After nearly a month of holding it in, Chestnut is finally back.

There’s just been way too much going on. Sometimes I really do want to write submissions, but I just don’t have the energy… So, with no better option, I’ll have to learn from Canon and Intel and squeeze things out little by little.

Introduction

This post covers my trip back to the US in mid-August last year. The itinerary was:

PEK-KIX: MU525 Economy

KIX-LAX: JL60 Business

Don’t ask why I didn’t go big and book Business on the first segment—watch the video and you’ll see. When I searched online, this segment showed Business award space, but the booking kept throwing an Error, and when I called in, only Economy was available… What was I supposed to do?

For the ticketing video, see:

[Short video + written rant] Booking a China-US business class award ticket (PEK-LAX) with Flying Blue / Air France miles: Chestnut’s nerve-racking ticketing saga, plus a follow-up PSA on the inevitable—MU has launched BE fares too!

MU had already burned me once during ticketing… but that wasn’t the end of it. I got burned again at check-in at PEK.

MU’s ridiculous check-in process at PEK

On the morning of 8.17, I first took a DiDi from home to Tianjin Railway Station, then the Beijing-Tianjin intercity train to Beijing South Railway Station, and finally an airport bus to PEK T2. Up to that point, everything had gone pretty smoothly.

Then I got to T2, and that’s when the trouble started…

I went to Island C in the international departures area to print my boarding pass and check my bag. After glancing at my itinerary, the ground staff woman actually told me I was in the wrong place. I asked where I was supposed to go, and she said Island G.

So I quickly pushed my luggage over to Island G, only to realize something was off… This was clearly the domestic departures area! The agent there also told me, “Sir, what are you doing here? We only handle domestic transfers here.”

At that point I more or less figured out what was going on: the place I had originally gone to was actually correct, but my MU-to-JL itinerary was unusual enough that the ground staff woman—possibly a newbie—didn’t know how to handle it, so she passed me off and sent me to Island G… But there was no way I could just go back directly, or she’d probably send me away again.

So I decided to dig in and said, “The staff at Island C told me to come over here!” If they just sent me back, I’d obviously hit the same wall again… The guy at Island G was actually pretty responsible. He picked up the phone, called the manager over to explain the situation, and said there was a passenger connecting from MU to JL who was having trouble checking in… Bulabula… Then he told me to go back to Island C and said the manager would be there shortly.

So I hurried back to Island C, only to get another earful from the same ground staff woman I had dealt with earlier—“Didn’t I tell you to go to G? Why are you back again…” Bulabula…

I was speechless, but kept my temper in check and said, “The guy at Island G told me the place I first went to was actually correct, and he already called the manager to explain the situation. The manager is on the way…”

Right as we were going back and forth… the Manager arrived. He looked at my itinerary and said, “Yes, Island C is the correct place. Let me take care of it for you.” Within a few minutes, he had my boarding pass printed out (the second segment on JL couldn’t be printed, and he told me to reprint it after arriving at KIX) and my luggage checked through (my bags were tagged all the way to LAX with no problem at all). I quickly thanked him and went through security to catch my flight.

PS: I just want to say… the MU ground staff at PEK really were not very professional. If you don’t know how to handle something, just call the manager right away. Don’t treat passengers like a soccer ball and kick them back and forth.

PEK Terminal 2 PPS Lounge review (second visit)

For my first visit, see:

PEK Terminal 2 PPS Air China Lounge + AA180 Economy Class Review

A year later, I’m back again—ha!

Here’s the entrance. Come to think of it, I think I spotted… Korean Air?

I think I took a photo of this decoration by the window last year too!

So empty!

Time to hunt for food.

Not much different from last year.

These looked pretty decent, so I grabbed two.

And something to drink.

Nestlé coffee. Honestly… not bad!

China Eastern A321 Economy review

Same disclaimer as before: don’t ask why I didn’t book Business. If you want the reason, go watch the video mentioned above. When I searched online, this segment showed Business award space, but the booking threw an Error, and when I called in there was only Economy… What else could I do?

While helping myself to drinks in the lounge, I realized it was almost time, so I quickly headed out to look for my gate.

After going downstairs, I discovered that it was a remote stand, which meant taking a shuttle bus…

View from the front!

After riding the shuttle for quite a while, I finally saw our plane.

China Eastern A321—time to board! Believe it or not, this was actually my first time flying China Eastern.

Taxiing!

Takeoff!

Cabin view of the China Eastern A321.

This was also somehow my first time flying an international route on a narrow-body aircraft!

China Eastern’s economy meal was just so-so.

PEK to KIX is a relatively short flight, so we arrived after just a few hours.

Approaching KIX—we could already see it clearly!

Arrived at KIX! Time to get off the plane.

The Keihanshin region—the westernmost section of the Tokaido Main Line (west of Kobe it becomes the Sanyo Main Line).

Judging from these prices, Osaka seemed cheaper than Tokyo!

I got to immigration, but I had already used up my single-entry visa on my last trip, so there was no way I could enter Japan this time.

So I went straight to the international transfer entrance on the right, cleared security, and headed for my next flight.

Summary

This post is a straightforward trip report on flying China Eastern economy from Beijing Capital (PEK) to Osaka Kansai (KIX).

Long story short: China Eastern didn’t just play games during ticketing; they also created a bit of trouble at check-in. Even if the airline doesn’t quite make my personal blacklist, I’ll definitely be side-eyeing them in the future.

Stay tuned for the next post, which will cover the JAL Sakura Lounge at KIX and my JAL 787-9 business class experience!