In my air travels both domestically within China and internationally on Chinese airlines, I have been incredibly disappointed.  After yesterday’s flight on China Southern, I realized I didn’t need to be disappointed with all Chinese airlines, just China Eastern and Air China, because China Southern does a great job and does things ‘right’ where the other two don’t.  For example:

• China Southern did NOT make me walk on the tarmac in Beijing in 40degree F weather
• CE & AC always let you freeze (or roast as the season may be) and waste your time by making you walk on the tarmac and then take a bus for miles to the terminal because they are too cheap to pay for a gate & a jetway
• China Southern’s PA announcer spoke English well enough and clear enough I could actually understand what she was saying
• China Southern’s plane was the newest plane I’d been on in a very long time
• China Southern gave me a comfortable amount of leg room such that I wasn’t squashed into the seat in front of me
• My last flight on AC was so crammed that I couldn’t open my laptop fully even when the seat in front of me was upright
• My bag arrived on the carousel before I’d even gotten there!  Perhaps this is only a compliment to the fact that China Southern actually had a gate, but still it’s great service compared to the normal 15-20min wait I have with CE & AC.

China Southern certainly deserves praise.  My only 2 complaints were, the food was not very tasty (which I think is because of the airport catering company, not the airline catering company) and the flight was late (only 20min though).  All-in-all, I’m very pleased with China Southern and I’m glad to know that some airline in the Chinese airline industry differentiates itself positively.