Review of Air China flight from Tianjin to Shanghai in Business

Background

My trip ended near Tianjin so it made more sense to just build a route back to SFO out of TSN versus PEK/PKX. While KE/OZ/CA all fly to ICN from TSN providing the more direct exit from China, I wanted to transit through Shanghai to allow a half day there. While you can fly to both SHA and PVG, I limited my search to SHA which gives options on CA, MU, and MF. Having had an unpleasant experience last time on this route with a cancelled flight, I opted for the early morning flight on CA that had a 98% on-time record with 96% of flights arriving >10 minutes early. While business class fares are ~2x the price of base economy tickets, they do come with tangible benefits such as 0% cancellation fee >7 days before departure and only 10% cancellation fee if cancelled more than 4 hours before departure providing a lot more flexibility. CA was selling the ticket for 1490 RMB (~$210), but I was able to get it on Ctrip for only $179.

The bonus at the end will be of Tianjin.

Routing

Check-in/Security

I arrived at Tianjin-Binhai at 06:10 for my 07:40 departure.

After clearing the explosives checkpoint, it was straight to check-in. While in most airports in China, the check-in process is handled by the airport versus individual airlines, CA has a huge presence at TSN and operates its own check-in row.

All of the lines were short so I just joined F05, but when I was called up and my passport details were entered, I was told to go to F10 for business class check-in. The agent at F10 quickly checked me in, handed me my boarding pass, told me the lounge was near Gate 201, and confirmed my bag was only being checked to SHA.

Straight to the security check point. There was a dedicated line for business class passengers (the red carpet seen next to the pole on the right). After the mandatory full pat down, I was airside at 06:25 showing the fluidity of all processes.

The terminal map for TSN T2, which is a very compact airport.

FIDS this morning with my flight at the bottom of the list departing from Gate 205.

There are several airport operated lounges (see my other TSN reports). CA, however, operates their own lounge.

Air China Lounge

The lounge was just after Gate 201 as instructed. Entering, the friendly agents scanned my boarding pass and welcomed me in.

Behind the check-in desk was the hot buffet with a selection of breakfast items.

There was also a make-shift noodle bar with wontons being freshly prepared.

The CA panda and drinks.

Drinks and snack items.

Chilled pre-packaged items as well.

There was a small seating area near the buffet, but I sat in the main area.

I took a pair of seats over by the windows with charging ports.

The lounge looks recently remodeled and had a lot of nice traditional elements to it along with original artwork.

My offering.

The lounge was much bigger than expected since there was a small hallway off to one end that had a large TV room with children's books.

There were also several alcoved seating areas that offer good privacy for groups and excellent tarmac views.

The view of the tarmac from the lounge.

The bathrooms in the lounge are large and clean.

Boarding

After a surprisingly good lounge visit (this lounge and SHA T1 are much nicer than what they offer at PVG T2), it was time to walk to the gate for our 07:10 boarding time.

TSN has a nice design with skylights and large windows offering plenty of natural light.

Reaching the gate boarding already was well underway, so they had started well before the indicated boarding time. As you can tell, the line was neatly formed and the whole process was orderly. I went up to use the business class line on the side and was scanned through.

Our plane today is B-1526, a 2015-built B737-800 with CA's C12 (2-2) and Y147 (3-3) configuration.

A good looking B737-700 next door.

Glass jet bridges just make the experience so much better.

Entering the plane, I was greeted by two friendly FAs and shown to my seat.

I will be in 3A today in the rear of the cabin.

The FA that walked me to my seat took my backpack from me and put it in the overhead bin then opened up the slippers and put them at my side.

Seat Tour

Seat pitch is very generous and I had no issue leaving for the bathroom during the flight while my seat mate was sleeping.

Pre-placed on the seat were a large pillow and packaged blanket.

The seat back contains two pouches, the upper containing the headphones, water bottle, and literature.

Literature offering of safety card, instructions for device streaming, and the Wings of China magazine.

Wings of China is a decent magazine with bilingual cultural articles and A350 models for sale.

The lower seat pocket is empty for your own items.

The left arm rest houses the seat controls and tray table.

The center console has the flip out IFE screens, IFE remote, headphone jack, and drinks holder. Hot towels were handed out by the crew as boarding finished.

The console also houses 110V universal outlets, but there are no USB ports.

Pre-Flight Service

After the hot towels were handed out, the crew came down the aisle offering everyone newspapers.

Welcome drinks were then offered from a tray. They had warm water with lime slices, which was nice. My neighbor opted for their signature drink, Red Lantern, which is some sort of sparkling tomato juice.

The crew then came down the aisle taking meal orders. There are no menus, instead the crew showed the catering manifest to each passenger for selection. As the only foreigner, she explained both meal options in English and then pulled out her phone to show me pictures of the two mains. The Chinese option was dim sum and the Western option was scrambled eggs.

The monitors came down and played the safety video.

Push Back and Taxi

A view of the CA B737-700 next door as we push back at 07:28, well ahead of schedule.

An older B737-700 with the Red Peony special livery.

A wave goodbye from the ground crew as we start our taxi.

CA B737-800.

Passing a GS A320.

CZ and MF B737-800s.

Lots of stored aircraft. Not sure why NX picked TSN for the storage of its out of service aircraft.

More stored GS planes.

Even UO has a stored A320neo here.

Not something you see everyday in China, but a SK ERJ is parked here. I can only assume that this is one of the ERJs they had picked up from GS and was repainted before being transferred to them.

MF B737-800 rotating as we get closer to the runway.

A GS A320 departs ahead of us.

A FM B737-800 queues up behind us.

The cabin as we prepare for take-off, it will be a 100% load in J on this premium business route.

Take-Off from Tianjin-Binhai

We align onto runway 16R and take-off at 07:51.

Goodbye TSN.

Airbus' site in Tianjin just off the end of the airport.

We continue our southeast trajectory to cut between Tianjin and Binhai.

Crossing the Haihe, or Sea River, as we can see downtown Binhai in the distance.

The monitors came down to play the moving map as we cut through the clouds.

In-Flight Service

As we leveled off, service started with the distribution of another hot towel.

Table cloths were then laid.

Our pre-ordered aperitifs were then brought out. A cup of pu'er tea to accompany a packet of mixed nuts/fruits.

We will be getting CA's new tableware on this flight.

The meal tray was then brought out along with a refill of drinks.

In the back we have a bowl of fruit, salted duck egg and pickles for the congee, and braised bamboo.

The main consisting of four pieces of dim sum.

The congee with condiments.

CA's cutlery and red chopsticks.

The bread basket was also offered so I took a warm pastry.

We were already across Shandong by the time the trays arrived so only ~15 minutes before the cabin had to be cleared.

A very good breakfast

In-Flight Entertainment

These seats have in-seat entertainment that flips up out of the center console. The screen is small and low resolution since it is 10 years old, the content is average, but it has a moving map so that is all I care about.

These were loaded with the new IFE interface.

CA also offers stream to your device entertainment.

The lavatory was clean and featured some CA branded products.

Arrival into Hongqiao

The FA asked if I wanted another tea as the cabin was cleaned up and she returned with one in a paper to-go cup so that I could keep drinking it during landing.

Crossing the Yangtze River just east of Nanjing.

Starting our final descent into Hongqiao as we dip below the rain clouds.

Expansive views of Shanghai on approach.

The skyscrapers of Pudong in the distance.

Short final over Jiangqiao.

We land on runway 18L at 09:20, 25 minutes early.

Our taxi took us around past the MU hangar.

One Two Three Airlines (JF) ARJ21, which was a new SHA-based subsidiary of MU before it folded last year and re-integrated.

MU A321neo.

HO B789 as we reach SHA T2.

MU A333 in Shanghai Disney Resort: Minnie and Mickey Mouse special livery.

We pull into our gate and are quickly deplaning with a farewell from the crew.

We parked at the end of the pier so it was a long walk back to baggage claim.

The MU A333 in Shanghai Disney Resort: Minnie and Mickey Mouse special livery again.

Most people head left straight to the ground connections, but I will go right and head down to the baggage claim.

My bag was the first one off.

Exiting the baggage claim area, you have to go back upstairs to get the sky bridge over to the parking garage structure.

The e-hailing areas are updated with new interactive signs that show you where your ride is going to pick you up making it easier to navigate than some of the recent chaos I've had at PVG.

My car quickly arrived and I was on my way.

I'll leave off this series here as I start my short 4h layover in Shanghai, thanks for stopping by!

Flight Information

Air China, CA2825
Equipment: Boeing B737-800 [B-1526, delivered July 2015]
Departure: 07:40 (ATD: 07:51)
Arrival: 09:45 (ATA: 09:20)
Flight time: 1:29