Shenzhen Airlines

Shenzhen - XiAn and back. This is the second time I have flown Shenzhen Airlines. The economy class is comfortable. Seat width better than other Chinese carriers. Legspace great for a foreigner. Meals and drinks were adequate. Flight staff friendly and helpful. At least 2 flight attendant's spoke English. Inflight announcements in Chinese and English. Interesting that towards end of flight flight attendants encourage all passengers to do head neck arm and leg exercises. Very happy with service from check-in to disembarkation and will choose Shenzhen airlines again.

PEK to SZX. Check in fast and efficient. Boarding on time but by bus instead of jetway as the aircraft was parked in apron far from terminal which is not good in freezing Beijing weather of about -10 C in the morning. Aircraft 737-900 and clean. Non of two choices of food was so good: boiled rice or noodle with boiled vegetables with no taste or spice - or even salt. Plenty of drinks served two times. Crew very kind and efficient. Arrival on time.

Guanzhou to Guilin. The aircraft was a very clean and new looking Boeing 737-800. The announcements were in Chinese and English. The flight departed and arrived early. Things are changing rapidly in China and standards seem to be rising generally. The snack was uninspired but most UK carriers give nothing on a 45 minute flight.

I flew Shenzhen airliines twice in January and February 2006. The first flight was Nanjing - Shenzhen. The service was adequate though one of the FAs was going so fast with the drinks trolley that she knocked right into me spilling coffee all over my leg ; no apology even though she clearly saw what she had done she just giggled and rushed away. The second flight Shenzhen - Changzhou on an Airbus A320. The flight departed on time and everything was going fine until half way through the flight when the captain announced something in Chinese which caused quite a stir amongst the other passengers (I was the only foreigner). After speaking for maybe 90 seconds in Chinese he simply said "Ladies and Gentlemen we back Shenzhen. Medical Emergency" This seemed odd as we were now far closer to other airports such as Changsha Nanchang Hangzhou Hefei Wuhan etc. than we were to Shenzhen. When we eventually arrived back in Shenzhen there was no rushing to get a sick passenger off the place so it clearly was not a medical emergency. They started to hand out food boxes - some passengers were given two but when it came to the foreigner on the flight - nothing. Meiyou. Sorry. Then another announcement in Chinese and everyone starts to rush off the plane. I ask what the problem and in broken English the answer is "We clean the plane". So after an hour on the tarmac we are told to get back on - once again I ask what the problem was and the answer was they had to clean the plane. I try to get them to elaborate but the FAs English was dreadful. We finally arrived in Changzhou 5 hours late. Shenzhen Airlines are the worst domestic Chinese airline I've flown.

A total surprise and a pleasant one with Shenzhen Airlines. Flew from Wuhan to Shenzhen in mid March. Half expected sloppy service and really scared about safety. Instead got a brand new 737-800 with leather seats in Y-class. Flight hostesses very polite and warm and helpful. Plenty of them too. Cabin service complete with drinks and meals. Professionally looking inflight magazine.

This was the first time flew Shenzhen Airlines. Economy tends to be comfortable enough. On the SZX-HAK flight B737-600 - approximately 1 hour flight with snacks and mineral water only no other choice like coke. FA's services attitudes are fair. On the HAK-SZX return flight one of the FA was kind of bullied by two passengers but the FA was very polite and asked the passenger to be seated for landing. Overall Shenzhen airlines are good enough for economy travel on domestic routes.