Chine Southern Airlines - don't

China Southern airlines (CSA)

I returned to Australia from the UK on New Years Day 2013. I wondered why the ticket price was hundreds of pounds cheaper than anything else. I didnt have long to wonder...

CSA is trying to set themselves up as a serious international carrier... The following was written in the first 90 minutes of my first flight with CSA (Beijing to Guangzhou). While I was forced to complete my trip to Australia on a second flight, they will be my last with CSA.

Before we boarded...
Total confusion boarding at gate. Staff member called for another flight, & only when remaining waiting passengers - all European - asked about their flight were they advised to queue, then loaded onto a bus in minus nine degrees with 10 knot wind at each end of the bus journey.

Food

• Congealed Minced chicken balls with rice - tasteless
• Pickled diced vegetables on the side - unchewable
• A drink that was written in Chinese & gave no indication at all from the artwork what might be inside & appeared to have been filled under pressure as the foil lid was taut
• A random piece of dried apricot
• Tiny, tinny plastic knife & fork that were useless
• Featureless round white bread role - no butter

Beer... More diuretic than taste. (This indeed is an unforgivable sin on a long-haul flight...)

Entertainment
Monitors didn't work for safety announcement with audio only in Chinese, and afterwards played Chinese opera whether you wanted to view/listen or not (monitors unfortunately worked for this...).

Contrast
Previous KLM code share flights from Edinburgh & Amsterdam into Beijing had excellent service, food & timeliness.  CSA by contrast  complete opposite.

Danger!!!!
While serving food ... A passenger who was returning to her seat was blocked by the food trolley. Even tho it was only one row away from the galley, the male steward suggested the poor woman try & squeeze between the trolley and seats, rather than clear the way for her. Oh... And anytime the food trolleys are moving, keep your body parts away from the aisle - apparently CSA hasn't trained their staff how to move trolleys without crashing them into seat arms.

But wait!
Then we landed in Beijing, where the passengers were separated into those transiting (us), and those terminating. We were shepherded into an adjoining corridor, given a new boarding pass and a big blue sticker that was placed on your shirt, and told to wait (male Chinese staff member plonked it onto the chest of men & women alike...). Chinese staff member disappears and replaced by an armed security officer. Nearly 45 minutes later - without any communication in the meantime - we were herded into a bus & taken to another terminal. We went through immigration & customs, and we were then ordered to go to the... Departure lounge to await the bus back to the plane!!!! Finally back in the same seat I left 2 hours ago, and await with bated breath the next installment!