I recently flew China Eastern’s premium economy in August 2026, and I hope I never do so again.
From a tedious booking process to a strange Shanghai airport experience, uncomfortable seats, and a turbulent flight, I don’t see myself on another China Eastern flight anytime soon. Here’s how things went on a 12-hour flight between China and Europe on the A350-900 aircraft in premium economy.
Why I Flew China Eastern
With ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, I needed to get from Singapore to Madrid without connecting there. I decided to connect through Asia instead.
Although Singapore Airlines has recently launched a flight between the 2 destinations, it was more than $2,000 per person on my peak summer dates, and I didn’t have enough miles to book it.
I booked China Eastern when I realized that on certain days, I could fly the one-way route in premium economy for the same price as on other dates in economy: $1,309 per person. It was the lowest premium economy fare I found across the board. This included a nearly 5-hour flight between Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG), followed by a 12-hour flight from Shanghai to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD).
I had reservations after reading negative reviews about China Eastern’s digital assistance and infrastructure, onboard comfort, and language barriers.
Upgraded Points director of features, Alberto Riva, mentioned a recent China Eastern flight in business class where a passenger “stood up from his pod, pulled out an electric shaver and began shaving his head (the crew ignored him).” That didn’t help my hesitation, but China Eastern was the most affordable option I had, and I was out of ideas and miles.
I hoped that the premium economy seats would make up for the possibility of a negative experience elsewhere.
They didn’t.
Booking Was Tedious
The booking process was a bit annoying. I encountered errors while booking on the China Eastern website and had to frequently translate the site from Chinese to English, as it kept defaulting to Chinese during the booking process.
Once I realized the $1,309 premium economy fare was the same as economy, I purchased 3 tickets with my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. I earned 2x Ultimate Rewards points on travel, and I was covered by the card’s travel protections. In premium economy, I could select my seat without an additional charge, and the fare class also included 1 free checked bag per person. Business class prices started at $5,565.
Although China Eastern is a SkyTeam member, I couldn’t find any award availability with the airline’s Eastern Miles program. I attempted to credit the flight to Delta SkyMiles, but I still haven’t seen the miles in my account. I am in the process of claiming them.
I didn’t receive a confirmation email, so I called the Madrid office for China Eastern, and they said this happens regularly. A week later, I got the booking confirmation.
Booking With Miles Was Near Impossible
I couldn’t find a good program to book China Eastern using miles. I did a lot of searching on both China Eastern and partner airlines, and I couldn’t find much availability to successfully book with miles.
When I searched Delta for award availability, I couldn’t find any on China Eastern, though I have read reports of flying between the U.S. and Shanghai for 120,000 SkyMiles in business or 50,000 SkyMiles in economy.
In general, it’s not easy to book partner awards on China Eastern, as the airline reportedly doesn’t always sync properly with SkyTeam partners such as Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Air France-KLM Flying Blue, and awards may appear as phantom availability.
We Didn’t Get Lounge Access in Shanghai (Even With Priority Pass Membership)
Although Priority Pass got me into an excellent lounge in Singapore, my premium economy fare didn’t include lounge access in Shanghai.
We landed an hour late (around 11 p.m.) in Shanghai from Singapore in the S1 terminal. The airport felt like a ghost town. There were 4 lounges according to Priority Pass, but 2 were closed, even though it said they’d stay open until the last flight.
I visited both China Eastern lounges listed in the Priority Pass app. The staff dismissed me, shouting that the lounges were for business class passengers or too crowded. I’ve never had such an awful experience attempting to visit a lounge.
With lounge access off the table, I got a bottle of water from a restaurant before it closed, and everything else was closed. If airlines operate late flights, the airport amenities should stay open long enough for passengers to get food and drinks.
Bathrooms were mostly squat toilets, with lines for seated ones. I didn’t get a good impression of the Shanghai S1 terminal and don’t plan to change planes there again anytime soon.
Premium Seats Looked Good but Weren’t as Comfy as They Looked
Boarding was the smoothest part of my flight, though business, premium economy, and SkyTeam elites boarded all at once.
Both legs of my trip were on A350s, where 32 premium economy seats are arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration. The seats looked significantly larger and more comfortable than the economy class seats. Economy seats have a 31- to 32-inch pitch, an 18-inch width, and a 3- to 6-inch recline. Premium economy seats have a 37-inch pitch, a width of 18.5 inches, and a recline of 7 inches.
They were quite a bit wider and featured leg and footrests.
The width was helpful for comfort. But the recline didn’t feel like much more than economy, and the 2 separate leg and footrests were awkward. One came out of my seat at 45 degrees, and the other was from the seat back in front of me. A single, more functional footrest would have been better.
Each seat had a small amenity kit with the basics, including earplugs in a case, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb/brush, and an eye mask.
Premium economy didn’t have its own lavatory, so I had to walk a bit through the economy class area to use the bathroom. The individual inflight entertainment screens had some international options, but mainly featured Chinese movies and shows. Each seat had a charging outlet and a small storage area in the armrest, large enough for a phone and a pair of glasses. The tray tables popped up from the armrests.
The Food Was Inedible
The food in premium economy was exactly the same as in economy, which was disappointing. It wasn’t good at all, especially compared to the tasty chicken and pork noodle and rice dishes I enjoyed on a recent Cathay Pacific economy flight.
On China Eastern, there were slimy noodles, rubbery meat, and too much shrimp. Even the breakfast option was shrimp with noodles. I have no problem with seafood, but shrimp on a plane with noodles for breakfast during a turbulent flight was unappetizing. The melon was so hard that I couldn’t chew it.
Service Was Average
The crew was neither good nor bad but wasn’t especially kind or helpful. Most of them didn’t speak English or Spanish, which was strange on a flight to Spain. It was difficult to communicate, and they were fairly brusque.
Timing Was Disruptive
One of the things that annoyed me most about my flying experience was meal timing. The flight left Shanghai at 12:45 a.m. The crew served dinner and shut the lights off. I thought we’d have around 8 or 9 hours to get some rest before breakfast.
Or so I thought.
About 5 hours before landing (a mere 4 hours or so after dinner was served), the lights flickered on, and staff served the shrimp breakfast. Everyone was asleep and looked confused to be brusquely woken up and served seafood several hours before landing. Landing time was around 8 a.m., so this was around 3 a.m. in Madrid.
We decided against breakfast, but my 5-year-old couldn’t fall back asleep. I don’t understand why the airline didn’t wait until the usual 2 hours before landing to serve the final meal. This disrupted my family’s ability to get the rest we needed to land and hit the ground running.
My Luggage Arrived Quickly
My experience with China Eastern wasn’t all bad. One of the positives was that my luggage arrived safe and sound (which I never take for granted) in Madrid, which I appreciated.
Final Thoughts
My experience with China Eastern wasn’t great, and I’ll likely avoid the airline in the future. If I got an incredible deal, I might consider a business class seat, but I’ll bring my own food. I’d still rather fly Cathay Pacific economy in the future, which felt like a more elevated experience. I would only opt to fly China Eastern’s premium economy again at the same price as economy if I had no better alternative.