Avis du vol entre Shanghai et Beijing en classe Affaires avec Juneyao

Hi again everyone, welcome back to another flight review. After taking MU and MU only between my Shanghai and Beijing commutes, I've decided to change things up a bit and explore other carriers on offer. A quick look ahead, I have something outrageously exciting planned later this week, Hainan Airlines' A330-900 Neo's inaugural passenger flight from Beijing to Haikou. The aircraft marks the first one of its kind in all of mainland China, and has been a talking point for a while. I couldn't believe my luck when grabbing a seat, and cannot wait to share with you guys what will surely be something special!

Today, we're checking out a Shanghai based carrier, Junyao airlines. Three main reasons why I decided to give them a shot. 1. Junyao flies out of PVG T2, where all the international carriers are on display regardless of domestic/international departures (other than Delta who have moved over to T1) as opposed to Hongqiao which has only domestic (and JAL on rare occassions) 2. Junyao's costs are nearly 1/3 of MU's, and honestly I felt it was time to shift things up, and 3. most importantly, more variety means more reviews to share with ya'll!

My flight was scheduled for 18:00, but I arrived as early as I could at 15:00. I also ran into the Junyao crew bus pulling up as I arrived. Love the pink uniforms. 

Junyao's domestic checkin area is adjacent to their international one, but it's located at aisle J which is all the way at the other end of where I entered. The economy line wasn't very busy, with around 10-15 people. On the very front, a dedicated business class checkin ara featured a lovely branded carpet, and the signs again matched the crew's pink color scheme. Unfortunately, there was no window seat remaining, so we were offered an aisle seat at 4G. 

PVG T2's domestic departures have been infamously known for massive queues, usually around noon where lots of flights seem to clash. Even the dedicated fastlane has been heard to have lengthy waits, not for me today! I love how the fastlane features red, slightly more luxurious ropes compared to the regular blue tapes. 

Security concluded in less than 5 minutes, and trust me when I say I RAN down the escalator as I knew those big international carriers were waiting downstairs. Oh my word, look who greeted me as soon as I reached the windows? I took these shots a few hours later as the pink skies reflected another beautiful Shanghai sunset. EK only recently reinstated their A380s to PVG two weeks ago, and judging by the number of people snapping pictures, this was definitely something to be excited about. 

An Ethiopian A350 arriving from Addis Ababa.

And of course, everyone's favorite, AA just arriving from DFW. 

Music blasting, coffee in hand, walking down the line of big jets watching the sunset, isn't this all of our dreams come true? On a side note, it wasn't the easiest job grabbing these shots, as despite the size of PVG's glass panes, my word they're due for a deep cleaning. 

I recalled the agent at check-in mentioned a lounge at gate 80, but on my boarding pass it wrote "lounge 86". I realized i was closer to the latter only to find no lounge there, so I headed over to 80 where I found the Junyao lounge. 

The lounge itself was rather small and only one table remained unoccupied. There were also around 5 staff members hanging out at the front desk having a nice chat, no one really paid attention as I or any other passengers arrived. A problem with PVG's domestic T2 departures is it's infamously known for their sheer size. Security to the furthest departure gate can literally take up to 30 minutes or more. The reason for this is due to there being a satellite terminal which requires a small train to reach, which alone might not be too big of a worry.. BUT: Security to the train is around 20 minutes, and then upon arrival at the satellite terminal, the furthest gate can take another 20 minutes. My boarding pass listed my gate as C65, near the lounge in the main terminal. However, the gate later changed to H170, the dreaded H meant we were off to the satellite terminal, and considering the packed train I guess so was the rest of Shanghai. 

Interestingly, when I asked how far the gate would be, the lounge staff said "10 minutes, there will be a car to take you". Which I found quite interesting, I was curious how the car could drive us down the train journey's length. I didn't end up taking up the offer, as I decided to make the journey myself.

The lounge also had a nice display of merch available for purchase, and quite reasonable prices. Around 10 USD for an adapter, 20 USD for a plastic plane model. The yellow legoland themed plane was around 100 USD, I'm assuming a die cast metal model.

Lounge views.

Something I found frustrating was the meal times. Considering boarding for my flight was at 17:20, and assuming 20 minutes or so to reach the gate, no one on my flight could make dinner. This is also Junyao's only 787 flight to Beijing, with the others being A320's, so one must question whether this was an intentional move on their part. I'm unsure how their flights to other domestic cities look like, but surely none beat out Beijing in terms of passenger traffic. There were already one or two dishes set out for dinner, but without any tongs or spoons available, which sparked some frustration from the gentleman beside me, reasonably calling them out. 

A made to order noodle bar and menu was available and provided throughout the day, I went with some dumplings and the shredded pork and whatever Potherb Mustard is. I just want to point out that really isn't a good translation of the actual Chinese, its basically just some vegetable.

Considering I wasn't very hungry, the food was actually not bad. I also grabbed a coke zeo and some vitamin citrus bottled drink. For anyone interested, the only other food on offer were literally loafs of white bread and also some cup noodles. 

I did appreciate that despite the lounge being on the smaller side, they had private restrooms which were far cleaner than the public ones inside the terminal.

With less than 15 minutes until boarding, I headed over to the tram and made my way to the satellite terminal. Twice during the ride a lad next to me fell onto me due to the bumpy rails, I guess that's one way to make a friend. 

Luckily, H170 was the very first gate once arriving at the Satellite terminal. Here was a look at the 787 taking us over to Daxing. I grabbed this penguin with my buddy in Shanghai, so today he's going to make a special appearance in the review :) 

Alright alright enough fun, here's a better shot of it:)

Climbing aboard, I first took quick shot of the economy cabin, in a 3-3-3 configuration. I must admit, having dedicated myself to MU these past months in hopes of retaining DL status while abroad, this cabin and its colors is really a breath of fresh air. 

Turning back left, we approach the Business cabin, in a stagggered 1-2-1 configuration with window seats alternating between ones closer to and further from the windows. There is a window missing in row 6, do keep that in mind. 

Here's the first look at my seat in 4G, meaning I would share a common table space with my neighbour. There is a. slight lack of privacy with these middle seats, but at least we're slightly further apart than in the odd numbered rows. 

Waiting at my seat was a bottle of water, slippers, a pillow, small fleece blanket, and wrapped headphones. 

The footspace is decent and I did appreciate it being open to the aisle. The crew didn't mind me leaving my bag here throughout the flight, which I appreciated. There is also a sticker illustrating how to access the internet, which worked at a solid speed without any fees. There was an option to upgrade to "higher speed premium internet" for 38 RMB, approximately 5 USD, which I passed on.

There was a small area for storage, but what stood out to me was the flower patterns on this tiny mural, reflecting Junyao's color scheme and flowers. There was also a charging port which worked from the moment you stepped aboard, as opposed to most domestic carriers that malfunction until you're in the skies.

The lifevest was located right above the reading materials and safety card. I'm not sure if you're allowed to use this space for storage, but I didn't need to on this flight anyways.

I really loved the size of their IFE screen, and it functioned without any issue. There was quite a large selection of English movies, and I ended up watching half of John Wick 4. Unfortunately, they do lack TV shows both in Chinese and English, which is usually my go to to have on in the background. They seemed to only provide a few reality TV shows, and just one episode from each season. They also happened to have five full seasons of a British WWII show, interesting selection. But the plethora of movies will keep you occupied even on their longer international routes. 

A quick glimpse of 3H before it was occupied.

I headed off to check out the restroom which had a lovely flower keeping the area fresh. I retuned once again near the end of our journey and the space remained immaculately clean (which I guess isn't too difficult for just an hour and forty minutes, but lovely to see regardless!).

The crew then came by with welcome drinks, either orange juice or water, and handed out hot wet towels.

The purser then went around to each business class passenger, introduced herself, and walked us through all the amenties aboard and the goodies on offer (the pillows, blanket, slippes, water bottle and headphones). She also apologized for the delay out of PVG and shared the flight time. Well done Junyao. This might seem to be a straightforward gesture, but I really really appreciated it. It really goes to show the amount of care they offer and love for the job. I never experienced this on MU, even in their domestic First Class. Thinking about it now, other than on international First, I don't think I've experienced this on any other flights. Although one may argue this process be slightly unnecessary, which I agree to some extent, but it truely enhances the onboard experience. 

Shortly after, the crew came by to take meal orders. The dinner options were oyster sauce mushroom and beef rice, or a noodle dish. Despite not having physical menus for the food, they did pass out a wine list. I flipped it over and saw an "ordinary line" menu as opposed to our "premium line", which was interesting. I went with a glass of sparkling wine and a bayberry juice. For food, the beef and mushroom rice was my choice! The crew member also kindly inquired all passengers over potential seafood allergies, as scallops were featured in the starter, another lovely touch. 

Furthermore, the lady to my right was asleep as soon as she boarded, but the crew needed to wake her up to adjust her seat before takeoff. And believe me when I say this might have been the nicest and most patient crew member. The lady didn't respond for nearly a full minute, but the crew member patiently tapped on her shoulder and spoke in a extremely calm and soft voice. Crew performance on Junyao? 10/10!

My Flightly app hows we took off from PVG at 18:05, five minutes behind schedule, but in reality it was at least 18:30 when we left. Immediately, the cabin lights turned a beautiful purpley pink, and service began. Considering there really is less than an hour or so before descending, the window of service is quite tight. Once again, the crew were incredibly efficient and the service very streamlined. 

The headphones were nothing to write home about, but worked fine. Whats funny is that they're still probably better than the garbage MU give out in First. 

If I had any negative feedback to give the in-flight experience, it was the "tablecloth". These really didn't live up to its name as they were essentially just thin pieces of paper. Luckily, the meal soon came and covered it:)

The meal came all on one tray, featuring a chilled bamboo shoots and spicy scallops appetizer, oyster sauce with beef and mushrooms, white steamed rice, a fruit plate, a bowl of lao gan ma chili sauce, and my two drinks (notably, the rose sparkling wine). Immediately I poured all the chili sauce into my rice, and got going. 

Look, some may choose to spend 2880 RMB on a business ticket with MU for its name and loyalty, but I think I'm going to start going with Junyao and their 900 RMB offerings. This meal was freaking delicious. The appetizer was seasoned perfectly, the main was a solid portion, the beef tender, mushrooms fresh and all in a wonderful sauce. The cherry on top being that simply everything tastes better with Lao Gan Ma chili sauce. I've also never had rose sparkling wine on a domestic carrier, nor the berry juice. The fruit wasn't anything special but was very fresh regardless. I wouldn't say this meal was leaps and bounds above MU or CA's business flights, but considering being 1/3 of their prices, you bet this is getting your money's worth. Incredible!

The crew members were also extremely attentive and requested to remove my tray as soon as I finished dinner. They then came around to ask if I wanted anything else before landing, to which I declined. Once again, showing their care and attentiveness.

Being a very short hop, we soon began descending into Daxing airport. I also found this beautiful China United jet in a special livery, another airlines I hope to try one day. 

For those arriving at Daxing domestically, feel free to spend as long as you want inside the terminal as there are enough shops and restaurants to keep you entertained for days… not to mention the architecture!