Just back today from flights SYD-Chengdu-Istanbul ... and back. They were about $A3,600 business class all in.
I've flown several million miles in pointy ends and in short - pretty decent value seeing any other carrier is DOUBLE that with all the recent fuel surcharges.
I'd compare it to buying a current BYD for HALF the price of a Tesla - you get essentially the same end product, minus a few little frills but save a TON of money. For most folks it will do fine.
Booked via flight Centre as using the Sichuan website seems impossible for non-Chinese readers. With their new reward scheme some point accrual at least, and the Sichuan FF program seems impossible to navigate for non-Chinese! TA's here unable to pre-allocate seating, but I emailed Sichuan and got it all done with seats of our choice -
[email protected] - TA gets told seats are allocated on DAY of floghts.
Indeed something I have seen reported NOWHERE else is that
Sichuan Air offer you a FREE hotel if your layover is over 12 hours. Used that same email to pre-arrange it, and it worked fine and was all confirmed. Very classy 4 star Hilton type room near airport, with free transfers.
A few points below as much info out there on web is hopelessly wrong and/or ill-informed, and/or wildly out of date.
Ex Sydney they do
not use Qantas lounge as they once did. Can't recall what it was, as we were late and barely used it, but was OK. Pretty sure it was Plaza Premium.
They have 2 versions of A330. Both are rather dated - but essentially have lie flat beds. Older type with smaller swing up IFE are 1990s type relics. That bed does not QUITE lie flat at foot end - I grabbed some extra pillows and issue sorted.
Other A330 has seat back IFE, and true lie flat beds. Both use bud earphones for IFE - seems absurd, and a cheapskate look in 2026!
IFE choice was better than I expected, with quite a few watchable movies in English. Have flown a lot of long haul Air China and their IFE was woeful for English speakers.
Free Wi-Fi on the SYD-TFU - did not use it, as slept both ways.
Cheery staff .. English not terrific, but all keen to help.
No printed menus - staff use tablets with choices on them -- sometimes with images, and sometimes verbally. Choice limited but essentially a Chinese AND Western choice. All was fine with us. Usual hot towels and bread rolls and dessert etc.
Wine choices were - White and Red - plus beer and spirits. Not a choice of 5 or 10 each like on SQ etc, but a couple of times they bought out a couple of bottles to choose from. Worked for us as we are not wine snobs.
Lounge at TFU is TOTALLY misreported on the web. TFU in T1 (all It'l flights) is widely underserviced - all carriers use ONE large lounge for Biz and first. Despite all crazy web reports it closes at 9am etc, and food ceases at 8pm etc , it is open until the wee hours and serves food and drinks etc. There are outgoing flights each day at 3am and 4am etc from some carriers. Sichuan has their own lounge in DOMESTIC t2, but one cannot go from T1 airside to T2 and it is miles of walking if you risk it.
It is simply branded
'Business and first Class Lounge' and is above Duty free, and was near our gate 117 thankfully. There is nothing much else in lounges in T1. I got the impression s was NOT able to be accessed by Day Pass buyers, or AMEX Cards holders etc. The Turkish Airlines lounge we left from in Istanbul must have had 1000 folks in there - like a football match crowd.
The SYD flight leaves at 1.30am, and our flight to Istanbul was also same red eye. So LOTS of Sichaun long hauls are weird hours. Having a good lounge there until boarding time, is
ESSENTIAL for us - and for most I am sure.
Spacious lounge, with 2 showers, which I always find essential for late flights after a day of sightseeing etc. We'd been in Chongqing (population 32 MILLION!) and temp had been 40c and humid, and had arrived via Bullet Train 'G' series - speed 350km. Cost for
'First Class' is only $A25 more than second class, for the 2.5 hour trip!
Panda Bear facility visit is a no-brainer for first time visitors and the long layover allows that easily. A one-day visit to Chongqing by Bullet train VERY doable. Bullet trains leave and arrive from TFU airport - simple to access and get a late one back to TFU.
One cool little touch - halfway through the Airbus A330, 8 hour flight Istanbul to Chengdu, the Purser presented me this pretty cool Birthday card!
I must have taken 20 International flights on my Birthday, as I like to go places then, but no airline has ever noticed the date of birth on the tickets.
