Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3CZ6269 - Economy - Harbin -> Xi'an - Airbus A320
- 4CZ6270 - Economy - Xi'an -> Harbin - Airbus A320
- 5ZH9621 - Premium Economy - Harbin -> Shenzhen - Boeing 737-800
- 6CA769 - Economy - Shenzhen -> Los Angeles - Boeing 787-9
quick 4 day trip down to xi'an
After 2 days of break from my 24 hour journey across the pacific, I am ready to travel a again, this time to see the terracotta warriors in Xi'an.
I'm flying hometown airline China Southern again this time, on their Airbus A320 Economy Class for the 100th time in my life.
No self check-in since I don't Chinese national ID card… Waited 30 minutes for check-in
Airport doesn't have wifi and I don't have free data hence picture staring at the ceiling.
Short walk to security after swift check-in
I love how efficient HRB is. In contrast, at bigger airports i would have walked miles.
Say cheese!
There used to be a priority pass here at HRB… After Terminal 2 became the only terminal while Terminal 1 undergoes refurb, the PP lounge closed…
I headed to the McDonald's inside the terminal for a teriyaki chicken breakfast biscuit.
My flight was CZ6269, Harbin to Kunming with a stop at Xi'an, my final destination.
boarding
Still way too early for any human to fly…
LJ Airlines A320 sitting at the ramp. LJ has been eating away government subsidies form taxpayer money since 2016… Never turned profitable just like Amtrak…
My ride B-6827, an 8 years old A320
As always CZ offers a great hard product (and soft product) in domestic first class
Premium Economy, which I have reviewed 3 times
https://flight-report.com/en/report/37398/china-southern-cz6271-harbin-hrb-changsha-csx
Decide for yourself if it's worth it. For me, I would gladly pay up $10 for an international economy meal service on a 3 hour flight! the 35'' leg room won't hurt too!
Seat 50A, a window seat on the left side so I don't get sunburn…
china southern a320 economy class
Great leg room even after my macbook air had infiltrated the seatback pocket.
Great recline as well. Seat is comfy and well padded.
Safety video already? Surprised to see that there is no release delay for us flying over the Beijing area.
Speaking of the devil… Pilot told us that we will have a delay for an infinite amount of time…Typical when flying in China. FA started passing around drinks.
40 minutes later we're off to taxi.
Scoot 788 going to Singapore. 8 hour flight on a 3-3-3 config 787 with a LCC? No thank you.
CZ Maintenance Hangar, where the planes (60 A319s) get ready to be sold off to United.
It's interesting to see how Americans think that Chinese people all work in factories making $10 a day while they're getting some 15 year old used airbus to fly in the states for another 15 years…
A321 NEO (No Engine Option). This plane has been a landmark since its ferry flight from Tianjin…
With no hold whatsoever, we're finally off to Xi'an 41 minutes past our STD
Gotta love the fabric
breakfast
I booked the seafood meal 7 days before departure via the China Southern app. And yes free meal reservation even for economy pax on 3 hour domestic flight.
Breakfast:
Mahi mahi on marinara sauce with assorted vegetables with rice
A pre packed roll was provided just in case anyone needed extra calories. The desert (tiramisu) was excellent. The appetizer (shrimp cucumber salad) was refreshing.
10/10 for catering
Nutritious and filling breakfast all for free!
There was no entertainment on board except for a Chinese film playing overhead with no captions… Quite common on Chinese carriers
Flew through some turbulence during our descent. A passenger got sick and was in a ready to throw up position with the air sickness bag. I'm used to turbulence now after flying in a cessna 172…
Base turn
On final to XIY (Xi'an Xianyang)
After a quick 3 hours and 9 minutes we arrived at Xi'an, once capital of China during the Qin dynasty.
Smaller Chinese airports are so different from similarly sized US airports. Massive terminals with one runway vs. smaller terminals but with concourses and multiple runways in the US. I think they build Chinese airports like this, so they can potentially expand by building a parallel runway but on the other side of the terminal buildings. That's how it was with airports like Wuhan and Zhengzhou. Even Chongqing, when they built that new terminal. It's very interesting to see.