Trip Report: Air China Economy Class Airbus A320 Harbin - Shanghai PVG
I flew from Shanghai Pudong (PVG) to Harbin (HRB) a couple days earlier on China Southern. That flight departed at 8:20pm, but I was surprised that - despite being labeled “snack service” on the itinerary - there was a full hot meal service, with a choice of shrimp and noodles or beef fried rice.
On my return, I flew Air China, with a departure time of 6:54pm, so even closer to dinner time. Let’s see how the two airlines compare.
Harbin airport was a typical Chinese airport: big and modern.
I was surprised to see there were so many Chinese airlines I’d never heard about!
There’s also an outpost of Churin Food here, where one can buy last minute bread and sausage.
As Star Alliance Gold passenger, I could use the Air China lounge, the “First Class Lounge 2” on the right.
Basically the lounge were these big La-Z-Boy type recliners.
Food-wise, there were some packaged snacks and canned drinks. Nothing else.
Meanwhile, with Priority Pass I could use China Southern’s lounge.
Same theme as a room full of armchairs. But here there were fridges full of drinks.
And even meals that they would prepare to order! The staff were so kind - they apologized that they had finished the buffet service, but offered to prepare a dish for me to eat. I was so full from my earlier meal, that I turned them down.
It was soon time to board my flight anyway.
An Airbus A320.
Here was the snack service on Air China.
Inside of the box was a drinkable yogurt, and a container with one piece of melon and two cherry tomatoes.
And this was the main meal. A “chicken burger” they called it. There was more mayonnaise than chicken I’d say! That chicken covered less than half of the bread.
Some juice to follow up.
And in PVG unfortunately we had a remote stand.
So in summary, Air China’s food vastly inferior to China Southern’s, on the exact same route at about the same time of day. And not only that, China Southern’s lounge at HRB airport was much better than Air China’s as well.
