Hello and welcome to my first trip report!

I’ve been visiting this forum for quite a while now and time has come to prepare a mini trip report of my own. It’s always a hard thing to overcome awkwardness of taking photos of inflight meal   – but I hope once you do this for the first time it shall be easier in the future!

My typical flights are rather standard (mostly on LH or LO metal) and well covered by fellow trip reporters, but this time I had a chance to fly something more unusual. On a side note – I never actually thought it is this absorbing to prepare a trip report – only after putting a report together one comes to appreciate how much effort people here make to deliver those stories we get to read on a daily basis!
Enough with the preface – here’s my report, please do enjoy:





Background
This trip happened quite accidentally actually - me and my friend were visiting Guangzhou for business, but we decided to extend the visit and spend some time exploring nearby tourist attractions. To begin our journey we took a train to the city of Guilin - known for its unique karst formations along River Li. For the 13-hour train journey we were accompanied in our compartment by a very nice elderly couple, with whom we tried to talk a little – but given our total lack of Cantonese / Mandarin (I shamefully must admit I cannot even distinguish those two languages when spoken), and their lack of English – those tries were mostly futile. 
However we were able to come to one conclusion – the couple insisted vigorously that we need to change whatever our travel plans were, and instead insisted on us visiting Shanghai –their place of birth to our understanding. As Shanghai is quite a distant destination - we never really considered it as a side trip from Guangzhou, but given such a sincere recommendation – we could not resisted.

We spent few days around Guilin, and while rafting on Li River to Yangshuo we have finally decided to change our plans and, if possible, buy one-way flight to Shanghai and later see what to do next. We were a bit concerned that finding available seats for the next day may be a challenge and as we had no internet access – we went to the nearest travel agency (plenty of which can be found in Yangshuo), where a very helpful lady arranged tickets for us. We wanted to leave for Shanghai in the evening – and to our surprise not only seats on evening flight were available, but also cost of tickets was slightly lower than what we expected. As the lady spoke only limited English (sufficient though to efficiently book our flight) – we were unable to get info on airline operating the flight as well as aircraft type, not to mention seat selection. All we could read from our receipts was the flight number - HO 1148, but this only added to my anticipation and excitement about the flight, as I never come across HO code, and expected to rather see more common CZ or MU instead.

bamboo/drainage pipe raft on Li River


our very helpful travel agent in Yangshuo


ticket receipt



Guilin Liangjiang International Airport
As the flight was quite late in the evening, and we had heavy backpacks to carry – we’ve decided to get a taxi to the airport rather than look for public transport option.
They say that the most dangerous part of your flight is the drive to the airport – and this time I couldn’t agree more. Tip for everyone: arrange your taxi, choose back seat, buckle-up (if seatbelts are available), close your eyes and hope to survive. The airport is located some 30 kilometers from the city center, and the ride includes a motorway segment – on which everyone (taxi drivers included) seems to test their cars to the limits.

Guilin airport itself is not very big, with generous and airy landside and slightly more cramped airside. One of more unusual services for me at the landside is the – apparently very popular and convenient feature - packaging station, located between usual souvenir shops. Quite a few local people arrive at the airport with plenty of smaller shopping and travel bags – and have them packed at the station into one large cardboard box, so that it could be checked-in. Ingenious and efficient if you wanted to travel light but your shopping spree went a bit too far Guilin Airport check-in hall






packaging station



Since our flight was way past the rush our – the terminal was not crowded and both check-in process and security check went very fast. Check-in counters are divided between those dedicated for China Southern Airlines – apparently the biggest player in Guilin, and those shared by all the other airlines. Since we weren’t able to select our seats before, and didn’t know if seat selection is available with JuneYao – we proceeded to check-in, but due to language barrier we couldn’t ask for window seats – and were just given our boarding passes – with seats 3D and 3E assigned by check-in agent. Not overly excited with this choice we proceeded for domestic flights security check. Although English is in general not widely spoken in China - English signage at KWL is present everywhere and guides you through airport procedures very efficiently.

FIDS


English signage  

KWL airside



Airside of the terminal is a bit more noisy and cramped – with some shops and bars scattered here and there, and very basic looking lounges enclosed from gates area by glazed walls. Soon we found our gate 9, with plenty of people waiting for boarding – apparently we were one of the last to go through security. Gates area has some decent views onto the tarmac, but not that much could be seen since it was already dark outside. Soon our aircraft – almost brand new A320 - arrived at the gate. Immediately people started to line up for boarding even though it was still plenty of time left till boarding time – and the crew obviously needed some time to prepare the cabin.

our ride






Guilin (KWL) – Shanghai Pudong (PVG)

JuneYao Airlines HO 1148
Scheduled: 2310 – 0115
Seat: 3D

A320-214
B-6735 (MSN 4429)
delivered to JuneYao in 01/2011

View Large View Medium Photo © Steven Shi

View Large View Medium Photo © Xu Zheng

Given our total lack of knowledge of the airline and relatively good price of tickets we expected JuneYao Airlines to be sort of Chinese equivalent of typical LCC - like FR or W6 perhaps, possibly operating limited fleet of second hand aircrafts.
Since our gate area was quite noisy we weren’t able to understand a word from boarding announcements – which probably were given in English too. Nevertheless sudden common rush at our gate was enough to indicate that boarding commenced. We entered the jet bridge and soon we were to experience a major surprise – not only our aircraft was brand new, the configuration of the cabin was also unexpected, and far from LCC standards. First two rows formed mini business-class cabin, with large leather seats in 2+2 configuration. Our seats happened to be at first row of economy cabin, bulkhead, with plenty of legroom. The cabin itself looked very nice, with various shades of blue and purple upholsteries and burgundy pillows on each seat. Another astonishment – we were welcomed by genuinely smiling flight attendants, all looking very young. To my surprise my carry-on was immediately taken by male flight attendant and placed in the overhead bin while I was shown my seat.

I like this color combination


obligatory legroom shot 




Soon boarding completed and the aircraft pushed back. Load in economy was close to 100%, in business there was one seat occupied by regular passenger and 2 people were possibly deadheading, or moved from economy cabin – as no pre-departure drink was served them. Flight attendants performed manual safety presentation during taxi - again smiling and looking as they were sincerely enjoying their job.



Taxi was followed by immediate take off, and shortly we were in the air.
Soon the seatbelt sign was turned off and meal service begun. We were given lunch boxes and offered with selection of non-alcoholic beverages. The meal was light, but appropriate in size given late hour of our flight; it included some cold cuts, sachet of pickles, fruit salad, biscuit and some local sweets. Food was fresh and tasty, pickles being the most exotic (but very nice) item.
Soon after all the lunch boxes were cleared – the crew offered second round of beverages. We were both satisfied with the inflight service – as it greatly exceeded expectations we had.



The rest of the flight was rather uneventful. We had a look on the inflight magazine, but only very small part was in English. In a moment the seatbelt sign was turned on – and we started our descent towards Shanghai Pudong International Airport.



Smooth touch-down was followed by short taxi to our gate at Terminal 1. As our flight was one of the last flights of the day at Terminal 1 – we were greeted by a deserted luggage claim hall. Unfortunately such late hour arrival at PVG means that you cannot take the famous maglev train to the city center. Nevertheless we managed to catch very reasonably priced bus, which took us to the Peoples Square. Since our trip to Shanghai was improvised – we didn’t have chance to book a hotel in advance, thus had to look for a room at 2.30am – which proved to be a bit of a challenge, but in the end all worked out just fine.

deserted PVG



Conclusion
To conclude – the flight aboard JuneYao Airlines – or “Shanghai Lucky Airlines” as their Chinese name is – was a refreshing experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to choose their service in the future. Surely the company isn’t a long-established carrier, but whatever they lack in refinement - they make up with joyful and motivated crew. Lack of OLCI would be bothersome on daily basis, out of other improvements one may suggest - I most certainly would appreciate more English sections in their in-flight magazine or some English announcements from the Captain – but to be frank it is not something that you cannot live without.

Thanks for reading!
Michal