Background
This series covers a recent TPAC trip, which continues with a flight from Seoul over to Tianjin. Getting to Tianjin from the US is not easy post-pandemic given the reduced international traffic into TSN and the proximity of PKX. At the time of booking, TSN was primarily served internationally from Seoul-Incheon (KE/OZ/GS/CA) with very limited options from Japan (NRT/NGO/KIX). KE is the best option from a scheduling perspective when considering SFO-ICN-TSN routings, but is over double the price of BR/CA or OZ/CA options. There was no way to book a codeshared ticket on the ICN-TSN leg directly through BR, so I had to book the CA ticket separately. CA operates this 1x daily service on their B738s, which I was excited to fly again. The routing for this series thus continues as:
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3CA172 - Business - Seoul → Tianjin - Boeing B737-800
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
This report will cover the flight from Seoul-Incheon to Tianjin-Binhai.
Check-in/Security
Exiting customs in ICN T1 at 11:28 after arriving from TPE on BR, I went straight upstairs to make it to the check-in counters before they closed at 11:55.
Checking the information board, I was directed to Aisle M for the CA check-in counters.
CA operates a number of flights mid-day to various cities in mainland China so the economy line was very long. Thankfully, the business class line was empty so I was able to move to the front of the queue. While waiting, an announcement was made asking for all passengers to TSN to move to the front of the line to ensure they could make the check-in cut off. The agent quickly checked me in, tagged my bag, and handed me my boarding pass. She started to give my directions to the lounge, but I told her I would not have time so thanked her and headed straight to security.
Security was back-logged with all of the flights to Europe about to leave. I was directed by the Incheon staff to walk to Gate 3 for a shorter line.
Even at Gate 3, it took 25 minutes to clear security, thankfully the e-channels were working and I was able to enter the terminal at 12:00.
Walking to our gate, we see a familiar face getting ready to go back to TPE.
Boarding
Our plane today is B-1526, a 2015-built Boeing B737-800 that primarily operates domestic and international routes out of TSN.
CA has several B737 configurations, ours will be the J12 Y147 version.
Boarding was called as soon as I reached the gate area, but I went off to the bathroom first and rejoined the queue. I was scanned in and sent down into ICN's nice glass jet bridges.
As expected, a bit of a fluster entering the cabin once they see me, but soon a warm greeting emerged from the crew in both Mandarin and English.
Flight
I won't be able to take a cabin shot since the FA quickly rushes up to escort me to my seat and takes my backpack from me to put in the overhead bins. She asks me if I want slippers, and then promptly unpacks them and places them on the ground next to me.
She then quickly returns with a bottle of water and a China Daily newspaper.
Once she leaves, I can get up and photograph my seat, 3A.
At time of booking, I booked 3A to be in the rear of the cabin. The final load factor was 6/12 with Row 1 remaining empty.
The recliners are classic, but comfortable for a <2h flight.
Pre-placed on the seats were blanket and pillow.
Seat pitch is very generous at ~40".
The FA came down the aisle and handed me a hot oshibori.
She then offered welcome drinks from a tray consisting of water, orange juice, and CA's signature drink Red Lantern. When in Rome, so I took the Red Lantern, which is some type of sparkling tomato juice. It is definitely an acquired taste, but I do like their coasters.
She then returned to me and showed me a piece of paper with the catering manifest since there are no printed menus. She said there is just one option and showed me what was on the tray and confirmed that this was okay. I acknowledged and she asked me what I wanted to drink with the meal. The crew's English ability was not the greatest, but for a flight between South Korea and China, I do not hold this against them and I tried to use as much of my basic Mandarin to communicate with her.
Now onto a seat tour. Inside the center console are flip out IFE screens.
It is touch screen, but there is also a remote and headphone jack on the side.
Universal outlets (110V) are on the front of the console, which is your only charging port.
Seat controls are on the other armrest, which flips up to reveal the tray table.
The seat back has 2 pockets. The upper pocket contains the literature and a pair of headphones.
The lower pocket is good for personal items to keep them segregated.
The literature on CA: safety card, air sickness bag, BYOD streaming instructions, and Wings of China.
BYOD streaming instructions. CA offers free streaming service (mainly for Y since there aren't individual screens) and the content mirrors what is on the IFE.
Always good to get a real in-flight magazine. Most articles are bilingual.
The cabin has BSI and individual air vents.
A picture of the cabin as boarding completes at 12:32 and the front door closes.
While waiting for pushback, an OZ A333 taxies by.
SC B738 arriving next door.
The monitors come down and play the safety video.
After the safety video completes, we have a long wait for pushback. Even the ground crew looks bored.
Another CA B738 arriving.
It looks like it is going to be a long wait due to ATC in Tianjin, but luckily the BYOD streaming is available gate-to-gate. It actually has a lot of Western content for an Asian carrier and definitely separates CA from most of its domestic rivals.
Finally, after 30 minutes we push back at 13:05. A wave goodbye as we head out on our taxi. It is interesting that CA uses KE ground services instead of OZ.
Always good diversity at ICN T1.
TW B738.
LH A359.
OM B789.
AY A359.
We align onto Runway 34R for take-off. I guess the wind has already changed since we are taking off in the opposite direction of how we just landed 2 hours earlier. The KE B789 in the distance will land as we take off.
Rolling take off with spool up:
We took off at 13:15 to start our trek west.
As soon as we slowed our climb, the monitors came down and started playing the moving map.
Our route out of ICN.
The IFE, which had all of the same content as the streaming entertainment shown earlier, but adds other features like the moving map.
Plenty of cloud coverage enroute.
As soon as released, the FA came out to lay the linens.
This was followed by another hot oshibori.
My meal tray as delivered.
In the back we have a peach yogurt and fresh fruit.
Packaged nuts and dried fruits.
The main was a beef japchae, which was actually excellent and the best regional flight meal on this trip. I'm surprised to see they catered from ICN versus TSN.
CA's cutlery.
Reaching mainland China on the eastern tip of Shandong Province as the meal service completes.
Shortly after, the cabin was prepared for arrival 35-40 minutes early as expected in China due to CAAC regulations. I was surprised that there was no coffee/tea offered after the meal when my tray was removed.
Plenty of agriculture near the mouth into the Jinghai Bay.
Our approach into TSN across the Bohai Bay.
Crossing the Haihe River.
TSN is visible in the distance.
We make a u-turn north of the city to land from the northwest.
Short final into TSN:
We have a bumpy landing at 13:38 on Runway 16L, slightly ahead of schedule. The runway definitely needs to be re-surfaced. A view of TSN T2, which handles all domestic operations.
We follow our "Follow Me" car into our gate at TSN T1, which handles all international operations.
CA looks like the main player for international flights from TSN with 2 siblings awaiting pushback.
CA B737-700 in the Pink Peony special livery.
We are instructed to all remain seated when the front door opens. A staff member comes on the PA and asks for 8 passengers to deplane. I guess they have tight connections so they wanted them off first. Eventually, we were all released into the jet bridge.
We will head off towards arrivals.
We are the only arriving international flight, so there is no wait at immigration and I am through and down to the baggage claim quickly.
The bags are already circulating, so I will take my bag and head out through customs to find my driver.
I will leave off this series here as I begin my stay in Tianjin. Thanks for stopping by!
Flight Details
Air China, CA172
Equipment: Boeing B737-800 [B-1526, delivered July 2015]
Departure: 12:45 (ATD: 1:15)
Arrival: 13:40 (ATA: 13:38)
Flight time: 1:24
As far as 737 short-haul Business class cabins go, this one is nicer than average with cradle recliners with legrests, more pitch than average, and PTVs. The amenities are quite nice too with slippers on such a short flight, especially considering you don't get slippers on most long-haul routes on North American and European carriers. It's also nice that they have Streaming IFE now, definitely improves the experience since most Air China narrowbodies don't have PTVs....and even this plane doesn't have them in Y.
I'm not really an expert in Chinese Mainland carriers, but it seems that Air China may have the best premium cabin experience of the big Chinese carriers these days. A few years ago I would have said Hainan based on reputation, but they've had a rough time these past few years.
Thanks for sharing!
That's opening up a can of worms given the convoluted domestic airline market in China with all the subsidiaries. I would say on the whole, MF is probably the best soft product. CA is probably the best narrow-body hard product (but not as competitive in the wide-body market since they still use a high ratio of A330s to A350s). Since there is so much domestic competition on every route, you really just have to assess the options that available since any carrier that operates a wide-body will obviously better than a narrow-body, but it depends on routes since the wide-bodies are usually operating out of the major hubs (Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangdong's metropolises).
Thanks for stopping by Kevin!
Oh yeah, I meant only for short haul narrow bodies. Long-haul MF/MU seem to have better products
Yes, for short haul narrow bodies, CA is probably the best product in either Y or J with its superior IFE offering.