[Rferguson2]

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone has recent experience of China Southern Business Class, or current COVID transit requirements in China – or both? :-))

Airfares from the UK to Australia are absurdly high at the moment and I managed to nab a business class ticket from AMS to MEL via CAN for £2.5k return which is quite reasonable considering return economy fares from LON are around the £1.5k mark at the moment.

I have done my usual, googling and youtubing for up to date business reviews of China Southern which has not returned a whole lot. Considering China Southern is the biggest airline in Asia (a fact I was surprised to stumble upon) the lack of reviews was strange. Although I guess CZ primarily targets customers in their home market.

Just curious what the experience will be like and whether other forumites have any tips. I am expecting the whole service offering to be very targeted to the Chinese market and have never flown a mainland carrier so am excited at the opportunity. What is CAN airport like, the lounge etc?

Also, has anyone transited via China recently? I am trying to work out the most recent transit requirements (we will have around 6hr airside) which is no easy task. I see there is a health declaration to complete online, and a requirement to self COVID test (although the airline apparently doesn’t check this before travel) but then I have read on other forums the health declaration isn’t required for airside transit.

Any info would be welcome 🙂

[cwoodward]

Any Covid protocols are gone other than those that you mention – certainly in major centers it is no longer a big deal (it was).

I have not flown much with them in the past 3 years of course(twice -one trip)
China Southern has come a long way in passenger comfort and service the past 10 years -and they needed to.

Major airports are a good standard -English signage- busy but operate well -not at all friendly Tips – find a lounge and /or a good book otherwise 6 hours is going to drag unless you have a fair understanding of written and spoken Mandarin or Cantonese

It’s a huge fleet but youngish and the business cabins are comfortable -but often a very different layout in business but its not flash -very tight in economy. Long- haul the crew should have reasonable English – short haul often not.
Service is just there and OK (think budget airline) food reasonable -wine often not worth the effort.

They would be low on my list but OK although I much prefer Air China of the Chinese airlines -better food and service -more international feel -some crew are trained by Cathay.

2 users thanked author for this post.

christ, Rferguson2

[stevescoots]

I have been into china 4 times since covid listed, only once did i do the covid test but nobody asked for the result and my CN staff who have travelled outside have never done one either. you do need to do the online health declaration to enter and leave, but I am not sure if in transit, as with most things china assume you will have to. take a screen shot of the QR code you get with the declaration, much better than messing about trying to open the app or access while at the scanner.

As for CZ, i used to fly them a lot in J about 10 years ago and found them to be “basic” reflected in the cost i guess. average food, poor IFE, average service. but if the price was right and i was going direct to China i would fly them again, but i would expect to see 30%+ less than a routing with EK/QR into CAN. Unless CAN has had a refirb since i was last there its a bit of a dump and there is very little to do airside, the CZ lounge is basic with buffet food options which are very limited. Its not hell on earth but dont expect much. oh and make sure you have a VPN or using a non CN number on data roaming as internet access in CN to many western sites is now more restricted than ever.

3 users thanked author for this post.

christ, Rferguson2, Ekond222

[workandtravel]

I read this information that all China-bound travelers will need to take the nucleic acid test for COVID-19 within 48 hours before boarding and can only travel to China when their test result is negative. It’s only in January this year so probably this is still required now https://www.csair.com/en/about/news/notice/2023/1go0vcqbims4i.shtml

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rferguson2

[cwoodward]

I believe not.

[stevescoots]

it still says that but there is no process to upload results and now no official testers listed any more and nobody i know has been asked at check in, just that they have done the on line declaration

That being said TIC and i would suggest (as i do) you have a self test in your carry on just in case some jobs worth actually demands one. people still randomly wear masks and say stay safe and healthy…I actually told my staff if they say it to me they have to donate 10 RMB to the recognized local charity we support, like a swear box 🙂 and take it off their company email signatures, stop feeding the BS.

and dont even get me started on CX Monkey pox announcements!

1 user thanked author for this post.

cwoodward

[Rferguson2]

I just thought i’d report back on my China Southern Airlines experience.

On the whole, I was impressed 🙂

The pros: comfortable beds on both the 777 and 350. Friendly, hospitable crews nearly all of whom had a decent grasp of english. |Food was plentiful and decent on board. The CAN transit was really really simple and the airport modern, nice and quiet. Flights were punctual.

Oddities – no menus. I am all for saving trees but at least have the options integrated into the IFE or available online. On the sector to CAN from europe the crew at least had one copy of what was on offer with an accurate description which they were able to pass around. On the CAN-SYD sector even this wasn’t available so it became an issue of ‘do you want the beef, fish, chicken or noodles’. How the beef was prepared or what the fish was served with or whether the chicken is western or chinese style is lucky dip! This would be an easy fix for the airline.

And on each flight there was a male crew member who seemingly wore a pilots uniform with two stripes but was in the cabin the entire flight – and wearing a bodycam. I am not sure what the role of this staff member was – they just seemed to hang about and occasionally helped out the cabin crew in the galley. I’ve read of some ‘air rage’ in China over the past couple years, has this resulted in security officers on flights?

I would not hesitate in flying CZ again.

11 users thanked author for this post.

DerekVH, CheerUp, sparkyflier, stevescoots, FaroFlyer, AndrewinHK, Jacob, cwoodward, MrDarwin, Ekond222, AlanOrton1

[sparkyflier]

RF2 – many thanks for your comments on China Southern – very interesting read.

Totally agree re menu cards. Pretty poor that some airlines do not offer these in J and think frankly they should be in all classes.

I have a query. Most of us on this forum are miles or at least tier/status points junkies, so when we fly we earn status that should make future trips more pleasurable or stress free. On such a long trip – UK-Oz I would be aiming to get a good stash of tier points etc but of course China Southern is not in any of the main 3 alliances. So where did you allocate your points to and did you get both miles/avios etc as well as any status/tier points?

[cwoodward]

Non alined now for some years however they have been circling OW for some time now
Both American Airlines and Qatar are shareholders of CS however Qatar is also a 20% shareholder of Cathay.
Cathay are reported to have vetoed CS which is understandable -I can find no verification of this however.

1 user thanked author for this post.

sparkyflier

[Rferguson2]

@ Sparkflyer re points. I am very embarrassed to admit, when I booked my ticket I still thought CZ was in Skyteam! I hang my AVGEEK head in shame.

Saying that, I was able to add my KLM FB membership number into the CZ reservation and was surprised to see both miles AND XP points credited within days! I received 10,291 miles for each direction and 60XP points for each direction. So, despite leaving Skyteam they still seem to accrue quite nicely in Flying Blue.

1 user thanked author for this post.

sparkyflier

[Panda01]

@Rferguson2 As far as I have experienced, all domestic flights have a security guard onboard and they even have an announcement that is played during taxing to tell you know, or it might just something that they do on all flights for Chinese carriers regardless anyways.

[cwoodward]

I only travel on the more northern of the Chinese airlines and not so often now but I have never seen a uniformed guard on board or been aware of any in civies.

[AMcWhirter]

Travellers to/from the UK will have another opportunity to sample China Southern from December 16.

That’s the day there is speculation this carrier will launch non-stop twice weekly flights (Tuesday and Saturday) between Zhengzhou and London Gatwick.

Daytime flight to Gatwick with the return flight to Zhengzhou departing in the evening to arrive the following day.

I tried to check this information here in the UK but schedules do not appear to be loaded today.

[AMcWhirter]

Information from Aeroroutes.com

Extra weekly flight from Wuhan to London Heathrow plus the Zhengzhou service noted above.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230926-cz4q23lon

[sparkyflier]

RF2 – I wonder if the IT department at Flying Blue also did not know that or not get the memo, hence being able to get your points and status points ha ha.

I suspect many though that earning option had gone away!

[Author]

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