were some empty seats in first class, so I was able to grab an extra pillow later on.
China Eastern first class pillow & blanket
Waiting on my tray table upon boarding was a “welcome aboard” note, and on the ottoman was an amenity kit, pajamas, and slippers.
China Eastern first class tray table & ottoman
China Eastern first class pajamas, slippers, and amenity kit
The amenity kit had Salvatore Ferragamo amenities, and was reasonably well stocked, with a comb, eye mask, earplugs, dental kit, facial mist, hand lotion, and lip balm.
China Eastern first class amenity kit
Then there were a pair of sturdy slippers with the China Eastern logo on them.
China Eastern first class slippers
The pajamas were alright. They were brown in color, and felt pretty warm and not especially high quality, so I didn’t end up keeping them.
China Eastern first class pajamas
China Eastern first class pajamas
Also waiting at my seat on boarding were a pair of headphones, a bottle of water, and some Chinese newspapers.
China Eastern first class headphones, bottled water, and reading materials
While not to the level of Bose headphones, they were still quite good.
China Eastern first class headphones
A minute after settling in, one of the flight attendants asked if I wanted some champagne, water, or orange juice. I ordered a glass of champagne, and was also brought a warm towel. Much like on the last flight, the flight attendant asked how she could address me, and also told me that the flight time would be 11 hours.
China Eastern first class champagne, warm towel, and welcome card
A moment after I was served a drink I was given the menu and drink list for the flight, and the flight attendant immediately wanted to take my order for both meals. China Eastern’s menus are valid the entire year, as they have different pages for each month, so I guess that’s pretty efficient on their part (and it’s probably also why they always want to immediately collect the menus).
China Eastern first class menu & wine list
All business class passengers and some economy passengers boarded through door L1, so it was quite busy during boarding. Eventually two other first class passengers showed up. They were both low maintenance — I didn’t see them eat or drink anything during either of the meals, so I basically had two flight attendants to myself.
At 1:05PM the main cabin door closed, and by 1:15PM we began our pushback, and at the same time the safety video was screened.
Pushing back Shanghai Airport
At 1:25PM we began our taxi, and at 1:45PM we were cleared for takeoff on 34L. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no wait for takeoff.
Taking off from Shanghai Pudong
As we climbed out I browsed the airshow for the flight (which indicated that the flight time would be closer to 10hr30min, rather than 11hr).
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
I decided to watch the movie “Masterminds” from the inflight entertainment selection. I thought it was hilarious and dumb, which is my kind of movie. 😉
Much like the previous flight, this one also had Wi-Fi, which was free but slow.
About 30 minutes after takeoff the meal service began. The menu read as follows:
The drink list read as follows:
First I was brought a tablecloth, along with a warm towel and a glass of champagne. China Eastern serves Perrier-Jouet champagne in first class. That’s a respectable champagne, though I’d think of it more as a good business class champagne than a first class champagne.
China Eastern first class lunch — champagne and warm towel
About 10 minutes later I was brought a selection of canapés, described as marinated arctic shellfish with a vegetable roll, and a foie gras open sandwich. That came with a side of some breadsticks, as well as warm mixed nuts. Personally I don’t like foie gras, though the presentation was quite nice, at least.
China Eastern first class lunch — canapé
Next up my table was set for the meal service, including being offered a personal bread basket.
China Eastern first class lunch — table setting
The garlic bread was delicious.
China Eastern first class lunch — bread basket
A few minutes later I was brought the appetizer.
China Eastern first class lunch — appetizer
The appetizer consisted of lobster medallions and mashed potato with herring roe. The lobster was incredibly chewy and still hard due to being frozen, while the mashed potatoes were frozen solid. Like, I couldn’t cut through them with a fork.
China Eastern first class lunch — appetizer
Next was a potato and beef soup, which was fairly good.
China Eastern first class lunch — soup
Then there was a salad with French dressing. The salad was simple, but I loved the dressing, which was super-spicy.
China Eastern first class lunch — salad
After being served the salad the flight attendant approached me with a concerned look on her face. “I’m very sorry, you chose the king prawns, but we only have prawns. Is that okay?” Hah. The dish tasted okay. It certainly wasn’t restaurant quality, but it wasn’t inedible either.
China Eastern first class lunch — main course
I was stuffed at this point, but the food just kept on coming. Next up was a cheese course, which was quite large.
China Eastern first class lunch — cheese course
Then a big and tasty fruit plate.
China Eastern first class lunch — fruit plate
And lastly dessert. The flight attendant just automatically brought me both to try, even though I told her I was stuffed. That included an ice cream sundae, and some sort of pudding cream dessert with wafers. While I only had a bite of each, they were very good.
China Eastern first class lunch — dessert
The meal service was efficient, and was done just 75 minutes after it started. The crew was well intentioned and couldn’t have been more attentive, given that I was the only passenger eating. As far as the meal itself goes, meh. The meal was huge, but the quality left a lot to be desired, from the frozen appetizer to the mediocre main course.
By the time the meal was finished the crew had set up a little display on the table in the front of the cabin, with soft drinks and some packaged snacks.
China Eastern first class snacks & drinks
China Eastern first class snacks
At that point I asked to have my bed made. I asked if it was possible to take the two center seats (since they turn into a double bed), though I was told “it’s not possible.” I didn’t push too much further on that, though it seems like they have some policy against one person trying to sleep in the double bed (unlike Singapore Airlines, which allows it). While they made my bed I checked out the lavatory at the front of the cabin, which didn’t have many special amenities.
China Eastern first class lavatory
China Eastern first class lavatory amenities
The bedding was fairly decent. The duvet was comfortable and light, while the pillow was too thin for my preference, though I managed to get a second one. While there was a mattress pad, it was more like a sheet than a mattress, and didn’t add much extra comfort.
China Eastern first class bed
China Eastern first class bed
China Eastern first class suite
I love the automated blinds that China Eastern has in first class on the 777s, where you can close all three window shades with the push of a button.
China Eastern first class windows shades
I ended up going to sleep about 1hr45min after takeoff, as we were off the coast of Japan, about to start our Pacific crossing.
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
For the first half of the flight I didn’t wake up once, though during the second half of the flight we hit some significant turbulence, which woke me up a few times. The turbulence was consistent for many hours, and woke me up several times.
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
I finally woke up again 90 minutes before landing, as we were off the coast of the US.
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Almost immediately I was asked if I was ready for the pre-landing meal. The pre-landing menu read as follows:
I found it strange that they served a lunch-style meal pre-landing, rather than breakfast. The flight was a redeye leaving in the afternoon and arriving in the morning, so you’d think they’d serve breakfast. I’m not sure what their logic was here.
Service began with a warm towel.
China Eastern first class warm towel
Then my tray table was once again fully set up, including being offered a bread basket.
China Eastern first class table setting
First up was a caesar salad, which wasn’t great. I don’t like bacon so I picked around it, and it was weird that the croutons were served in a plastic container next to the salad.
China Eastern first class meal — salad
For the main course I had the shrimp with vegetables and rice, which was disgusting. It’s hard to describe, but it just tasted so bland and mushy and microwaved and just bleh.
China Eastern first class meal — main course
China Eastern first class meal — main course
To finish off the meal I was served a small fruit plate.
China Eastern first class meal — fruit plate
About 30 minutes out we began our descent, and the crew prepared the cabin for arrival. As usual, the views of the California coastline were beautiful. Both the first class flight attendants and the cabin manager stopped by my seat to thank me for flying with China Eastern.
View over California
View approaching LAX
At 8:40AM we touched down on runway 24R, and from there had a 15 minute taxi to our arrival gate at Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Taxiing LAX
China Eastern first class bottom line
China Eastern first class was alright, though the soft product left a lot to be desired. On the plus side, the crew was friendly, and I appreciate the free (but slow) Wi-Fi. Furthermore, while I had issues with the pilots smoking on my first ever China Eastern flight, this wasn’t an issue on either of these flights.
This is also the best first class hard product offered by any Chinese airline, as it’s a suite with a door. While you can get better first class products from the US to mainland China with a connection, this is probably the best nonstop first class product you’ll get.
China Eastern has some room for improvement when it comes to the quality of their food, though. While the meal was huge, the quality wasn’t great.
How does this compare to what you were expecting from China Eastern?
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