HU7961 PVG-BOS

August 13, 2019

Check-in:

GURL have I been waiting for this flight. Hainan Airlines, one of the ten Skytrax 5-star Airlines. I had heard great things about it, both from the internet aviation community, and my mom, to whom any of my achievements are always inadequate (but it’s okay, really, it’s okay). Needless to say I was excited when I was picked up from the Mandarin Oriental in Pudong (where I stayed) by a black Mercedes E Class sedan, courtesy of Hainan Airlines. Oh did I forget to mention business class passengers on Hainan received complimentary chauffeur service? For a UberPool boy like me, I was feeling EXECUTIVE.

Dropped off curbside at Pudong Airport, I headed straight to the check-in counters. Hainan doesn’t have a huge international presence in Shanghai, otherwise predominated by China Eastern Airlines. China has this rule that only one Chinese carrier can operate each route to the US, so Hainan beat China Eastern to the punch on this one to Boston. Though fortunately this rule had since been lifted.

The check-in was efficient, and I was issued my boarding pass from Boston to DC on JetBlue as well, since Hainan and JetBlue are partners. One downside of not being the landlord airline of an airport is the absence of a flagship lounge. In this case, Hainan had no choice but to use the airport business lounge. Having been to Pudong enough times, I opted for the No.77 China Eastern Plaza Premium Lounge, which I considered to be superior than airport contract lounges. All lounges at Pudong Airport are numbered according to the gates they are adjacent to.

Lounge:

As suggested on the monitor, many airlines use this lounge, as well as bank partners. Hainan, on the other hand, did not, so I accessed through my Priority Pass membership, a perk of American Express Platinum card. This lounge was open-air, as it occupied a terrace one floor above concourse. It was a decent-sized lounge with modern and neutral furniture. The Virgin Atlantic flight to Heathrow was also departing at the same time when I visited, so the lounge reserved a fenced-off area exclusively for Virgin’s own passengers.

The lounge offered an abundance of seating options, from traditional sofas and individual cubicles to family booths and communal tables. The family booths reminded me of those in Cathay Pacific’s The Wing Business Class Lounge in Hong Kong. In addition to a wide array of seating arrangements, the lounge also offered a made-to-order noodle station, Chinese and international hot options, complimentary alcoholic beverages and shower facilities.

Overall, the lounge was definitely above average for Priority Pass lounges. I loitered in the lounge for about 20 minutes and headed to my gate early to board first. Hainan is the largest Boeing Dreamliner operator in China, and our bird in the distance was less than a year old.

Boarding:

Priority boarding was observed. I was welcomed by 4 friendly female flight attendants at the door, and one of them escorted me to my seat. Hainan is infamously inconsistent when it comes to their hard products - it currently has three types of seats on its B787s, a fully-flat 2-2-2 configuration, a traditional 1-2-1 reverse herringbone seats and an updated Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats manufactured by B/E Aerospace. Our plane still had the traditional reverse herringbone seats.

Upon boarding, the mood lighting gave reminiscence of me dancing to Kylie Minogue at Tea Dance in Provincetown (don’t tell my boyfriend I’ve been there). Also waiting at my seat was a day blanket. Hainan collaborated its bedding collection with Sofitel, which was of solid quality. I was quickly offered several rounds of welcome drinks, including a mint-flavored mocktail, a mimosa (which the flight attendant was happy to make for me) and some mixed nuts. While not pictured, a hot towel was also served, and you guessed it, properly on a tray. The amenity kit was a hard case offered by luggage brand Samsonite, with toiletries from Clarins.

Headsets were also distributed, which were from Porsche Design. While stylish, the noise-canceling effect was not as good as the Bose headphones Hainan previously offered.

As you’d expect from a 5-star airline, I was also given a pair of pajamas. The style was, uh, Chinese imperial? I definitely felt like a pampered empress strutting out of the Forbidden City (business class lavatory). However, they were comfortable and a luxury to have for business class.

The extensive menu and a separate wine list were distributed once the doors closed, which read as follows:

As you can see, there was a copious amount of food and drinks on this flight. There was even a Nespresso pods menu. I do have to note that the menu and wine list felt like they had been in recycle for too long that they were wrinkled and felt dirty.

Another frustration was that there was no individual air nozzles, and we happened to run into an AC problem on the ground in Shanghai. The female purser came over to apologize as I was fanning myself with the menu, or I just wanted attention… The IFE system was fully functioning on the ground, however, the movie selection was abysmal.

We left the gate 10 mins ahead of schedule, with Aeromexico’s B787-8 getting ready for Mexico City at the gate next to us. The Shanghai to Mexico City flight was since discontinued.

Inflight:

Service was slow to start on all Chinese carriers as seatbelt signs were turned off 20 mins after take-off due to safety regulations. The flight attendants then came by to take meal orders. As was the norm in Asia, flight attendants kneeled down when they interacted with me.

45 minutes into the flight, I was served first round of drinks and nuts. I had asked for a Campari Spritz, because Hainan didn’t have Aperol. While it wasn’t on the menu, the flight attendant was nice enough to follow my verbal recipe. While waiting, I was brought a guava juice.

10 minutes later, the flight attendant came back with my Campari Spritz. Missing the orange slice, it was still delicious. The champagne served onboard was Leventre-Dedieu Grand Cru Brut. I couldn’t find any meaningful information about it online, but it was drinkable.

Canapés of the day was cured beef with roasted pumpkins on skewers. These were warm and tasty.

Then the table was set, with individual bread basket. Since I decided to go with the Chinese meal, there was also an elegant fine bone china chopstick/spoon rest.

The starter itself consisted of three items: marinated prawns, smoked Chinese perch, and cucumber salad. It was divine. The prawns were fresh and sweet, the perch was flavorful, and the cucumbers were light and refreshing. What a delicate combination.

Soup du jour was a hot and sour soup with condiments, which was spicy and hit the spot.

For the main course extravaganza, Hainan Airlines served three separate dishes in an open fan (wifi) shaped presentation. The stewed pork ribs in soy sauce, stir-fried prawns in X.O. sauce, and sauteéd lotus roots and choy sum were all cooked to perfection. Moreover, there was a plate of garden salad with your choice of dressing and several Chinese pickles with either white rice or mixed grain rice. Overall Hainan did disappoint in the wine department. It was especially embarrassing because there were two pages on the wine list introducing different sommeliers… The Chilean cab, while not terrible, retails for $5.99 per bottle. The Bodega Faustino on the other hand, while slightly more expensive, was outright vile.

The service throughout the flight was fantastic. As needy and particular as I was, the flight attendant serving my aisle was always patient and friendly. I especially loved how she sprinted out of the galley to stop a coach passenger from using the bathroom at the nose of the plane ;)

Upon until now, the flight attendant hadn’t used trolleys in the service. The tray-to-table service is when everything is directly placed on your table instead of pushing a trolley cart down the aisle. We were just over North Korea by the time dessert cart was rolled out, with a decent selection of fruits, cheeses, ice cream and desserts. The flight attendant encouraged me to try everything, so I asked for a cheese plate with grapes, and a warm brioche toast with crème Anglaise and ice cream. For digestif, I ordered a glass of cognac, which was the Hennessy VSOP.

Well that was quite a show… I was in a food coma at this point, so to allow some time before I went to bed, I wanted to point out a few more things:

the seats didn’t have enough padding; while the plane was less than a year old, the cushion on the ottoman was already falling off; the dine-on-demand was on demand timing wise, however, it didn’t allow customization across the menu.

I changed into my pajamas while the flight attendant was making the bed. The turndown service consisted of a mattress pad and extra pillows. The crew kept the lavatories in pristine conditions during the whole flight. After each of my visit, someone would hold the door for me and go in to clean up immediately after. There was a cute airplane-shaped air refreshener in the lavatory.

I was able to sleep for a solid 4 hours, with another 6.5 hours to go. The flight attendant quickly came by to offer mid-flight snacks. I chose the beef noodle soup, as well as an iced latte (because being gay has no borders). When I was asleep, the flight attendant placed a bottle of chilled Perrier on my side table, in addition to the Evian water.

Finally two hours before landing, the cabin lights switched on for pre-arrival meal, as we were landing in the early afternoon. I went with the Chinese option again. I mean, once back in DC, it’s gonna take a drive across the Potomac to get decent Chinese food. To wake up, I had an espresso, which was served with cream and sugar cubes from Taikoo. Taikoo is my favorite brown sugar brand. It reminds me of my time at boarding school.

Following coffee was a fruit plate.

The rest of the meal was served on one tray, which was made of braised tofu and beef in chili bean sauce, sauteéd seasonal veggies, fried dough stick, pickles, dim sum, salted egg and plain congee. Heck, I’m as exhausted typing these as I was eating the whole damn thing. Nonetheless, the meal was great - it was a relatively light and authentic Chinese breakfast consortium.

As the flight was coming to an end, the flight attendant who had been taking care of me handed me a service questionnaire. We communicated about the issues I had addressed in the questionnaire, such as the limited movie selection, the dirty menu and the seat parts falling apart. She acknowledged everything I had mentioned and told me she would relay my feedback to management. Of course, I didn’t forget to commend the great service of the crew.

On Arrival:

We touched down at Boston Logan International Airport 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Hainan Airlines definitely lived up to the expectations of a 5-star airline. There were many areas that it really shone, such as the catering, inflight amenities and impeccable service. However, with its parent company HNA Group scrambling its way out of financial difficulties, the future of Hainan Airlines is uncertain. With measures to cut costs, Hainan will really have to up its service game even more to uphold its reputation as the only mainland Chinese 5-star carrier.