Flying: China Southern B787 Economy Class Guangzhou to Wuhan 2016

Usually I make a conscientious effort to check-in online before heading to the airport, and have until now always been able to skip the queues (if there were one) at the airport. It had not occurred to me that one day this experience will fail me.

Well, I stand corrected that sometimes even an online check-in cannot save you the queue at the airport.

While there are close to a dozen flights operating Guangzhou-Wuhan daily (China Southern alone operates 4~5 flights), it was almost a no brainer to choose CZ659 given the ideal late morning departure, wide-body aircraft, and being tagged to an international destination (which gives it priority when facing traffic control).

China Southern 659
Guangzhou (CAN) – Wuhan (Wuhan)  
Thursday, Jun 16 2016
Depart: 11:25AM
Arrive: 1:25PM
Flight time: 2hr
Aircraft: Boeing 787
Seat: 34K

Thanks to the long queue at the baggage drop and an even longer queue at the security checks, boarding was already half way through by the time I arrived at the gate. Yet I could not miss the opportunity to snap a few shots of this beautiful Dreamliner jet.

I am usually not a big fan of Chinese airline liveries, though China Southern had a special livery for their Dreamliners, and I am quite fond of the sweeping strokes of blue across the fuselage.

It was interesting to note that only one aerobridge was used for boarding, perhaps due to a limited load in first and business class.

The plane was fresh and new, and the load was fairly full, with close to 90% of the economy seats filled, if not more. Though given that the plane actually operates Guangzhou-Wuhan-San Francisco, I am not exactly sure how many of my fellow passengers are getting off at Wuhan.

The doors were shut at 11:20AM, though we only pushed off at 11:33AM. In the meantime, the pilot came on the PA and declared a flight time of 1hr35min, which he expect would bring us into Wuhan at 1PM.

The safety video was quite interesting, as it featured significant elements of Chinese ink painting in the depiction of cabin interior features.

After a short taxi, we took off at 11:47AM. When airborne I turned to the entertainment system and was pleasantly surprised to find that the selection of movies and TV shows were quite extensive. 

One big disappointment was that headsets were not given out for this segment, which I think was to minimise the hassle of collecting the headsets before landing, since this is a really short flight. Nevertheless, I chose to watch The Big Short relying purely on subtitles, while secretly admiring the guy sitting on my left who was smart enough to bring his own earphone jack.

About 15 minutes into the flight the crew began to distribute snacks, and each passenger was given a rice burger and a mineral water. 

Although the flight was blocked for 2 hrs on paper likely due to expectations of air traffic control delays, the real flying time is closer to 1 hr. Hence a simple snack service is not unreasonable on such a short-haul flight.


In addition, I appreciate that the food was heated, which takes additional effort by the crew, especially considering the short flight time.

At 12:35PM the captain announced the descent into Wuhan, as well as advised all passengers continuing the trip to San Francisco to clear customs in Wuhan. We landed in the scotching sun ahead of schedule at 1:05PM and arrived at the gate at 1:09PM after a quick taxi.

Disembarking was again via a single aerobridge, though the curtains were drawn to allow business class passengers to get-off first. 

Conclusion

Domestic/short-haul flying is not always a pleasant affair, especially in China and the US, and sad to say that will probably remain the case except for premium routes such as Beijing-Shanghai or LAX-JFK. However, there are outliers like Guangzhou-Wuhan, which are tagged to international destinations like San Francisco and Moscow.

With new wide-bodies used and more experienced crew, I can indeed feel the difference when comparing between this flight and my previous experience with them on Singapore-Guangzhou. Thus with the cheap fares they offer on selected trans-Pacific routes and European destinations, I would actively consider flying with them long-haul, just to experience the service.

It has been a while since I flew on domestic routes in China, and given the frequent high speed train connections available on the Guangzhou-Wuhan route, it's hard to say if I will prefer flying to trains. Nevertheless, given the cheap fares on the route, and the ability to chalk up FF miles, I would still consider flying as an option.

Flying: Tigerair A320 Singapore to Guangzhou 2016

Usually I wouldn’t want to recount a flight on a budget carrier, as they are usually unmemorable (unless it’s my first time flying them), especially not on this Tigerair flight, since I have flown it no less than a dozen times when visiting my grandparents in China. However, quite a few things have happened by the time I got my boarding pass that I changed my mind.

There was no train service in the wee hours and hence a cab would be the only option of getting to Changi. While trying to book a cab on GrabTaxi, somwhow I just decided to try my luck using GrabCar instead. Usually I find it difficult to get a car at such awkward hours but today there was 4~6 cars within 2km.

We pulled over at terminal 2 right in front of gate 6, and at 5:12AM, there was only 3 minutes to spare before I miss the 45 minutes cut-off for check-in. Thankfully, the staff mannning the crowd let me skip the queue. Phew. I thought this was a really nice gesture, after multiple negative publicity of people missing the cut-off by just a few minutes on other budget carriers.

It was only when I started to check my details on the boarding pass that I realised I have assigned seat 1C. Woah! I mean, on a full service carrier this is nothing special, but with budget carriers typcially charging a fee for seat selection and a hefty premium for seats with extra legroom (in this case SGD 35), getting a first row seat is like a free lunch, hehe.

There was no queue in front of the automated immigration gantries and with a few minutes to spare, I even managed to grab a hot breakfast from McDonald’s before heading down to gate F54, which is a lot nearer than gate F60, which I used the last time when travelling to Hong Kong on Scoot.

Tigerair 2986

Singapore (SIN) – Guangzhou (CAN)
Tuesday, Jun 14 2016
Depart: 6:00AM
Arrive: 9:55AM
Duration: 3hr55min
Aircraft: Airbus 320
Seat: 1C

By the time I arrived at the gate, the boarding has already begun. In fact, the boarding lounge is largely empty, with only a few passengers clearing security. So I quickly gobbled down my McMuffin and boarded the plane, which was having a fairly ful load for such an early morning flight.

Somehow I had a feeling that on this flight, there were way more Chinese passengers than Singaporean ones. Either there are just that many tourists visiting Singapore (which I don't think was the case given official statistics) or Tigerair does a great job selling tickets through travel agents in China.

I guess a big bonus of sitting at the front would be the opportunity to take a peep at the cockpit.

The captain came on the PA at 5:57AM, welcoming all passengers aboard and announcing a flight time of 3hr52min, which he expect would bring us into Guangzhou on schedule. Usually I struggled to catch the captain's address, though this time round he was exceptionally clear and detailed.

At 6:00AM the cabin door was closed, and we pushed-off a minute later, however we had a fairly long taxi before taking off at 6:19AM after an ANA plane.

I quickly fell asleep after takeoff, since I woke up really early to catch this flight, though this time round I managed to wake-up to witness the sun-rise from the right side of the plane.

To be fair the picture does not do the view full justice.

I was a little hungry after filling up the Chinese immigration card, despite the McBreakfast before departure, and ordered a beef curry meal (SGD 12).

Well, to be fair the crew was quite helpful and served the meal even though it was less than an hour to landing. And the meal was served piping hot from the oven, though that was the few compliments I can pay to the meal service. Even judging by economy standards, this was a subpar meal, with the rice clumped tightly and the beef being too tough to chew. Sometimes it takes a meal like this to remind passengers to grab another serving at McDonald's before heading to the gate.

Nevertheless it was a nice gesture for the crew to serve drinks along with a glass of ice.

Soon after I am done with the food the captain announced the descent into Guangzhou, and we landed a little behind schedule at 10:06AM, followed by a short taxi before arriving at the gate at 10:13AM.

I had a slightly longer than usual wait at the luggage carousel, with the first bags coming out after nearly half an hour of waiting, without considering time spent clearing immigration and quarantine checks. Similarly, custom inspections took longer than usual, as all passengers are required to be checked instead of random checks in the past.