Trip report: long trip to Asia, 4 airlines

[King F. Hui]

Asiana OZ ICN-PEK A330 14NOV09
After 16 days on the road, finally homeward bound. I planned to spend 2-3 hours before flight to explore ICN, therefore no time to check out the Asiana lounge.

This was a short 1 hour 10 minutes flight so many services were [condensed]. The FA offered to hang up my winter coat in the closet, then water/juice/hot towel as soon as I sat down. First the seat, it was a 180 degree lay flat. Only have time to try out the various seat settings after the seat belt sign was off and before the meal service. That was only 2-3 minutes. The seat was fairly comfortable and not lumpy.

Large seat back monitor but AVOD was kind of short in programmes, only one Korean movie (excuse: short flight, but I complained to Service Director), some audio channels inactivated (short flight, again complaint to SD). The map is old AirMap. A little disappointed that it was not the new high resolution map. The headphone was a so so quality one. But I bring my own Bose QC headphone anyway.

There were only 4 passengers in J cabin, as soon as the seat belt sign was turned off, FAs come around to serve drinks and take meal orders. The meal was served in china and glass but in economy class style, everything in one meal tray. May be this was a short flight. This was a step down from KE meal service I got in my last short TAO-ICN flight (reported above). Food was good, smoke salmon as starter and beef tenderloin as main course. Yes, a tube of chili source but no salt and pepper in the tray.

The FA were very attentive (3 FAs to 4 pax) and came back frequently for bread and drinks. Typical Asian FAs, they give you very good service but won't engage in a casual conversation. I am a non-drinker, so no comment on the selection of wine and other alcoholic beverages. No Haggan Daz ice cream :-(

After 2 visits to ICN, I am rating this my #1 airport, even above HKG mainly for the good signage everywhere.

The flight departed and arrived on time. To my surprise, PEK sky was clear after the snowfall the day before.

OZ FA did not give me any Chinese form to fill in as I was transferring to an international flight. I got held up at PEK health inspection to fill in the health report form.

Air China CA991 PEK-YVR B-6076 A332 14NOV09

Transferring at PEK was slow (waited for 30 minutes in queue) as there was only one immigration officer on duty to process all transfer pax. Passport, airline boarding pass check and of course, the rubber stamp.

CA has a very large J class lounge here as PEK is their HQ. Unfortunately no hot food until 5:00pm. Only instant cup noodle and package snacks. The sandwich is about the size of my finger. Only cheese or fried egg sandwich. There are a few mobile phone charging stations in the lounge (and also around the terminal). CA offers F/J pax free electric cart ride to the gates within the international terminal area. There were 2 carts waiting outside, down the escalators from the CA lounge. I choose to walk, check out the terminal and take some photos.

The new PEK T3 is a good place to spot planes as it sits in between 2 main runways. By the time I got to the gate, most passengers have been boarded.

J cabin was full and the lay out/seats are the same as my last CA flight YVR-PEK. However, the FA in this flight offered to hang up my winter coat in the closet instead of rolling it up and throw it in the overhead cabinet.

Push back was 40 minutes behind schedule but no announcement. After taxing out, the plane sat for another 30 minutes in the taxiway and again no announcement.

The in flight experience was similar to the last CA flight CA992 from YVR. I am not going to repeat here. Yes, foot prints on the toilet again.

The flight was 2 hours late arriving YVR.

Next trip: Christmas in HKG using AC