Review: Air China Business Class Paris to Beijing

Got a remote stand at PEK on an inter-asia flight in C. I was the only passenger in biz that day and got a private bus. Not quite an S-class transfer, though I appreciated the privacy and the quick get-away.

Nice report, thanks!

Have you reviewed the first class cabin yet? If so, can you provide a link?

Also, were the foot cubbies big enough so you could roll onto your side and still have your feet fit easily? Would someone with large feet (size 12 6E) have a problem?

@ beachfan -- Haven't flown their first class yet, though hope to soon. Yes, foot cubbies were a good size. I'm a side sleeper and have size 12 shoes, and didn't have any problem sleeping.

I think you math might be wrong...6 rows of 6 seats does not equal 42 🙂

@ ssk -- Whoops, means to write seven rows. Thanks for the heads up!

Almost exactly 1 year ago, I flew the China Southern A380 and they also gave out pajamas in business class (which they interestingly called "First Class" even though the fare was a C/J code. Their true First Class was called something like "Platinum Suites"). They also provided a thin "mattress" in addition to a duvet, which did a decent job of smoothing the gaps in the lie-flat seat. CZ's food was similar to your experience, nothing to write home about.

Slightly off-topic: The Paris breast cake is actually a "Paris-Brest", named to commemorate a bicycle race between those 2 cities. Puff paste with whipped cream filling, it is intended to call to mind a pneumatic bicycle tire. Gotta love those translations...

Thanks for the report! Questions as a single traveler: Is there much (any) privacy between adjacent seats? Also, did you notice if there's access from the window seat to the aisle when beds are deployed?

-J

@ JB -- Yes, actually quite a bit of privacy between seats since the seats are staggered at an angle a bit. It's actually what I liked most about the seats compared to more traditional forward facing seats.

If you're in a window it shouldn't be too tough to step over the person in the aisle when they're reclined.

I was totally expecting you to go for the four happiness pasta!

Funnily enough I'm flying CA to PEK from IAH tonight! In F. 🙂 I'll send you some pics.

Nice trip report and makes me want to try Air China. I must say, though, that your meal choices left something to be desired. Not particularly adventurous, wouldn't you say? I, for one, thought the squid salad, dim sum/congee, and rice vermicelli soup sounded fantastic.

I flew Qatar business and pajamas were also handed, along with a givenchy amenity kit. Food was really good (the best i had on my trip including LH and TG F and SQ and SA C). The service was friendly and the chief purser came to introduce herself to all business passengers. Seats were confortable and entertainment had a long variety. The best experience I had on C, on par with some F minus the larger seat.

Nice report. Might want to change Coke to Pepsi in the picture description though!

Chinese menu entrees = sauteed chicken, sauteed fish or sauteed vegetables. Do I detect a theme?

A-hem...that diet coke has a pepsi logo on it. The brand police will be after you.

Movie snacks? Cool! (where is the popcorn, however?)

In summary, I guess they did their best to service you. 😉

@ Lucky;

Thanks! Reviewers have been disclosing their height when talking about leg room, with today's design, shoe size is important too!

The typos and errors in the spirits section of the menu are wild!

Country misspelled, none of those drinks are "Rum" and there are extra spaces, etc. throughout.

At least one editor, graphic designer, proofreader would speak English and catch those?

I understand the Engrish problem, but I wonder if service can be counted on with such sloppy work? Do United flights to Japan have as many Japanese typos? I'm curious.

@ Peter -- If I'm not mistaken they do have popcorn in first class, though. Guess it's too premium for business class. 😉

And thanks, fixed Pepsi/Coke mixup. Won't happen again!

Thanks for the report ben. I have been waiting for this one for quite some time as I'm contemplating a trip on CA over the holidays.

I was curious do you know which cities CA currently serves with this aircraft or one with a similarly updated business class product?

@ hotelisto -- They fly it to Houston, Los Angeles, and New York in the US. In Europe I know they fly it to Frankfurt and Paris as well. I'm sure there are other cities, but those are the ones I know off the top of my head.

Virgin Atlantic has a little-known 75K roundtrip redemption in F on Air China between London and Beijing (and only those cities for Air China). Throw in the current 30% Amex transfer bonus and that’s a sharp discount to using MileagePlus (160K) or Miles&More (180K) for the same flights. YR is about $300 plus departure taxes. Partner award booking on VS often requires multiple phone calls over a period of time.

I fly to Beijing regularly from AMS (at least every other month) and I have been trying out different airlines (within Star Alliance and OneWorld) and I have to say, in terms of seat, Air China is by far my favourite and I will take them over the LH A380 any day - particularly on the flight to Beijing where I want to sleep. I find the food to be good and although there is a bit of a language barrier, it is nothing that isn't insurmountable. China Southern on the other hand - flew them once, and never again! Air China though - very much enjoy them.

I'm actually really impressed with the hard product -- looks really classy and comfortable. I agree that it's hard to judge the service when there's a language barrier, but overall this report has made me really want to fly Air China!

@lucky said "I’m a side sleeper and have size 12 shoes"

Omg hawt!

Lucky, how are these seats for peoople traveling together? It's also interesting that the middle seats both face the same direction.

Are you allowed to mix and match items from the Chinese and Western menus? Also, the Chinese really like their main meals sauteed, don't they? 😉

The pajyama shirt looks retro Maoist. Perhaps, Lucky, you could have your picture taken in them holding a little red Air China menu. Put the photo besides Mao's in Tianamen Square with a banner heralding ‘The Long Mile’. A poster child for the Gen Y/Millenial cultural travolution. Can’t make this stuff up.

@ wwk5d -- The seats are great for people traveling together. They're slightly staggered so you have a bit of privacy, but can still easily talk. I'd say it's possibly the best configuration for people traveling together.

As far as I could tell it wasn't possible to mix and match the Western and Chinese options.

@ steve -- ROFLMAO!

This past May, I flew MUC-PEK on Air China's business class on an A330. The seats were the older version, like the ones you find on LAN. There was ton's of leg room. The new seats look nicer.

I didn't even get a menu on my flight. The FA just asked if I wanted the Chinese or Western menu. I chose Chinese and just went with it.

My amenity kit was the same as your but oddly enough I found 2 toothbrushes in my kit.

I also pulled into a remote stand but there were 2 vans for the premium passengers (more than enough room) and regular buses for everyone else.

In order to get the best use out of my Mileage Plus points, I'm looking at booking a round trip to southeast Asia for next December. While availability isn't yet posted, the chances are I'll have a choice between Asiana and Air China in first class to Seoul and Beijing respectively with onward connections in business class (though the connection time in Seoul looks tight at only one hour). Between the two, which would you choose?

@ Stuart Falk -- I'd say Asiana definitely gets the edge. They have a phenomenal first class product with amazing service and food. Actually probably one of my favorite first class products of any airline.

I'm surprised you didn't like arriving at a remote stand. It's kind of cool to get off the plane with no gate, and get to go on the tarmac.

Lucky, I just finished a Silk Road tour; took several domestic flights. Noticed that all the Chinese airlines (China Southern, China Eastern, Air China, and some smaller domestics) leave their "seat belt" signs on for the entire flight. (I flew the over-water segments in Biz on a US Airways 90K award, thanks to your blog.)

I also discovered that when you transfer domestic to international in Beijing, you must claim your luggage from the domestic flight, check in for the international, then go through security and immigration. Recommend allowing at least 3 hours for this transfer :-(.

The food looked dodgy. Do you think their regional business class would be similar?

Oh, and you seem to always travel with a "friend". Any chance we'll be introduced to your special friend any time soon? Maybe you can proove your mom wrong? 😉

@Brandon

I think Lucky only enjoys it if there is a luxury car or special premium-passengers-only van or bus waiting to take him to the terminal 😀

Air China offers PJ only on a few selected routes in Business Class.

I've always burnt my United points on International economy flights, but given the recent devaluation, it's motivated me to try out a higher tier experience. Fortunately, a trip just came up for me to go back to Beijing in late January. Can you offer (or anyone for that matter) some advice/tips for business class from LAX-PEK? Plane? Preferred seats? um, excuse my noobie question but do i get to keep the PJ? -_-;

@ Thomas -- Los Angeles to Beijing would be the same 777-300ER that I flew. I'd say all seats in the cabin are more or less equal. Given the mild premium for business class I'd definitely recommend booking it.

thanks Lucky!!! it's ON!!!!

Thomas - another option to consider is paying 90,000 US Airways miles for the same business class roundtrip itinerary. (For me that would be a no brainer, since even with the devaluation UA miles are much more usable/flexible than US miles. Naturally your "mileage" may vary :-).)

@UAPhil: thanks for the advice. Using less miles on US is definitely the wiser choice. I fly economy to get the most flights out of my miles so rarely do I consider flying anything but. After much hesitation, I didn't get in on the recent US gift promotion so don't have enough miles in that account =(. Spending 120k United miles is painful but luckily, Chase UR is easy enough to come by.

Thanks Lucky, great report! I wouldn't have even considered Air China for award travel. I would have thought Air China too chancy for a bad trip. You proved that theory wrong.

Not impressed with the service from your description. I've flown their Y several times (unfortunately) and feel the same kind of "indifference" (but worse in Y, of course). It's not a language issue, but an attitude issue.

"It’s not a language issue, but an attitude issue."

Agreed.

They are the first airline, I am aware, doing an intercontinental long haul flight between two countries where no one from the crew speaks the languages of those two countries.

Chinese only and very poor English, with heavy accent, between Brazil and Spain.

Using UNITED award miles for either Air China A330 flight CA173 BEJ to SYD(can't find if it is 200 or 300) Business
or Asiana 777-200(no ER)SEOUL-SYD OZ235 and OZ601- Business.
Need the newest seats that lie flat and nicest craft. Any comments on plane seats,& food?? Pictures anyone?

@ jd -- They're both going to have angled flat products. Asiana will generally have much better food and service, but neither airline has an amazing hard product to Australia.

Nice review!
Quick Question: How is the washroom? I am asking this because some airline washrooms easily give me the creeps as they are too small!

@ Kritika -- They weren't especially nice, but weren't horrible either.

Aren't some of the new business class seats on the 777-300 purple?