Who knew that China Airlines flew between Brisbane and Auckland? Not me!
Anyway, having stumbled across the option on Skyscanner I booked the China Airlines Brisbane to Auckland (CI 53) flight as it was the cheapest option.
I flew on November 19th, with a departure time of 1:00 pm (AEST) and this is my China Airlines Review (economy).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Comfort | Entertainment | Final Thoughts
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- People will say that all the airlines that have China mentioned in them are crap. I’m not sure where this comes from, as there are lots of companies with China in the title, think Air China, China Airlines, China Southern, and China Eastern. Disregard those who paint one bad experience with one of these airlines and group them all in the same bucket.
- This is a connecting flight, with the flight originating in Taipei (CI 53 departing at 11.55 pm and arriving at 10:50 am). With a two hour and ten-minute gap between flights, there’s always the chance that the first flight is delayed which will affect the Brisbane to Auckland flight. The Taipei to Brisbane flight runs seven days a week, as does the Brisbane to Auckland flight. But there may be occasional days where the flight isn’t available (I’m assuming this is for scheduled maintenance).
- I paid AUD$222.78 (~USD150) when I booked my flight on September 30th, seven weeks before the departure date.
THE CHECK-IN PROCESS
I marked over the barcode. Someone told me people can still scan this and get my personal details, so I’ll believe them.
Arriving at Brisbane International Airport at ~10:30 am, the terminal felt very quiet. There are lots of international flights leaving between 9 am and 11 am, so the 1 pm departure misses the chaos! This was confirmed when I was collecting my tax back via the Tourist Refund Scheme when the guy at the desk said if I was 30 minutes earlier there was a long line of people. This also meant the security and customs lines were super quick for me!
Back to the check-in process…it was super quick with maybe a five-minute wait at the counter before getting to the front of the queue. Nothing untoward to note with the process, just a super friendly chap checking me in (not out).
BOARDING
You’ll have noticed my boarding pass above said 12:50 pm which is late for a 1:00 pm departure. They did actually start boarding at 12:50. The boarding process was smooth, they wanted to board people by zones, but I’m never sure how effective that is?
We officially departed at 1:26 pm, so it would have been nice if they announced there would be a slight delay for take-off. We eventually landed at 7.28 pm, 13 minutes late. Nothing major but there was no mention of that at all.
CHINA AIRLINES FOOD
Fried rice, soy milk, fruit, water, and some sultanas (yay for paper cups).
The regular options were beef and noodles or chicken and rice, but as a vegan I got fried rice.
To get a vegan meal, you’ll need to contact China Airlines customer support at least 24 hours before your departure time. I rang the Australian office at +61-1300-668-052 via Skype and after following the prompts I was talking with an employee who was super helpful and knew exactly what to do (and understood I wanted vegan rather than a vegetarian meal). The total call time was 4 mins and 44 seconds.
As the flight attendants were preparing the cabin for takeoff, one of them popped by to confirm I order a special meal. The meal service began about 30 minutes after takeoff, and as always, the special meals were served first. Overall I’d rate the meal as 7/10. It wasn’t bad by vegan plane food options, but I’ve had better, and certainly had worse!
Looking at the plates of others around me, most people managed to finish the meal which is a good sign of solid plane food.
DRINKS
I was given water with my meal as the drinks service was at the same time as the meal was served. When the drinks came through there were all the usual options like water, juice, wine (red and white), coke, sprite, and beer. Chinese tea and coffee were served a short while later.
COMFORT
There was more space than it looks like in this photo.
The plane’s seating in the economy was 3-3-3 which is standard on the A350-900.
They offer a regular pillow for the flight, but no blanket which is fine as it’s a short day flight. There were no headphones on the seat but the flight staff came around while everyone was boarding offering headphones. I’m okay with this as it prevents people from using them needlessly and creating waste.
I was surprised to see there was a plug socket which you can see in the bottom left of the photo. Nice!
INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
The in-flight entertainment in my seat worked well, but I did notice people in other seats had trouble with their touchscreens. The movie selection had at least 50 options (many foreign films) with options including The Lion King, Up, Toy Story 4, Ice Age: Collision Course, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The TV show options weren’t so great, though they had WestWorld. Given the short flight time, the movies are more than enough.
Wi-Fi was available but I couldn’t even attempt to buy it :/
OVERALL THOUGHTS ON CI53 CHINA AIRLINES BRISBANE TO AUCKLAND
10/10 would fly with them again on this route and elsewhere. I’m easily pleased in terms of flights so you should probably take that into consideration. There could have been a little bit more consideration to mention the flight was going to be delayed, the captain didn’t mention we landed behind schedule either. The food was solid, staff otherwise attentive, and I can’t think of anything they did I would like changed.
If you’ve flown this route, how was your experience?
If there’s something I’ve forgotten to mention, feel free to ask in the comments below!
WHAT TO READ NEXT: WHAT TO DO IN AUCKLAND NOW THAT YOU’RE THERE
Hey, it’s Jub here. I’m the guy behind Chur New Zealand, helping you have the best time hiking, trekking, walking…whatever you want to call it…in NZ. I’m based in Queenstown and am always out and about exploring trails, old & new. If you have any questions, reach out.