People approach flights in different ways. I think you could almost guess the business traveller who almost on rote goes through security, taking off their shoes, keys in the tray with an almost blank expression having done the same several times already that week or month. Then there is the leisure traveller who is so excited because they are on their way to somewhere exciting. And on the plane the former just wants to sleep while the latter may take advantage of everything on offer. When you fly, what would you say is your priority? Is it staying awake and making the most of what is on offer on a plane with food or entertainment? Or is it sleeping and trying to arrive at your destination refreshed? I pondered this while on a flight from Guangzhou to Amsterdam recently.
China Southern Airways is one of the three Chinese carriers in the Sky Team stable. Sky Team is the second largest and youngest airline alliance on the world between Star Alliance and One World. They have recognised the important role that the Chinese market plays for tourism, particularly in Australia, and China Southern connects China with Australia and Europe. Business class with China Southern is just over double the price of economy.
Sky Team queues are marked with red carpets and all but the immigration queues means that you glide through the queues bypassing everyone else. The China Southern plane that we are flying are Airbus A330-200 and we are seated in the business class section in a 2 by 2 by 2 configuration and my favourite business class perk-a fully flat bed! Note: the A330-300 which services Australia to China has a bed that reclines 172 degrees, not fully flat. We are offered juice, water or champagne and the amenities kit has an excellent Bio Essence lip gloss (which I would actually buy) as well as a thick, airline-friendly face moisturiser. There is also a comb, an eye mask, toothpaste and toothbrush (the toothbrush was a bit flimsy and the toothpaste was a little odd tasting). Slippers are provided at the bottom of the footrest and there is a proper doona provided (I always find blankets insufficient to keep warm on overnight flights).
The leg rests can be raised or lowered with the touch of a button as is converting the seat into a bed. The touch screen entertainment variety could use improvement. There are some films but for television addicts, you will find mostly Chinese television shows and other shows that are mostly unknown outside of China. There is even oddly, a pictures section with a series of photos that you can view and the headphones aren’t particularly snug or noise-proof (I’d even swear you could hear the plane more wearing these). Also the television is quite far away for the short sighted.
The fight departs on time at midnight and I’m eager to sleep but also curious to try the food. The food comes out an hour after we take off.
Smoked salmon with parmesan cheese and fresh garden salad
I realised later that I wasn’t served the canape mentioned on the menu. There were only three of us in the 24 seat section that ate dinner that evening or technically at 1am. The smoked salmon served fanned on a plate had a lot of oil splashed on it but curiously lacked much flavour. There was some saltiness from the parmesan cheese though. The salad was undressed with slices of black olive. It was only after 10 minutes that they came around with a selection of four dressings to choose from which by then was too late as everyone had finished with this course.
Creamy sweet corn soup
The corn soup was served with croutons and has a small amount of texture from the corn. The garlic bread was as hard as a crouton so I opted for a whole meal roll. It was fairly typical of an airline roll and was exceedingly light.
Stir fried scallops and Arctic surf clam with XO sauce, seasonal vegetables and steamed aromatic rice
The main was scallops with surf clam with XO sauce and vegetables and rice. The sauce wasn’t particularly strong in XO chilli sauce or spicy and the scallops were actually quite nice despite the somewhat lonely and isolated appearance of the three components. The surf clam however was way too chewy to eat so that was left behind and the vegetables were also quite soft.
Cheese and opera cake
The cheese is served with crunchy crackers, prunes and Turkish apricots. There was two cheeses, an Edam and Emmental and out of the two, I preferred the Emmental. The opera cake was served with a strawberry sauce which it really didn’t need. The cake wasn’t too bad at all and had a nice coffee flavour to it although the top layer wasn’t quite as glossy as you often see.
Fruit salad
Nicely presented, I didn’t try too much of the fruit plate as I knew that ice cream was coming! And ice cream trumps fruit 
Yummly ice cream
Given a choice between vanilla or cranberry milk I chose the cranberry milk ice cream. Like all ice cream on any flight, it is served rock hard but I really liked this ice cream.
Giving my teeth a quick brush, I recline the bed and settle in for the night. I toss and turn for a while but fall asleep and get a good eight hours sleep in. Thankfully the flight attendants leave me alone until the very end when I wake up and arrive in Amsterdam! I have foregone my breakfast choice of China Southern deluxe beef noodle soup ensemble but sometimes sleep wins over food.
All in all, the flight was smooth, the planes were new and although the food wasn’t quite there yet, we all arrived well rested!
So tell me Dear Reader, does ice cream trump fruit for you? And would you rather sleep or eat on a flight?
NQN tested out the flight as a guest of SkyTeam and China Southern Airlines
Skyteam
www.skyteam.com/
China Southern Airlines
www.flychinasouthern.com/
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41 Comments | Add your own
I’ve never been much of an ice cream person, but lately I’ve been craving it for some reason…
I’d rather eat than do (almost) anything! Especially sleep!
Fruit or ice cream? Can’t answer that. There is a lot of bad ice cream out there but you could also end up with below par fruit. Can’t decide!
Hi Lorraine, flying economy I would say eating (as I can’t sleep) but with a lie flat bed as much as I love to eat I have to say I prefer sleeping
On land I would have ice cream but on a plane for some reason I crave fresh fruit…
Fruit would trump ice-cream for me as i’m lactose int. I usually tend to make myself stay up the night before a flight watching movies etc. in order to sleep through as much of it as possible. I usually awaken to find a collection of food (the lactose int. meals) on my tray or tucked into the magazine holder.
Curious though: a lot of airlines serve peanuts/nuts as snacks–isnt this an issue with the amount of nut allergies these days ? (people who get affected by just smelling nuts)
Ice cream always trumps fruit on flights! I always find that most fruit on flights is a bit underripe.
Hi Lorraine
I’d much rather sleep on a flight, especially if the food looks like what you were served!
However, when the food is good, I can usually work in sleep around the meals!
I was recently on Air Canada Business Class to Toronto from Sydney, and they had an Asian soup on the menu. Thinking this might be nice, I ordered it, only to find it was a large cardboard pack with dried ingredients(found at Asian supermarkets) and filled to the brim with boiling water. Very challenging to eat!
Hoping that we have your tales of Amsterdam to look forward to. I am quite a fan of their croquettes and the poffertjes (tiny pancakes).
I would much rather sleep on a flight. There aren’t many in flight menus that are tempting enough to make me stay awake. This flight looks really comfortable. GG
I don’t fly very often and I’m never in the better part of the plane. I’m sure if I was in the better part I would be one of those who stayed up all night fiddling with everything. It’s great that you had a flat bed but I think they could work on the food – and bring the dressing at the same time as the salad! xx
What about fruity ice cream? Depending on the fruit I often sway to the healthy option. That said if it’s chocolate ice cream this plan goes to the wall.
Always prefer the sleep option but seldom can sleep on planes.
Nice post, of all the travel I have recently done I rate Emirates airlines as top for food, entertainment and comfort.
I would rather eat, I find sleeping really hard on planes but I love looking at airplane food for some reason so thanks! Depends on how I’m feelings, if I feel sick on flights I prefer fruit but if I’m hungry probably the icecream
I’m an infrequent traveller, the EXCITED tourist that wants to stay awake the entire flight to try everything
I then arrive tired and wish I had slept when I was supposed to.
My most memorable in flight meal was the smoked salmon entre on a flight from Sydney to Queenstown I can still taste it 10 years later.
You have almost convinced me to try business class it sounds worth every cent
Sleep always beats food on a flight for m – especially international ones!
When it comes to fruit vs ice cream, I’d choose fruit because i’m a coldbug and ice cream always leaves me freezing! Haha
I love that you’re always so honest!
Haha just about between any choices food comes first
As does ice cream naturally! I simply love the gorgeous looking fruit salad though so it is hard!
Seems like a pretty comfortable flight despite some food misses – good review
Thank you!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
What a silly question Lorraine! Fruit or icecream? The only way I would pick the fruit would be if it was IN the icecream
Win win!
I stay awake checking everything out…It can be hard in Business class when you have a bed to sleep and lots are on offer at 40,000ft!
Icecream every time for me, don’t like the fruit they serve on airlines!
Can’t say I’m too excited about the food on this flight Lorraine, not very classy at all! If one is going to spend extra to fly Business Class then the food needs to be turned up a notch or two.
I don’t sleep on flights as I have a fear of DVT, so I’m up every hour or so , to take a ‘walk’ around the plane. My husband just looks at me and shakes his head,lol.
Thank you very much for telling me about an airline I do not know! You tell the story well: somehow it did not get me too excited
! Ditto for the food, I am afraid!! But now I have an idea . . . For me a flight is a rest between two destinations. Since time differences and jet lag are almost always involved, I prefer a quiet rest to ‘fiddling around’ by a long shot to get me set for the next stop! Ice cream or fruit: well, since I don’t eat the first as a rule, fruit: if it looks appetizing, always, always 
!
Ice cream for me too
How would you rate South China Airlines otherwise?
Am usually asleep before the plane takes off, TRUE!
With all my traveling, have now mastered the secret of jet lag too!
VERY rarely have I been excited about airline food,
Sometimes it LOOKS more appealing on the menu and spoils the adventure mood!Always enjoy the simplicity of beautiful cheese and biscuits as a snack,
Before I return to the land of my dreams and my sleep mode is back!
Hi Lorraine, you truly are an entertaining story teller,
I really enjoyed your honest review as a foodie traveler,
Those pictures make me want to fly for a weekend escape,
Enjoy the food of Guangzhou and its marvelous landscape!
Lorraine, I am the scared traveler I’m scared of flights.., so my immediate plan always is to sleep so that I don’t get even more scared.. Lol
I’ve been flying since I was a toddler and always loved it. I have a gold stick pin from the flying kangaroo which the captain gave us when we were little.
Somehow caught a fear of flying last decade. I think it’s from watching too many TV docos where some duffus forgot to close the baggage door or a passenger brought a virus on board.
My last flight I was on oxygen due to an ‘unknown’ chemical leaking into the plane which triggered my asthma. The hosty kept reminding me – as I inhaled from the tank – that I was only allowed to sit on the ‘big front seats’ because I couldn’t breathe. It’s normally reserved for special passengers.
…private jet for me please…
The food might not be quite there yet, but it is a far cry from when I flew them many years ago. But wow! Eight hours sleep! I’m impressed–I’d willingly give up a bit of good food for the comfort. Very entertaining, as always. And yes, you must come to Mexico!
Doesnt sound like the flight would be worth double the price of economy?
I love flying myself (complete opposite of my mother who finds flying draining and would rather run around at work than sit on a plane to Indonesia for six hours). Not sure why because as soon as I get on a plane, I tend to fall straight asleep (even on short SYD-MEL flights). I guess it’s a good thing because it means that I arrive at my destination feeling refreshed
Hi Karen, we were on Air Canada business from Vancouver to Sydney and I was going to order the soup but ended up sleeping most of the flight. Good to know I wasn’t missing anything special
wow that must have been a very long flight. Dont u get pain in your legs, I always do. Loved your honest revue of the airline. I d choose cranberry as well. ^.^
I wish I could travel business class! This looks nicer than any meal I’ve ever had on a plane, salad dressing or not. I usually find planes to be so cramped that I just look forward to the flights being over!
I don’t travel often so I definitely fall into the excited to be on the plane category.
Ooh, I think I’d like ice-cream AND fruit! And I like a mix of sleeping, food and entertainment. What a treat to get a flat bed!
We flew with china southern earlier this year and thought it was terrible! Food awful, no baby seat belts, no tv, staff could hardly speak English….
Oh dear. I believe I need to travel business from now on….getting some quality sleep on long haul flights are so important, I would have to forgo food also
Definitely cranberry milk ice cream alllll the way!!
Hmmm, I think I’d rather eat than sleep. Tbe cranberry icecream sounds delish.
So glad you did a review Lorraine because I have some pretty bad reviews of china southern so glad you had a good experience hehe ~
The food even looks surprisingly pleasant hehe Ice cream definitely wins for me!!!
The first time I flew business class I was way too excited to sleep, I wanted to try everything on the food and drink menu! So full and uncomfortable! Now sleep is definitely the priority, if it’s a late flight and you have lounge access my tip is to gorge on everything in the lounge then you can ignore the late meal on the plane!
I like to eat – but on overnighters I definitely want the sleep option too. As for fruit & ice cream – can’t I just have it all?
I’d eat and then sleep, how about that?
thanks for the review of South China airlines. It appears that there is still a long way for this airline to go regarding service, entertainment and food service. It will be a long time I would think, until they get it as right as Emirates which in my experience offers the best of all aspects of flying business class; food, service with cabin staff speaking up to 10 languages, entertainment and amenities.
I love that there’s a big seat just for your bag!
Lately, my priority became getting to the airport on time…
When travelling with China Southern Airlines business class you always opt for sleep rather than be insulted by sub standard meals and poor quality beverages.
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