Review of Air China flight from Beijing to Shenzhen in First

Hey everyone! Welcome to another flight review. This is a short hop from my home airport, Beijing, over to Shenzhen aboard Air China First. Growing up, Air China has always had a special place in my heart. The way my heart would race whenever I heard the "30 minutes until landing" announcement, that familiar boarding and post-landing music, or the feeling of safety flying back home during Covid. Although covid is no more, and the prior two aspects no longer always a part of the experience, flying Air China will always have that bittersweet feel. 
Despite being the national flag carrier, Air China receives very mixed reviews especially compared to Asian counterparts, and justifiably so. If given the option, especially for long haul, Air China simply is not up to par with competitors. However, its been nearly five years since I last flew a widebody Air China plane, and I was ready to go.

We begin our journey early in the morning at Terminal 3 in PEK. Air China has a VIP check in area for various qualifications. This was already very strange to me that 'First/Business' for Shanghai and Hangzhou passengers were allowed here, but not for any other domestic flight? Since I walked all the way here, which was quite a distance from the other check-in desks, I decided to try my luck and the lovely lady at the desk welcomed me to check-in. When I asked about the sign out front, she even claimed she wasn't fully aware of the qualifications. 

The VIP area has some nice seating and a fridge with some cold drinks.

I was given my goooollllddddennnn ticket! The strange checkin process continued since I was directed to fast track security immediately on the left side of the VIP check in. However, the lady told me this was reserved for platinum members only, and directled me to a different fast-track security on the right side of the VIP area…? Both had no queue, and both immediately merged into one line. Interesting…

A cool part of T3 domestic is that if you're taking a flight to Shanghai, regardless of class, you can take the security on the right side that I did. The reason for this is that everyone else goes through security that is a ten minute walk from the VIP check in, and this coincides with all the Shanghai bound flights. When I say there's a lot, I mean there's A LOT. Just take a look at this board.

For all other domestic flights, you have to make up that ten minute walk post-security, to the general domestic area. Here came the main issue. Since the fast-track is quite a walk from where all other domestic passengers have security, the main first-class and business lounges are located immediately after the main security, meaning they're very far away from where I was. There were signs pointing me towards a 'first/business lounge', which was just a tiny pop up with walls. When I asked the staff at the tiny pop-up, they said there was another lounge at gate C31. After my ten minute walk to C31, I saw signs that said another 'first/business lounge', so I walked downstairs and after another 5 minute walk approached this lounge, to which the staff said there's another main lounge (which is the one I'm looking for). Only after I walked another few minutes, down an escalator did I find the main first class only lounge I desired from the beginning. The craziest part is that none of the signs ever mentioned a first-class only lounge! I knew beforehand that there was a special first class only lounge, but had I not known this, I would have never found it. I guess they assumed it was unmissable if you go through regular security, but wouldn't most first-class passengers prefer the fast track? Why is the fast track all the way on the other end anyways :) 

REGARDLESS, here is the first class lounge. It does look very cool from the outside.

There is a famous dish they serve here, sadly for me not in the mornings, where you can ask them for a bowl of beef noodles without the beef. They should instantly understand and literally give you massive bowl of beef brisket. None for me though :(

In its place, was a made to order wonton station and a traditional chinese tofu breakfast called 'doufunao'. I went with the wontons and grabbed some eggs, sausages, vegetables, and fried doughstick from the buffet. All in all, I would say the food here is better than most CA lounges but far from that of other carriers' first class exclusive lounges. 

I believe there are also showers available but I was too tired from all the terminal hopping. I was also told my gate, B58, was at the end of the terminal and that we'd need to take a bus. I realized on my app that the plane just got in from Rome, which meant it most likely was parked at the international tarmac which would also explain the bus gate and 55 minute delay.

The T3 domestic terminal.

Planespotting. Note, the T3 international section allows you to go right up to the glass, allowing perfect photos. The domestic area only allows pictures from a distance, at least in my case.

Got a glimpse of the Queen of the skies. Air China also flies her on this route between Beijing on Shenzhen, with first class available in the nose (similar to Lufthansa and Korean Air). No luck for me today, but I still hope to fly this gorgeous bird one day. CA also offers domestic 747 routes between Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Guangzhou, but you need to test your luck since they infamously swap models around sometimes on the day. I guess your only guarantee is flying between PEK and JFK. (Washington too as of recent)

The bus gate was chaotic, with gates 56-58 boarding simultaneously in a cramped area. They ground staff also struggled to get enough buses for everyone, so we were left stranded for a while. As expected, we made the trip over to the international tarmac, which would normally require international bound passengers to take a short train ride to arrive at, so we were much slower on bus. I never really disliked bus gates, since look at the views of these planes we get!

Finally, we made it to our 777-300ER. Unlike most bus gates, we didn't board the stairs directly onto the plane but rather up to the jetbridge and inside.

Here's the first look at my seat. It was extremely spacious encompassing four full windows. But you can definitely see that the product is quite aged. CA's first class usually is quite empty given its low demand, but today's cabin was completely full, thus answering why I didn't have a full image of the entire cabin… everyone was already seated waiting for me! 

There is also a lack of privacy as there's no door and everyone can just look over the partition. There was a menu card and Chinese newspapers placed on my table, and a bag of nuts.

I've flown CA's domestic business class before and was handed the same bag of nuts, it would've been a nice touch to provide First class passengers with a fresh bowl rather than packaged ones. My purser came around to take my breakfast order, there was a Chinese and Western option with the latter being some omelette, sausages and potatoes. I chose the Chinese option and just as I was about to snatch a picture of the menu card he took it away and I never saw it again.

There's plenty of storage space including under the footrest, and alone the huge armrest area. I was offered either orange juice or this mocktail (I guess) featuring sparkling water and passion fruit juice, I went with the latter. This also came with a wet towel. 

Here's my view of the seat. Definmitely an incredible amount of space accompanied with a huge table and decently sized IFE screen. I'm sure it would makef or a comfy bed on flights to New York.  

We were also given a small pillow and thin blanket, neither of which were particularly comfortable.

57 minutes after our scheduled departure, we blasted off at 09:27. Shortly after takeoff, the crew set the table for breakfaast. This tray table, as you can probably see in the previous photo, was massive. 

Breakfast came with another hot towel and my goto iced americano. The Chinese option came with a main of vegetable/chicken steamed rice, and a Chinese style bun with beef slice stuffed inside. Both were very average although I have a soft spot for the latter, as it was a childhood favorite (but I definitely have had better from local street vendors). The side dishes came with picked cucumbers, half a salted duck egg, and fruits, all were alright and honestly more flavorful than the mains.

I added a sparkling water and the crew asked if I wanted some congee and pickled vegetables. It's quite a staple in China to hve plain congee with salted duck egg, and I asked for another half which was kindly provided. Not a very memorable meal but overall not bad.

CA have a poor reputation especially when coming to First Class food since many see no distinction between it and business. I can defiintely understand that argument as I've had essentially identical mains served on 1.5 hour business flights. The salted duck egg and separate bowl of congee does seem to be first-class only, but hardly justifies the near 3x price.

Here's another view at the glitz and glamor of the four massive windows once in the sky.

An interesting (but also frustrating) note is that although CA has a big sticker saying 'wifi' and in fact having a connectable 'Air-China WiFi' onboard, its just another IFE system. Once you're connected to the internet, you're directed to a page with some films and TV shows, not too different to the (already limited selections) on your actual IFE system. You don't actually get Wi-Fi access, so its essentially just a waste of time. From the first time I flew CA nearly 15 years ago, I don't recall the IFE interface to have gotten an upgrade. Its selections are still as limited as they always have been, in addition to their lack of internet access, perfectly explains why literally everyone else in the cabin had pre-downloaded entertainment. I on the other hand spent my 3.5 hours deleting photos on my phone :).

I ended up having another iced coffee before we quickly began out descent into Shenzhen. This was my first time flying into the Shenzhen airport and was quite stunned at its grandeur and beauty. Also got to do some planespotting upon arrival. 

The airport's ceiling had an interesting design. We were parked at the Satellite terminal which meant we had to take a quick train over to Terminal 3 where our luggage was being sent. The overall process took around 30 minutes or so.

There was a massive hall beyond the exit full of restaurants and shops. This was also where my friend and I took a bus over to Hong Kong, many companies offered this service. The terminal really is stunning, and seems to be buzzling with more action than PEK.