Airline Review: China Eastern regional Economy Class
The China Eastern regional Economy Class offers a fair enough comfort for flights within China and on shorter international routes. In this extensive review, we’ll explain what you can expect of a flight with the major Chinese airline.
Often enough, Chinese airlines are being called bad or mediocre at best. During my time in the country, I had a fair share of flights and honestly didn’t think that the experience was any worse than Economy Class flying is in other parts of the world.
- Airplane: Airbus A320
- Cabin Class: Economy
- Daytime: Evening
- Food:Â Snack
- Seat Pitch: 31 Inch (79 Centimeter)
- Seat Width: 18 Inch (46 Centimeter)
Sure, airlines like China Eastern aren’t Singapore Airlines, but they are totally fine and far away from being a no frills airline. While I’ll review my flight from Shanghai to Chengdu in this article, I’ve actually flown with China Eastern more often and thus will bring in a broader picture for this review.
Seating in the China Eastern regional Economy Class
The seating arrangement in the China Eastern regional Economy Class is similiar to basically all airlines using Airbus A320 for short haul flights. There are three seats on both sides of the aisle.
The cabin made a modern first impression on me and felt fairly clean. The seats as such are in a strong blue color and look a little bit thin, but not as much as many slimline seats in Europe.
I’d consider the seating comfort to be comparable to what you get at other airlines. The padding isn’t the best, but even sitting straight for three hours didn’t feel too uncomfortable.
The seat pitch felt comparatively wide and reminded me a bit of premium products like the Qatar Airways regional Economy Class.
All the seats have a seat pocket to store smaller things as well as a solid table, which works for using a laptop of up to 15 inches. The add on the top of the seat is a bit odd though.
All things considered, there’s nothing bad to say about the seating in the China Eastern regional Economy Class. The seats are comfortable enough, the seat pich is good and the cabin was clean – that’s all you can ask for.
Catering in the China Eastern regional Economy Class
There’s something like a system when it comes to catering and the type of meals served in the China Eastern regional Economy Class, but I didn’t come behind it, yet. On this flight, there was a service with water and a sandwich.
I thought that the sandwich was totally fine, but had a little too much mayo. Other than that, it was totally edible.
However, I’m not really sure when you get a sandwich, when a hot meal and when nothing at all (which happened once, too). I guess that very late flights don’t get any food, flights at meal times get a hot meal and flights in-between get a sandwich.
Entertainment in the China Eastern regional Economy Class
The entertainment options in the China Eastern regional Economy Class aren’t great, but I’d also call them out as being “industry standard”. There are no personal televisions, but there are screens showing ads and a movie on the ceiling.
This is something that was offered in the British Airways regional Economy Class or Lufthansa regional Economy Class in the past, but was phased out lately. Other than that, China Eastern also offers a board magazine, which hardly has any English content though.
Generally, I’d recommend bringing your own entertainment, but that’s not only true for China Eastern flights, but generally for regional Economy Class flights!
Overall impressions of the China Eastern regional Economy Class
Obviously, the China Eastern regional Economy Class didn’t amaze me all that much. Nevertheless, there’s hardly anything bad to say about it either. The seats are comfortable, the seat pitch is good, the catering is alright and the entertainment options are on-par with what other airlines offer. Service was friendly, but distanced. All in all, I’d definitely fly China Eastern again if the price and schedule are right.
You want to read more flight reviews? Check out our other posts!