I highly recommend Qingdao as your next destination.
I booked this trip through Agoda for about 180,000KRW per person. I did see prices as low as 110,000KRW though if you were willing to give up a nice timeslot for your flight (like QW9901/9902). I didn't have as much flexibility when it came to timeframe though as there were other travelling members on other flights. Honestly, 180,000KRW R/T is still good value I consider, as it came with a meal, albeit pretty poor, and free checked baggage.
In this review, I'll cover some of my outbound flight as well which couldn't make it as a separate review due to myself sitting on a middle seat.
I arrived at the airport only 2 hours and 20 minutes before my flight, which actually turned out to be more than enough. I'll go as far as to say you might be okay arriving just 100 minutes before your flight. I thought the airport would be more crowded since it looks pretty big from satellite pictures. TAO's structure is basically a big departure hall and 5 spokes of airside zones. But, turns out only one of those spokes is dedicated to international flights. So, it just felt like a small airport from an international passenger's POV.
This was the FIDS for international flights. As you can see, pretty nicely spread out.
I don't know when check in for my flight started, but it was open when I arrived with next to no queues. I was able to go straight to the counter and get my bag checked in.
Do note, Korean Air's check in desks seemed to be more crowded as it was operated by a 77W. It seemed like they start check in about 2 hours and 30 minutes before departure.
I also received my boarding pass, which had a nice picture of all of Qingdao's famous spots.
From arriving at the airport, I was through to airside in just about 40 minutes, with my friend who was travelling with Korean Air. If I was travelling alone, I think I could've made it in 25.
My first catch from the tarmac was this Scoot 787-8 bound for SIN. Probably geared towards O&D demand from TAO.
This Jeju Air 737 bound for ICN. Felt like maybe half of all the international flights was bound for ICN.
This Capital Airlines A330 registered B-309T was my main attention grabber, but it was parked very awkwardly to get a good shot. This frame was a Lucky Air ntu which Capital Airlines took delivery of in 2024. Looks like they couldn't be bothered to repaint it in their standard livery, which resulted in this hybrid livery. This frame was bound for Moscow as JD495.
This was my plane to ICN, also parked at a weird spot. MU5021 is a flight with two sectors, basically a flight from XIY to ICN with a stopover in TAO. This aircraft registered B-308W is an A320neo delivered to China Eastern in 2019. China Eastern doesn't seem to be differentiating the CEOs and the NEOs as my outbound on MU2040 and this flight were both showing an A320 and I was on an A320ceo for the outbound and this for the inbound.
I boarded the plane about 5 minutes after boarding started, with next to no queue again. Turns out, the passenger number for this flight was only 89. This was kind of a surprise since my outbound on MU2040 was pretty much full.
Another interesting thing was the in flight catering being given to you as you board on each seat with a bottle of water. On the outbound, it was located on the seatback pockets. Looked like the crew handed these out only to the seats that would be occupied, because the aisle seat on my block of seats didn't have a passenger nor a meal.
My seat for today being bombarded with ads. Zootopia 2 was the thing going through the public and these companies were quick to react.
This was the seat on the CEOs, with some aged materials. However, as it was an older seat, it was very well padded compared to the new seats on the NEOs.
This was the view from 48A. The weather today was very gloomy, covered with smog.
Chinese carriers have their company name written on the top of the right wing, while the aircraft registration is written on the top of the left wing.
Like so.
Door was closed only 15 minutes after boarding had started. This was the case for my outbound as well, with the gate agents calling final call for my flight just 5 minutes after boarding had started. China Eastern has this tendency to try and leave early before scheduled time of departure if the passenger count was correct.
The safety video was played three times, in Chinese, English, and Korean.
The flight did seem to be pretty low on passengers.
They also showed this video about live animals and livestock products and their disease prevention. This was actually the first time I saw this video. Might be a new thing for 2026.
Of course, you can buy in flight products with the WeChat QR code.
The seatback pocket contents.
This network map on the magazine also had China Eastern's new direct flight to EZE. Chinese carriers seem very keen on these direct routes to South America, with Air China also serving flights to HAV via MAD. Korean Air also used to serve GIG via LAX but that's long gone back to the past.
We pushed back about 10 minutes late due to ATC clearance issues, if I recall correctly. Pretty deflating, considering I expected us to pushback ahead of schedule. Basically we were all sat on the plane for another 40 minutes with the doors closed.
Getting ready for departure. Shoutout to the NEO's engine startup sound, which dare I say, is only bettered by the GE90s.
This 77W was also bound for ICN, but with much more passengers. Koreans do love their national airlines.
This Capital Airlines A330 which I expected to be the one going to Moscow was parked at the stand.
We went by the China Eastern hangar before lining up on runway 16 for our departure.
Lots of smog was covering the views as we climbed out. The spool up was very well heard even from behind the wings.
On this flight, as well my outbound, the seatbelt signs were never turned off. I just followed the passengers around me who just unfolded their tray tables when it seemed like we had reached cruising altitude.
This was the snack served for this flight. A salad with some shrimp, eggs, and what looked kind of like black pudding but tasted weird. And a bread roll which was very sweet. Honestly, didn't expect much but was still let down.
This was the meal on the outbound leg on MU2040. Basically just replaced the leaves for some pasta. Much better though. I mean, what could you expect for an hour long flight.
The screens were used during cruise for the inflight map and some short video. Maybe just an ad.
You can see China Eastern written on the wings proper.
We started our descent not long after reaching cruising altitude. I think we only spent about 30 minutes at cruising altitude.
With the way the flight was going, I could kind of tell it would be 15/16 operations at ICN.
Sure enough, we were on approach for 16R..
We touched down on 16R with terminal 2 in the background.
If you land on 16R or 34L, it's pretty much guaranteed that you'd be holding for traffic on 16L or 34R. Sure enough, we held short of 16L to give way to this Asiana 777 taking off.
We were assigned spot 125 for our arrival. You can see the VDGS working well for our flight.
We parked next to this Jeju Air MAX.
Although the Zootopia ads make this cabin feel overwhelming it is definitely an upgrade on the CEOs.
As China Eastern only uses the Satellite terminal at ICN, it is a bit of a bother to have to get on the train back to the main terminal.
The trains are very frequent although very crowded most of the time. I got through everything and made my way to the baggage pickup area in just 20 minutes. Also only had to wait about 7 minutes to get my bag. Just under 30 minutes from deplaning at the satellite terminal to getting my bag.
Pretty sad.
All in all, pretty good stuff.
