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Air China to beijing on 767s

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  • Air China to beijing on 767s

    Has one one flown in Y recently or J for that matter? Got an overnight to Beijing soon from Singapore so want to see if its worth an upgrade or not.

    Thanks

  • #2
    Answered my own question and went for it so Mods feel free to remove this post.

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    • #3
      You may want to post the answer so that others can benefit.
      ..

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      • #4
        Went for the upgrade as it was a good deal in terms of price, I shall do a trip report as not many posts on Air China.

        Cheers

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        • #5
          Off to a good start..
          Went to air chinas office and paid the upgrade fee as they cant process it over the phone and while the ticket was being updated the lady asked me why I didn't fly SQ as you can get some good deals and their planes are a lot newer and nicer!

          She has a point mind the 767-300s on the Beijing trip do not have personal screens and are pretty old. We shall see.

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          • #6
            I've flown the reverse route (PEK-SIN in J) and can definitely report it ultimately left much to be desired when compared to SQ, except the seat was actually more comfortable (I managed to semi-doze off) than SQ's old regional J. Food was unimpressive. Service also.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by 225 View Post
              Off to a good start..
              Went to air chinas office and paid the upgrade fee as they cant process it over the phone and while the ticket was being updated the lady asked me why I didn't fly SQ as you can get some good deals and their planes are a lot newer and nicer!

              She has a point mind the 767-300s on the Beijing trip do not have personal screens and are pretty old. We shall see.
              The lady from Air China office asked you why you didn't choose SQ?

              Comment


              • #8
                Yes! To be honest what with the debacle of the flight back I should have listened!

                Trip out to Beijing was uneventful. Check in at T1 in Changi was OK but the business class check in was in the premium area and not in the check in desks area which was nice but meant you had to walk back to it once you realised where it was. The SATS lounge wasn’t too bad but at that time of night only had a few sandwiches and the *A Gold lounge was closed until 5am.

                Business was deserted only 2 of us on one side and one bloke on the other which was good. The seats and cabin are obviously in keeping with the age of the plane and much as I expected so cant really complain, however the lack of any IFE bar the projector in front was annoying. Why they cant have the portable players and headsets like Malaysian airlines do I don’t know. The crew were nice and attentive but as it was the early morning flight I think they were happy to let us get on and go to sleep.
                The seat reclines an extra foot and is an inch wider than Y but there is no foot rest so you end up sliding down a bit, also the head rests do not have the flexible sides that the Y do. I have a couple of pictures which i'll put up.
                Waking up we were offered fruit and coffee.


                Now coming back was a little more eventful..(goes on a bit)
                We were flying Y class on the way back and got to the gate about 15 minutes before they shut and as we went through the check I was told “UPGRADE!” and a Business class seat number written on my boarding pass. Brilliant I thought so I asked about my wife as we were travelling together and on the same booking etc.
                “No, only gold card upgrade”
                I then explained I was very happy about being upgraded but do not really want to leave my wife in Y while I go up front so is there any chance she could get an upgrade and the next 15 minutes or so went something like this..
                “No, only gold card upgrade”
                “Right OK well I’d like to keep my seat in Y then please so we can sit together” (we had pre booked the seats when we booked the flight weeks ago)
                “No, no seat, you in business class”
                “I don’t want to sit in business class if it means my wife is on her own”
                “No seat, plane all full you in business class your wife in economy”
                “Well I do not want the seat so please put me back in the seats we had booked “
                This is where the language barrier made an appearance, we were escorted to the plane and the ticket desk woman handed us over to the steward and explained in Mandarin that this annoying crazy person didn’t want to sit in business class and wants to go back to economy so you sort it out (my take on what she was shouting but I think I was pretty spot on..)
                The Steward then shouted at someone else but she was busy trying to sort out another c0ck up as everyone was sitting in the wrong seats in business and it was chaos. They had over sold the flight and just bumped up any *A GC or better but hadn’t really looked at seating arrangements and who was travelling with who.
                The guy tried to explain in broken English that the plane was full so I had to sit in business, I then explained I didn’t want to thanks all the same and can they please re arrange the seats so that I can sit where I had booked.
                After a lot more shouting between cabins we were taken to the seats we had allocated in Y and told “no seat, you in business class unless you swap”
                At this point I said “OK well why that is what I wanted 15minutes ago..”
                So I said to the lady in my allocated seat you have been upgraded please take my seat and enjoy and made her afternoon.
                The rest of the flight was uneventful but the overhead TV programs were all in Mandarin with an English translation at the same time and same volume!

                The moral is you get what you pay for I guess but still

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                • #9
                  Well, I wonder if I was travelling with my *S Significant Other, whether that would be ample justification to op-up both of us into J.

                  I should book Air China more often and find out... probably a decent chance ex-PEK?

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                  • #10
                    Wow, it's been a while since I've experienced the CA "shouting" experience
                    Le jour de Saint Eugène, en traversant la Calle Mayor...

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