Flying to Shanghai
Today I fly from Dalian back to Auckland, transiting in Shanghai’s Pudong airport.
The day started with a 0430 wake-up in Dalian and leaving the room at 0500. I had no luck getting a car promptly and shared one with a lady that had better luck. Getting to the airport, I gave her some cash as it wasn’t possible for me to pay her electronically without a local WeChat account.
To my surprise, I was able to check-in at a kiosk for a change. With no check-in luggage, I was able to go airside quickly and into the lounge at 0545 for a light breakfast.
I proceeded to the furthest gate to board the bus which took me to Dalian Airlines’ (80% subsidiary of Air China) B737-800 at a remote gate for the 0730 flight to Shanghai Pudong.
They served a hot meal on the 2h flight but it was done to a budget with hardly any meat or vegetable on the sole offering, which was a fried noodle dish. It was till very much appreciated, as was the extra (third) toilet in economy class on this aircraft, making a total of four on board.
Transit in Pudong
Arriving in Pudong about 20 mins early, we were parked at the furthest gate. By the time I had reached landside outside the arrival hall, I had clocked up 3500 steps.
I waited for a while for D to arrive from Shanghai before going upstairs to the Air New Zealand check-in area. At 1045, the check-in was just about getting going. That’s not bad at 3h30 before the 1415 departure time, even though the screens suggested that it had opened at 1015.
The China Eastern ground staff handling my check-in was excellent. She explained that my staff paid upgrade would be handled at the gate. In the mean time she asked and noted in the system if I would prefer to remain in my Economy aisle seat if my Business Class upgrade was unavailable, or if I preferred to have a Premium Economy upgrade even if it was a middle seat.
D did some shopping landside before we went through immigration separately. I was much slower going through the foreigner queue and security was slow as well.
When I got to the Juneyao Airlines lounge, he was already at the boarding gate. He declined my invitation to join me at the lounge even thought there was about 90 mins he could have spent with me eating and drinking.
I thought the lounge was better than many I had used in China, especially with the catering.
Flying back to Auckland
About 90 mins before departure, I noticed on my app that my Business Class paid upgrade had been successful. It would be a very pleasant finish to my 2 month trip trip to Ireland, Russia, China and more.
Normally, I don’t look forward to going back to New Zealand for its winter but the weather in China had been far too hot and humid. So, I was looking forward to it, for a change.
The Air New Zealand B787 was a reconfigured aircraft with improved seating. The seat controls were awkwardly positioned by my elbow and I accidentally rang the call bell once and also put my seat into bed mode while seated, nearly chopping my legs off, LOL!
I wouldn’t normally have expected to need a sleep with a departure time of 1415 from Shanghai, but I did wake up at 0430 in Dalian. So, I slept for a couple of hours after the first meal, then lay down for a further hour.
After an hour’s work on the computer, I lay down again for an hour before doing more work.
When it came to the pre-landing meal, which was a breakfast, it was actually bedtime in China. This was quite unusual compared to other flights from Asia to New Zealand.