Review: Hainan Business Class 787 Los Angeles To Changsha

How is it that if a Caucasian move and live abroad (usually to a non-predominantly Caucasian country) , s/he is called an "ex-pat", but if a non-Caucasian people do the same s/he usually referred to as an "immigrant".

Can somebody explain that?

So would you say they've earned that 5 star rating, or not quite yet? I noticed you stopped short of answering that directly (even though no one know how their ratings work).

Color me impressed. Extensive beverage selection, flat seats--which could even be ideal for someone like me who likes being close to their wife, and a killer soft product? It looks like my favorite Chinese carrier to date! Now if only they could figure out their lounges...

Ben, do Chinese airlines only hire young attractive flight attendants much like the Korean airlines?

"The tight economy cabin on the 787 is another reason I prefer the A350 to the 787."

What does this matter to you Lucky?? You never fly economy class.

Hey Ben,

Awesome review as always. I just love reading all this reports. The blog out there.
I noticed that some of the pictures have the wrong subtitles eg. the ottoman subtitle shows the soup.

Cheers from Cape Town

Great review. Thanks and we'll done

..."well"

The seats may not be ideal for a solo traveler, but I would certainly much prefer this kind of seat over a herringbone seat if traveling with someone.

Hainan airlines needs to pay you for this. Lol i figure they earned (a lot of) free publicity by actually selling you "cheap" fare. I start to picture some angry passengers with too high of an expectation already.

@David
As someone of an Asian ethnic background, I feel qualified to answer the question. But there are reasons for that. For one, many non-Caucasians tend to migrate to other countries on a more permanent basis. On the other hand, Caucasians have traditionally been highly skilled workers that lived outside their home countries. Of course, this scale has been tipped with low skilled/low payed Caucasian workers in Asian countries teaching English and highly educated Asians in Western countries, but it still stands. My parents have been in China on a Western pay package, with all the traditional frills associated with it and as a result hold the title of 'expat'.

@David An immigrant generally intends to make their new home in the new country and not return, usually gaining citizenship. An ex-pat is usually just going somewhere else to work, but generally not take up citizenship. It has nothing to do with color or race, but it is generally tied to country of origin, since Americans, Western Europeans, Australians generally aren't going somewhere else to take up citizenship and a new life since the citizenship they have is perfectly good and the country of origin is developed/first world. Those are usually ex-pats, going somewhere else for a job opportunity. It's not universal, though. Nobody calls my family Italian ex-pats here in the US. They're immigrants, they came over on immigrant visas, got green cards/citizenship, and never intended to return to Italy. It's not racist, and there's no need to allude to it.

Seat setup looks almost exactly like the Business Class on the LOT 787 which I actually like.

I think those are the exact same seats that AI uses for J in their 787s. I was surprised by how comfortable they were.

Cool, impressive, might have to try them out soon.

I wish they could get one of their ex-pat pilots to proofread the description for the Coppola wine. What a mess of inaccuracies and poor syntax not commensurate with a "5-star airline."

The devil is in the details, and based on your very insightful review, I think Hainan is a passable option but not a top notch carrier.

Thanks for this. They fly YYZ–PEK and often have some good pricing. Worth having a try!

the pajamas are re-cycled ? ( used more than once? )

"Maybe I just haven’t been very observant, but I don’t ever recall seeing a male cabin crew on a Chinese airline before, so I found that to be noteworthy.

It took about 20 minutes before the seatbelt sign was turned off."

These statements show that you have no idea about that part of the world - at all. Spare us with this unadultered hogwash and keep on reviewing the anglo-saxon world from your anglo-saxon point of view..

Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice! I'm in love.

As for the issue of male cabin crews on Chinese carriers: very recently I saw some sort of advertisement for Xiamen Airlines that featured an exclusively young & handsome male crew. Maybe the ad (the copy was entirely in Chinese) was for a flight to China's equivalent of Provincetown.

This Hainan review has now made me even more curious about China Eastern's first class product on the 777. Could it really be as luxurious as MU's promos make it out to be?? If only there was a person with the ability to try it out and write a post about the experience....sigh!

Seriously, OMAAT has been kicking it. I've been loving the diversity of the posts.

Gotta say - Im impressed, especially with the food

@lucky Im looking forward to all these new airline reviews this year - I think cost will soon become a significant factor in your opinions - well more than ever by the end of 2016.

Actually doesn't look half bad...too bad the flight is going to somewhere most have zero desire to travel.

Hey Ben,

Just wanted to give you a heads up, don't be surprised if you see more and more American or Western pilots with Chinese carriers as that's where pilots seem to be flocking as they are paying more than elsewhere.

Just a tip! 😉

I know you usually focus on the flights/hotels and not so much on the destination (which makes sense since theres hundreds of blogs out there about 'what to do in Tokyo' and such.

That said, I bet most of us had never even heard of Changsa prior to your blog and there isnt much in the way of tourist info on the city. I think we'd all love to get a sense of the city from your perspective.

@imperator I flew China eastern J a little over a year ago and it was a similar experience with maybe a little less polish , although food was good and service was exceptionally warm and friendly. I would imagine first would be even better.

I'd love to see a review of Sichhuan airlines J as they often have some great fares from down here in Melbourne.

@Tom - get out of here with that trash comment.

The seats look exactly the same as Ethiopian's "Cloud Nine" aka business class seating.

Gee, Tom, are you always so rude? A lot of we "anglos" appreciate Lucky's perspective on decidedly non-anglo experiences. Sorry about the multi-ethnic bug up your ass.

Interesting review, and the food looks great!

On the whole "ex-pat" thing, in my experience the term is usually applied to anyone who lives outside their country of citizenship, either for work or retirement, but who don't intend to take out citizenship. An "immigrant" is someone who moves with the intention of making their destination their permanent home, usually intending to become a citizen or at least a permanent resident.

I worked for a major European bank, we had staff from our Tokyo and Hong Kong offices who took extended assignments in New York or London, and they were referred to as "ex-pats" just like their western counterparts.

Is it just me, or has the number of commenters looking for things to take offence about gone up dramatically recently?

So you're basically not a fan of Turkish anymore, since aren't those the same seats they have?

"for what it’s worth, I’m happy she recommended XL pajamas"

What, no gif of a Real Housewife laughing back at someone who incorrectly gave them side eye? 😉

Really impressive. I agree with others that if traveling with someone this seems like a top business class option.

I am curious though whether non-bloggers will have the same experience. 1) not wanting any crew in pics, 2) servicing the bathroom after each visit, 3) and picking up crumbs during the flight all give me pause their non-standard, and your flight had not one but two bloggers onboard. If non-blogger reviews echo those moves though, along with the cappuccino art, honest drink recommendations, expert plating of the soup and main, etc., I'm definitely going to consider myself a fan.

Seats look the same (other than fabric colour) as China Southern A330.

On China Southern they serve pre-departure alcohol except for flights departing from USA. Perhaps it is the same for Hainan? (BTW CZ F food & beverage has improved quite a bit since you flew them, although still not yet at the level of CX/SQ etc.)

You should take it as a compliment when they tell you that you need a bigger pajama...that means they think you are a strong guy with lots of muscles!

@Sunrise089 - I flew them a couple days ago and agree with Ben's review. However, since I don't take pictures of my coffee, I didn't get a smily face. I was given Champagne before takeoff in Changsha but not in LA. For those that care, I use the baby changing table while changing from street clothes to pajamas which is only in the restrooms on the left side of BC. The restrooms were kept immaculate so just before landing, it was clean (no wet-sticky floor) as is often the case with 14 hour flights.

That Real Housewife gif is giving me LIIIIIIIFEEEEE.....

Oh, and great review.

@TheTruthIs - Thank you! That's a great datapoint and really encouraging.

Thanks for this review, Ben, and for uncovering this particular flight for us. We're now looking forward to our own trip more than ever.

Nice report Ben, thanks!

It's hilarious that they define Detroit-born Francis Ford Coppola an "Italian director"!

"These statements show that you have no idea about that part of the world – at all. Spare us with this unadultered hogwash and keep on reviewing the anglo-saxon world from your anglo-saxon point of view.."

@Tom - this is a blog and here to present his point of view. What other point of view is he supposed to have? If you don't want to read it, then go somewhere else sheesh.

The expat pilot promotional video made my day. I watched all the 12 minutes. My aspirations have changed. Thank you.

The tight economy class is why you prefer the A350? How would you know???

The hard product looks almost identical to TK. Having flown TK from IST - HKG before on the 77W, it didn't suck but there are far better options in Business out there (CX and AA reverse herringbone for instance). However, for the money you paid on a roundtrip here, this certainly doesn't look like a bad option. How easy would it be get from Changsha to say Beijing? Are there easy connections still available at the evening arrival time of the LAX flight? Is there a train option perhaps?

"The pajamas specifically came with a card indicating you can take them home (as you’d expect)."

Can you imagine if airlines re-used the PJs? GROSS! Pillows and duvets/bedding is bad enough sometimes. I always wonder how well all of that stuff is cleaned and sanitized (from what I've heard from crew, not very well in most cases).

Good to know the car fiasco was just the fact you were early. I figured the transportation part would make it much easier for my first time heading to a country where no one speaks english (maybe ill find some at Hooligans Pub which is an expat hang out) As long as I can get to my hotel i'm good on my own. I usually travel to the easier places where english is easy to come by like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali, Australia. This will be a great experience for me.

Great review - i just confirmed a booking on Hainan ORD-PEK-BKK in business thanks to your review - the price was amazing and I was very concerned/skeptical about the quality but this review put me at ease. To the earlier comment that Hainan should pay you for this, I completely agree... but maybe that would bias your review ;).

Thanks again for the detailed info!

Dave

How would you compare this to EVA business class? Flying back to BKK in December. Was very pleased with EVA, but wanted to try something different.

@lucky when are you going to try out hainan's new reverse herringbone seats?

Thanks for the Hainan staff video - it's great!

What with the awkward 'spontaneous' conversations, the crappy subtitling and the Austrian guy basically complaining about th3 job, it's hard to pick a favorite part. If foreced however, it would possibly have to be the pilot checking the aircraft pre-flight with the backing track lyrics talking about being an 'irresponsible' and 'unreliable' guy.

The comic value combined with the pretty impressive service really makes me want to fly them!

I'm a million-miler on UA and that much on other airlines internationally. This is the most thorough, and one of the most readable, reviews I've read. Thanks for it. I stumble upon it whilst search for a BOS-PVG trip in C.