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…
Continue reading: Review: China Eastern First Class 777 Shanghai To Los Angeles
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Flying exclusively in business or First class (paid ticket: haters gonna hate), this review is interesting. While the seat looks comfortable, the food looks very bland and the lounge offering is poor. I'll stick to my favourite first class services from Cathay and Japan Airlines.
Great review! I was looking forward to you trying out the double bed. A bit disappointed in their policy. Guess it's to prevent passengers fighting over who gets the bed.
The main for the second meal looks like a normal dish that could be served in many Chinese café that is certainly edible, while not gourmet. Though only judging from the photo, I am curious of the objectivity of your reaction for the food, mostly based on your own food experience, could be. Don't make me wrong, it's just that I have seen tons of western and non-western bloggers having very contradictory comments on the same food in their reports, which makes me wonder if some bloggers should just stick with the western option while writing a trip report.
I’ve flown them twice and I totally agree - the food was awful - the seat and bedding adequate but I’d avoid it from now on choosing either JAL or CX
@Z,
Agree. Everyone has a different taste of food. I never comment a certain type of food good or bad, all I say is whether I like it or not. For me, China eastern food quality is well above major US and Europe airlines.
First of all thanks Ben! It is a great report. To answer your question, NO...MU does not fulfill my expectations of a leading airline with a great F product. Yes, the hard product is good, but the soft products are more Bus. Class like than First. In the first meal you have 5 different main choices, impressive--yes. But the execution of your choice, is mediocre as its best..frozen mashed potatoe..yuk!..instead of king prawns...normal prawns...and again the typical MU excuse...again! Do not let me start with the second meal with that horrible main choice ...seriously in which class would anyone try that...sick bag pls! Have you tried those Chinese snacks in tiny packs?...chicken feet?...duck tongues?...stinky tofu slices?...well at least the signs of the can drinks are facing all forward...hurray what a win!...No, fragrant stones hanging in the lav this time? and no smoke odour...wow, they finally understand the regulations...
Sorry, to be so frank...I would not pay hard cash or miles to fly MU F with all these negatives...
All these make BR or MF in C a far more better experience!
@ Ben
why was not it possible for you to try the double bed? Did they gave you a decent reason why?
Or were they just to lazy to prepare for you or were these those seats used by the crew?
If there was no decent reason than it was not acceptable to deny you the chance to try it!
How do you approach the subject of really bad food? Do you mention it to the crew or come up with a plausible reason to not eat a specific course? I'm not sure what to do here myself.
You fly paid first and business? I never would have guessed that from the fact you mention it in a comment here every single day for the last year or so. Nobody cares...
I think the reason that you are not allowed to use the double bed is because they are being considered a separate cabin on China Eastern. The two center seats that convert into a double bed are being sold with the cabin class "U", which you can identify on Expertflyer. They have a different price with the other four individual first class suites and first class passengers are unable to choose these seats. In essence, if the crew allows you to use the double bed, they would be "upgrading" you to a higher cabin class.
Frankly this looked a lot better than what I would have expected from China Eastern. Pretty decent in fact. Sure the food sucked but that's the case on Cathay too.
Ben why didn't you just originally select one of the center seats instead of the window seat then you could have juts put the privacy divider down and you have a double bed
Seriously, the two center seats are more expensive than the single suits.,!? Even SQ do not charge the center suits in the A380.
Hey lucky...
Those headphones btw were made by Audio-Technica and I believe they should be no problem...
Also, nice review!
I do suggest people not to make biased comments on the food. At least for me, those food look pretty decent as in the pics. For me, I still do not how to eat sandwiches tacos without the stuff being falling off when I hold it with my hand. Eating all those raw and tasteless vegetables in the salad is completely unacceptable. Steaks with all the blood over is very disgusting and only wild animals like eating it. But there are people who like those type of food, period.
@BrewerSEA I was just thinking the same thing. He also said before he almost always flies paid first or business, so he contradicts himself. He has to be either bored or confused. He should create his own blog where he is the only blogger and reader. It should be one paid F or C at a time or one dollar at a time or I only know how to comment that I paid for it every time. No one hates his comments; just hate him for being so stupid and annoying. He almost has no reason to read Lucky’s blog. He just has no friends. If he pays for it all the time, he does not need the art of earning and redeeming miles. If he were so rich he would either never need to redeem those miles or he would never need to mention it. I know super wealthy people and they never mention their privileged status. You can just see it and feel it on your own accord every time.
Having had China Eastern economy food, it's the only airline food I've ever refused. Combine with the rest of their service issues, avoid.
Pretty bad food again. When will these folks wake -up; they appear unconscious.
Sounds better than I expected! Question though: how do you ask a flight attendant politely to make your bed? It’s something I’ve always wondered about as someone who’s never flown premium cabins.
Is sfo-hkg on singapore not the best first class product from the us to china? Or maybe you do you not consider hong kong a part of china
BrewerSEA
I love how the phrase "Haters gonna Hate" gives people a license to say anything, no matter how douchey or ridiculous, and label any future criticism,
Like someone once said... Having class is one of those things that if you need to say you have it, you obviously do not have it.
I actually find some of these comments more interesting than the articles sometimes.
I wonder how this compares to AA or UA, both of whom fly PVG-LAX? Or spend about 2 1/2 hours more and fly JL and ANA?
I'm asian and I dont like china eastern catering either. I've honestly preferred AA catering over CX and JL the last year or so.
I know mainland china has different cuisine than Hong Kong, but ive never had a bad meal on CX. But I do enjoy my western options on AA>
Pick your meals based on the catering location should be the best choice on MU. CN3 are just far behind in food and service. If MF or HU has a convenient route, fly them instead. I only fly MU due to the lucrative SPG crossover reward which should be gone when SPG is incorporated into Marriott Rewards.
@ BrewerSEA
We need to be kinder to Endre. When he first appeared on here he constantly bragged about only ever travelling paid First, but recently he refers to paid First *and Business*.
Times are clearly hard for Endre: he seems to have suffered some dreadful economic calamity that has required him to move himself further back in the plane.
Who knows whether or not this was his own fault - maybe he spent too much time on OMAAT, generously giving himself to correct all our erroneous opinions about ... well, about everything. Because, let’s just say it: unless we know what Endre thinks, none of us really knows what we ourselves should be thinking.
Thank God for Endre.
And may he quickly work himself out of his current dire financial straits, to get back to the very front of the plane where, clearly, he deserves to be lording it over the rest of us.
/end sarcasm
The food indeed looks quite bad judging by the pictures above.
I once flew Y in MU and I was shocked by their food quality - the worst airline food I was served in my life.
Quite ironic that Shanghai is traditionally known for abundance of good food, but the airline from Shanghai is serving that terrible food.
"Perrier Jouet is a good business class champagne but not first class" ? ?
Hah! Pretentious and clueless ninny ( no offense intended). What's that quote about knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing? It doesn't quite fit but is not too far off the mark in respect of your ongoing champagne silliness.
Ummm, why is no one talking about the “sawdust mousse” pre-landing dessert?!? 🙂
..as we are all in full shock...that another shocker like a sawdust mousse could give us the rest!! ...what on earth is a sawdust mousse??..oh forget that I ask!!...
...I just watched in youtube how you make a sawdust mousse...it is practically crushed cookies and flavoured whipped cream in layers...very First Class indeed!!...they can afford to present French publications but not French desserts from Lenoitre or Laduree !?!...MU F is really killing it !!
@MH` Hear that.
I once had the "pleasure" of flying YYZ-PVG and back on MU in economy. Service was crappy, food was disgusting, and they kept on telling people to turn off their cellphones.
Before flying back, I requested kosher meal for the flight. It was a significant improvement over what the guy next to me was having.
Curious how you respond when asked how the FA may address you. There are so many possibilities. Is it Ben, Mr Ben, Mr Lucky, Mr Schlappig, Sir....? Or do you have fun and invent a title, like Your Excellency?
I am oriental/asian, and am embarrassed by that "food." I cannot believe ANYONE would actually pay for that? Thank you.
I'd argue with you on the snack choices, you need to stop being so arrogant and ignorant about other culture's local snacks. Where those offerings are pretty normal for many Asians, and Chinese like duck tongues and the toufu(they are quiet pricy as they are hard to make). I find the offerings to be good as they are some traditional snack offerings of China, just like how Emirates serves Arab dates in first and also at the bar, I just think it is a good way of showing the airline's culture and where they are from. And MU do have other snack options on the menu if you are not pleased by many of the snack on display and some are pretty good.
@Junse
You can call it what you want..but if you are an internat. carrier and just say you have foreigners on board who do not eat or appreciate the local snacks, isn't it better to offer some western snacks as well..Ben did not pictured some of them, has he??
You are right and I say it to you frankly I do not appreciate ducks tongue or chicken leg...that is honesty!
@YULtide
I always ask for whomever is waiting for me at the airport to have a sign saying SPIDERMAN. I always get my last name though 🙁
@Zortan
They will offer you as soon as you finish your meal. If you refuse and want it done later or if they don't offer you, just wait until meal is over and they are no longer runnning up and down the aisle, approach one on duty, smile and tell her, him:
Sorry, could you help me out with the bedding?
Everything except the seat looks just soooooooo cheap. They should really learn something from Hainan.
@Mai H. FYI: oriental is meant to describe a thing not a person. You should just say Asian. To use oriental to describe an Asian person would be considered discriminatory.
@Myles I understand your point. I wish U.S. carriers would offer more non-western choices as well to be perfectly fair. It seems that US carriers offer minimal or no choices from other international cuisines or snacks.
@The nice Paul never knew about Endre’s dire economic situations. Thanks for the update. The horror for us all to know that sometimes he has to turn right instead of left, but he does always think he is right.
I agree...a balance of both is better depending on the route and pax. I have to say CX's noodle with duck is one my fav snack...I should not have been so frank about the typical chinese snacks...but it angers me in how low and cheap this MU F dining was...If I have to pay hard cash for this I will surely be pissed...which ever intern. carrier should always know in how to fulfill certain F dining standards..decent solid choices as well as execution are cumpulsory..it is just a shame to see this in one if Asia's big airline which often code-shared with AF or KL..if I have a AF ticket on a MU metall..and served dinner like that..sorry I have to censor myself now!!..let us say..Paris will be burning!
@Myles haha. I get you. I would be pissed, too. I do want to say thank you for your honesty. I actually quite concur with you on many of your comments. I guess I just felt that MU is better than CZ. I was not at all impressed with CZ catering and service in J. Had better experience in MU F, but then again not fair for me to compare business to first class.
@Stanley
Thanks, the feeling is mutual.. ..frankly..I only flew once with MU and CZ in C. Both were originating from EU. MU was okay, the western course is okay, seat was herringbone which was great and FAs were solid, actually no big issues as a C product. That is way I am shocked to see this MU F report...this does not make me try F at all..
Regarding CZ in C...Ben is doing a great job reporting it...it is actually almost the same experience as I had..CZ is just okay. The best mainland chinese carriers I have experienced till today are HU an XM both in C..I both had 4 flights and in all ocassions very good to outstanding...probably that is why I expect a lot from MU and CZ..I experienced the oriental touch of the service without sacrificing the western standards..they were not that fluid in english but the service attitude as well as execution were great without any hints of uncertainty or lapses..no offence to anyone but I as always compare the chinese carriers with CX and SQ..I know them well as I have been travelling with them since my childhood..so the point of to be fluent in english is a must to me as well as a very good service attitude and execution...
@Myles thanks for that. That is true. OMAAT does a pretty good job in their reports. I would also agree with you that MU can do a better job in terms of quality and presentation for their food. They are not comparable at all to the likes of Emirates and Singapore, but then again there is also a price variation as well. I think it is fair and reasonable to compare the different carriers. For example, I think CI does a much better job in terms of quality and service when compared to CZ. I even prefer them over Eva Air. I think Delta is better in terms of long haul, but they are a joke when compared to Asian regional routes.
@ Stanley
It is okay to compare and enjoyed some comments here. I travelled both CI and BR. But both become very interesting when they got the reverse herringbone seats..both have good service and from time to time a great catering..at the moment..I find BR C a hint better lately..with good catering, PJ and solid FAs...CI is on the right track...if both continue the great development...they could be the best chinese carriers, leaving CX behind elevating to SQ standards..HU and XM are also on the right track but need to solidify its achievements and service to make a name and win loyal pax..
Now the hard and sad part..I am not a fan of any US3...the food are just sad to bad..I appreciate they have full bed on coast to coast direct flights or longer domestics..lately Jetblue is the only one which interests me..nice food and service as well as the mini suite, if you are lucky to snag one..Internationally I won't take the US3 even for double miles bonus etc..great service (attitude+ execution), outstanding catering like TK or OS, great seats and amenities to feel comfortable during the flight are the important factors for me...at the moment the best premium cabin regarding price and all the factors I said...is QR in C which is way better than its nearest rivals...regarding F best overall experience is AF...forget that AF has no suits like EK or SQ but the overall service on board, on the ground, in the lounge combined with great F&B..still beats all those suits gimmicks...LH F is offering the same amenities but no so polished and attentive as AF..so in the end of the day..the human factor in executing all these great stuffs is the the prime factor.. if is not with heart and commitment to your product , to your job, it is just a senseless product and will be forgotten and punished by pax not to fly again..
@Myles yup. You’re right. Both BR and CI are quite good in their own right. I guess I am just a bigger fan with CI. Absolutely true on those seats. Extremely comfortable and very chic especially the cabin layout on CI. As Lucky said, love the wood panel finishing. They have that for business and premium economy. Oh my, how I could not agree with you anymore about the US3. Nothing special or premium about them. I remember compared to JAL and DL business offering, I was much more impressed by Japan Airlines. Excellent sushi, because I can still remember it after ten years. I cannot remember anything from DL as it was nothing to be cheering for in terms of quality and presentation. The service was decent though.
Now that we found out that even a great hard product in F does not guarantee a good F product...MU like CZ in F have a great hard product but the soft products are poor till disgusting..still remember Ben's CZ A380 and A330 F experiences from the tri colour rice aka dog food, to over early arrival preps(ckearing his bed too early) which turnes out they still have 90 min till landing..the cabin crew spreading themselves in F suites as well as a mother with 2 children in a suite which were not F pax at all..the only one F toilet used by the entire crew and leave their brown markings as well as odour behind...so tell me folks...in all of these points...what part of F experiences in a chinese carriers are enticing to make you fly with them?? If I may CX is still the only chinese carrier which can offer a premium F exerience...some of you will be shouting..he called CX chinese...so please correct me...I am not so keen in this aspect..no pun intended!
@Myles Yes, CX is Chinese. What else would they be ethnically, politically, or socially? Haha. Are they their own breed if not then? Oh my. Yup. You reminded me of the nasty experiences that Lucky mentioned in his previous posts. Yuck. I would not find it pleasant either.
@Stanley
I just want to say it correctly..do not want to say ..."they are hongkongnese etc.." and offend someone...So best chinese F is CX while BR and CI in C ...
The report is interesting, but it’s even more interesting to see the replies and how some fools are blinded into thinking chinese air carriers are the best. The microwaved dish seriously looked horrible, even my home cooked food is better than that.
And yes while US carriers may be poor in some aspects, they are certainly better than the crap that chinese airlines offer