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China Airlines premium economy review – A350 from Taipei to London

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This is our review of China Airlines’ premium economy cabin from Taipei to London.

On my return from Taipei I was booked into the increasingly popular premium economy cabin on China Airlines.

China Airlines is relatively unusual in that it selected a fixed-shell seat for its premium economy cabin. That means that instead of reclining into the passenger behind, your recline is contained within the seat itself, with the seat pan sliding forward instead.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

This was my first time trying a fixed-shell premium economy seat and I was looking forward to seeing how it compared to more conventional products on the market.

China Airlines provided my flight for review purposes. HfP paid for its other expenses.

China Airlines check-in and ground experience

China Airlines operates from both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 at Taipei Taoyuan Airport. My flight to London was scheduled to go from Terminal 1, which I believe is their primary home.

There is a visible self-check area but if you look carefully you’ll also find staffed check-in desks for business and premium economy passengers, with a dedicated section for premium economy:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

With nobody in front I was seen almost immediately and given a boarding pass. Note that there does not seem to be any fast track security at Taoyuan Airport and I queued for about 20 minutes before passing through.

Premium economy passengers do not get lounge access unless you have the relevant China Airlines or SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which you’ll have to add to your booking. You can read my review of the China Airlines Business Class lounge at Taipei here.

There was a slight delay to departure at the gate – about 20 minutes – but once boarding began it was very orderly, with staff boarding passengers in priority order and holding up signs to make it clear whose go it was, which I liked.

China Airlines premium economy cabin

China Airlines has 31 premium economy seats spread across 4.5 rows in a typical 2-3-2 configuration on the A350.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

I was in 32K, a window seat in the second row.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

The seats feature a 39″ pitch, which is average for premium economy, but they felt wide.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

After giving it a whirl, I’m a convert to fixed shell seating, although it has its pros and cons. I was as comfortable as I would be in any other premium economy seat and it was good not to have the person in front of me intrude on my personal space or recline their seat with sudden vigour.

Beware the aisle seats, which have impaired leg room due to the seat supports dividing the space:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

Fortunately, everyone (except those in the front row with no seat in front) gets a fold-down foot rest:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

I was surprised to find the seats come with an airbag-seat belt, as you still sometimes find on older business class seats. This is unusual for premium economy but there must be a certification reason for it.

Both the seats and the hard shell are in a warm gold-grey sort of colour, and the iconic plum blossom logo is subtly embossed on the antimacassar:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

Overall, the look and feel of the cabin is cohesive with business class upfront, including the persimmon wood finishes which you can see here on the small cocktail table:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

There’s a small amount of storage in the armrest, as well as a remote for the in-flight entertainment:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

…. as well as what appears to be two bottle holders between the two seats in front:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

USB-A ports are placed conveniently in front of you, rather than anywhere difficult to reach. You get a 12.1″ touchscreen in-flight entertainment system. What really piqued my interest, however, was the fold down drinks holder:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

I find these so useful for holding a drink without risk of it slipping and I’m not sure why other seats don’t incorporate this feature!

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

The tray table folds down from the seat in front rather than the armrest, which makes it sturdier and large.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

You also get an antenna-like reading light as well as an odd storage unit that I’m not sure is particularly useful:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

Let’s talk about the fixed shell. My personal view is that on long haul flights, reclining outside of meal services is to be expected and if everyone reclines, nobody is worse off.

Of course, not everyone shares that view. On the positive side, a fixed shell seat means you can recline your seat in peace without getting dirty looks from the passenger behind you.

But this feature is also a limiting factor, as it means you are reclining into unusable space. In this case, you can see how thin the space is between the leg rest and the seat in front when at full tilt:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

China Airlines in-flight entertainment

A responsive, 12.1″ HD touchscreen is mounted in the headrest of the seat in front of you:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

The in-flight entertainment software was relatively easy to navigate, although I wish the home and back buttons were a little bigger. I was particularly impressed that China Airlines had stocked its library with proper HD content, as airlines all too often skimp on this and you inevitably end up watching highly compressed films and TV on a high quality HD or 4K screen.

In terms of content, it was probably a 50/50 balance between English language and Mandarin films – not a vast selection but enough to keep most people going. Recent releases included Inside Out 2, Furiosa, The Fall Guy, Civil War as well as some older films from the past few years such as Nope, The Menu and The French Dispatch. Disney / Pixar / Marvel was well represented.

I was surprised by the quality of the supplied headphones, with relatively bulky over-hear cups that you usually find in business class. They offered active noise cancellation, although the A350 is already a very quiet aircraft. However, they were noticeably worse than the business class headphones so I switched to my own Sennheiser pair.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

On the in-flight entertainment you’ll find menus for premium economy as well as the service pattern; these are not provided on paper.

Wifi is also available on the A350. Depending on your class and status this can be free, although you can also pay for the following packages (prices in US%):

  • 15mb light messaging – $3.25
  • 1 hour browsing – $11.95
  • 3 hours browsing – $16.95
  • 24 hours browsing – $21.95

The 24 hour package can be used across multiple flights, making it a good option for connecting flights. It was also possible to switch usage from one device to another. In terms of speed, it was adequate for light browsing although page load times were slower than on the ground.

China Airlines premium economy amenity kit and bedding

Waiting at my seat was a small pillow and plastic-wrapped fleece blanket:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

The pillow case could have been a bit nicer: it’s just one of those plasticky, single use ones that don’t feel especially pleasant.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

Some cheap slippers and a bottle of water were slipped into the seat in front whilst crew came round once boarding was complete to hand out the amenity kits.

Whilst I appreciate the provision of slippers in premium economy (I think this may be the first time I’ve seen them in this cabin) I managed to break one of mine about halfway through the flight so they are not the most sturdy!

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

Amenity kits are by Canadian brand Roots and are new since April, when China Airlines also introduced MOSCHINO amenity kits in business class.

They are substantially better than the amenity kits you find in premium economy on most airlines although it does seem odd that they are showcasing an iconically Canadian brand rather than a homegrown one.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

China Airlines premium economy food and service

Despite a delay to boarding it was an on-time departure for us. There was no service before departure although due to my Elite Plus status (I think) the purser did come round and say hello, as well as let me know the flight time for this service (a whopping 15:20).

The service started after take-off with a drink and snack from the bar:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

As you can see, it was served in plastic, as was every subsequent on my flight. Most airlines now serve at least some of their drinks in proper glassware in premium economy, so this was a shame.

Shortly after this was the first meal service. On the menu was a choice of two main courses:

  • Steamed rice with chicken sausage, chicken and shiitake mushroom
  • Hungarian goulash served with potatoes pumpkin mash and seasonal vegetables

The first option was in partnership with Taiwanese restaurant La Palais, with which China Airlines has a collaboration. I went for this option, which was served with a smoked salmon salad, jasmine tea orange bread, cut fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, a short bread cookie as well as a dessert of ice cream. As you can see, the tray was pretty crowded!

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

Here is the main chicken rice, served in a ceramic dish:

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

It may not have won on presentation, but it tasted great and felt like comfort food. The bun, by the way, is sweet (I hadn’t paid much attention to its description on the menu! and tasted a lot like a hot cross bun. Delicious!

Annoyingly, even though each person was served individually from the galley, drinks were not done in the same manner and you had to wait until they came round with the trolley. This is annoying as it means you either start your meal without a drink, or you wait until they come and sit there with it in front of you for 5-10 minutes. I’d much rather they serve the meal and drink at the same time.

Tea and coffee were available afterwards.

After my first meal I decided to try and get some rest and managed to sleep for about four hours, wish wasn’t bad. This was a day flight landing in London in the evening so I didn’t want to over-sleep.

Once I woke up crew came round regularly with trays of water or juice as well as a selection of Taiwanese snacks.

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

About midway through the flight it was time for our second meal. This was treated as a breakfast service, again with two options:

  • Congee (savoury porridge) with taro and pork
  • Basil chicken thigh with mushroom scrambled eggs served with conchiglie pasta in tomato sauce

I opted for the latter. This was a smaller meal service than the first, just half a tray, although given I had just eaten about 4 hours earlier this was not a problem (and there was another meal coming!)

Review: China Airlines Premium Economy

The combination of scrambled eggs served with pasta was unusual! Whilst the scrambled egg was decent the pasta was not particularly special.

What I liked was that if you were asleep during the meal service, crew would affix a sticker to your TV screen saying you could request it from them at any point. That was a cute touch.

The third and final meal of the flight (this is a long flight and China Airlines clearly doesn’t want you getting hangry!) was more of a snack and served shortly before descent. This was simply a chicken sandwich with a single egg omelette in it.

Conclusion

At over 15 hours, Taipei to London is a long flight, and premium economy on China Airlines is a worthwhile upgrade from economy, if for the personal space alone. The fixed-shell seat design was as comfortable, in my opinion as a ‘normal’ premium economy seat.

If I had to change one thing it would be that they serve drinks in real glassware, and at the same time as they deliver your meal – two areas where they are trailling behind other airlines. But there are also lots of things here that were better than expected including the impressive amenity kit which wouldn’t look out of place in business class.

If you’re wondering what business class on China Airlines is like, then don’t forget to read my review here. And if you’re wondering what there is to do in Taiwan, my introduction is here. Taiwan is one of my favourite Asian countries to visit and I can’t wait to go back again.

Comments (32)

  • Jonathan says:

    It personally angers me that Premium Economy seats are subject to the higher rate of APD, I think I recall hearing one time of somewhere that Branson himself is also opposed to this (he rarely gets involved in of the day to day operational side of nearly all, if most of the Virgin Group brands).

    People who opt to pay a little more for a better seat and experience shouldn’t be lumbered with the duty that’s primarily targeted at seats that turn into a fully flat bed, and or offer a noticeably better experience than Y. The better experience of course has a cost involved

    • Nick says:

      The logic of course being that those who can afford to pay extra for a luxury product can afford to pay tax on it. Which is true.

      If PE had been more prevalent when APD was introduced there would probably be a graduated scale, but that ship sadly has sailed.

      • flyforfun says:

        Never too late to change it! It just needs the right sort of lobbying. But you need to define what’s PE, what’s business. Is a non-flat bed in J still J? It can’t be the seat that defines what’s PE.

        Also I’m not sure it should be called a luxury. Economy is called that because its a cheaper version of the standard cabins they had in the 50s and 60s with the silver service meal deliveries. Economy today is worse the what I remember as a child and into my early traveling days (with the exception of the IFE – a miracle after only have the 1 screen for the whole cabin!). PE should be Economy an Y should be discount economy.

        • Jonathan says:

          Y is (for most airlines) a booking code for a fully flexible Economy ticket, so you won’t be able to find the ticket types on heavily discounted prices.

          Overall general experience in Economy seats varies by airline, BA is pretty much now comparable with loads of other budget airlines, the likes of SQ for example are noticeably better

  • vlcnc says:

    I’ve never been convinced by Premium Economy from western airlines like BA, but this looks good and depending on the premium in cost possibly worth it – especially the food.

    • Lumma says:

      For some random dates in March this route is pricing at around £750 in economy, £1,900 in premium and £3,800 in business.

      Air China (changing planes in Beijing outbound and shanghai inbound) is £1,900 in business class. Not direct obviously, but could be made into a three destination trip quite easily with flat beds on the long flights.

      • vlcnc says:

        That seems a steep premium tbh given you’re just getting a better seat and food – I know airlines love PE cos it is sweet spot in terms of returns but lord that’s a lot.

  • mkcol says:

    I’ve enjoyed your Taiwan series Rhys & it’s now convinced me to head there, annual leave permitting!
    Is it possible to recline those seats without the leg rest coming up?
    Any idea if they recycle their single use plastics?

  • Michael C says:

    Just as a btw, we also had a great experience in EvaAir PE from BKK-LHR (although starting in Taipei).

  • G Flyer says:

    This review was all the better for the including the word “antimacassar” 🙂

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