China Eastern’s first class cabin offers a center cabin that folds down into a nice double bed (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
China Eastern Airlines is one of the growing number of Asian carriers that you have probably heard of, but may not know much about. If you are like me, you likely confuse it with China Southern and wonder what the difference is.
Last week, the Shanghai-based carrier worked to change that with a behind-the-scenes media tour of Los Angeles International Airport, and an up-close-and-personal look at its big B777-300ER parked at the gate.
During a media tour we crawled inside and outside a China Eastern Boeing 777-300ER parked at LAX. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
First a few of the basics…
While it’s the second largest airline in China, China Eastern ranks among the 10 largest in the world in terms of revenue, fleet size (nearly 500 planes), and passengers flown.
From North America, it flies to its Shanghai (PVG) hub from Los Angeles (2x), San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Honolulu, Vancouver and Toronto. China Eastern’s two-letter code is MU.
Current round trip fares between Los Angeles or San Francisco and Shanghai for November flights are about $750 (an okay deal, but other carriers offer fares as low as $500), and $2,900 in business class (a very good deal). First class is steep at about $15,000 round trip.
The China Eastern logo resembles a swallow, considered to bring good luck, and also includes the letters C & E (Chris McGinnis)
On most US-China routes, China Eastern flies the Boeing 777-300ER, which is pretty much the standard when it comes to long-haul flying these days. (It also uses A330s on Honolulu, Vancouver flights as well as on SFO-Qingdao.) Its average fleet age is very young– less than seven years old. Its B777-300ERs are all less than two years old.
China Eastern is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and has a code share partnership with Delta Air Lines. This means you can buy a Delta ticket (and earn Delta SkyMiles) to Shanghai from from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or San Francisco, but you’ll fly on a China Eastern jet. (To make things even more confusing, China Southern is also a member of SkyTeam.)
To help distinguish the two airlines, keep this in mind: China Eastern is based in Shanghai– on the eastern side of China. China Southern is based, as you might have guessed, in the southern part of the country in Guangzhou, near Hong Kong.
China Eastern is based in Shanghai; China Southern is in Guangzhou (Image: China Tours)
Each China Eastern 777-300ER has three classes: first, business and economy. There is no premium economy. There are 316 seats: Six in first class, 52 in business class and 258 in economy class. Check out the layout and ratings of its 777-300ER on Seatguru.
China Eastern 777-300ER (Image: SeatPlans)
ECONOMY: China Eastern is one of the growing number of airlines (including United) that uses the high-density 10-across (3-4-3) configuration in economy class. While that’s tight at the shoulders (each seat is 17 inches wide), the good news is that it offers slightly higher-than-average seat pitch at 32-33 inches.
Economy class on China Eastern B777-300ER is 10-abreast (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
BUSINESS: The biggest portion of the B777 is the business class section, with a whopping 52 seats set in a reverse herringbone configuration 1-2-1, offering aisle access from every seat. (Made by Zodiac, the seats are similar to those seen on B777s from American and Cathay Pacific.)
There are 52 big beautiful business class seats on China Eastern’s B777-300ER (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
FIRST: First class cabin is very intimate with just six seats– all with sliding “doors” for privacy. In the middle is a single pair of seats that fold down into a double bed (or two singles with privacy screen). There are no overhead bins in the first class cabin, which gives is a big airy feel, but it does not feel as sumptuous as what I’ve seen up front on the likes of Singapore Air or Cathay Pacific.
No overhead bins in first class on China Eastern’s B777-300ER (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
All its U.S. flights have Wi-Fi– however, since this is a government-run Chinese carrier, using it is reportedly a somewhat unwieldy experience, with access to vital sites like Google blocked.
China Eastern first and business class passengers use the KAL/SkyTeam Lounge at LAX. It’s nice and roomy with a big deck overlooking the shopping mall, but surprisingly for its age, furniture is looking a little worn out. First class passengers get special private suites to relax in while waiting to board flights. At SFO, China Eastern shares space with SkyTeam partners in the Air France/KLM lounge, which gets mixed reviews.
At LAX, China Eastern business and first class passengers use the Korean Air lounge at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Business and first class passengers get free limo service to and from the airport in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Shanghai.
During our LAX tour, we saw plenty of progress on the new Midfield Satellite Concourse, which will connect to the Tom Bradley terminal via an underground tunnel. It should open in 2019 (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
First class passengers have access to special private suites in the KAL Lounge at LAX (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
The KAL business class lounge at LAX is light, bright and airy with a deck overlooking the new TBIT shopping area (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
A nice bar set up at the front of the first class section on a China Eastern Boeing 777-300ER (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
52 business class seats in reverse herringbone on China Eastern’s B777-300 ER (Chris McGinnis)
Note the mood lighting in the business class section of the B 777-300ER (Chris McGinnis)
I tried an aisle seat in economy class with 32 inches of pitch (Chris McGinnis)
Decent knee room in economy class, but no opportunity to upgrade to premium economy on China Eastern B777 (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Nice big screens and power at all China Eastern economy class seats on B777-300ER- note the rear rows with only two seats abreast (Chris McGinnis)
Read more about China Eastern on its website
Have you ever flown China Eastern Airlines? How was it? Please leave your comments below.
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Thanks! We’ll check and fix.
MU also flies SFO-Qingdao on a A330-200. So it incorrect to say they use one type of aircraft to the United States. Rookie mistake.
Do us all a favor and stay off of China Eastern flights. The dark cloud that follows you is so sad. You are far too easily offended Louise.
“China Eastern flies only one type of aircraft to the US: The Boeing 777-300ER, which is pretty much the standard when it comes to long-haul flying these days. (It also uses A330s on Honolulu and Vancouver flights.” I really thought Hawaii is a state. But let me check and get back to you.
The hard product on china Eastern is ok especially in Business Class but the soft product/ service is atrocious. Unless they’re half the price of the competition or an R/T fare to Asia is in the sub $300 range, avoid at all costs.
Right on. The issue is exacerbated by the non-existent info and ground/terminal support in case of irregular operations (late/cancelled flights, missed connections, etc – which is…well, regularly occurring). That itself makes the other issues, such as the fact that you can’t use your phone (even with airplane mode on) inflight to listen to music/to do anything, or a random rude/friendly inflight service. or the sometime-creepy glares of inflight air marshall, seems minor in comparison.
This kind of crap is why ICN and NRT are so successful and necessary.
Flew on MU between SF and Shanghai, and Shanghai and Japan. The most brutally uncomfortable seats I’ve ever had to deal with. They use the slimline seats with absolutely no back support. That’s OK for a 3-4 hour flight, but not a 12 hour flight.
I believe it’s waiting on China to sign off since KE has routes there. Also JetBlue is protesting that the US JV approval needs to be reassessed since it was so long ago but I doubt that will happen under the current environment.
I flew MU once fm LAX to PUS (via PVG). When I arrived at LAX, I bid on a J class upgrade for $1000 (look for a bidding sign at check in). After anxiously awaiting at the gate, the agent called me up and handed me my biz class seat. I entered the cabin only to find a man already in my seat…
As it turns out, said man had actually been upgraded to FC. However, he had been traveling w/ someone and didn’t want to leave her. So, guess who ended up in his FC seat? 😀
From a private cabin w/ sliding doors, pajamas and multi-course meal (I had a hard time finishing my main course), I did not want my 14-hour flight to end. I had apprehension flying a Chinese carrier, but I couldn’t have been happier with the flight.
Worth every penny of that upgrade.
Do we know when Delta and Korean will announce details of their partnership?
A discussion of MU can’t be complete without mentioning one major external factor that uniquely plagues MU far more than any other airline – the notorious Shanghai ATC delays when the military dictates airspace priority out of the blue with no heads-up given.