Review: China Eastern First Class 777-300ER Singapore To Shanghai

Love the content on an early Saturday morning Lucky!

what's with that red tape everywhere..

@Ben I am waiting for this MU F report. With or without cigarette odour! So the first leg is absolutely a let down. Even for a Biz flight it is pretty mediocre. Really they only have a bad omelette meal and the rest not loaded?? First class meal much !?!? So the FA saved the day and offered a crew meal which astonishingly was superb..hmm?? No matress, so how is the duvet? No wonder you have a restless flight, the overall experience is sad. Sorry, but that is not a first class product!! Waiting for the second leg.

@eric - you've never seen security seals on a plane, especially in an lav before? Yes, the red is a bit obnoxious but it's hard to say it takes away from the hard product.

Almost all of the magazines are French ones: paris-match, le point, l'obs, GQ France.

It is very funny to see that on a singapore-shanghai route.

Thanks for the review.

Coffee mate shouldn't even appear in business class.

@louis..exactly! Ben's coffee is probably instant coffee, while the illy coffee is gone..again!

Looking at that wine selection, Mouton Cadet Red retails for 10-15 EUR and they serve that in international First class...

@Lucky
Since the menu you were given clearly reads Business Class, you should complain to China Eastern about this. Yes, they are not used to flying 3-class aircrafts on the SIN- PVG, but bottom line, they sold you a First Class ticket and should have catered accordingly.

With regards to the cabin crew, I do think you were unfairly harsh to them. By your own admission, the main FA who looked after you was "super nice" yet you rewarded her by posting on this trip report that she wasn't the most polished in the world and I highly doubt her managers would be pleased if they read that. If a cabin crew is kind, hard working, and well-intentioned, there is no need to debase them just because they may not have the more refined training that top airlines like CX and SQ provide to their cabin crews.

Empty First class cabin why didn't you try the double bed?????????????? it would seem like a great opportunity.

Also to call a 5 hour flight really short is a bit of an overstatement since I remember you calling a similar flight length longhaul

https://onemileatatime.com/my-first-longhaul-economy-flight-in-10-years/

@ Ben.. is this kind of a TAAG First experience only the FA is great, very nice and made an effort to sacrifice a crew meal ?! And yes, why did not you try the double bed? Actually MU shouldnphase d out First Class if they cannot deliver the product decently. Really waiting for that long haul MU F flight.

Quarantine police? All Asian airports I've been to have an infrared camera for health purposes, can't Shanghai airport afford a few?

@ Bitzer -- They definitely have that as well, so I'm not sure if there was a specific situation with one person on the plane, if this was a random test, or what.

@ Myles -- I asked to try the double bed on the longer flight (stay tuned). This flight didn't have proper bedding, so I figured without decent bedding the double bed wouldn't be very comfortable, not to mention the flight was quite short.

@ SQFirst -- Suggesting a flight attendant isn't the most polished in the world isn't intended to be an insult. The point is that some airlines (like Singapore, for example) *are* the most polished in the world, so I don't think there's anything wrong contrasting that with more random airlines. I think what I said about the flight attendants was overwhelmingly positive.

From all of your reviews off Chinese airlines it just doesn’t seem like they try very hard. They have the latest and newest aircraft and hard product. And the soft product is rarely good. How hard would it have been to have all the sodas in that display forward facing? On one hand a ridiculous request. On the other a complete lack of attention to detail that is a recurring theme in your reviews of China Eastern. And China Southern.

The thing that holds the shoe bag looks like a d*ck and balls

@Lucky

That "interesting-looking thing" holding together the shoe bag is called a "button". It will be found on traditional Chinese clothing. Given the amount of time you seem to have spent in China, Singapore and Hong Kong, I'm surprised you haven't come across them before.

@Ben...for me a 5h flight is long. I understand your point but MU should have delivered proper beddings as well, you are travelling F Class! It is just sad to see the thin poor quality of a blanket given to you, looks more an Economy one I suppose. How was the coffee? Am I right to say it was instant coffee and the horrible coffe mate?

When MU schedules the 777 on Asian or domestic flights (eg PVG-SHA around twice daily) they don’t even usually sell First Class on their website, you need a travel agent or MU themselves to book it into U class (which Expertflyer incorrectly lists as coach).
It only costs around $50 - $75 more than Biz and you get a private suite. Who cares about the lack of meal differentiation for that length of flight and price difference!

@flyingfox..if you are assumption is right, then it is a better C product only with a suite. But even in C to have only one option for breakfast in a 5h flight, especially in Asia, rather bad I would say. The soft products on this flight are just poor!

Ben - a simple question - anyone who follows your blog read this when you took the flight - February 4? - Have you run out of reviews ? It’s now April

Maybe I’m a skeptic - but what may have happened here with meal service is that the flight attendants and pilots wanted the seafood noodles so she told you they were out. And then discovered there were extras. They also most likely wanted the omelette with salmon so gave you the economy omelette and plated it like business class. I just think it’s strange for the airline to cater specifically for crew and the crew would offer it to a first / business class customer

I agree with what Kyle said, that maybe the crew wanted the seafood meal.

However, with regards to the soft product, this is a intra-Asia *regional* route, not the same as long haul first class. So it's somewhat understandable that they took some shortcuts.

I've flown SQ Suites A380 on this exact same route, and the service was definitely not equivalent to the long haul Suites flight I had right afterward. For example, no amenity kit was given on that flight. (Can't say what the bedding was like because the flight was too short to really sleep after the big meal service so I just reclined my seat instead.)

@ Jim
got your point! But in comparison to SQ which definetly has more food and better quality options (Book the Cook, just great). From my last SIN-PEK with SQ I had a nice thick blanket, was it a coincidence? I did not know exactly but it is definitely better than the poor blanket which we saw int he report. Amenity kits are a nice gesture but for a 5 hours I will be more happy if there some very good amenities in the lavs. MU has a lot to improve if it wants to compete with SQ, let alone in Asia.

One thing I noticed and thought very interesting is that you asked for a few minutes and the attendant still standing near you. I was laughing when I read this. Being a Chinese who lived in the US for a bit more than 5 years, I totally get this. I am almost certain it’s a culture thing, as in Chinese culture, leaving people alone is not a nice gesture, especially in serving someone. But people sometimes do need their own space. That took me sometime to learn when I first came aboard. I also think the attendant totally did not get it when you say “Please give me a few minutes.” Haha…

What’s more, I do enjoy the article very much. As China’s economy developed quickly, the level of service industry is not quite there yet. Especially for the airlines, some of the crews weren’t well trained. Some of them doesn’t speak English well enough. I am happy to see at least they are trying hard to improve.

I just saw a champagne hack on the Facebook - apparently a raisin will rejuvenate a glass of flat champagne. You can look it up to read the science behind it. Take raisins wherever you go!!!!