Review: MIAT Mongolian Airlines Business Class Boeing 737 (UBN-ICN)

I believe it's something to do with a lot of the airspace being reserved for the military.

https://youtu.be/sJPxjVASlBc

Compared to the long-haul product, much more impressive from start to finish. Those views certainly helped. Incredible.

Chinese airspace is tightly controlled by the military, creating a whole set of problems for the civil aviation.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3164982/china-relax-aviation-rules-shenzhen-opening-skies-more

Great landscape to distract you from the only remaining meal option.... fish

LOL *eye roll*

"Each seat also has a little bar that can be lowered to act as a footrest, which I tend to think is an underrated feature (given how easy and cheap this is to install, compared to some other amenities)."

Unless your legs are just the right length (mine aren't) they're useless.

That looks wayyyyy better than the long-haul flight on the 787. I think if they want to fly to the US they're going to have improve that long-haul product a lot more, even just to the standard fo this would be something. The cabin of that 787 looked so miserable in comparison. I also think it is a shame they don't make more of Mongolian culture including the cuisine which can be fascinating and unusual - I think MIAT could easily be a nice boutique airline that actually sells the country as a destination a bit like Fiji Airways does. Especially as it's a bit off the beaten track and the tourism they do have is a big part of the economy relatively.

The reason flights often zig zag in Chinese airspace is because 90% of the airspace over China is for military use. That only leaves a small portion for civilian planes. As a result, there are "highways" of sorts which planes have to follow. Often, these highways mean most flights aren't simply from Point A to Point B. For your flight, the aircraft had to travel on multiple "highways", hence the big zag pattern.

Just go on Flightradar24 and search up domestic Chinese flights. Most of them follow this zig zag pattern. The exception is mainly major cities (like Beijing to Shanghai) due to the number of flights between those cities, so the government intentionally put a "highway" between them. But the more extreme routings are on flights from less major Chinese cities (such as Xian to Guangzhou; search up CZ3208 and you'll see).

"It consisted of a salad with some smoked chicken, parmesan cheese, cherry tomatoes, and croutons."

Almost like a Caesar salad, minus the dressing...

I think the reviews need to be relative. Given the price surely you were not expecting gulf carrier service....

You also need to be aware Lucky that, some of that final routing you did there was to avoid NK airspace.

And as other commenters have said, CN airways can be VERY tight and you havee to do quite the drastic 90° turns.

China has required routes throughout their airspace and it is all permitted requiring specific entry and exit requirements. These required routes extend across all of their airspace from the "Stans" to the Far East. Also when coming into ROK, you have to avoid NK airspace. Everything's based on airways, very little UPR or direct routing is permitted.

There have been longstanding problems with sexual harassment and assault involving female cabin crews in MIAT - Mongolian Airlines, and no management action has been taken for years, because they are also involved in these issues. Do not to fly with MIAT - Mongolian Airlines.