Air China

Not Verified | First they cancelled my return flight then asked if I wanted a refund or would be able to fly the next day, which I chose. Unfortunately they forgot to rebook the Shanghai-Tokyo leg the following day. I was able to sort this out on the telephone relatively easily but pretty stressful at the time. In flight service was barebones. Sure they served us food which was bland and didn't taste at all fresh. Warm cans of beer too. Cabin attendants seemed irritated at having to do their job. The inflight entertainment didn't work and there was no interest in finding a fix. There was no information given to us explaining the convoluted transit procedure at Pudong. I was travelling with my daughter at the time yet our return seats weren't together. During the return leg Pudong-Narita, one of my suitcases didn't show up so I had to wait 2 days for it to be delivered. Luggage claim at Narita was a little overrun as 6 other people on the same flight also had missing luggage. Never flying them again.

✅ Trip Verified | Be aware, Air China proposes several flight times with different aircrafts. But you will find that they cancel some of them 3-4 weeks before the departure date. And you end up moved onto bad flights with bad timings or aircrafts that you didn't want to book in the first place! On both ways I was supposed to fly with an A350-900 where they advertise free internet wifi (you won't get it on any other aircraft). And I ended up with both flights cancelled. Instead I had to travel to Frankfurt to get a Boeing 747-8 with a very old setup (had to get an extra day off to get this flight). And I got a Boeing 777-300ER on the way back with an even older system and a touch screen which wasn't working (had to use the joystick on the side of the armrest during the whole flight). Then, when you call them, they are simply unhelpful and try to force you to get their solution or simply give up on what you were expecting. Also, I have never seen an airline with such mediocre English speaking staff! When talking to customer support or travelling on a UK to Asia flight, you would expect people to speak a decent English. But that wasn't the case and 9 person out of 10 needed a translation tool to communicate. Crazy! Finally my connection flight in Beijing was just 1h40 after landing. Unfortunately we arrived 1h late (all our 4 Air China flights took off 40min-1h late!). Once at the airport I would have expected ground staff to guide us to reach the other flight/gate as quickly as possible. Instead they gave us a sticker when exiting the plane to show the security/checkpoint people we were late for our flight. But we still had to run and navigate in this massive Beijing airport on our own! After a long sprint and a lot of stress we managed to catch our flight, only to realise they were waiting for another Domestic flight which was even more late! We ended up waiting another 40min inside the plane before taking off. If they told us, we would have avoided us a lot of stress and pain. Last time I fly with them.

✅ Trip Verified | Unfortunately days before my flight I had some serious health issues and I wasn’t able take the flight to Hong Kong. I contact with the European customer service by email to reschedule my flight but they rejected my request. However two days later my friend from Hong Kong called the Air China customer service Chinese number for reschedule my flight if it’s still possible. The Chinese customer service was amazing helpful and patient they speak great English and finally they find the way to fulfill my request.

✅ Trip Verified | The check-in in Frankfurt was done mostly by Lufthansa staff and they were not really friendly. There was also a Chinese man from Air China who waived me to get to him and then scolded me for not queuing up - he meant the people behind me. The airplane was supposed to be a Boeing 747, but the aircraft got switched. I did not select a seat before, so I was very happy to get a seat in a front row. The seat was okay, legroom amazing. In-flight entertainment was okay, they should have more subtitles available. I was curious about some Chinese movies, but they did not offer any English/German subtitles. Also the User Interface was a bit counter-intuitive. Food was good, drink service excellent. I drink a lot and normally I need to get up and get more water, but we were offered drinks probably every 45 minutes or less. After dinner, they dimmed the light and I could sleep pretty well. From Beijing to Hong Kong I did not use the inflight-entertainment, as I slept or read a book. Flights were on-time.

✅ Trip Verified | On August 23rd, 2023, I was flying from Amsterdam to Frankfurt on flight LH993, then Frankfurt to Beijing on flight CA932. Then, I was supposed to continue my journey to Shanghai. However, I could not make it to the scheduled flight since I needed to fill in very detail health and arrival forms (which could have already been provided during the flight to save time for people with connecting flight), performed covid test, went through long immigration line, transferred to other terminal, and went through another security lane all within 1 hour 15 minutes after my arrival in Beijing International Airport. I was begging a lot of people in front of me if I could cut lines since my flight was already boarding. Unfortunately, after all those struggles, I still could not make it to my connecting flight to Shanghai. After talking to the security, I was directed to go to the Air China ticket counter. From there, I was told by Air China office lady that I can either get off at Beijing (my luggage is still there at the time) or reschedule my flight to Shanghai. I told the employee: "if I can get out in Beijing then it is okay; I don’t have to go to Shanghai". Never have I ever told that my return ticket would be blocked if I didn’t complete my departure to Shanghai. I was also not told if I needed to re-book my return ticket. I even received an approval stamps from the Air China staff on my boarding pass indicating that I could exit at Beijing. Therefore, I thought everything was fine and I was travelling through other cities with separate trains and airplanes to other cities in between Beijing to Shanghai. The disaster occurred on September 11th, 2023, at 11:35 am when I was supposed to fly back home with Air China from Shanghai all the way to Schiphol Amsterdam Airport with flight CA935 & LH1002. I was not able to check-in and the Air China office lady refused to print out my boarding pass. After quite some time, they came back to me and told me that I was at fault since I didn’t complete part of my previous journey from Beijing to Shanghai 3 weeks prior. Therefore, my return ticket is blocked. The solution from Air China staff was to rebook my ticket as buying new ticket where I had to pay 1300 EURO to get on this flight. So they proposed to me to pay twice the ticket price that I already paid. And it is the price for a one-way ticket, which is insane. I have attempted to address this issue by going in-circles and explaining to the customer service at the ticket office, the supervisor of Air China on duty and the airport manager. However, the responses I received were below standard and I feel that my concerns were not adequately addressed.

Not Verified | I really liked flying with Air China. They were very professional and service was excellent. Landed ahead of time which was a plus: Food selection was great. The seats were spacious and the flight attendants were courteous

✅ Trip Verified | Absolutely a nightmare taking the transit at PEK flying Air China, especially if you have purchased any liquid duty free items. The gate information is very confusing and everyine has to go through security check again in the normal security lines. No liquid more than 100ml is allowed, regardless of your duty free seal. The Airport forwarder refuses sending wine/spirits and both the Airline and Airport staff can not careless of your problem. My colleague and I spent one hour and extra money to pack/ship the duty free goods we purchased, barely make it to the gate which is very far at last minute. CA and PEK no more!

✅ Trip Verified | My family of 4 recently took 2 long haul fights with Air China for the first time, from Australia to Europe, and the experience exceeded our expectations. From the modern and comfortable aircraft, all 4 flights on time and pleasant flights, kind, caring, organized and accommodating flight attendants, to food served, we had no complaints. We will be happy to book with Air China again.

✅ Trip Verified | Flown Air China business class FRA-PEK (B777), PEK-SIN (B787), SIN-PVG (A350), SHA-PEK (A350) and PEK-FRA (B747). Check in was fast on all flights. In Singapore there was even an early check in option for all classes. All flights have been in time, 4 out of 5 even reach destination ahead of time. All aircraft have been in good shape and been cleaned properly. At all legs flat bed function in the business class and I had very comfortable flights. The service was overall good, however during two flights after food have been served I did not see flight attendants anymore cruising in the cabin, but once the buttons have been pressed someone appears immediately. Food was ok, better from the China outbounds flight then inbound. Beverage selection compared to other airlines in business class quiet poor. Air China dont have a food menu, the crew will tell you the choice of food upfront and there was a choice between 2 or 3 meals, always one western menu included. Lounges: Frankfurt Lufthansa Business Class Lounge, cold and sterile atmosphere, limited food (mostly snacks), wide selection of alcoholic and none alcoholic beverages. Beijing Air China First and Business Class lounge: Atmosphere was good but little overcrowded and not enough toilets. Food selection was good but quality not so good. Beverages limited choice, Hongqiao VIP Lounge 3, nice atmosphere, limited choice of food and beverages. Altogether a good experience, but not premium.

Not Verified | The worst airline I’ve ever flown with. Their baggage limitations (dimensions and weight) are ridiculously low, so it’s so easy for someone to have to pay more when arriving at the airport. The staff are fine, but they’re not able to control the disruptive atmosphere on the plane. The on-flight entertainment is probably the worst I’ve come across. The choice of movies were poor (outdated, unpopular mostly) and it seemed a lot of screens didn’t work (including my partner’s screen). We strapped into a 9 hour flight with no entertainment. The biggest peeve is the luggage as mentioned before. The weight allowance was far lower than other air lines.