Hello everyone, welcome back to another flight report! I hope you enjoyed my reviews of Etihad’s The Residence. Today I’ll be bringing the second half of my journey back for Chinese New Year, from Abu Dhabi back to Beijing Daxing. I have already published a review on this route’s reverse flight back in October, with mixed feelings. I was curious how, if any, thing has changed and whether things look different departing from Etihad’s hub.
Today, we’re straight through over to the boarding gate. I mentioned in my outro of The Residence review I was scheduled to be picked up and escorted to the gate by a staff member as courtesy of The Residence transit, but he ended up bailing on me. No worries though, over to gate B16!
I realized I left my coat on my previous flight… luckily the airport were very quick to locate it and later sent it back to me in the States.
Most international departures out of AUY go through the night, so the terminal is far busier than when I landed around noon. Stepping on board, this was the exact same layout as the 787 on the reverse trip from October. Seats staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration, window seats alternating closer and further from the aisle (more privacy for those nearing the window), and middle seats alternating between honeymoon suites and those further apart. I last flew in a honeymoon suite with my girlfriend, today I was travelling alone and snatched the final window seat that was further away from the aisle allowing more privacy.
After helping the lady behind with her luggage, I headed over to my seat. Waiting was a pillow, mattress pad, black duvet (in the footrest), a menu card, and amenity kit. You can find the amenity kit unboxing in my other review, nothing too special just the basic necessities. The water bottle and headphones were hidden in the storage compartment. Especially the reading light, my favorite part of the entire seat.
I headed over to the toilet to change. The basic amenities were provided but not as extensive as on the A380 from Toronto (of course, different cabin classes).
Back at my seat, I always love airlines who feature the destination on their IFE screens. Given this was near the beginning of Chinese New Year, the mood in the cabin was extremely festive.
The exact same comfort items as in October. I was quite the fan of the cabin interior back then, and same goes today.
After a couple asked to switch seats to sit together in the honeymoon suites, the young lady who agreed started chatting up her new seat partner. Conversations were being had all around, everyone was excited to go home.
There is a small screen next to the IFE controller. The seat controls can also be found in the small bar under the table area. All in all, a very modern and slick seat design, also great functionality.
Although my seat offered more privacy than the window seats nearer the aisle, you can tell from my line of vision that you can easily see everyone and vice versa. As the cabin began to fill up, the crew came around with welcome drink offerings.
The entire J cabin was full today.
There is a very small storage ‘cube’ under the headphone jack on my right, just about enough to fit your drink. I found it quite convenient to have some water there when sleeping.
Dreamliner windows, locked and operated by the crew.
I went with the champagne. EY’s champagne glass one of my favorites out there, on par or even nicer than many F glasses on other airlines.
The charging port located near the bottom of your seat, this worked as soon as you boarded until you stepped off the plane.
Enter text here…
Let’s look at the menu. I always appreciate airlines that condense lots of information into a few pages. EY goes one step forward and has everything, food and drink, into two pages. On this flight we will be served a full meal after landing, and smaller bites are available on demand. Some airlines offer two full meals on flights this long, but not EY. To be fair, some of the dine on demand snack options are on par with other airlines and their second meal service.
Wet towels were also offered.
This is the far larger storage area, where your headphones are hiding. A bottle of water also in the distance.
The headphones are one of my favorite in J. One point of criticism that I mentioned in my Residence review is that F and J headphones are essentially identical. Even if there were any differences, it’s impossible to tell since they’re just EY branded. I do wish they could invest in some co-branded goodness for F, but of course that’s not a complaint on today’s J flight.
Shortly, we began to pushback. No two hour delay this time, we took off on schedule at 21:21 for our 7 hour 31-minute (or just 7 hour, as the captain stated) journey to PKX.
Isn’t the light so cool, I can’t get over how it looks especially in the dark. You guys think I can yoink one from EY to take home?
Service then began, as everyone was hoping to head right to bed. The timing of this flight actually works quite well with time difference. You leave around 22:00 and arrive at 8:45 am. I kicked things off with some diet coke and whisky. (not warm) nuts were also provided
Next up came my appetizer, I chose the Soto sayur soup with beansprout and sambal chili sauce. I needed to google what this was before ordering, and I glad I did. This was delicious. Perhaps I have a soft spot with it comes to soup, I can’t believe I lived this long without trying this. EY also offers some delicious artisan bread, dipping it in the soup was even better. One of the best starters I’ve had in J (again, maybe it’s the soft spot for a good hearty soup). The salad was just fine, nothing too special.
Up next was my main, the beef. EY knows how to do their beef; this was also solid. Beef is never easy to do right on a flight, but this was done to perfection. It was extremely tender. The sauce, however, wasn’t bad but just not my cup of tea.
After dinner, I went to wash up in the toilet and spotted the in-loo window. Loo with a view, can’t beat that eh.
Back at my seat, I rolled out the mattress topper and flattened my seat ready for a sleep. Although EY don’t provide turndown service in J, having a mattress pad is already a big gold star. Not to mention, their mattress topper being one of the best in J cabins. Actually lying down though, the bed can feel slightly narrow especially if you’re a fidgety sleeper. The mattress pad helps with overall comfort. I ended up getting a solid five hours, perhaps part of that sleep can be credited to the lack thereof on my earlier flight.
I was contemplating whether or not to grab dessert, but I spotted the chocolate cake and you know I can’t pass on that. The cake was alright, amplified with the vanilla ice cream.
I also went with a glass of the dessert wine, a 2022 Loupiac Chateau. Overall, a great meal service. I would say the food quality was better than the reverse flight from October leaving out of PKX.
Before moving on, I wanted to take a moment to mention the crew. For those of you who checked out my October review on this route, the biggest issue was the crew member on my side of the aisle. From cutting in front of my at Starbucks before the flight to being extremely cold and impatient in the skies, that was less than ideal. Today, however, was completely different. Two crew members (maybe more, but I only remember two faces) tok charge of the J cabin, a Western gentleman and Chinese lady. To be fair I only saw the gentleman when he passed out welcome drinks, never again. The Chinese crew member must have had her hands full throughout the journey; I saw her run up and down and left and right. Never for a second did she seem anything less than enthusiastic to be there. She gladly waited when I asked to take pictures of the wine and was happy to recommend desserts she enjoyed. I have no idea why she seemed to be the only person in the entire cabin, but from start to finish she was the real MVP. She had forgotten I asked for the dessert wine and was extremely apologetic when I asked again. Of course, not her fault at all.
After dessert the cabin lights were then dimmed as everyone drifted off to sleep. I visited the toilet after a few hours, and this was genuinely the first flight where 100% of the cabin was asleep. There is always a night owl or two on their IFE or phone, but it was pure silence and darkness today. Speaking of the IFE, please feel free to check out my Residence review where I touched up some more on its details. The wifi worked quite well throughout the flight, but neither entertainment sources really mattered on this nighttime journey.
With an hour and half until landing, I woke up as utensils were clanking around the cabin. Everyone seemed well rested and ready to see their loved ones. The highlight of my reverse flight was EY’s steak sandwich, which also receives great praise on social media. Today, however, it was rather underwhelming. The bread was extremely soggy and mush. The steak was also slightly cold like it’s been left out for a while. A total 5 minutes or so passed between ordering and receiving my meal.
. When asking, the lady mentioned that it was near landing so they had these ready to serve, which might explain it. To add insult to injury, the coke was completely flat. I guess they left the soda out in the open too. I genuinely think a bottle/can of coke must be left open for at least an hour before it can become as flat as mine was. I didn’t end up ordering another as the lady was far too occupied.
As the Dreamliner’s windows turned blue, so marked the imminent end of our journey.
We were offered one last round of wet towels before descending into Beijing Daxing International Airport, touching ground at 08:42am.
A beautiful China United special livery and Aeroflot 777 greeted us on our taxi. I wonder if more major international carriers will begin drifting into PKX. Currently the big names are quite limited to Etihad, Qatar, Aeroflot and one Singapore flight. BA once operated from here before stopping service after the pandemic, it would be nice to see more big names at such a beautiful airport.
Welcome to Beijing! Happy Chinese New Year everyone and thanks again for tuning in!
