Sichuan Airlines Will Fly A350 To LAX

Okay...should I talk about something else or start the China-bashing right now?

Sichuan Airline has excellent reputation for their catering among Chinese as they serve a unique menu with Sichuan cuisine even on Economy flights.

I flew Sichuan intra-China (PVG-CTU, I think) a few months back and was shocked and excited when I realized we were on their A350. I flew in economy for such a short flight, but service was surprisingly decent, and of course it was as comfortable as possible being an A350.

@Dominicus, I agree - I've flown Sichuan Airlines in F on several domestic segments, and the catering is head-and-shoulders above F catering on any other Chinese carrier. Portions are really generous and the food is actually quite good, unlike the dire "mystery" dishes you get in the front cabin on the Chinese "big three."

Unfortunately the interior product leaves a lot to be desired. The IFE for example is the old Thales system, which is pretty bad in my opinion. Also the cabin design was likely made by a 3 year old

I do miss being on the west coast though I'm from New York City. When I was in Santa Barbara, California back in the day for the 1st time in my life, I hated that it was time to leave. Being in such a beautiful environment like Santa Barbara and then driving through the mountains for a little over 2 hours from SB to Los Angeles was peaceful. California is such a beautiful place. 🙂

@Aaron I second your appreciation of the A350. While the A380 has been (rightfully) lauded as a most comfortable airplane, I was pleasantly surprised by the comfort level of the A350 which in my opinion is a significant improvement over its direct competitors such as the B777 and B787.

It is strange when they have a350 which have enough range to go to China to LA, they still make stops in between.

Their tickets are always priced below those major Chinese airlines, but just don't know where to credit the mileage to?

Does it stop in Jinan or Hangzhou in each direction? I ask because I have to go to Hangzhou in October and may give them a try.

@bsp They need to make stops to pick up the subsidies offered by local governments for providing international diret flights.

@charles Crediting to China Southern may be the only meaningful way to earn something.

@Lu, ask for Chengdu government to give subsidies is a way to get rid of stopover, but since Hainan offer CTU-LAX and got subsidies already, maybe Sichuan has to continue to make the stop

I recently flew Sichuan’s Panda livery A350 in business from Auckland to Chengdu and had a great experience. I uploaded clips from my flight including the catering here: https://youtu.be/s_thb2_eArQ

I thought it’s also worth noting that the Sichuan A350 has done a few Melbourne flights too. Hopefully this will become more permanent.