Air travel in Chinese: Boarding your flight

In this Part 2 of my Air Travel in Chinese series, I will provide you with dialogue, vocabulary and phrases for boarding your flight and finding your seat.

Please check out the other posts in my Air Travel in Chinese series:

Dialogue

Boarding your flight – Chinese Dialogue


chéngyuán /  Flight Attendant:
Welcome aboard。
huānyíngdēng.
huānyíng dēng jī.

Business or economy?
zuògōngháishijīngcāng?
zuò gōngwù háishì jīngjì cāng?

/  Customer:
Economy Class.

jīngcāng.
jīngjì cāng.

May I see your boarding pass?
néngkànxiàníndedēngpáima??
wǒ néng kàn yīxià nín de dēng jī pái ma?

Okay. Your seat number is 28A. This way,please。
hǎode,dezuòwèibiānhàoshì2288AA .. zhèbiānqǐng.
hǎo de, nǐ de zuòwèi biānhào shì èrshíbā A. zhè biān qǐng.

Thank you.
xièxie.
xièxiè.


Dialogue Breakdown

Welcome aboard。
huānyíngdēng.
huānyíng dēng
huānyíng dēng jī
Welcome aboard (to board a plane)

Notes:

  • huānyíng (huānyíng) is a common greeting, which you may have heard in other situations such as restaurants. A common way of using this is to say huānyíngguānglín (huānyíng guānglín).
  • dēng (dēng jī) literally means “to board” dēng (dēng) a “machine” (jī). The word “machine” (jī) is commonly used in many Chinese words such as:
    • “aeroplane” (fly – machine) fēissttrroonngg>>//ssttrroonngg>> (fēi).
    • “washing machine” (laundry – machine) (xǐyī).
    • “mobile phone” (hand – machine) shǒussttrroonngg>>//ssttrroonngg>> (shǒu).
    • “coffee machine” (coffee – machine) fēissttrroonngg>>//ssttrroonngg>> (kāfēi ).

Business or economy?
zuògōngháishijīngcāng?
zuò gōng háishi jīng cāng
zuò gōngwù háishì jīngjì cāng?
sit business or economy class

Notes:

  • This is really the equivalent of someone asking “business or economy?”
  • Here gōng (gōngwù) means “official business”, however what is meant is “business class” gōngcāng, this is like English where you would probably not repeat class twice, that is by asking “are you sitting in business or economy class” rather than saying “are you sitting in business class or economy class
  • háishi (háishì) is the normal way of saying “or” when asking a question, while it’s common alternative you may have also seen huòzhě (huòzhě) is used in statements (“declarative statements’) and not questions, so isn’t used here.

Economy Class.
jīngcāng.
jīng cāng
jīngjì cāng
economy class

Notes:

  • As discussed above jīngcāng(jīngjì cāng) means “economy class”.
  • Chinese is typically very concise when the context of the question understood, so there is no need to say “I’m sitting in economy”; keep in mind that when boarding a plane there are probably 100 passengers queuing behind you, so brevity is appropriate.

May I see your boarding pass?
néngkànxiàníndedēngpáima??
néng kànxià nínde dēngpáima
néng kàn yīxià nín de dēng jī pái ma
I can look (at) your boarding pass

Notes:

  • kànxià (kàn yīxià) is a common way of saying “take a look” or “take a brief look”. Specifically kàn (kàn) means “to look” and xià (yīxià) means “a bit” so effectively kànxià (kàn yīxià) means “take a look for a bit”.
  • nínde (nín de) means “your”, where de (de) is what is known as a “possessive particle”, which is basically a character that turns “you” (nǐ) into “your” de (nǐ de) or “me” into “my” de (wǒ de). Check out my post on de here.

Okay. Your seat number is 28A. This way,please.
hǎode,dezuòwèibiānhàoshì2288AA .. zhèbiānqǐng.
hǎode de zuòwèi biānhào shì 2288AA zhèbiān qǐng
hǎo de nǐ de zuòwèi biānhào shì èrshíbā A zhè biān qǐng
good (okay) your seat number is 28A this way please

Notes:

  • hǎode (hǎo de) means “good’, “okay” or “agreed”.
  • zuòwèi (zuòwèi) the the normal way to say “seat” in Chinese, for example “this is your seat” would be zhèshìdezuòwèi (zhè shì nǐ de zuòwèi). To say “please sit” you would say qǐngzuò (qǐng zuò).

Thank you.
xièxie.
xièxie
xièxiè
thank you

Notes:

  • xièxie (xièxiè) is basic Chinese and a common way to say thank you.

Getting to your seat on the plane – Chinese Dialogue


chéngyuán /  Flight Attendant:
Do you need help with your bags?

nínyàobāngzhùnínxínglima?
nín xūyào wǒ bāngzhù nín ná xínglǐ ma?

/  Customer:
Yes, thank you.

hǎode,xièxie.
hǎo de, xièxiè.

I’ll put them in the overhead compartment.
fàngdàotóudǐngshàngfāngdexínglicāng.
wǒ fàng dào tóudǐng shàngfāng de xínglǐ cāng lǐ.


Dialogue Breakdown

Do you need help with your bags?
nínyàobāngzhùnínxínglima?
nín yào bāngzhù nín xíngli ma
nín xūyào bāngzhù nín xínglǐ ma
you (polite) need me help you (polite) take luggage <question>

Notes:

  • yào (xūyào) is a common way to say need something. You may know that it is common in Chinese to use two characters rather than one, even though individually the characters carry the same meaning. Be sure to check out my post on the use of 要 here.
  • bāngzhù (bāngzhù) means “help”, other examples of this include
    • “Can you help me?” néngssttrroonngg>>bāngzhù//ssttrroonngg>> (nǐ néng bāngzhù wǒ)
    • ”I am ready to helpyuànssttrroonngg>>bāngzhù//ssttrroonngg>> (wǒ yě yuànyì bāngzhù nǐ)
    • “Please help me” qǐngssttrroonngg>>bāng//ssttrroonngg>> (qǐng bāng wǒ); this is an example of using bāng rather than bāng
  • xíngli (xínglǐ) means “luggage”, “bag” or “baggage” and is a word you should remember for your travels, for example:
    • “this is my baggagezhèshìdessttrroonngg>>xíngli//ssttrroonngg>> (zhè shì wǒ de xínglǐ)
    • “I’ve los my bagdiūledessttrroonngg>>xíngli//ssttrroonngg>> (wǒ diūle wǒ de xínglǐ)

Yes, thank you.
hǎode,xièxie.
hǎode xièxie
hǎo de xièxiè
Okay Thank you

Notes:

  • hǎode (hǎo de) can mean “good’, “okay” or “agreed”.

I’ll put them in the overhead compartment.
fàngdàotóudǐngshàngfāngdexínglicāng.
fàngdào tóudǐng shàngfāngde xíngli cāng
fàng dào tóudǐng shàngfāng de xínglǐ cāng
I put in above head above luggage hold inside

Notes:

  • fàngdào (fàng dào) means “to put in” and is made up of the characters “put” fàng (fàng) and “to” dào (dào), some examples:
    • put the kids to bed” háizissttrroonngg>>fàngdào//ssttrroonngg>>chuángshàngshuì (bǎ háizi fàng dào chuángshàng shuì)
    • ”she put (it) in the rubbish bin” ssttrroonngg>>fàngdào//ssttrroonngg>>zàitǒng (tā fàng dào zài lèsè tǒng lǐ)
  • shàngfāng (shàngfāng) means above, examples for this are:
    • above the blackboard is a clock” hēibǎnssttrroonngg>>shàngfāng//ssttrroonngg>>yǒushízhōng (hēibǎn shàngfāng yǒu yīgè shízhōng); literally “blackboard above is a clock”
    • above you” zàidessttrroonngg>>shàngfāng//ssttrroonngg>> (zài nǐ de shàngfāng)

Vocabulary

Dialogue Vocabulary

English Chinese Pronunciation (Pinyin)
flight attendant chéngyuán chéngwùyuán
customer gùkè
welcome huānyíng huānyíng
aboard dēng dēng jī
to sit zuò zuò
business class gōngcāng gōngwù cāng
economy class jīngcāng jīngjì cāng
or (question) háishi háishì
can / to be able to néng néng
look at / take a quick look at kànxià kàn yīxià
boarding pass dēngpái dēng jī pái
okay / yes hǎode hǎo de
seat zuòwèi zuòwèi
seat number zuòwèibiānhào zuòwèi biānhào
this way zhèbiān zhè biān
thank you xièxie. xièxiè
to help bāngzhù bāngzhù
luggage / bags xíngli xínglǐ
overhead compartment tóudǐngshàngfāngdexínglicāng tóudǐng shàngfāng de xínglǐ cāng
inside
put in fàngdào fàng dào

Phrases

Dialogue Phrases

English Chinese Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Welcome aboard huānyíngdēng huānyíng dēng jī.
Business or economy? zuògōngháishijīngcāng zuò gōngwù háishì jīngjì cāng?
Economy Class. jīngcāng. jīngjì cāng.
May I see your boarding pass? néngkànxiàníndedēngpáima?? wǒ néng kàn yīxià nín de dēng jī pái ma?
Okay. Your seat number is 28A. This way,please。 hǎode,dezuòwèibiānhàoshì2288AA .. zhèbiānqǐng. hǎo de, nǐ de zuòwèi biānhào shì èrshíbā A. zhè biān qǐng.
Thank you. xièxie. xièxiè.
Do you need help with your bags? nínyàobāngzhùnínxínglima? nín xūyào wǒ bāngzhù nín ná xínglǐ ma?
Yes, thank you. hǎode,xièxie. hǎo de, xièxiè.
I’ll put them in the overhead compartment. fàngdàotóudǐngshàngfāngdexínglicāng. wǒ fàng dào tóudǐng shàngfāng de xínglǐ cāng lǐ.

Wrapping it up

Be sure to check out Part 3 where I cover the in-flight meal and beverage service.