TRIP REPORT: Air China CA710 Seoul Incheon to Beijing Capital Airport (BUSINESS CLASS) – Kevin Gets a Little Seoul and Toyko

Air China CA710 Seoul Incheon Terminal 1 to Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3 (BUSINESS CLASS)
TRIP REPORT: Kevin Gets a Little Seoul and Tokyo

Time for the next hop westward, as my journey to the west continues. Next up is a short hop from Seoul Incheon to Beijing Capital Airport. Can Air China continue to impress in business class? 

• When Life Gives You Lemons, Get Gin, Tonic and a Knife to cut the Lemons! Make the Lemons rue the day…
• Off to Heathrow T5 and the British Airways Galleries North Lounge
• BA770 London Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda, EuroTraveller
• A Lazy Day in Stockholm
• Delays and More Delays – Back to Arlanda, Arlanda Terminal 5 and The Aspire Lounges
• CA912 Stockholm Arlanda to Beijing Capital Airport (Business Class)
• A Rushed Beijing transit and CA125 Beijing Capital Airport to Seoul Incheon (Business Class)
• Into South Korea, The A’Rex, The Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun
• Exploring the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace
• From the Top of N Seoul Tower
• Back to Seoul Incheon, Air Premia YP735 Seoul to Tokyo (Wide Premium)
• Into Japan and the hustle of Tokyo, APA Hotel Ekimae Asakusa
• Asakusa Nights
• The JR East Railway Museum (Saitama)
• Being the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was – Pokemon Centres in Tokyo
• Farewell to the Unicorn Gundam (The Mobile Suit Unicorn Gundam at DiverCity)
• From the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
• Off the Camera Roll – Tokyo Edition
• Return to Narita International Airport and  Air Premia YP732 Tokyo to Seoul (Wide Premium)
• Back into South Korea and Seoul, and the Hotel ZIYOLK, Seoul Station
• Myeongdong Nights – Off the Camera Roll
• One final journey to Incheon Airport, Asiana Airlines Lounge Terminal 1
• CA710 Seoul Incheon to Beijing Capital Airport (Business Class)
• A More Relaxed Beijing Transit and The Air China Phoenix Lounge
• CA911 Beijing Capital Airport to Stockholm Arlanda (Business Class)
• A Quick Stockholm Arrival and the Forenom Aparthotel, near Stockholm Airport
• Back to Arlanda one more time and KL1214 Stockholm Arlanda to Amsterdam Schiphol (Economy Class)
• A three-hour transit in Amsterdam, KL1045 Amsterdam Schiphol to Birmingham Airport (Economy Class)
• Who needs luggage in a hurry?  The joy of Luggage collection at Birmingham Airport
• Reality stinks. Sometimes making your own is better

CA710 Seoul Incheon Terminal 1 to Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3 (Business Class)
Air China, Airbus A330-200
Seat 14L, Business Class
561 miles flown, 720 Status Miles, 720 Miles earned (R-Coded Ticket, credited to Turkish Airlines)

The waiting chariot. 

To the business class door

Business Class entrance

After making my way down the correct airbridge, I was welcomed by the crew aboard the Airbus A330-200.

Once aboard, again, it was a very familiar experience, with the Zodiac (Safran) Aura Lite Seats. That’s more than fine for this short segment back to Beijing. The main difference between the Air China A330-300 and A330-200 in this instance is simply the size of the business class cabin. That’s fine – as I managed to snag a seat at the back of the cabin.

For a two-hour or less segment, it’s not a problem. To be honest, on a single-aisle cabin, I’d expect a recliner seat in a 2-2 configuration – so 2–2-2 is more than acceptable aboard this flight.

Did you notice the Phoenix on the seatwork? 

IFE Controls

Overhead panel – smiley face, no air gaspers

Again, the crew were on top of everything, helping me stow baggage and getting slippers ready. I know it’s small things, but again, the crew was on top of things, making people feel welcome.

Loaded up

Welcome drinks were offered, along with a towel. I swear Air China has a thing with towels, with at least two of them on short haul, and three on long haul. Orders were also taken for food and beverages.

With the initial service tied down as the cabin was prepared for departure, I feel it’s time to make notes about the overstuffed pillows that Air China uses in business class. And overstuffed is the term I’ll use.

   
Another wet day in Seoul

With everyone aboard and the cabin secured, the A330-200 pushed back for its journey to Beijing Capital Airport. And again, we had the Air China Safety Video.

The panda has seen things. 

After the video played, I finished the last of my “clean” internet connectivity (as my next encounter with the internet would be through the Great Firewall of China, so goodbye to social media and Google services for a while).

In the rain, the A330-200 was pushed back, and then taxied out of the gate area, as it was directed to an operational runway. I tried some photography.

Air Premia Boeing 787-9

China Eastern Airbus A32o

Vietjet Air Airbus A321neo

Not sure what this Korean Air thing is. But there are plenty of T’way (Trinity Airways) aircraft in the background.

Korean Air Boeing 747-8i

China Airlines PikaJet 1 Airbus A321neo

PikaJet Pika’ing away. 

Korean Air Airbus A330-300

Korean  Air Boeing 777-300ER 

Jin Air Boeing 737-8, with Korean Air Airbus A321neo and Boeing 787-9 

Asiana Airlines and Korean Air Airbus A380s

Asiana Airlines Airbus A350

Another Korean Air Boeing 747-8

Another Asiana Airlines Airbus A350

Eventually, our aircraft found the runway, and soon enough the engines spooled into life for a wet takeoff.

With the A330 in the air, the crew set about getting ready for the in-flight service. Some wanted less of a service and were putting the Aura Lite seat into full flat mode. I popped the seat into a relaxed mode and settled in.

The IFE on this Airbus A330 is again a Thales series device, with some regionalised content, as well as a map, which again is GeoFusion Maps for Thales.

Headphones were also available.

There was also streaming content which was available through a browser.

Sadly, Air China doesn’t offer Internet Connectivity on this aircraft.

That would do for this short segment – given it was an hour and a half’s hop from Seoul to Beijing. As for the inflight magazine… that was interesting.

Hmm… Didn’t spot one on the way out; will I spot one on the way in?

The inflight meal service followed, with a choice of chicken, pork and a veggie option – I went for the pork again.

Tray -Salmon, Scallop and Prawn salad, Braised Pork with rice, mushrooms and vegetables, with fresh fruit. Served with a roll and butter. Note the roll – it’s from KAL Catering, indicating that Air China lifted the meals for this flight in Seoul, rather than lifting them from Beijing.  

Another rather passable main

Another well-put-together tray. A little over the top for an hour-forty segment? Maybe. Or have I become way too deprogrammed by EuroBusiness and North American short-haul segments to expect anything substantive inflight? I suspect that answer is somewhere in the middle…

What’s that Aldi Advert… I like Gin. 

It’s nice to have the option of pork in the air (compared to the usual Chicken or Pasta I get down the back of the cabin).

With the tray cleared, a lot of people made time to put their seat into flat mode for the short hop over to Beijing. I popped the seat into comfort and watched the world go by as the A330 crossed the yellow sea and into China itself, with our route taking us near the coast, up to Tianjin and into Beijing Capital Airport. Once clear of Seoul and Korea, things improved a lot, from grey clouds to blue skies.

A wonderful day for flying, which also bodes well for the next flight onto Stockholm. As much as I padded this schedule as far as I could, giving myself a full 26-hour layover, I prefer reducing risk wherever possible, rather than feeding the machine.

As for a further drink, inflight coffee is… coffee. It won’t set the world on fire, but it provided cafination at a point where flagging wasn’t an option.

Inflight media. 

With the aircraft nearing Beijing Capital Airport, at 40 minutes, the cabin crew cleared down the aircraft and ensured the cabin was ready for landing.

Tanjin Airort

Tanjin.

As such, there was not much else to do, other than watch the world go by as the A330-200 descended into the Beijing Capital region and to the airport

Hmm, a military airfield

With a thump, our A330 made it to its home base. It taxied off the runway reasonably smartly, as Terminal 3 International was not far away at this point, with a short taxi to the terminal and gate.

For those on short connecting flights, not a bad thing. I had a longer connection, but I’d take it at this point.

Lots of Phoenix tails

An Air China Boeing 747-8i in the distance 

Air China Airbus A350-900

Lufthansa Airbus A350-900

With the engines powered down, two jet bridges came to meet the A330. With everyone ready to roll, I collected my items (after misplacing my onward boarding pass), thanked the crew and headed back into Beijing Capital.

Overall:

Again, a tightly and welcomingly delivered service by Air China, which was delivered in an orderly manner. It seems the tighter times make the crew work a little harder to ensure everything is delivered in the time allowed, whilst being friendly about it.

Whilst the product is an older one, it is leaps and bounds ahead of a single-aisle product in terms of physical space. The IFE system, whilst dated, had a reasonable selection of content and mirrored on its in-flight portal.

For a short-haul flight, not too bad at all.

Next:

A Much More Relaxed Beijing Transit and the Air China Phoenix Lounge.

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