This is my return journey from China on Air China. I go to China every few years to visit family. I usually fly CZ via CAN, at it is the cheapest, but just this December, Air China launched a new route from PEK to BNE, so I decided to try it out. Sorry I don't have any photos from the trip, I did nothing much besides visiting family anyway.

Flight: CA 795, PEK-BNE
Aircraft: Airbus A330-243
Registration: B-6073
Load Factor: 100%
Flight Path



Arriving at PEK T3 for check in. Although the terminal is very crowded, I arrived very early, and managed to check in, without having to line up. After checkin and the security checks, I decided to have a look around T3, and do some planespotting. Sorry for the bad image quality, it's quite hard to take a good image at night with a phone.


SQ B77W at PEK T3


EK A388 at PEK T3


CX A333 at PEK T3


Another EK A388 at PEK T3


NX A321 at PEK T3


CA A321 at PEK T3


CA B738 at PEK T3


Empty terminal

At around 2:00 AM we began boarding. CA 795 was boarding by remote stand, and the waiting area below the main floor of the terminal was very crowded, and to make it worse, we were sharing the small area with another flight to CDG. After a bus ride of about 10 mins, we arrived at our aircraft.


Rolls Royce Trent 700 engine


Onboard, the load factor for Economy was 100%, I couldn't find a free seat anywhere. The seats were comfortable, but not the best. Legroom was good. It was kind of annoying how the same announcement was made about 5 times after boarding.


The safety video shown was good, and featured a little panda. Translations were offered in French and English.


Takeoff on Runway 36R.


Very old IFE system on Air China. My remote did not work properly, so I was not able to access the movies and TV shows section of the IFE. I could only choose between moving map and a few Chinese TV shows I didn't really enjoy.


About an hour after takeoff, breakfast was served. It was just 4 sandwiches with a few vegetables inside, which tasted truly disgusting. This in my opinion is the biggest thing CA needs to improve on. Service was great. FAs were quick and efficient in serving meals. After the meal service, I decided to go to the lavatory. It was pretty clean, although the hot water button was broken. Paper cups were avaliable for use. I noticed the FAs cleaning the toilet about every hour, which explains why they were so clean.

A few hours later...


View at FL370 near Cairns, QLD

At about 3 hours before landing, Lunch was served. It was much better than breakfast, but still could not compare to other carriers' food. If I recall correctly, it was noodles, with a salad, bread and some fruit. Forgot to take a picture. Now that window shades were open, IFE screens were totally unusable, due to the sunlight, you couldn't see anything on the screens.



Descending through cloud near BNE. Now it becomes obvious how scratched the window was.

Landing in BNE was smooth, we arrived at exactly the scheduled time at 3:10 PM.


Wait, what's that? Another EK A388??


One final shot of B-6073 at BNE. Goodbye!

Conclusion
Although Air China isn't the best carrier in terms of quality, it certainly offers good value for money. I recommend it if you are looking for a cheap way to get from A to B.

Nice trip report Lightning12,
Always a good idea to try alternative routes/aircraft...

Lightning12 wrote:

Although Air China isn't the best carrier in terms of quality, it certainly offers good value for money. I recommend it if you are looking for a cheap way to get from A to B.

Cheaper than CZ via CAN?

Thanks for sharing

eastafspot wrote:

Nice trip report Lightning12,
Always a good idea to try alternative routes/aircraft...

Lightning12 wrote:

Although Air China isn't the best carrier in terms of quality, it certainly offers good value for money. I recommend it if you are looking for a cheap way to get from A to B.

Cheaper than CZ via CAN?

Thanks for sharing

Yes, from my experience it is, when I flew them about two years ago. Also, my travel agent said it was the cheapest .

About an hour after takeoff, breakfast was served. It was just 4 sandwiches with a few vegetables inside, which tasted truly disgusting.

The tray looks very bizarre and somehow empty... As I saw a sticker attached to the tray and you were talking about vegetables inside the sandwiches, was it maybe a vegan or vegetarian special meal?! Otherwise it makes no sense to me...

debonair wrote:

About an hour after takeoff, breakfast was served. It was just 4 sandwiches with a few vegetables inside, which tasted truly disgusting.

The tray looks very bizarre and somehow empty... As I saw a sticker attached to the tray and you were talking about vegetables inside the sandwiches, was it maybe a vegan or vegetarian special meal?! Otherwise it makes no sense to me...

Yes, I think it was a vegetarian, although the person sitting next to me had a standard meal, and it looked basically the same, which I find wierd too

Maybe they want to show they're feeding you healthily. Like, 'here's the sandwiches you're eating, and here's a bunch of empty trays to represent the food you are NOT eating'

345tas wrote:

Maybe they want to show they're feeding you healthily. Like, 'here's the sandwiches you're eating, and here's a bunch of empty trays to represent the food you are NOT eating'

Haha maybe you're right!