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Trip Verified | We flew on a brand-new aircraft (just delivered in September 2023) and China Southern is just as good as I remember it being from before the pandemic. Staff on the ground in Beijing were very efficient with the boarding process, and cabin crew were attentive and professional. Of particular note for me is that the cabin crew actively goes around the cabin helping passengers with their carry-on luggage, and is more firm with passengers about suitcases taking priority over backpacks, purses, coats, etc. The cabin crew is also more strict with enforcing pre-takeoff and pre-landing rules, like seatbelts, seat recline, and tray tables than other airlines I have flown with. Cabin crew were also very diligent in frequently cleaning and checking on the lavatories, and keeping them clean and stocked. Being a new plane, the seats were clean and comfortable, with enough legroom in economy for me, who is 183cm in height. The seat also felt like it reclined more, and the tray tables were able to be folded in half to take up less space when there is only a drink. One point that I was disappointed by was the catering: before the pandemic, I recalled that China Southern always had a more "Chinese" option such as congee for the main dish, rather than the standard "chicken or pasta". That was a real selling point for me, and I was disappointed when the meal options this time around were "pork or fish", though the meals were still very good. The IFE had a good variety of programming, with all the latest Hollywood movies and over 200 pieces of programming, but suffered from mediocre-quality headphones and lack of customizable subtitle options; these two made it very difficult to understand the programming on the IFE over the loud sounds of the plane, which only had English subtitles for Chinese-language programming. Overall, I felt like the experience in economy was a far better value for money than expected - there are economy-class products out there which are far more expensive for the same or lower quality. If not for the long layover in London on my way home, I would hands-down choose this itinerary every time. I would definitely fly China Southern again from Beijing.