Review of China Eastern flight from Beijing to Xi'an in Economy

INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone
The 24th July my parents celebrated 20 years of marriage and they decided to make a family trip for this special occasion
About 2 months before leaving we started to evaluate all the possibilites and in a week we made a sort of round-the-world journey: USA, Caribbean, Fjords' cruise and so on…
After all this we finally decide the destination: CHINA
We booked an organized group tour with one of the best Italian tour operator with departure date 12nd August.
The tour comprised 4 cities: Beijing, Xi'An, Guilin and Shanghai for a total of 12 days
Personally I was very happy because of the many different airlines and planes we would have tried. And obviously also because I've never been to China and it had always fascinated me.
Here is the itinerary:

12nd August Roma Fiumicino - Beijing Capital with Air China Boeing 787-9
16th August Beijing Capital - Xi'An with China Eastern Airlines Airbus A321 (YOU ARE HERE)
18th August Xi'An - Guilin with OKAirways Boeing 737-900ER
20th August Guilin - Shanghai Pudong with Suparna Airlines Boeing 737-800
22nd August Shanghai Hongqiao - Beijing Capital with Air China Boeing 747-400
22nd August Beijing Capital - Roma Fiumicino with Air China Boeing 787-9

AT THE AIRPORT

After spending three beautiful days in Beijing it's time to leave to Xi'An, the ancient capital city of Chinese Empire. Since the flight would have been in the afternoon we had time in the morning to visit the Temple of Heaven.
Our flight, operated by China Eastern, would depart from Terminal 2, located in the older part of the airport and which hosts most of international and domestics flights.
We arrived at the airport about 2 hours before departure
Korean Air birds seen from the expressway

The shuttle left us in front of Domestic Departures, at the far left of the Terminal

On the right there are International Departures as well as flights to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan

Our flight was reported to be on time

China Eastern check-in desks

Since we were a group we could use a priority desk and in about 10 minutes we obtained our boarding passes
Unfortunately the airport staff doesn't speak English well so our guide had to translate everything as seat preferences in Chinese

There was just a little queue at the security checkpoint but it took about 20 minutes to do all
Every passenger is controlled manually beyond metal detectors and also every bag is minutely checked
Airside area of PEK T2 is quite good but it lacks of interesting shops…I cannot find any plane model ahaha
Fortunately the Terminal is very good for plane spotting

Since we had about 50 minutes before boarding I made a walk around the terminal to take pictures

China Southern A330

China Southern A321 with Sharklets

XiamenAir Boeing 787

Azerbaijan Airlines Boeing 767-300ER

Going towards the International part of the Terminal I saw many interesting birds

China Eastern A330 with People's Daily Online livery

China Southern A330 in SkyTeam livery

Hongkong Airlines A330 and 737

Air China A330s at T3, one of them with Zichen Hao - Capital Pavilion Liner livery

Air China Boeing 737 taking off

China Southern A380 arriving at Terminal 2

Hainan Airlines A330

Air China A330 taking off

China Southern A330 in SkyTeam livery

China Southern A380 desembarking

All Nippon Airways Boeing 777

Whalejet

China Eastern Boeing 777

China Southern Boeing 757

SAS A340

China Souther A321

Since boarding time was close I came back to Gate 34

Our bird for the flight
B-9903, delivered to MU in Febraury 2013 and fitted with sharklets in January 2017
I really like old-style liveries of Chinese carriers. They are very fascinating

In the background is it possible to see China Southern A330 in 16th Asian Games, Guangzhou 2010 livery

THE FLIGHT

Boarding started ten minutes earlier than scheduled
Going down the jetbridge

I gave the Flight report to the Purser and made my way to my seat 45A
The plane seemed to be not completly full

Even if it was no possible to recline (no matter for me since I like to keep seat up) the pitch was great
I'm tall and stout but I was able to cross my legs without any problem

The view from my seat with China Southern A321 next to us

We were among the last to board and immediately after the cabin was set for departure
The cabin crew distributed blankets and pillows, remainders of not full Business class
Of the six flights I made sure the crew of this was the best in terms of professionalism and warmth

Just for the take-off I moved to the seat accross the aisle, 45F, since the entire row was empty
China Southern Boeing 737

We pushed-back 10 minutes before scheduled

China Southern A330 in 16th Asian Games, Guangzhou 2010 livery

XiamenAir Boeing 787

China Southern A321 just landed on RWY36L

Hainan A330

China Southern Boeing 737

And then our turn to go

Another Hainan A330 behind us

Off we go! Bye Bye Beijing

Climbing over clouds

The landscape under us was so different from the almost-desertic we saw landing in Beijing 4 days ago

Mandatory sharklet shot

I came back to my seat for the lunch
It was composed by a nice lunchbox plus a choice for the main course

Bread
Sauerkraut
Spicy sauce
Water
Choice between Chicken with Noodles or Beef meatball with rice and vegetables

I chose the meatballs which were quite tasty, but the rice a bit overcooked
The bread seemed to be taken out by fridge a moment before

Meanwhile Chinese landscape continued to scroll under us

I spent the rest of the flight listening to music and playing crosswords
We started to descent to Xi'An

Welcome to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport

Landing on RWY5L was smooth and soft

And again we start a long taxi to the gate

Terminal 2

Hainan Airlines A330

China Eastern A320 in new livery

Definitely Hainan's land

Air China A319

China Southern A320

Terminal 3 apron

China Eastern A321 in SkyTeam livery

The pier

Our stand

Finally in

China Eastern A320 in new livery next to us

While desembarking I asked to the Purser to visit the cockpit
Considering his answer I still don't know (and maybe I never will) if he said me it was no possible or if he didn't understand a single word…
However the Flight report was well filled

ARRIVAL IN XI'AN

Desembarking through the jetbridge about half a hour before scheduled

Last views of our bird
Thank you China Eastern

Xi'An Airport still smelled of new since this Terminal has been opened in 2012

Down to the Baggage Claim

Huge baggage claim hall
Chinese like doing things great XD
Our baggages were already there

The arrivals hall was not so crowded
The guide waiting there told us that usually flights from PEK have 3-4 hours delay and we were very lucky

Milano Fashion Week's advertising

Ground Transportation Center

And airport exterior

The shuttle brought us to visit the amazing City Walls
And the day after…Terracotta Army :D
TO BE CONTINUED…