On Sunday morning we flew from Houston, Texas (IAH airport) to Beijing, China (PEK airport) on Air China flight 996 aboard a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Since Air China is a member of the Star Alliance, we were able to use United frequent flyer miles to fund this trip in Air China’s First Class which is called the “Forbidden Pavilion.”
Who can resist a name like the “Forbidden Pavilion“? This one way first-class ticket (which included a flight from Kansas City to Houston, and another flight from Beijing to Singapore cost us 70,000 United frequent flyer miles per person.
Note: these flights were booked before United significantly raised its First Class International award levels in early February. Under the new system, this one-way flight in “Forbidden Pavilion” First Class will cost 130,000 miles.
We started our trip at the Air China contract lounge at Houston’s Terminal D for business and first class passengers. There was an Air China representative at the lounge which assisted us in getting boarding passes, logging our United bag tags and collecting the information needed to in order to have a 72-hour-transfer without visa on our arrival in Beijing.
The impressions of the lounge at IAH are mixed. On the negative it was a bit tired and was crowded. On the positive side, the staff was pleasant and the food was surprisingly good.
There is also a brand new contract lounge under construction in Houston which is slated to open the week of March 31, 2014. Glancing through the window, it looks like the new lounge will be a terrific upgrade.
Boarding of our flight in Houston started promptly at midnight. We were greeted by the purser and led to our seats, 2D and 2H. These seats are spacious, with an amazing amount of leg room and a large entertainment screen.
The partition between the two seats is left up if you are traveling alone for privacy; if traveling together it lowers as shown in the photo above.
On our seats were pajamas (the size XL surprisingly almost fit even though I’m 6’6 tall), comfy slippers, L’Occitane amenity kits, and detailed drink and dinner menu.
As our nearly 15-hour-long flight departed at 1:05 AM, the first meal was light one, followed by snacks, with the full dinner service near the end of the flight. Each meal has both western and Chinese options.
The first light meal began with a seared Ahi appetizer (which was amazing).
The Beef, Rice and Vegetable main course, which was good quality but a bit bland for my taste.
For Wine I had the 2002 Chateau de la Riviere from France which was very good. The wines were a bit hit and miss. The Champagne was Cattier and for a First Class product seemed lacking, but the French reds and whites were both very drinkable!
I ended the meal with a Camus VSOP cognac which was smooth and a perfect night cap.
The In-flight entertainment was a mixed bag, with a terrific 28 inch crisp resolution screen but limited content choices to view on it. There were about 20 titles in each category, i.e. movies-drama, etc. and about half of the titles were Chinese (well, guess that is appropriate on Air China.)
If you want a good selection of English language current entertainment choices, you will want to do as we did and bring a supply of movies and TV shows on your laptop and/or tablet devices. There were 110 -volt plug-ins to keep these devices powered throughout the trip.
The flight attendants were attentive with a cabin pass though about every ten minutes. There were some language barriers (I initially got a glass of tonic water when ordering a Cognac) but these were quickly overcome. All of the flight crew had great attitudes and were very professional.
As I started to wake up they were very prompt at offers of fruit, chocolates, yogurt, coffee (instant) and tea.
There was a separate tea menu with seven different kinds of tea. I tried two varieties recommended by the crew and both were exceptional.
Between the Business Class and First Class “Forbidden Pavilion” sections there is a self-serve bar with food and drinks for guests in both cabins to serve themselves between regular food and drink service.
It’s also a nice area to stand and stretch one’s legs during the 15-hour flight.
The flight time was scheduled for about 15 hours but we departed Houston a little early and the actual flight time was 14 hours and 47 minutes gate to gate.
Our bottom line on Air China’s First Class Forbidden Pavilion:
- Overall, the experience exceeded our expectations.
- The seats were excellent: spacious, comfortable and well-laid out.
- The service was attentive throughout the long flight; there were some language barriers.
- The entertainment system was outstanding technology but limited in content for English-speaking travelers.
- The food was good but not as strong as offerings on other airlines’ First Class service.
Have you flown on Air China’s First Class Forbidden Pavilion? If so, what did you like about the service? Please share in comments below.
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