Flying to Thailand? Think about this somewhat neglected airline ...

[Smiles]

Talking about airlines?: you might want to give China Southern Airlines a boo.

China Southern is one of the top airlines in the world as goes numbers of planes and numbers of destinations. I flew it last April, and once again on an emergency flight for just 2 weeks back to Vancouver this November.
I chose it mainly (on the April trip) because of a excellent price deal going Business Class as well as that it belongs with the airline group which includes Korean Air (my usual go-to), thus getting points on Korean.
And what an unexpected pleasure it was! Big area seats with lots of privacy. Great big honking TV screens, reasonable entertainment choices (though I've had better) and my window seat was all alone, with the middle seats being just two abreast.
The food was very very good ... the menu gave a choice of 3 excellent entrees ... the wine kept on coming ... the service was a sexy young Chinese guy who was easy to drool over and who was right there when you needed him, but innocuous when you didn't.
Can't get better than that, and the price was right at $CAN3000 when just about all other airlines were charging at least $CAN1000 more, and many somewhat more than that.


My second trip on CSA this November was in Premier Economy, mainly because I can hardly justify the prices in Biz. I'm not a very big guy and in fact Economy seats fit me fine ... although frankly, in Econ it's all about leg room.
But Premier Economy on China Southern is in fact really really good. No trouble at all stretching one's legs under the seat in front. The seats themselves were heads and shoulders better than in Economy. 12 hours in the air is a stretch for anyone, but on CSA my ass and back paid little price. Premier Economy has the same food as regular economy, but even that was far from being horrendous -- not bad in fact. And the Chinese beer was quite fine for my palate (though honestly, I have in fact never in my life drunk a beer I didn't like ... the bar is very low for me when beer is the issue).

Getting to the west coast of N. America? First leg is a 2.5 hour flight on a small B-737, a layover of about 1.5 hours at Guangzhou, then (to Vancouver) on a very comfy B-777 which takes about 11 hours non stop. (About another 1.5 hours flying back.)


CSA has a huge number of European destinations. On the west coast of North America it's a little less covered, but Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles touchdowns should get you easily into the further-east cities.


https://www.flychina.com/infoCZ16.asp (click on the map to enlarge)

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[francois]

Thanks Smiles. I didn't know that China Southern even had a PE class. From BKK to JFK (NYCity) the PE class is about 1600 USD and Biz Class 2400 USD so very good prices. The arrival time at JFK was about 5 AM which may or may not be a good time.

[Smiles]

Be a bit careful booking 'The Chinas'. There is Air China, China Air, China Eastern and China Southern. I've heard of quite bad stories on Air China and China Air but no personal experience on any but China Southern.

Always consult Skytrax and SeatGuru when choosing a flight on an airline you've never used before. SeatGuru is especially good at showing which airlines provide Premier Economy and which do not.

Buyer beware, as always.

[arsenal]

Flown China S and China E loads of times. Similar to any average European carrier. Chinese passenger behaviour was problematical in the past but has been considerably controlled in recent years.

[Nirish guy]

Always consult Skytrax and SeatGuru when choosing a flight on an airline you've never used before.

Man I SO wish I had to remembered the above sage advice before my spur of the moment booking with Kuwait Airways to the Philippines in January coming, I booked it and THEN read the reviews and OMG following some of the stuff I read I'll be lucky if they even get me there never mind get my there comfortably and on the right date !

[bkkguy]

Always consult Skytrax and SeatGuru when choosing a flight on an airline you've never used before.

one needs to read Skytrax and SeatGuru (and TripAdvisor, this forum, etc) with caution - people (and organisations and websites) with axes to grind need to be filtered out, a "web of trust" needs to be established and if you are looking for current info in a rapidly changing industry then a lot of this information is of little use

my recent personal experience with both Skytrax and SeatGuru have been mediocre at best in evaluating a previously unused airline for a specific route

bkkguy

[fountainhall]

I agree with bkkguy about extreme caution with those sites. The problem with SKYTRAX is that it lumps all reviews into one -- so you have a mix of economy, premium economy, business and first reviews all creating one general star rating. With the non-economy reviewers mostly giving higher stars than those traveling economy - understandably in most cases, you really have to wade through quite a number of reviews to find ones likely to be more pertinent to you.

The one good thing about SKYTRAX, though, is that it has now introduced what are called Verified Reviews. These reviewers have submitted their boarding passes and so you know the pax actually did travel on the reviewed flights.

TripAdvisor, on the other hand, has become virtually a joke as it is overloaded with masses of fake reviews - as business travel magazines have pointed out. Useful perhaps for the odd nugget of info, but hopeless for making decisions.

I do find seatguru more useful, especially if you can afford to sit in premium classes. As for economy, I place little faith in it. Not only do airlines change configurations between booking and flying, you can find yourself with a different aircraft type and your best laid plans are sunk! Also most of the time you have no idea if the passenger next to you will weigh 140kgs or 60kgs and whether they are 1.85 or 1.60 in height. So it's still a lottery!

[latintopxxx]

....bit of a silly heading....why neglected??? Or is it just a translation thing?? China southern has quite a big presence when googling flights from australsia to europe.

[Smiles]

Also most of the time you have no idea if the passenger next to you will weigh 140kgs or 60kgs and whether they are 1.85 or 1.60 in height. So it's still a lottery!

Yes the fatties in economy -- you know the type, the Latinpoxx's of this world -- can be an enemy after 6 hrs out, with another 6 to go. Thank god for the aisle seat! And Old Spice underarm deodorant to pass out to oblivious seat mates who have no clue.

[francois]

Is Old Spice a requirement for flying China Southern?