Flight review: Sichuan Airlines business class

Feel like a cut-price business-class upgrade home from China’s ‘panda’ city?  We cuddle into the early-AM ‘panda-eye’ flight in Chengdu.

In hindsight, I’m not too stressed about missing my mid-evening flight from Chengdu – the southwestern Chinese city famed for its pandas. When I say “miss”, I actually mean “not allowed to board” because me/my luggage won’t make the tadpole’s-bum-tight connection in Vietnam, say the gate staff. With few carriers flying from Sichuan’s provincial capital to Sydney, I’ve resigned myself to being stranded – but Plan B soon emerges.    

Check in

The Sichuan Airlines customer service rep does everything but give up her first-born to help reschedule me onto the 1:35am direct flight to Sydney – an option my travel-booker wasn’t aware of. No admin/change fees are charged – even though they’re within their rights to do so – and a business class upgrade is offered for $700. Thankfully, an offer my generous travel partner/sponsor leaps on. (I give the rep a teddy bear for her two-hours’ of day-saving hard work, out of camera-view because, officially, she’s forbidden from receiving gifts). 

The lounge

I melt into a booth in Sichuan Airlines lounge for the five-hour wait. It has an almost-elegant food-hall vibe, a decent contrast to Chengdu Terminal 1’s sparse, uninspiring food court. A few hot Sichuan and generic-airport-fare dishes are pleasing enough, paired with two wines: ‘Great Wall’ red/white. For dessert, I load my plate with plastic-wrapped sweets and pastries. Yum. Airline staff track me down personally to advise of a gate change. I waltz on board through the priority lane, dodging the invisible daggers hurled by queueing economy passengers. (Note: there’s no business-class priority through border security for non-Chinese).  

The cabin vibe

This Airbus A350 harbours the densest concentration of pandas on earth. Almost every brandable element is panda-branded, from drink coasters to napkin rings. They’re on the vomit-catchers and kindly reassure you with their presence on safety cards. My head rest is covered by a disposable yawning panda. I eat a flying-panda-embossed cake then receive a panda hand-stamp (different for each plane). ‘Yu Yu’ appears 11 times in the inflight magazine (yes, I counted), her expressions ranging from pensive to cackling laughter. 

The seat

(Window) seat 5A (diagonal-facing in a 1-2-1 layout) is the archetypal comfy business-class pod set-up. Idiot-resistant controls make it easy to find a sweet spot for my tush and the seat-to-bed transformation is swift and uncomplicated. The lie-flat bed is generous enough for my slightly wobbly 178-centrimetre frame to stretch out, with no notable ridges. The synthetic blanket is surprisingly soft and silky on my face. The panda-embossed scarlet-red pillow is crazy-cool but has more of a lounge-cushion bounce than bed-pillow surrender (I still consider stuffing in into my carry-on). Storage compartments – with hidden powerpoints – could be a touch deeper.   

The airline leans heavily into all things panda.

The service

The stewards ace the call-button challenge – reaching me in under 10 seconds every time I request a drinky-poo from the modest alcohol selection. They are friendly, efficient but not chatty. I have a couple of frustrating (English-Mandarin) lost-in-translation moments – seems ginger beer isn’t a thing in Sichuan. Except for the surprising self-opening bidet, the cosy toilets are pretty much what you’d find in economy class (and plenty of passengers sneak through the curtain for a toilet self-upgrade).  

Amenities

The complimentary toiletries feel tokenistic; a little blue bag with just a minimal selection of sleep aids and grooming flotsam. The one stand-out: a wee bottle of moisturizer spray that delivers a fortifying morning spritz. There’s no Wi-Fi on my flight – although China’s Great Firewall would likely block sites I want to use anyway. For the Sichuan Airlines suggestion box: a pair of panda slippers next time, please.

Entertainment

Love the well-positioned, decent-size screen – so crisp that I leave my reading glasses in their holster. The tethered stowaway touch-pad is finicky so I lean forward to peck/swipe the responsive touch-screen. Film and TV-show selection is paltry. There’s a decent Mandarin-language content selection but only 12 films in English – with no brand-new releases. (Try the digital mahjong). The snug-fitting earbuds are borderline tinny but enough to catch all the crucial dialogue.  

Dining

I snore my way through ‘breakfast’, served soon after the 1:35am take-off (they did pre-ask). Lunch service is well-paced – hot towel, warm bread, and main in good time. There’s no menu or explanation about the various sweet and sour Chinese/Sichuan dishes spread before me on the tray but saucy proteins and crisp rice noodles hit the spot. A rather weak/watery pumpkin consommé/soup is the lowlight. Overall, a nice flavour/texture balance but regular business class flyers may have greater expectations. 

What's hot

It might sound a bit low-brow for business class, but I love how Sichuan Airline embraces the panda – a fun distraction in an otherwise relatively low-frills experience. 

What's not

Upload episodes of whatever’s your Netflix poison onto your iPad because the entertainment system is not a gold mine for discerning viewers.   

The writer was a guest of Conrad/Hilton

Originally published as Flight review: Sichuan Airlines business class