FEB 5, 2016
CHINA AIRLINES CI 3
SFO - TPE
DEPART 12:05AM
ARRIVE 06:05AM
Seat 10A (front cabin)
Business Class
BOEING 777-300ER
FEB 6, 2016
CHINA AIRLINES CI 903
TPE-HKG
DEPART 08:05AM
ARRIVE 09:55AM
Seat 20K / 21K (back cabin)
Business Class
BOEING 777-300ER
For some reason, I had some leftover Northwest miles that were automatically converted into Delta miles years ago. I'd almost never use Delta miles. This one way from SFO - TPE - HKG set me back by 70,000 miles and $169 USD. I had never flown China Airlines before this trip and was very curious about their newly adopted Zodiac Cirrus reverse herringbone business class seats AND the now famous Sky Lounge concept.
Checking in was a breeze. Nobody was in line and it took 45 seconds, and on we went to the lounge. The China Airline exclusive lounge at SFO was nothing to write home about. It was adequate with some hot food - chicken wings, fried rice, and Chinese rice porridge, some sushi, cut fruits, and yes, Coke Zero!
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| Business class front cabin |
At first glance, the seats and configuration were very similar to Cathay Pacific's business class'. The reading lamp did add a layer of hospitality to the cabin. It felt more like a small hotel lobby bar than an airplane. I was greeted warmly by a very kind faced flight attendant. She took me to my seat and offered juice and water. I asked for a Coke Zero of course. Within seconds, she came back with one! I decided that I'd speak Mandarin to them all the way. I did have to ask them to slow down a bit at times but overall it was painless. They all addressed me as Mr Tsao all the way from SFO to TPE to HKG.
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| Side compartments in opened mode - One shallow, one deep |
The seat itself was very comfortable and almost identical to the Cathay Pacific one. The Cathay one had a lot more storage spaces. This one had the two top compartments with flapping up lids - so you can't really put anything on top of them. The left/back one was very shallow, just deep enough for a book. I did not know that the arm rest's top was a lid that can be opened up. The amenity kit's in there along with a bottle of water. I found out on the way out of the plane haha!
I think ThePointsGuy said there's also turn-down service but I didn't ask for it. It wasn't offered neither. The cushion and the blanket were adequate for my slumber.
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| Bin-style compartment at feet level |
Worth noting that there's a "bin" at your feet for whatever you'd like to put there, probably your shoes would make the most sense. The Cathay shoe compartment is located more conveniently near the aisle though.
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| Side compartments in closed mode 好似馬桶个蓋咁样，上面唔擺得嘢 ;~\ |
This picture shows lids of the compartments when closed. There were not real wood veneer panels. Most likely printed on Formica, still looked better than most airlines I'd say.
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| Seat control panel |
Seat control was intuitive and self-explanatory. The right most was for firmness I believe, least it felt that way.
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| Additional storage for seat 10A right behind video display |
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At 10A, there's an extra storage compartment since there's no seat in front of you. You can store a small backpack or a big man-purse in there. Seat 20K has something similar and will be covered below.
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| Flight 903 business back cabin behind Sky Lounge |
The plane and seats' configuration were very similar between the SFO - TPE and TPE - HKG. They were both Boeing 777-300ER. This time I had assigned seat 20K. There were no more than a total of 3 business class passenger. I moved to 21K right after the doors were closed. I did attempt to gesture to the tall and handsome flight attendant that I was switching seats. He gave me a thumb-up before I lifted my hand.
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| Seat 20K - one less window |
Seat 20K (assume same for 20A) is a standard business class seat. However, there's only one window available to this seat compared to most other business class seat where there are two windows. One also has to lean back quite a bit to enjoy the view.
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| Additional storage for seat 20K |
Worth noting that there's an extra storage compartment for 20K and 20A very similar to the one with a top lid at 10A and 10K.
In a nutshell, the seat is awesome and exceeded my expectations. It is as good as the Cathay Pacific business class seat if not better. I am generally happy with lie-flat seats with aisle access so far. These Zodiac reverse herringbone seats are my favorite business class seats so far!
I have only experienced the staggered lie-flat on Hong Kong Airline's A330-300. I am not a big fan since it felt claustrophobic to me. I've seen photos of the same configuration being nicely customized on Swiss Air. In April, I will have the chance to try out British Airways' forward and backward facing business class product. Oh, the horror!
The FOOD! Late night supper was served almost immediately after take off. Breakfast was served 2.5 hours before landing
(my condolence go to those who were affected by the earthquake that hit Tainan and Kaohsiung at 4am while I was still on the plane).
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| Starter! |
Starter comprised of smoked duck breast and a couple pieces of giant lobster meat served on a bed of frisee salad and rolled-up shaved cucumber. Lobster meat was cooked to perfection and just slightly above room temperature. Duck breast had a nice layer of duck fat attached. Cutlery and dishware were all branded nicely. The stylized lotus leaf plates were subtle and tasteful.
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| Lobster medallion |
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| Applewood smoked duck breast |
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| Olive oil product of Italy! Not sure if it's a good brand of not. |
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| Rolled cucumber and frisee |
I was impressed by the baked goods served on this flight. All dinner rolls were lightly heated up and were extremely soft. I especially liked the more coarse garlic pieces on the garlic bread. It was a step-up from the Cathay Pacific garlic bread - more hand-made than factory-made, customer's perspective-wise.
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| Garlic bread |
This is the very first time that I was served slow simmered Chinese soup on a plane. I was very impressed. The Chinese menu says "燉" , translated as "braised". "燉" is definitely not braised. Braising means browning in high heat oil then a seasoned sauce with water added then simmer over medium heat until the water is evaporated and sauce reduced. "燉" is similar to how one melts chocolate, it is steamed over a hot water bath. The inside bowl or pot has to be tightly sealed. There's no reduction through evaporation. It is believed by Cantonese that using "燉", less "heat" is transferred into the soup and is better for Autumn consuming to retain the soothing and moisturizing effect of your inner system. I am not sure if the airlines' San Francisco catering vendor went though the trouble to "燉" chicken soup once a day. The soup was very soothing and subtle with expensive ingredients added - Gogi berries and Morel mushrooms.
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| Slow-cooked clear chicken soup |
The chicken soup was served in a beautiful Chinese soup bowl with "Blue and White Porcelain" (青花瓷) style scenery hand painted onto the inside rim of the bowl. It is a very modern and simplified adaptation of "Blue and White Porcelain" stoneware art, a lot less formal than its predecessors during the Ming and Tsing Dynasties. Although these are still mass-produced, I do appreciate the contemporary take of incorporating the soup as the lake by the scenery idea. As far as I know, this has not been done in Chinese history. It might be due to the fact that once you finish the soup, there's a drought and it's bad luck to have no water in a lake inside a Chinese painting, hmmm?
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| Morel mushroom! |
Steak was lean and well-done, not my personal preference, but it was tasty enough. Madeira port wine demi glace sauce had a deep fruity flavor. A porcelain saucer might have been a classier presentation than the Aluminum foil tub. Everything was good and tasty except the carrots might have been under-cooked. I had been ordering the steak always, but I may attempt to just taste half of an entree and order something else. If we are just comparing the beef dish, I liked the Cathay one better, it was medium rare and bleeding.
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| Beef filet |
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| Close up of beef filet |
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| Cut fresh fruits |
Cut fruits and the Pear mascarpone crumble dessert were both served in a plastic bowl/cup. Didn't bother me all that much but it is room for improvement. The dessert looked extremely simple to put together, aside from the presentation, it was a light and refreshing end to an otherwise heavier meal.
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| Pear mascarpone crumble |
Two kinds of instant cup noodles can be ordered from your seat or from the Sky Lounge. There's usually at least one flight attendant on duty at the Sky Lounge to assist you. She asked if I wanted to eat the noodle at the Lounge or at my seat, I picked my seat. It is a bit awkward to slurp noodle standing up staring at a flight attendant.
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| Instant cup noodle |
Woke up at around 4 hours left on the flight, so I ordered sticky rice with chicken mushroom wrapped in lotus leaf. It hit the spot and was up to standard as a sticky rice chicken dish. I was just not used to the extra rice paper wrap.
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| Lotus leaf sticky rice chicken |
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| Lotus leaf sticky rice chicken |
Finally it was breakfast time (two hours before landing)! I already decided to have the Taiwanese rice porridge as breakfast before I boarded the plane, so there it was!
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| Taiwanese style breakfast - rice porridge with "pan chan" side dishes |
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| more cut fruits |
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| Yao Tiao - Chinese savory donut |
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| Steamed Chinese bun |
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| scramble with bacon and chives |
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| Chayote melon cold Chinese savory salad |
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| shredded chicken with Chinese pickled veggie |
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| Coke ZERO!!!! |
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| Chinese menu |
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| Chinese Menu |
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| Chinese menu |
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| Chinese menu |
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| English menu |
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| English menu |
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| English menu |
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| English menu |
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| Menu Cover page |
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| Alcohol selection |
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| Tea and coffee selection |
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| Tea selection in Chinese |
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| Champagne served on this flight |
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| French white |
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| German Riesling |
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| New Zealand white |
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| French Bordeaux |
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| Australian red |
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| US Napa Valley red |
Sky Lounge:
The Sky Lounge is a novel and fresh idea. Surprisingly, I did not find much motivation to visit it throughout the
flight. Most of the packaged snacks, though representative of Taiwan,
were made of pure fat, sugar, and carbs.
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| Oohlong tea flavored thin cookies |
Coffee drinkers would find having a Nespresso machine fun for a couple
of times but I would imagine being in business class, one would enjoy
having coffee brought to you than having to make it yourself while being
watched by a flight attendant?
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| Strong Oohlong tea flavored cookie |
I've seen promotional photos of canape/hors d'oeuvres laid out at the Sky Lounge but I didn't see any on this flight. There was a basket of fruits though. I would visit the Sky Lounge more often if there's more tasty and healthier treats provided.
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| Light Oohlong tea flavored white chocolate cookie |
There was a gigantic tub of
Rousong (肉鬆) on the galley side of the space where the Sky Lounge was. Rousong is a popular "condiment" that looks like wool made of meat, usually pork but there are variety made of fish/chicken, not my favorite but it is a very authentic offering by China Airlines, kudos to them.
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| Hand-made cookie (I didn't try this one) |
The Sky Lounge has three sides, the fourth side is actually the wall facing the back business class cabin. The two short sides have packaged sweet snacks, books, magazines, Nespresso capsules, teabags . . . etc. The long side faces a less dressed up and functional galley wall. There are self serve alcohol, glasses, instant cup noodles . . . etc, on the long side.
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| Russian style Nougat candy |
As mentioned before, while I appreciate the offering of the Sky Lounge, I was not motivated to visit it more than once during the 14 hour flight. There were books but personally I usually bring one or two extremely well selected books that I might read. Choosing a book that I would read from a seemingly random selection of 10 on a plane has a pretty slim probability.
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| mini Crushed pecan tart |
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| Traditional style almond cookie |
It would've been heavenly for a 5 year old to have all these sweet treats. But parents would most likely not let them eat too much sugar when the whole plane's passengers' wishes are for the kids and babies to fall asleep and not make any noise.
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| Pineapple pastry - a famous delicacy from Taiwan |
All in all, flying with China Airlines' new 777-300ER business class was an extremely pleasurable experience. I would not hesitate to fly with them again. Thank you to all the flight crew members all the way from SFO to HKG.
各位空中姐姐和空中哥哥, 多謝你們在機上的悉心照顧! 令我對中華航空另眼相看, 有非常驕傲的感覺!
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