I have no issues getting into any Chinese based airlines, I have done China Sothrn. China Eastern, air China, Xiamen airplus a few others but the main worry is delays either by weather as you know who controls the airspace!!!
In fact, this is an aviation safety officer, also known as a casual aviation police. The Chinese name is "security officer". There are one or two aviation safety officers on every flight in China. They are responsible for the handling of emergency security situations in the cabin and have certain law enforcement power. They are wearing a law enforcement video recorder, which is used for evidence just like the camera worn by the police. They need to inspect the cabin safety during the flight. They are particularly cautious on flights in Central Asia or the Middle East, and the frequency of patrols will increase, mainly because there have been security checks where gangsters have tried to break into the cockpit and hijack planes in the past. If it is a route between Europe and the United States or Japan and South Korea, you will find that they basically sleep in their seats and have a low sense of existence.
@@1mmickk Says the delusional & brainless anti-China/anti-CCP troll 🤣🤣 You don't even have proof that they are "agents of the CCP guarding cargo for the CCP". So nice try for showing your sheer stupidity. LMAO
Pretty much kazach are a minority in Xinjiang and let say some of them were locked up in the aka training ( in the west you call in concentrate camp for the uighur )camp by mistake now the govt fear some of the kazach may turn radicalize and attempt revenge hence beep up security
Same sorts of Marshall on my flight from Shanghai to Xian (China Eastern), pacing up and down the aisle. At the end of the flight, few minutes before landing, two passengers started a shouting match. Thanks to the Marshall, he escorted the two and their families out of the plane immediately.
I'm based in Chengdu. A few thoughts on this: 1) The weird sensation is Sichuan peppercorns. That's not unusual with the catering out of TFU. 2) The air marshalls doing that recording walking thing is pretty common over the past year or two across airlines in China. I fly mostly 3U and CA and they both have it happen on both domestic and international flights. Nothing "spy" about it. 3) TFU always opens international check-in a bit late. Not totally sure why but it is a bit annoying. Maybe it has to do with limited shopping/dining being open past security so they want to limit the number of people going through the terminal and security/immigration at a time. 4) Loong doesn't have anything to make it a "BIZARRE CHINESE SPY AIRLINE". It's a bit more of a budget carrier, but the security and baggage from your video all seem normal. I like your content but the title to this one is really cringe.
That's something under Western sanctions being discretely transported to Russia. Most probably electronics they use for missiles and drones in Ukraine. Random small airline, then a Maltese-registered stolen aircraft that will fly to Kazan where Alabuga factory is.
@@Juanita-gf4te You can bet any CIA-style "service" of any western country knows the Chinese give a wet toss about rules and regulations when there is money to make.
the soaplike taste is from a Sichuan pepper. You bite into one of thoese and it fels like biting into a hand soap. Very strong tasting and - as the name suggests - a staple of Sichan cuisine where Chengdu is located
Sichuan peppercorns give off a lemony type flavor that may be reminiscent of lemon dish soap. The sensation you feel is called "Ma-La" in Mandarin. It's numbing and spicy at once. I enjoy it but it's weird if you are not expecting that taste or sensation while eating.
@@stefthepef, I was thinking the same thing, especially as many people describe a soapy taste in cilantro. Me, I feel neither the fragrant citrus-like taste that cilantro lovers describe nor a soapy taste. It's even worse: the taste is IDENTICAL to the foul smell of crushed green stinkbugs. Totally disgusting, repulsive, UNBEARABLE! 🤢 If one is raised since early childhood in a place where cilantro is commonly used in the food, one gets used to it, even if one has one of the "bad cilantro taste" genes, but cilantro is almost unheard of where I was raised, so I can't stand it. I've never tasted Sichuan pepper, but I always heard great things about Sichuan cuisine and always wanted to try it. Now I know that it may taste like green stinkbugs to me. Eek!!!
I flew a couple of weeks ago Zhengzhou to Chengdu domestic airport and in business class. We had seat 1A and 1C just in front of us was empty until just before the door closed a well-dressed guy walks in and sits down with a someone else carrying his rollaboard for him. They sit down, crew fuss round him and we take off. In arrival in Chengdu, his assistant stands up grabs rollaboard, important guy stands up, walks off. Half way up the jetbridge a door opens and they disappear, right in front of me. Obviously some high ranking official. Planes in China are weird but as Josh says, always nice to us foreigners. And yep that facial recognition thing is cool and chilling at the same time
The air marshall kept walking every 5-10 mins and recording the passengers. How normal is that even for a chinese airline? I've been to Hong Kong and never encountered this kind of weird security.
I’m definitely a ‘bus gate’ guy, its great to catch an up close and personal view of these beautiful machines, hear the engine roars and feel their heat..😊yummy!!
@@siddkumar8032 Just take a snapshot of the plane in the video and search with google image. It's indeed a plane reg. 9H-SMG from a lease company Smart Lynx in Malta and leased to different carriers like Saudia, Condor, Air Asia, Air Transat and so on
That soap detergent taste is mala-In mandarin. Very popular in Sichuan province. So yea it isn't chemicals or anything. Just a chili pepper. Might not be for everyone, but certainly a very big part of Sichuan food.
I have to say, on behalf of all the Avgeek community, thank you so much for being our guinea pig 😄 it would be interesting if in the future you fly Loong Air on a different route to see if there’s any difference (or not).
Air Marshals might be due to some reasons, like, somebody is getting extradited, somebody is transporting government documents, the cargo is important, like, money, gold, etc.
@@sebinamuwanga U.S. Air Marshall’s are supposed to blend in. Chinese population is more tolerant of securitization in civil society. Freedom in China is not viewed the same way as in the West. Chinese culture prioritises the welfare of the family or group over individual desire and freedoms.
I prefer remote gates as I’m a wheekchsir user who can’t walk, so when it’s not a jet bridge, I get a scissor lift. This means I’m usually taken a different way from the terminal to the plane and first on board so all settled prior to anyone else boarding. Then I’m the last off but taken through to the front of the passport control queue. So I just relax on the plane until we are taken off and driven to the terminal in usually a different gate and often see different parts of the airport to most.
The red A330 It’s from SmartLynx Airlines Malta (ACMI). I’m a flight attendant and I done couples of flights operation this one. I loved it! We flew a couples of months over there for Panorama Airways (new Uzbekistan carrier).
If i am not mistaken, initially that route was established to introduce an easy way to travel to Sichuan for Russian entrepreneurs who intend to import some goods from there. However, several direct flights between Moscow and Sichuan were introduced later. I have no idea why that flight still exists
Air Marshalls in CN wear bodycams and regularly patrol the cabin as CAAC regulations require, usually, there's a recorded statement being announced before the flight like "you are under CCTV surveillance as per required by CAAC regulations". Every five minutes is way too much though: never seen anything like this. The route itself is not v strange by CN standard actually as the authorities are really ramping up services to BRI countries. Subsidies are available for these flights. LoongAir was privately owned and probably big enough to want to avert sanctions: they have some 70 planes in operation.
If you want to have a other strange experience fly from Sunan Shuofang airport near Wuxi. Due its also a military airport all windows blinds need to be closed at the gate, during taxi, takeoff and landing. Also the bridges are blind and you can not see the aircraft you are entering due a matt finish on the window of the airport. .
I hope you recorded the air marshal’s. Definitely an airline that I will never fly with. They definitely need to get their act together and definitely need to change their catering company. The airline should have paid you to fly with them. Ever time I flew into Narita I had to take the shuttle bus to the gate.
A very honest review Josh Suspicious airline, numerous security check and doubting on passengers on board a big let off. Poor quality food. Some how Chinese are unable to give a quality product. Not only in aviation but also in electronics quality is given least priority. They treat foreigners so shabbily typical don't care attitude. Great review. I will never fly in their airlines. What a country.
I hope they will implement air marshalls with body cams in all flights worldwide. The pax should be aware that they are monitored.. so ppl. start behaving properly again!
People know they’re going to end up on TH-cam if they act up on an aircraft. Everyone records on their phone these days. I definitely don’t share your opinion that we need a surveillance state to enforce behavior. That’s cringeworthy.
I landed in Uzbekistan in June this year from Rome with Uzbekistan airways and it was a bus gate. Plane was not full either and it was the last flight of the season from Rome. Apparently many people (not me) are scared of Uzebkistan heat..i love it as it dry. Very hot and dry. Uzebkistan airways food was good but not their horse sausage snack(flight tashkent-kuala lumpur) one of the most disgusting things i have ever eaten lol and im not picky at all
That soapy taste would be the kitchen adding too much bi-carb soda as a meat tenderiser or not washing it off after the tenderising process if they normally add a lot. Bi-carb soda is used quite a lot in Chinese cooking in a process known as “velveting”.
sky Marshalls are everywhere when flying around China as I did this for 10 years while living in Guangzhou but I mostly flew around with China Southern or China Eastern but the Marshalls always say on seat 1 D but I never did have any issues but back in the day, any mobiles had to be in Flight Mode which they policed raarher strictly. the on board food was just so so but these days, I now am back in New Zealand but do not longer fly around Chinadomesically. really view your videos but keep up the excellent work mate.
True back then you couldn’t even use your phone on the plane… and yes I think every flight in China has Sky Marshals but honestly I have never seen them record the cabin and passengers every 5 minutes. Usually they sit and chill or watch movies on their phone.
@@JoshCahillThe frequency of going through the aisles is definitely up to the sky marshal. You probably encountered some lazy laid back ones. I was on a flight from Shanghai to Lijiang and the sky marshals all did it at 5-10 minute intervals.
I had a similar thing happen on in a EgyptAir flight. From Cairo to Aswan.. there was two officers that were fully armed and also in uniform. 1 set in economy at the way back.and the other in business.. I was sitting in seat 1A across from the other guy in business.. I asked him if he was a air marshall and he said yes..
Some of the niche international flights operated by Chinese carriers are policy/subsidy based, especially to the countries within the belt-and-route initiatives countries and countries that have strong tourism and business interactions with China.
Interesting review. 11:26 That A330 is registered as 9H-SMH with an airline called SmartLynx Malta. This aircraft was originally 9M-XXT with AirAsia X.
Once I had a return flight, HKG to Shanghai. It was scheduled as non-stop. About 2 hours in we made an unscheduled stop somewhere adjacent to what appeared to be a commercial airport, but we landed off on the east side on a somewhat separated runway. We were all forced to disembark and go to a hanger where we were treated to drinks and strange snacks, but we were not in view of the plane. This was 1997. After about 30 min., they ushered us back to the plane (China Eastern), where we continued on. i could see the locals on the plane chatting about it, but my Mandarin was pretty poor then so I didn't understand the conversations. I just knew this was a strange situation. Never figured it out.
The marshall/camera is common and not only related to your flight (already see that for few flights). But indeed, the first time that we see that, it's strange
I was just in Chengdu today, somehow every time I fly in China it's on a new airline even if codeshare for some other more common one. There are so many more airlines than every other country in China.
The cabin pressurization can cause nose bleeds, you fly often- is this a first? If so, Hmmm. Improper cabin pressure can alter taste, another commenter mention a type of pepper? Reflect on this.
The Air Marshal with body cam also happened to me on two recent flights with China Southern from Ho Chi Minh City to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Seoul. Not every 5 minutes though but he probably did 8-10 walkthroughs with the body cam recording and announcements were made to inform of the strict Chinese laws regarding misbehaving on an airplane or tampering with airplane equipment.
Definitely a more strange flight but I wonder if it's just varied that day in particular perhaps? Also seeing comments mentioning that the food had Sichuan peppercorns, if your mouth felt a bit of a numbing sensation as well as a tingling feeling. Then that definitely is something that happens with Sichuan pepper corns. A little bit of that seasoning is not bad, but if a dish just has lots of those. It can get unpleasant.
Jetbridge vs Bus. Buses take forever to reach the terminal building, because they wait for the bus to fill up with passengers, because of the low speed limit of something like 20km/h, and because of sometimes long-winded taxiing. To be fair, quite many a land-side terminal-to-terminal bus transfers also suck balls (looking at you, ParisCDG).
Sky marshal is common for Chinese airlines. I was surprised you didn’t see before. JuneYao Airlines has sticker placed bulkhead partition say sky marshal is recording. China Eastern Airlines also has sky marshal on board. The camera is standard issue and they wear and record all the time. So nothing strange about to see sky marshal is on board in Chinese Airlines.
I saw a Loong Air plane when I was in Kuala Lumpur International Airport after watching your video and had a "oh! I've heard about this airline!" moment haha
Team - airbridge. My favorite "stan" - Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬. Traveled overland from China to Kyrgyzstan, and it was checkpoint to checkpoint. Everyone was very nice, but it was a pretty full-on day, so I think the "area," you were traveling may have had something to do with it.
The Airmarshall is on every Chinese Airline mandatory and they let you know that they record you in advance during the safety briefing On china southern they have a exrra video about this before the flight
Loong to my knowledge means dragon.Cathay Pacific has their regional airlines called Dragon air. But this is not associated with them. This company started out as a cargo plane and later converted to passenger. Good review.
In Rhodes airport we pulled up in a lovely A-320Neo only to be put on a bus and driven about a mile around other planes to our arrival gate, which turned out to be 40ft from our plane. We could have just walked it lol.
I took a domestic flight from Shanghai to Urumqi, and there was also a sky marshal. In fact, I feel safe to have him on the plane. For sure, no hijacking would ever happen..:=)
I was just at the new airport in Chengdu! I was a flight from Dubai to Xining, and the airport in Chengdu was where I transferred flights. It was a pretty beautiful airport.
Me being a huge Train and Plane enthusiast I have heard of the Airline The plane at Tashkent kinda looked like a Norwegian, never even knew they ran to Uzbekistan
Maybe those sky marshals are there to film any suspicious passenger behavior because there might be some special cargo being carried? I don't know... Awesome review anyways! 😍
Loongair used to be a cargo airline, and often these obscure routes that are the result of diplomatic MOUs are highly subsidised by the CCP, which is why it is economical to fly only twenty pax, and charge high prices: they don't care about the passenger service. I would imagine a lot of that cargo is high-value, small-size items bound for another country north of Uzbekistan...
6.29 is my birthday and Josh you made a video of the airline from my hometown Hangzhou tysm! I take Loong Air HGH-KIX every year because the price is cheap and the plane is new. There are much more airlines in China that is not famous at all and this Loong air really attract me.
you can search between air marshals in US and China they have similar work, undercover or with a body camera. because one thing is the same USA and China airlines has large fleet like 500 airplanes. So they need air marshals to handle naughty passengers or suspicious ones.
I recently flew on both china southern and china eastern. I first I didn't understand the air marshal thing, but later on the second flight I understood. China has a social score monitoring system that can eventually ban one from traveling. This is due to anything from bad behavior or government interest etc. But for sure I've seen the bad behavior thing from the Chinese on the plane. It was very bad and the flight attendants had almost no control, so yes in my opinion they need air marshals on planes in china.
Hi Josh, as a Chinese Australian lives in Melbourne, I haven’t been able to travel to China in recent years due to visa requirement, but the recent announcement of 15 days Visa free stay for Australian citizens might change that. Would you dare to under go the challenge of flying on 15 different airlines over 15 days in economy class? Make it in different parts, that would be very interesting.
I guess the reason for the air marshal walking around in the cabin more frequently than other Chinese-carrier flights was because the airlines think it's more risky for hijack or other forms of terrorist activities encountered on a route linking Central Asia destinations. Not sure, but just a guess.
I believe the aviation security officer is normal in China, I was on round trip flight from Münich to Beijing and from Beijing to Hanoi and he was on every flight.
Loong is pronounce Noon like afternoon. Loong means dragon. Chinese prefer fast convenience over privacy. Usually East and West are opposite. Something in the middle is best like Singapore.
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Would you fly on a Chinese Airline you have never heard of? Let me know!
Even though I love aviation, in this case big no no.
Nope
what's the fucking is Loong air it is really a small air, cheers josh for the review NXT Kenya airways it's been a while.
I have no issues getting into any Chinese based airlines, I have done China Sothrn. China Eastern, air China, Xiamen airplus a few others but the main worry is delays either by weather as you know who controls the airspace!!!
Josh, NO! Chinese nothing for awhile! 🇺🇲 🌈 🛫
In fact, this is an aviation safety officer, also known as a casual aviation police. The Chinese name is "security officer". There are one or two aviation safety officers on every flight in China. They are responsible for the handling of emergency security situations in the cabin and have certain law enforcement power. They are wearing a law enforcement video recorder, which is used for evidence just like the camera worn by the police. They need to inspect the cabin safety during the flight. They are particularly cautious on flights in Central Asia or the Middle East, and the frequency of patrols will increase, mainly because there have been security checks where gangsters have tried to break into the cockpit and hijack planes in the past. If it is a route between Europe and the United States or Japan and South Korea, you will find that they basically sleep in their seats and have a low sense of existence.
@@1mmickk Says the delusional & brainless anti-China/anti-CCP troll 🤣🤣
You don't even have proof that they are "agents of the CCP guarding cargo for the CCP". So nice try for showing your sheer stupidity. LMAO
I thought China is safe?
Thanks for that info
Pretty much kazach are a minority in Xinjiang and let say some of them were locked up in the aka training ( in the west you call in concentrate camp for the uighur )camp by mistake now the govt fear some of the kazach may turn radicalize and attempt revenge hence beep up security
@@tunglew9969 thought China is safe
Same sorts of Marshall on my flight from Shanghai to Xian (China Eastern), pacing up and down the aisle. At the end of the flight, few minutes before landing, two passengers started a shouting match. Thanks to the Marshall, he escorted the two and their families out of the plane immediately.
thats a quick deplane life hack.
I'm based in Chengdu. A few thoughts on this:
1) The weird sensation is Sichuan peppercorns. That's not unusual with the catering out of TFU.
2) The air marshalls doing that recording walking thing is pretty common over the past year or two across airlines in China. I fly mostly 3U and CA and they both have it happen on both domestic and international flights. Nothing "spy" about it.
3) TFU always opens international check-in a bit late. Not totally sure why but it is a bit annoying. Maybe it has to do with limited shopping/dining being open past security so they want to limit the number of people going through the terminal and security/immigration at a time.
4) Loong doesn't have anything to make it a "BIZARRE CHINESE SPY AIRLINE". It's a bit more of a budget carrier, but the security and baggage from your video all seem normal. I like your content but the title to this one is really cringe.
Why do they have to film the passengers every 5 minute? That is weird!
Holy moly, you can access youtube !
That’s what a spy or someone with an interest would say.
I guess you have to love China to live there. Cringe.
Sure it's peppercorn numbing??? That's different to a chemical taste.
That's something under Western sanctions being discretely transported to Russia. Most probably electronics they use for missiles and drones in Ukraine. Random small airline, then a Maltese-registered stolen aircraft that will fly to Kazan where Alabuga factory is.
Probably true, exports from Germany to Kyrgyzstan have tripled… I wonder why 😅
Discreetly......
@@Juanita-gf4te You can bet any CIA-style "service" of any western country knows the Chinese give a wet toss about rules and regulations when there is money to make.
@@JoshCahill Parts for Mercedes Benz & Porsche. 😅
Why are you guys making up factually false things just to make china look bad?
the soaplike taste is from a Sichuan pepper. You bite into one of thoese and it fels like biting into a hand soap. Very strong tasting and - as the name suggests - a staple of Sichan cuisine where Chengdu is located
If it's well made that soapy taste isn't the dominating one though.
@@peterpain6625It's meant to suit their regional palate, not far flung foreigners.😊
Sichuan peppercorns give off a lemony type flavor that may be reminiscent of lemon dish soap. The sensation you feel is called "Ma-La" in Mandarin. It's numbing and spicy at once. I enjoy it but it's weird if you are not expecting that taste or sensation while eating.
Interesting! I was about to ask if he had the Cilantro-tastes-like-soap gene. I wonder if there's a similar chemical in those peppers now.
@@stefthepef, I was thinking the same thing, especially as many people describe a soapy taste in cilantro. Me, I feel neither the fragrant citrus-like taste that cilantro lovers describe nor a soapy taste. It's even worse: the taste is IDENTICAL to the foul smell of crushed green stinkbugs. Totally disgusting, repulsive, UNBEARABLE! 🤢
If one is raised since early childhood in a place where cilantro is commonly used in the food, one gets used to it, even if one has one of the "bad cilantro taste" genes, but cilantro is almost unheard of where I was raised, so I can't stand it. I've never tasted Sichuan pepper, but I always heard great things about Sichuan cuisine and always wanted to try it. Now I know that it may taste like green stinkbugs to me. Eek!!!
11:25 That suspicious Airbus A330 is actually ex. AirAsia X A330 with "Xcintillating PhoeniX" special livery (9M-XXT)
Aren't Air Asia normally Red to the rear?
@@downundarob It's using old livery on this special livery
@@Nexus_A350XWBwas this plane in service in 2022 as well ?
Currently flying for Uzbekistan carrier Panorama Airways to Medina and Jeddah (haj flights)
@@Saifull1991 Yes. The plane leaves AirAsia X fleet during 2020 pandemic and SmartLynx Malta took the plane in 2022. Now the plane is stored
I flew a couple of weeks ago Zhengzhou to Chengdu domestic airport and in business class. We had seat 1A and 1C just in front of us was empty until just before the door closed a well-dressed guy walks in and sits down with a someone else carrying his rollaboard for him. They sit down, crew fuss round him and we take off. In arrival in Chengdu, his assistant stands up grabs rollaboard, important guy stands up, walks off. Half way up the jetbridge a door opens and they disappear, right in front of me. Obviously some high ranking official. Planes in China are weird but as Josh says, always nice to us foreigners. And yep that facial recognition thing is cool and chilling at the same time
不用害怕
"Bizarre Chinese spy airline" ?? It's literally just an average low-budget Chinese carrier
Josh is the master of the click bait headline.
@@iocatdon't know who's worse, Cahill or Philips.
It is bizarre, air Marshall walking every five minutes
The air marshall kept walking every 5-10 mins and recording the passengers. How normal is that even for a chinese airline? I've been to Hong Kong and never encountered this kind of weird security.
The cargo might hold "sensitive items" that might end up in Russia.
cry about it, the world is not belong to white-race alone.
I’m definitely a ‘bus gate’ guy, its great to catch an up close and personal view of these beautiful machines, hear the engine roars and feel their heat..😊yummy!!
I'm having massive deja vu. I swear I have seen this vid before.....
Thanks, i was asking myself the same thing!
I was thinking the same thing
It's part of the video of his trip to lowest airport
Makes sense
it's part of the highest to lowest airport challenge. but with more details this time.
The red A333 belongs to SmartLynx but is currently operated and chartered by Uzbekistan Airways
Well done!
Actually, Afaik it is wet leased to Panorama Airways. Another Uzbek carrier
How did you figure that out? Very curious
@@siddkumar8032 Just take a snapshot of the plane in the video and search with google image. It's indeed a plane reg. 9H-SMG from a lease company Smart Lynx in Malta and leased to different carriers like Saudia, Condor, Air Asia, Air Transat and so on
That soap detergent taste is mala-In mandarin. Very popular in Sichuan province. So yea it isn't chemicals or anything. Just a chili pepper. Might not be for everyone, but certainly a very big part of Sichuan food.
In a flight from Paris to Geneva, captain said "we are flying with 25 tons of gold".
I have to say, on behalf of all the Avgeek community, thank you so much for being our guinea pig 😄 it would be interesting if in the future you fly Loong Air on a different route to see if there’s any difference (or not).
Bus gate always, you get much closer to the passport control without needing to walk for miles
Air Marshals might be due to some reasons, like, somebody is getting extradited, somebody is transporting government documents, the cargo is important, like, money, gold, etc.
I thought that Air Marshals are supposed to be discreet and must not reveal their identity.
@@sebinamuwanga U.S. Air Marshall’s are supposed to blend in. Chinese population is more tolerant of securitization in civil society. Freedom in China is not viewed the same way as in the West. Chinese culture prioritises the welfare of the family or group over individual desire and freedoms.
Every flight I took with a chinese airline had an air marshall on board, wearing uniform and camera, but they were always sitting alone
@@jude_the_apostlethere eis no "freedom" in Chinese society. Government does as it pleases
I prefer remote gates as I’m a wheekchsir user who can’t walk, so when it’s not a jet bridge, I get a scissor lift. This means I’m usually taken a different way from the terminal to the plane and first on board so all settled prior to anyone else boarding. Then I’m the last off but taken through to the front of the passport control queue. So I just relax on the plane until we are taken off and driven to the terminal in usually a different gate and often see different parts of the airport to most.
The red A330 It’s from SmartLynx Airlines Malta (ACMI). I’m a flight attendant and I done couples of flights operation this one. I loved it! We flew a couples of months over there for Panorama Airways (new Uzbekistan carrier).
Love your videos on "non-mainstream" airlines and countries.
If i am not mistaken, initially that route was established to introduce an easy way to travel to Sichuan for Russian entrepreneurs who intend to import some goods from there. However, several direct flights between Moscow and Sichuan were introduced later. I have no idea why that flight still exists
Air Marshalls in CN wear bodycams and regularly patrol the cabin as CAAC regulations require, usually, there's a recorded statement being announced before the flight like "you are under CCTV surveillance as per required by CAAC regulations". Every five minutes is way too much though: never seen anything like this. The route itself is not v strange by CN standard actually as the authorities are really ramping up services to BRI countries. Subsidies are available for these flights.
LoongAir was privately owned and probably big enough to want to avert sanctions: they have some 70 planes in operation.
If you want to have a other strange experience fly from Sunan Shuofang airport near Wuxi. Due its also a military airport all windows blinds need to be closed at the gate, during taxi, takeoff and landing. Also the bridges are blind and you can not see the aircraft you are entering due a matt finish on the window of the airport. .
I hope you recorded the air marshal’s. Definitely an airline that I will never fly with. They definitely need to get their act together and definitely need to change their catering company. The airline should have paid you to fly with them. Ever time I flew into Narita I had to take the shuttle bus to the gate.
Maybe the reason for the security is there might be someone important (Government Official or Diplomat) who was on board the Flight
What’s in the belly of that plane? My guess is “dual use goods” being forwarded from Tashkent.
Keep up the great work btw.
A very honest review Josh Suspicious airline, numerous security check and doubting on passengers on board a big let off. Poor quality food. Some how Chinese are unable to give a quality product. Not only in aviation but also in electronics quality is given least priority. They treat foreigners so shabbily typical don't care attitude. Great review. I will never fly in their airlines. What a country.
Congrats on 700k in advance josh:)
Not there yet - ask your friends to hit that subscribe button 🤪
@@JoshCahill Definitely I will:))
I hope they will implement air marshalls with body cams in all flights worldwide. The pax should be aware that they are monitored.. so ppl. start behaving properly again!
People know they’re going to end up on TH-cam if they act up on an aircraft. Everyone records on their phone these days. I definitely don’t share your opinion that we need a surveillance state to enforce behavior. That’s cringeworthy.
Bizarre? Yes.
Dodgy? Yes, very.
Spy airline? Probably not.
i love Kazakhstan, i spent 5 years in Almaty and Astana flying with a local airline there. Beautiful people and really nice country
Tashkent is in Uzbekistan not Kazakhstan, just saying
@@compounding999 i was replying to Josh's statement about KZ, i am familiar with the region
I landed in Uzbekistan in June this year from Rome with Uzbekistan airways and it was a bus gate. Plane was not full either and it was the last flight of the season from Rome. Apparently many people (not me) are scared of Uzebkistan heat..i love it as it dry. Very hot and dry. Uzebkistan airways food was good but not their horse sausage snack(flight tashkent-kuala lumpur) one of the most disgusting things i have ever eaten lol and im not picky at all
Ironic Surfshark sponsoring a video filmed in China when Surfshark doesn’t even work in China.
That soapy taste would be the kitchen adding too much bi-carb soda as a meat tenderiser or not washing it off after the tenderising process if they normally add a lot. Bi-carb soda is used quite a lot in Chinese cooking in a process known as “velveting”.
Its the trick for the beef and brocoli
No, its just Sichuan peppercorn
sky Marshalls are everywhere when flying around China as I did this for 10 years while living in Guangzhou but I mostly flew around with China Southern or China Eastern but the Marshalls always say on seat 1 D but I never did have any issues but back in the day, any mobiles had to be in Flight Mode which they policed raarher strictly. the on board food was just so so but these days, I now am back in New Zealand but do not longer fly around Chinadomesically. really view your videos but keep up the excellent work mate.
True back then you couldn’t even use your phone on the plane… and yes I think every flight in China has Sky Marshals but honestly I have never seen them record the cabin and passengers every 5 minutes. Usually they sit and chill or watch movies on their phone.
@@JoshCahillThe frequency of going through the aisles is definitely up to the sky marshal. You probably encountered some lazy laid back ones. I was on a flight from Shanghai to Lijiang and the sky marshals all did it at 5-10 minute intervals.
I had a similar thing happen on in a EgyptAir flight. From Cairo to Aswan.. there was two officers that were fully armed and also in uniform. 1 set in economy at the way back.and the other in business.. I was sitting in seat 1A across from the other guy in business.. I asked him if he was a air marshall and he said yes..
Some of the niche international flights operated by Chinese carriers are policy/subsidy based, especially to the countries within the belt-and-route initiatives countries and countries that have strong tourism and business interactions with China.
The airline that you were wondering is the notorious "Red & White Airlines"... Ha! Ha! Just kidding! 😄
Interesting review. 11:26 That A330 is registered as 9H-SMH with an airline called SmartLynx Malta. This aircraft was originally 9M-XXT with AirAsia X.
It's pronounced as loong (similar to loom) rather than long. Loong means 'dragon' in Chinese :)
Once I had a return flight, HKG to Shanghai. It was scheduled as non-stop. About 2 hours in we made an unscheduled stop somewhere adjacent to what appeared to be a commercial airport, but we landed off on the east side on a somewhat separated runway. We were all forced to disembark and go to a hanger where we were treated to drinks and strange snacks, but we were not in view of the plane. This was 1997. After about 30 min., they ushered us back to the plane (China Eastern), where we continued on. i could see the locals on the plane chatting about it, but my Mandarin was pretty poor then so I didn't understand the conversations. I just knew this was a strange situation. Never figured it out.
It looked as if they weren't unloading the cargo in Tashkent, just the suitcases of the passengers.
Chinese fuel tankers caught carrying cooking oil, which might explain your foil tasting food.
The red/white plane is SmartLynx from Malta
The marshall/camera is common and not only related to your flight (already see that for few flights). But indeed, the first time that we see that, it's strange
I was just in Chengdu today, somehow every time I fly in China it's on a new airline even if codeshare for some other more common one. There are so many more airlines than every other country in China.
i like the bus gates as you get a great view of the airside
The cabin pressurization can cause nose bleeds, you fly often- is this a first? If so, Hmmm. Improper cabin pressure can alter taste, another commenter mention a type of pepper? Reflect on this.
When I first saw you with the nosebleed I thought maybe the security worked you over a bit for asking questions. Glad you’re safe.
The A330 in Tashkent belongs to Smartlynx ACMI charter 9H-SMH
Air bridge , depending on the weather .
here in East London SA , had a Z type flat walkway , just roll your bags down , no lifting , really cool !
The Air Marshal with body cam also happened to me on two recent flights with China Southern from Ho Chi Minh City to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Seoul. Not every 5 minutes though but he probably did 8-10 walkthroughs with the body cam recording and announcements were made to inform of the strict Chinese laws regarding misbehaving on an airplane or tampering with airplane equipment.
Both times flying from Bangkok to Tashkent & Bishkek to Tashkent on Uzbekistan Airlines we had the busses both times.
From what I've seen Uzbekistan would be my favorite. As for steps versus jet bridge it would depend on the situation and how close my connection is.
Its probably some coriander substance or artificial imitation of the herb. Some people get a reaction that makes it taste like soap.
11:32 That is an ex air asia x plane , now operated by smartlynx. Spotted it a ton of times here last year. It was operating hajj flights for saudia.
Definitely a more strange flight but I wonder if it's just varied that day in particular perhaps?
Also seeing comments mentioning that the food had Sichuan peppercorns, if your mouth felt a bit of a numbing sensation as well as a tingling feeling. Then that definitely is something that happens with Sichuan pepper corns. A little bit of that seasoning is not bad, but if a dish just has lots of those. It can get unpleasant.
That unknown A330 must be 9H-SMH, now registered as HS-TXO for Thai AirAsia
Jetbridge vs Bus.
Buses take forever to reach the terminal building, because they wait for the bus to fill up with passengers, because of the low speed limit of something like 20km/h, and because of sometimes long-winded taxiing. To be fair, quite many a land-side terminal-to-terminal bus transfers also suck balls (looking at you, ParisCDG).
12:00 as someone who works at an airport with only a handful of jet bridges. I prefer jet bridges over buses.
Sky marshal is common for Chinese airlines. I was surprised you didn’t see before.
JuneYao Airlines has sticker placed bulkhead partition say sky marshal is recording.
China Eastern Airlines also has sky marshal on board.
The camera is standard issue and they wear and record all the time.
So nothing strange about to see sky marshal is on board in Chinese Airlines.
I saw a Loong Air plane when I was in Kuala Lumpur International Airport after watching your video and had a "oh! I've heard about this airline!" moment haha
Team - airbridge.
My favorite "stan" - Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬.
Traveled overland from China to Kyrgyzstan, and it was checkpoint to checkpoint. Everyone was very nice, but it was a pretty full-on day, so I think the "area," you were traveling may have had something to do with it.
The Airmarshall is on every Chinese Airline mandatory and they let you know that they record you in advance during the safety briefing
On china southern they have a exrra video about this before the flight
Loong to my knowledge means dragon.Cathay Pacific has their regional airlines called Dragon air. But this is not associated with them. This company started out as a cargo plane and later converted to passenger. Good review.
as a Chinese , I never heard of this airline :< yangzi river long dragon airline???? WTHHHHHLLLL
In Rhodes airport we pulled up in a lovely A-320Neo only to be put on a bus and driven about a mile around other planes to our arrival gate, which turned out to be 40ft from our plane. We could have just walked it lol.
I took a domestic flight from Shanghai to Urumqi, and there was also a sky marshal. In fact, I feel safe to have him on the plane. For sure, no hijacking would ever happen..:=)
Being Chinese, I am surprised there are so many Chinese airline brands I've never heard of and their flights never taken before.
Uzbeks abroad trying send packages home in this way is quite an often-seen phenomenon.
I was just at the new airport in Chengdu! I was a flight from Dubai to Xining, and the airport in Chengdu was where I transferred flights. It was a pretty beautiful airport.
These sort of flights make the best videos! Thanks Josh
Bus gates give you a good snort of the how the country smells. I remember the first time I stepped in to Kathmandu.
Me being a huge Train and Plane enthusiast I have heard of the Airline
The plane at Tashkent kinda looked like a Norwegian, never even knew they ran to Uzbekistan
Happy 700k subs boss
Maybe those sky marshals are there to film any suspicious passenger behavior because there might be some special cargo being carried? I don't know... Awesome review anyways! 😍
Loongair used to be a cargo airline, and often these obscure routes that are the result of diplomatic MOUs are highly subsidised by the CCP, which is why it is economical to fly only twenty pax, and charge high prices: they don't care about the passenger service.
I would imagine a lot of that cargo is high-value, small-size items bound for another country north of Uzbekistan...
Kinda weird to see a very quiet airport which is huge and able to handle loads of people!
You are a brave man Josh flying on these airlines that we have never heard of , especially in China, or Uzbekistan, another great vlog 👍
My favorite "Stan"....Laurel.😀
I think you may be on a list. Scary tech! 😄 The female FAs uniform is gorgeous.
Maybe the Rice was washed and soaked in soap powder before it was boiled............:)
6.29 is my birthday and Josh you made a video of the airline from my hometown Hangzhou tysm!
I take Loong Air HGH-KIX every year because the price is cheap and the plane is new. There are much more airlines in China that is not famous at all and this Loong air really attract me.
you can search between air marshals in US and China they have similar work, undercover or with a body camera. because one thing is the same USA and China airlines has large fleet like 500 airplanes. So they need air marshals to handle naughty passengers or suspicious ones.
A very short flight a bus gate is annoying , sometimes longer than the flight itself. Longer flight is fine.
Central Asia is a beautiful part of the World and is so underrated,in my opinion.
Great content as always.
Keep it up.
Congratulations on 700K. So proud of you!!
I'm in Hangzhou where Loong Air is based, and I see their planes all the time!
I recently flew on both china southern and china eastern. I first I didn't understand the air marshal thing, but later on the second flight I understood. China has a social score monitoring system that can eventually ban one from traveling. This is due to anything from bad behavior or government interest etc. But for sure I've seen the bad behavior thing from the Chinese on the plane. It was very bad and the flight attendants had almost no control, so yes in my opinion they need air marshals on planes in china.
Maybe the bus bridge because of dangerous cargo?
Everything seemed to be quite mysterious about this flight :) Very interesting… It’s weird that they walked around and filmed like that.
Raw ginger always tates to me like Life-Bouy soap. If I eat to much food with ginger, it can stay with me for several hours.
that red Airplane was for Qeshm Air- Iran
Hi Josh, as a Chinese Australian lives in Melbourne, I haven’t been able to travel to China in recent years due to visa requirement, but the recent announcement of 15 days Visa free stay for Australian citizens might change that. Would you dare to under go the challenge of flying on 15 different airlines over 15 days in economy class? Make it in different parts, that would be very interesting.
I guess the reason for the air marshal walking around in the cabin more frequently than other Chinese-carrier flights was because the airlines think it's more risky for hijack or other forms of terrorist activities encountered on a route linking Central Asia destinations. Not sure, but just a guess.
Drink service started later apparently. The flight attendant was coming by with a drink cart.
I believe the aviation security officer is normal in China, I was on round trip flight from Münich to Beijing and from Beijing to Hanoi and he was on every flight.
I prefer jet bridge over a remote stand.
Loong is pronounce Noon like afternoon. Loong means dragon. Chinese prefer fast convenience over privacy. Usually East and West are opposite. Something in the middle is best like Singapore.
If Loong is pronounced "noon" why anglicize it like that?
The only reason is your sensitive destination.......you know about the place.