REVIEW – China Southern : Business Class – A321 – Guangzhou CAN to Saigon SGN

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Intro

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After a surprisingly good visit to the China Southern Sky Pearl VIP lounge I was cautiously optimistic about this flight to Saigon. It was only to be a short three hour hop and ordinarily I would have discounted this as a necessary evil to get me to my destination.

However, as soon as we arrived at the Sky Priority boarding area for our flight it became apparent that the high level of the lounge was to be maintained throughout our flight experience…

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Pre-Departure

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Unfortunately our flight was due to depart from a bus gate. On the positive side a separate member of staff was assigned to Sky Priority customers to serve as our personal assistant throughout the process.

She informed us of our flight time, estimated time of departure and temperature in Saigon before leading the whole group to a private mini bus.

On carriers that don’t separate boarding groups, getting crammed into a huge bus full of people can start your journey off on rather a negative tone. However I really enjoyed the personal touch here and particularly enjoyed the close up tour of the aircraft hangars at night!

As we pulled up to the stairs our PA informed us that we would be kept on the air conditioned bus for another couple of minutes as the stairs were full of passengers. I noticed that the Economy pax were immediately held as soon as a member of ground crew spotted our bus and the flow was only restarted once all priority passengers were on board.

This should be standard procedure on all airlines that use remote gates whilst adhering to a system of boarding groups but honestly this is the first time I’ve ever experienced this level of methodical co-ordination. China Southern are really ahead of the curve here.

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The Flight

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Full disclosure: we took two short haul flights on China Southern on the exact same plane within the space of a week – this report contains photos from both this late evening flight and some (better lit) pictures from the daytime flight the following week.

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The moment that we reached the top of the stairs and headed into the cabin we were greeted very warmly by two flight attendants with beaming smiles. First impressions go a long way and already I had a good feeling about this flight.

The Business Class cabin on the the A321 has two rows of seats in a 2-2 configuration with a solid bulkhead separating row 2 from the Premium Economy cabin behind. We sat in the second row since I like being able to recline without worrying about the person behind.

Not only were blankets and pillows provided on this three hour flight, there was also slipper service! The crew actually came over and unwrapped some slippers for us, placing them on the ground beneath us for us to change into. This never happens in Business Class, especially not on such a short flight.

The seats certainly looked old school but generally this means one thing: the padding will be a lot better than what you can expect from a modern seat. This was exactly the case here.

The IFE was clearly ancient too but the USB and universal power sockets were as modern as any you could hope to find. I was also pleased to see proper full sized headphones offered in short haul. On the rare occasions you encounter IFE on a short-haul flight in Europe you’ll either find it has been switched off completely, no headphones are given or in the very best case scenario – you receive a disposable pair of very low quality in-ear buds.

Juice and water was offered pre-departure but there was no option of alcoholic beverages. Menus were also distributed at this stage.

The meal service began with the crew placing tablecloths over our tables and presenting us with our pre-meal drinks and a plate of mixed nuts. I’ve no idea what the really dark ones are but I’ve never had them before and they were absolutely amazing! The white wine was drinkable but otherwise unremarkable.

The food however was absolutely superb. If you’re a fan of actual Chinese food (not tangerine chicken or whatever neon sugar sauce + protein is popular in your area), then you’re in for a real treat with China Southern. The marinated beef shank was restaurant quality, exactly as I’ve had it in restaurants in mainland China. The pork soup had a deep richness of flavour far beyond the expectations that such a simple, transparent broth would engender. The spaghetti on the other hand was a complete curve ball. Borderline Dadaistic in its presence. I’m still not sure what the hell was going on there.

Both main courses were very good with Kamara‘s choice of the fish having the slight edge. You genuinely couldn’t have hoped for a better cooked fish dish on the ground. The accompanying gai lan greens were a little overcooked but the flavour was great.

Dessert was a simple fruit bowl.

After the meal I watched the IFE for a while and Kamara read her book. I love the fact that when an FA passed and saw this she quickly came and turned on Kamara’s reading light, telling her, “Please don’t hurt your eyes!”

As the flight drew to a close, the flight attendants came around to hand out polo mints and to thank us for choosing China Southern. They also asked if we had any feedback for them.

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Conclusion

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Here is my feedback: This was a superb flight and the defining feature for me was the service. This was better than I could ever have hoped for in short haul Business.

The PA that talked us through the flight details, the prioritisation of Business Class passengers, the slipper service, instant clearing of wrappers and empty trays, proactive drinks top ups and the genuine warmth when the FA noticed Kamara’s reading light wasn’t turned on – all hallmarks of great service.

Aside from this the food was excellent, the seat was comfortable and amenities such as bedding and IFE were unexpected and much appreciated.

After experiencing the fantastic Sky Pearl VIP lounge and now this remarkable flight, I was very excited to see how the long-haul experience would compare…

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