Air China’s reputation is not in the league of Singapore or Cathay Pacific. Nor should it be. But mention Air China to many and you’ll be met with shaking heads or third-hand horror stories. My opinion of Air China: not bad at all.
I often ask Award Expert for clients for feedback on the flights we book for them. If we see a a recurring problem with one airline we will do our best to avoid it. Air China is one of those airlines (like Turkish Airlines and EgyptAir) in which clients wish to avoid. But the airline has come a long way. Business class seats are now lie-flat on the 747s and 777s serving North America and service levels are highly competitive. For example, trays are not used in business class and pajamas are available. Air China now offers wi-fi as well. But there are still service shortfalls that must be remedied before the Chinese flag carrier can join the top-tier.
A Review from Last Week
A client just returned from a trip to Shanghai on Air Canada and back on Air China and sent me the following email–
The Air China 747 was like a long domestic flight. I was the only caucasian upstairs and the flight attendants struggled to understand me. The food was fine, but odd things missing like no napkin until the second course and food came out with the foil wrapper on the dish (they took it off). I was asked four times if I wanted bread, part way through I asked two flight attendants for a bottle of water, it came out in a glass. The side by side seats means a lot of stepping over. 90% of the video entertainment was not in English and what was was not current stuff at all. They gave me 2 choices of French red wine, I picked one, not bad, then they offered me a glass of a 3rd wine, it was very good, I asked for more and they said they only had one bottle and it was gone!So Air China still has a way to go to be service competitive, but honestly it was a great flight, I got some good rest and was quite comfortable. The seat made into a much better bed than the Air Canada lay flat…
And this seems to be a fairly representative review of Air China. FAs who struggle with English and a sloppy presentation, but a good lie-flat product overall. I don’t know what is going on with Air Canada (it has been years since I last flew them longhaul) but I have received many recent complaints…
I’ll shortly put up my own review of a regional Air China A330 flight in business class.
The problem with air china is the attitude of the people. It’s not an accident we often hear of Chinese being the absolute worst tourists and it’s the same attitude everywhere for the Chinese including air travel. I am a native mandarin speaker from Taiwan and they give me attitudes all the time that are worse than any US airline FAs could ever dish out.
I agree with you…like what happen a month ago China southern airlines. Most of them unfasten there seatbelt and and trying to climb up to get there overhead luggage while the plane still moving in the tarmac, flight attendant shouted at them but seems they are deaf or they just ignoring it.
To echo your thoughts, I had a very good experience on Air China from Beijing to Sydney in biz a couple months ago. Nowhere near as bad as people claim. It was actually enjoyable! Thanks
I agree with Alex, the uneducated mainland passengers create a bad atmosphere. I just returned from Taiwan to Europe by Air China, flying economy (500usd return) with a stopover in Beijing. In March i had a Europe-Shanghai business class trip on Air China, for 1290usd. Their overnight schedule was perfect, i used the visa-free stopover in Beijing, however, the process could be improved, 75-90 minutes waiting at the passport control.
The FAs stepping on your foot (no apology), people cough withouth covering their mouth, etc. If you buy a ticket online, the hotline won’t help you, because you bought it online, and only the Chinese language website will manage the ticket, the English says “sorry, please try again”… very frustrating. All in all, Air China offers low ticket price if you buy it in advance, just you have to deal with the annoying mainland Chinese manners and attitude, noisy, impolite passengers. If you prefer to avoid this, then for higher price Cathay and EVA offers much better service.
Have to agree with you, the most annoying thing about these mainland airlines are not the airlines itself but fellow unruly passengers.
I am afraid I agree with all the comments said above as well. Bad manners and inconsiderate. 🙁
So……WHY YOU STOPOVER IN BEIJING?
So what are the complaints you have been hearing about Turkish Airlines?
I’m curious about that at well. The Turkish Airlines experience is generally wonderful. Do people just not want to transit Istanbul?
Everyone ends up thanking me if we “force” them onto Turkish. Problem is many absolutely refuse because they think it is “unsafe” or “Muslim”.
Was rerouted through Beijing in January and out on Air China to Singapore. I was very impressed with the whole flight and service. Would definitely fly them again.
Similar to my experience on Air China 4 years ago. Lie flat seat is comfortable for sleeping and if you book aisle pair on 77W then you get direct aisle access. Food and booze is pretty high quality overall, I was generally a big fan, but the service levels leave something to be desired. Weak to no english, service sloppiness, etc. Overall, happy to fly them though
My experience exactly in 2013. I flew CA from FRA-PEK and back as part of a US Airways award to North Asia (90k FTW) and had an exceptional experience in Business Class. Yes, the window seat without aisle access wasn’t cutting edge, but the pajamas were excellent and the food was edible. The best parts: On both legs, we had native German flight attendants who spoke flawless English and were excessively accommodating and responsive. Granted, not all routes will have his luxury, but I wasn’t disappointed as everyone said we would be. And no smell of smoke in J at all…
I think some people may confuse Air China with China Airlines, which has had a horrid safety record even in fairly recent times. Anyone living in Asia knew to stay far away from this airline in the past due to several fatal accidents within a short time span.
However they have since improved a great deal. Their on board product is arguably better than Air China, however it is unclear how much their safety practices have improved.
This is a good point — Air China and China Airlines are two very different airlines. I recently flew three times on China Airlines and wrote about it here–
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/02/28/review-china-airlines-a350-business-class/
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/02/20/china-airlines-a330-business-class/
I personally would not fly Turkish Airlines on conscience grounds. Their government still refuses to recognize the Armenian Massacre of 1915-17. One million dead. So forget you, Turkish Airlines. Period.
Air China’s fleet is upgraded… they have new 350’s and 777 ER’s. The aged of there fleet is from 1-7 years including 787’s and soon they will have new 320 neo’s.
See i flew Air China in economy LAX-Beijing…never again! It was awful, the bathrooms were disgusting, they ran out of food, just terrible.
Sometimes I think some you forget that most of us have to fly in cattle class at least some of the time. It may be ok in business, but not so much in economy.
The last two times I flew Air China from the US to PEK I missed my connection because they were not on time. One of those trips required an overnight stay in Beijing when I should have enjoying a night at the Park Hyatt Sydney. I’m not giving them another chance. No Air China! No PEK!
I recently had the misfortune of an Air China flight in business class. Terrible food, terrible beverage service, useless FAs, non functioning IFE, rushed boarding, disgusting flagship lounge in PEK etc. Unable to obtain my Air China BP at checkin and then forced to go through an inefficient and time wasting process at a transfer desk. The airline should not be a member of *A. It doesn’t respect the agreements on connections, nor does it provide proper inventory to *A reward programs. It is an airline best avoided. PEK airport is a nightmare and is as bad as a US airport with the exception that the immigration and security personnel are polite and professional. The one positive aspect was my stay at the PEK airport Hilton. Lovely hotel. Bit of a walk, but worth it.
I had the same experience of missing my connection flight due to an Air China flight delay, where they booked me a reservation at a dilapidated hotel — the worst hotel I’ve ever had to stay in. I couldn’t wait to get out of PRK. That’s right: No Air China! No PEK!
Air China sucks. They kept us on tarmac in LA for 6 hours, then at the end of the flight in Beijing offered us a compensation paper. However, when we tried to get them to honor the paper, all they did was give us the runaround in Beijing, Dali, Beijing again, San Francisco, etc. Our travel agent, Mandy Woo from M & J Travel in LA,, said, and I quote ” No, I called the reservation and they don’t take care of the refund. Then they gave me the email for customer service and nothing from them. This is the worst customer service I never experience.”
So I say, just boycott Air China until they start giving better customer satisfaction.
Avoid Air China at all costs!
New York to Bangkok via Beijing. Air China cancelled our flight without providing any options. We were on the phone with them and our Travel agents full 3 days (several hours a days of conversations and hours waiting to get to an agent on the phone). They were not able to provide any reasonable options. We had to review all possible flights ourselfs and asked them to reschedule our flight. They were unable to do it over the phone (~20 calls) nor at the airport Air China counter (at JFK and EWR). They were dragging the time until all our other connecting flights and hotels reservation gone (since we were still staying at the New York waiting for their “decision” for 3 days.) They were pointing to each other (Air China agents and Travel Agents) asking to call airline or travel agent and vice versa. We even had 2 conference call with both AirChina and travel agents during which they were just blaming each other and not resolving the issue. So we could not stand this circus anymore and they offered our last option and only option: to get refund or they will not refund if we will not agree now. Rude, unprofessional agents, don’t have any desire to do their work. Avoid Air China at all costs!
Went to Mongolia from Beijing, was 15 minutes from landing in UB when they redirected us to another airport to wait because of bad weather. We we at that airport for 6 hours waiting to be taken to Mongolia. Halfway through the stay Mongolian Airlines departs to UB, so if they could land there why couldn’t Air China? On the return trip back to Beijing we were delayed for a few hours, which turned into an overnight stay with. We were taken by bus to wait at a hotel for the 3 hour delay…. Why do you take passengers to a hotel for a three hour delay, unless you don’t plan on taking them that day anyway…. Every few hours the front desk would change the delay time until it finally became a cancellation. All other airlines left from UB that day…. They made us share rooms in a dingy hotel… What airlines makes you share rooms with strangers? There were plenty of rooms available at that hotel, but if you didn’t want to share you had to pay for your own room….
They had a flight in the morning the next day, but unless you actively insisted and did so repeatedly they would not put you on that flight, you had to wait until the later flight. They didn’t even seem concerned about the people who had connecting flights and getting them taken care of first. Those individuals had to actively and intensely discuss this with Air China.
Tomorrow I have a connecting flight with Air China for an overseas trip. I did the smartest thing possible, I took the largest layover time I could find for the connecting flight, just in case. I don’t mind spending an extra night in the connecting city and visiting with friends, wasn’t part of my original plan, but hey, with the amount of times I have traveled with both the airlines in question I know how to make the plan work. Both the airlines involved have known issues! I didn’t have a whole lot of options for this trip, my employer makes the choices…. But at least I can choose the itinery!
My experiences with China air is quite different from the author. I would recommend to avoid this airline at any cost. You can never now when this company decides to screw you over and cancel your flight without a refund.
It doesn’t matter if food is awful nor service as long you arrived alive and kicking. If you want to spend double or triple the price with good service fly Singapore or Emirates .