Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Virgin Atlantic’s best redemption – reviewing Air China business class from London to Beijing

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

This is our review of Air China business class between London and Beijing.

Last week Rob ran an article on the best Virgin Atlantic airline partner redemptions (click here).  Hands down, the best value is Air China in Business Class from London to Beijing.  It costs 63,000 Virgin Flying Club miles return in Business Class or 75,000 miles in First Class.  Taxes are around £500 return and availability is excellent.

Given that you can get between 5,000 and 15,000 Virgin Flying Club miles for free with the new Virgin Mastercard credit cards – and earn up to 1.5 miles per £1 on your spending – this is a reward that is within reach for many.

But, Air China?

For many people that is an unknown quantity.

So, when reader Joel booked Air China business class between London and Beijing on its Boeing 777 aircraft and asked us if we were interested in a review, we were happy to bend our ‘no reader reviews’ policy.  Over to Joel:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

“I did not actually book this trip using Virgin miles, but instead paid cash during an Air China sale covered on HfP.  You would obviously get the same experience if you booked with miles.

Air China operates a Boeing 777-300ER (ie Extended Range) for this flight which had a three cabin layout.

There are 42 Business Class seats.  As usual you should do your homework before choosing a seat.  The seats closest to the front and rear of the cabin do experience the brunt of the foot, restroom and crew traffic.

A and L seats are window seats with a neighbour, and do not have direct aisle access.  You may have to do some climbing if your neighbour is asleep and in lie-flat mode. D, C, H and J seats have direct aisle access but are not by a window.  If you are in a C or J seat your neighbour will be climbing over you whenever they get up.

I sat in 14D on both legs which had enough distance between the crew and meal preparation sections.  Here it is:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing 777

and:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

These are ‘cubby hole’ seats as you find with many modern business class configurations, albeit not on BA or Virgin:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

The crew weren’t too keen on pictures (!) and this is the best I could sneak while boarding and then sat down.

With a 60-inch pitch and 22-inch width, the seat reclines the full 180 degrees. You don’t get any additional ‘bedding’ beyond a large blanket, designed to go under then around you.

I wasn’t sure about the colour and design choice for the upholstery (it being Air China I had expected reds) but it isn’t an eye sore and works well with the mood lighting.  I found the cabin quite warm on the outward journey but the crew weren’t able to correct this and I seemed to be the only person saying it.  It may have just been the body heat of everyone else sleeping.

The crew will hang your coat for you as there isn’t any vertical storage space with the seat.   As expected, you have the overheard bin to yourself and some small storage behind your head off-centre.

Here is a broader shot of the cabin:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

The Business Class cabin was full on the outbound journey and at approximately 50% on the return.

The mood lighting was appropriate for the times of day during the journey and the crew keep the lights quite dim during sleeping hours.

IFE

As you would expect there was a large selection of movies – over 100 – but mostly in Chinese.

There were also non-sequential episodes of American TV shows (season 3 episode 8, for example) so I stuck to a few movies (San Andreas and Jurassic World were the newest Western films!) and my iPad.

Due to the somewhat odd seat layout, you are not centred to the screen (which is off-centre to your right) but you won’t notice this once you’re focused on the show.

There is no wi-fi but each seat does have some form of power outlet even if just USB 5v.

Amenities

Air China provide L’Occitane bags in First and Business Class with the usual contents.  This is a step up from what you would get in British Airways Club World:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

While you get some rather snazzy slippers, no pyjamas are provided in Business Class.

Food

Each journey provided a Chinese or Western food option, with various bits of overlap between the two.  In reality you only choose your main item and have no say on the others (or perhaps that was lost in translation).  You usually get given all of the desserts which is rather wonderful!  You are asked to choose all of your meals at the beginning of the flight, before or just after take-off, and then the menu is taken away.

Outbound

The outbound flight to Beijing leaves just after lunch (14:10) so you are offered a combined lunch and dinner.

First I had a Thai Chicken Brochette (apologies for the colours due to the mood lighting!):

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

Then a marinated prawns with Greek Salad, endive lettuce, chicory, feta cheese and tomato with a dill mustard dressing (that packs a punch!) and a warm soft and delicious bread roll.

The feta and olive tomato stuffed chicken breast (a tiny bit dry) with diced pumpkin (a little too soft) and creamy spinach was – as a whole – wonderful!

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

Desert was fruit and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Breakfast

I chose the Chinese breakfast (start as you mean to go on…) but the cous cous congee wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed.  They aren’t kidding about the salted egg either!

The dumplings were wonderful.  The pain au chocolate (perfectly warm and soft with gooey chocolate) was added to my dumpling plate as there was nowhere else for it to be set down.

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

Between the First and Business cabins is a self-service snack location if you get peckish.

Inbound

Flying back to London, the starter was smoked salmon and teriyaki chicken skewer:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

Pre-bread was sautéed black fungus with spring onion (great, in small doses); five spicy smoked pomfret (not my taste!) and marinated celery with walnuts and black fungus (delicious).  Delicious wuxi pork spare ribs with steam rice were served on the same tray.

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

Desert was dark chocolate truffle cake with some fruit:

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

As a light meal, served as a single tray were smoked marlin, prawns and vegetable salad with grapefruit dressing. I skipped the marlin!

Review of Air China business class from London to Beijing

The Kang Shi Fu Beef Noodles were fantastic and I’m very glad I stuck to the Chinese dish for this meal.

Service

The cabin crew were attentive and friendly but held back by the language barrier.  On both flights only two of the cabin crew were comfortable engaging in English.  The others were more hesitant but remained incredibly attentive to refilling glasses or cleaning items as this didn’t require much of a conversation.

The restrooms used by the Business Class cabin were kept clean and well-stocked throughout the flights.

Conclusion

Looking at other reviews online, most people tend to negatively judge Air China based on service.  In my experience, over two flights, the crew did the best they could and all other aspects – besides verbal communication – were fully up to international standards.

Air China has a good business product and is an excellent Virgin Flying Club redemption option between the UK and Beijing.

Full details of the Virgin Flying Club / Air China partnership can be found on the Virgin Atlantic website here.  As well as redeeming miles, you can also earn Virgin miles on this particular Air China route.

PS.  Remember that you cannot use the 144-hour visa waiver if you only fly to Beijing and back.  You would need to add a separate flight from Beijing to a third country and leave China within five days.  If you are flying back to London you would need to apply for a Chinese Visa in advance.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Comments (69)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Lumma says:

    The thing I found really strange about Air China was the language barrier with the cabin crew. 3 of my 4 flights on them were to or from English speaking nations yet the crew barely spoke English, but the ground staff in Beijing airport did.

    That being said, even in economy they’re perfectly fine as long as you take some snacks and drinks along with you. 3-3-3 in economy on the 777, rather than 10 across. Food is awful though

  • @mkcol says:

    Any idea if I can use the 144 hour visa if travelling onward to Hong Kong?

    • AndyR says:

      Yes you can.

    • johnny_c-l says:

      Yes, HK is counted as different to China so you’re fine.

    • Bariummeal says:

      I have SEVERAL colleagues who have been refused as HKG is considered part of China even though it is not the mainland. So, it can depend on the immigration official.

      • Tony says:

        We had no problem doing this. Who refused them? Ground staff at London or immigration in PEK?

      • the_real_a says:

        They (HKG + Macua and Taiwan) are different administrative regions as far as immigration is concerned. Chinese immigration have always been very clued up on the regulation. Airlines less so.

    • the_real_a says:

      I have done this several times last year, and as recently as 3 weeks ago. HKG is considered a third country (as well as Macua and Taiwan) and you are good to travel to or from as part of the visa wavier. I did TPE – PEK (Stop for 3 days) – HKG in January.

  • Jon says:

    This review made me google “black fungus” as I had no idea what it was. Apparently it’s also called “wood ear fungus”. Either name is going to make it a tough sell to cautious western eaters :D.

    • Joel S says:

      I chose the Chinese menu on both journeys, the Western menu looked OK as I saw it going past.

      Spinach and Ricota Cheese Cannelloni with Tomato Sauce (instead of the Kang Shi Fu Beef Noodles) or Grilled Beef Tenderloin with black pepper sauce served w/ polenta (instead of the Wuxi pork spare ribs)

    • Tilly says:

      I grew up eating it! Delicious steamed and served on plain rice. Love it.

  • David says:

    I did Air China on a lovely 747-8 on the very short Shanghai to Beijing. Great flight, very comfortable in PE (which they appear to sell at the same price as economy on domestic routes).

    The food was decent too, though reminiscent of what I’d get at the not-so-great achinese takeaway down the road. I suppose I was just pleased to get a hot meal on such a short flight.

  • CV3V says:

    Was it listed on menu as cous cous congee? Never seen that before, its usually rice congee (aka porridge (but with rice not oats)) which is the main breakfast option for Chinese. Would be a hard one for westerners to work out, but the salted egg and other ‘condiments’ are added to the congee to suit your our preference. Wouldn’t fancy eating a salted egg on its own.

    • reds says:

      Yes, Chinese congee is basically rice cooked with surplus water. Salty condiment like salted eggs and pickled vegs added in small quantity. Most Chinese wouldn’t eat salted eggs on its own either.

    • Joel S says:

      (the reviewer) yes, ‘Hot Entree’ listed the congee as “Cous Cous Congee”. The salted egg was listed under ‘Chinese Appetizer’.

  • KP says:

    Ive never seen/heard of an aircraft having a ‘L’ seat

    • Nick says:

      You’ve never flown on an IB A340 then :p

      • Riku says:

        Using L for the right window seat means the same letters can be used for 2-4-2, 3-3-3, 2-5-2 and in all cases the window/aisle letters stay the same. This makes things easy if aircraft are changed. No annoyed passengers when 30B aisle seat becomes 30B middle seat.
        ABC-DEFGH-JKL. Delete the letters for when seats don’t exist but the window + aisle remain the same. Finnair A330 is AC-DEGH-JL. A350 is ABC-DEH-JKL. MD11 was AC-DEFGH-JL

    • Nick says:

      Well you are clearly not a very frequent flyer. Currently midway from Phuket to Helsinki on Finnair on an A330-300 and the seats closest to the window on starboard side are “L”.

      • KP says:

        I take 4 flights every week so that does make me a frequent flyer. Even in the 77W, 388, 744, 343 that Ive flown the window on starboard was K

        • Nick says:

          Airlines can choose their lettering conventions, it’s not a pre-set default set by the manufacturer. Some choose to go up to K, some choose L instead. Doesn’t really make much difference at the end of the day.

  • AndyR says:

    Not much said about the drinks? What alcohol was available?

    • Joel S says:

      (The reviewer) Yes, a separate drinks menu. 3-4 reds; 3-4 whites; 3-4 whiskeys and the usual soft drink array. Welcome drinks/nibbles choice was champagne or orange juice with some warm nuts.

      I had wine with an outbound meal (red) and it was passable. I didn’t catch the label.

  • roberto says:

    OT…
    As a data point for those with Lloyds Avios cards – This month Avios turned up in Avios.com today , I assume it wont be long before they will be turning up into BAEC instead as accounts get swapped over. As Lloyds does not tend to have the best IT out there I suggest we keep our eyes on this as I for one cant see this being as seamless as it should.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.