AIR CHINA   Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports an official 3-Star Airline   Add your Air China review   Air China official 3 Star ranking   Airline Reviews : A-Z Index   2009 Quality Approval Status ?

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AIR CHINA review :  10 March 2009 : by Torsten Kaminski  (Germany)

Rather unusual route Athens to Paris CDG on very new A330. Very comfortable and almost luxurious even in Economy. Seat pitch comfortable, would have no problem to go long haul on this aircraft. Cabin and wash rooms clean. Individual screens and remote control easy to use. Food ok, not bad, not great either. Wine was served as if it would be hard liquor, however they were more generous with beer and soft drinks. Cabin crew efficient and friendly but not many smiles. A pleasant experience, but I could imagine that on older aircraft it can become more average.

AIR CHINA review :  4 March 2009 : by Tom Hill  (Vietnam)

Chengdu - Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific code share with Air China. It might have been an Air China issue. Having lived in China for three years I suspect it was a China issue. While the charming lady at check in had the ability to check our bags through to DCA on her terminal, her printer would not print the tags. It was working fine for all other destinations. She offered to check them through without tags. The helpful Cathay Pacific staff in Hong Kong solved the problem for us and we were on our way. The Air China flight itself was fine. But I still prefer DragonAir.

AIR CHINA review :  23 February 2009 : by J Parkes

Beijing to LHR 15 February. I have never been on an international flight before that didn't serve alcohol. An hour into the flight we asked the most unhelpful cabin crew could we get a gin and tonic - and the answer was no, we don't serve spirits. On a more positive note, a thimble full of wine was available with lunch.

AIR CHINA review :  16 February 2009 : by G Chew

Beijing-Harbin rtn. Outbound in economy B777 fairly busy, but I had the middle 5 seats to myself. Takeoff delayed for unknown reason, but the crew served tea and water during the 30 min wait. The captain gave very little warning before takeoff (we seemed to have been parked on the runway), as FAs were still walking around when the engines revved into life, and we were off. Hot meat roll served for breakfast, along with drinks; nothing spectacular, but adequate. I only bought a ooneway ticket, so needed to buy a return in Harbin. On the service hotline was able to make a reservation, but not pay for it on a foreign CC, or cash at the airport, so I spent 2 hours going to and from their town office (staff there couldn't care less). Return flight on A330 in First Class (the new Business Class seats) very good. The shared lounge was grotty. Crew efficient and friendly. The angled lie-flat seat is comfy, although there isn't much rooms for shoes etc. Slow baggage delivery in Beijing.

AIR CHINA review :  5 February 2009 : by K Zhou

PEK-Hangzhou-PEK. PEK-HGH sector was a lot better in terms of service. Very attentive staff. Good choice of newspapers. And for the first time I fly within China, the Captain made an announcement - very short but improving. But horrible food, a Chinese-style beef burger and nothing else (it is usually the case for domestic CA flights outbound Beijing). Horrible seat as the seat was broken and was mended only by some sticky tape (it was a B772 aircraft but appeared overused). The return flight was a joke: long queue in check-in counter (only 2 counters for a B777 flight!). It took them half an hour after take-off to serve the meal, which was supposed to be served after a round of beverage service. Beverages were given only once after the meal with only few choices of drinks. I chose CA for a 7-day new year holiday trip home only for the price. I've flown all airlines on Beijing-Hangzhou route and I won't hesitate to say Hainan Airlines is the best, definitely.

AIR CHINA review :  1 February 2009 : by S Halldorsson

FRA-PEK-HKG Economy class. Classic 747 between FRA and PEK. Meal in line with expectations (3 star airline). IFE on the plane was bad. Legroom was fine and I slept. Beijing airport is excellent, if huge and the transit was quick (lots of stamping of documents though) and on to a 777 (via a bus). Service on the PEK to HKG was quick and efficient and again everything was as expected. HKG-PEK-FRA Economy class. A chartered 757 from Air Macau from HKG to PEK. Check- in staff in Hong Kong excellent. HKG simply is one of the best airports in the world (if not the best). Again quickly through the transit in PEK and spent a couple of hours layover in the excellent PEK Terminal 3. A new Airbus A330 with excellent IFE took me from PEK to FRA. Staff was efficient and no communications problems at all.

AIR CHINA review :  25 January 2009 : by T Francis

LHR-SYD via BJS return on A330-200. Seats are a good size for Economy with PTV's. Only problem was that the films were quite old and on both flights they are the same! You are served a drink followed by food which is a choice of either rice or noodles with meat. Lights then go out until 2 hours prior to landing when again you are served a drink and food - either rice or noodles again with meat. The cabin crew are quick to give you water or another drink if you ask and constantly coming round with water. Beijing airport is very cold - suggest you find your gate - a lot warmer than staying near shops. Overall the cabin crew are friendly, the plane was very clean and best of all no delays.!

AIR CHINA review :  21 January 2009 : by S Basley

LHR-SYD via PEK return in economy. I thought it was very good onboard the A330-200, IFE screens on each seat which were comfortable, nice selection of movies both western and chinese, normal amount of leg room, with a very good service from cabin crew and good food. I suspect its company policy to never turn off seat belt signs - most people moved around a lot without the cabin crew complaining. Very little heard from cockpit though.

AIR CHINA review :  15 January 2009 : by Tom Hill

CTU to HKG (and onto LAX, ORD & DCA with United Airlines). Air China's gate agents were very helpful and did their best to check our bags all the way through to DCA. They had the destination in the computer, but were unable to print the luggage tags. One would hope that an airline hoping to be a recognized international carrier would be able to avoid this sort of snafu. A pleasant two hour flight otherwise. Given my choice of Air China or United, I'd take Air China every time.

AIR CHINA review :  6 January 2009 : by Christoph Blaschke

FRA-PDV-FRA, economy class. Check in was quick and all flights were on time. The rest I´ve seen at least 15 years ago. The A340-300 was looking fair, seats were worn out and the legroom was poor. Don't talk about IFE - there were no personal screens on board, the program was really bad and even the security-video didn't work well. Never have had such a bad food onboard for a long time. The service was okay but you can't compare it to other asian airlines.

AIR CHINA review :  5 January 2009 : by John McGhie

PEK-SFO Economy class. The Captain himself did a cabin announcement, in both English and Chinese. He didn't give his name but did say he had 30 years safe flying experience! The aircraft was an elderly 747-400 which was clean and well-maintained. The cabin crew rarely smile : Chinese flight attendants don't, so get used to it - but they work themselves until they drop! You will not want for service, even down the back of the bus. And the flight attendants have adequate English. Toilets were clean. They seem to have found a way to make the seats even smaller and pack them closer together. I have never been so uncomfortable, and this is an 11-hour haul. The seat-belt sign remained on for 10.5 hours - very uncomfortable! Both meals were edible, but showed signs of cost-cutting. The dim and flickering central IFE screens showed lengthy sessions of advertising - I object to being slammed with commercials during a long-haul flight. Sadly, even though they are trying hard, there is obvious sign of cost-cutting, and when you compare the flight experience with, say, Asiana or even Qantas, these guys have slipped a bit.

AIR CHINA review : 10 December 2008 : by A Lee

Customer Rating : 4/5

Return PEK - SYD, business class. Excellent service, good food, very good AVOD. Seats with power for laptop was nice. Clean toilets, regularly attended to by staff. Downsides - poor English of crew, and awful behaving passengers (though can't really fault the crew for that who did their level best to handle them).

AIR CHINA review : 30 November 2008 : by Nick Fortuna

Customer Rating : 4/5

HKG-Chongqing-PEK on consecutive days in economy. Both flights on time, flight attendants polite, smiling and going the extra mile, for example, turning on a passenger's reading light and picking up a dropped item. Food on int'l leg was a choice of three dishes, pork, fish, beef. Since I ate prior to boarding, I only had a drink. No alcohol served. Legroom was tight, but flight not full, allowing me to spread out a bit. The domestic leg was also only 50% full, so plenty of room. Food on that longer flight a bit sparse and strange. Drinks OK. In all, a painless experience.

AIR CHINA review : 11 November 2008 : by H Breitrose

Customer Rating : 4/5

SFO-PEK-SFO Business class. B747 clean but in need of a makeover. Older seats, not flat, with leg rests much too short. AVOD didn't work on right half of cabin on outbound flight. Cabin service friendly, efficient, and impressive compared with US carriers. Chinese dinner meals excellent. Western breakfasts about as good as Continental biz class. Departures on time. Arrival in SFO an hour early, necessitating a wait on the apron until gate was available, but that's not infrequent at SFO . Return flight AVOD terrific, with all manner of Chinese and western films, and lots of Chinese music of various genres, and many flavors of pop music. Alas, classical music menu was meager at best.

AIR CHINA review : 30 October 2008 : by M Luis

Customer Rating : 3/5

Beijing-Madrid, nonstop, Business class. Quite a new A330. Attention okay, but nothing special. Meals poor in quality and presentation. Seat pitch was comfortable. Attention in new T3 in Beijing Airport for checking and boarding, very good. Departure on time. Entertainment (films) were bit old.

AIR CHINA review : 27 October 2008 : by M Burns

Customer Rating : 2/5

FRA-PEK in Economy on B747. Time warp back to the 1980's. Worn-out seats, tired cabin and dirty bathrooms. Central video screen flickering throughout the night showing Chinese movies. Food edible but only just. Staff friendly enough but little English spoken. If it wasn't for the cheap price I would have given this experience just one star.

AIR CHINA review : 23 October 2008 : by Jack Sheldon

Customer Rating : 4/5

Return flight PEK-FNJ (Pyongyang) on a 737 in First. This is a short 90 minute flight and was perfectly OK. There are 8 seats on the 737 in First and on both legs they were full. The second sector was PEK-SZX (Shenzhen) in business on a 777. The plane looked well-maintained, and was clean,. Service excellent, with attentive friendly flight attendants. A good meal was served on this 3-hour flight. Singapore Airlines it is not, but a refreshingly pleasant experience.

AIR CHINA review : 21 October 2008 : by Nigel Davies

Customer Rating : 3/5

Hong Kong to Beijing, business class. I last flew Air China over 10 years ago and on that flight the service and catering were average and nothing to shout about. My recent business class flight on the A330 was a pleasure with excellent service and staff were attentive and professional. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the catering which was of a high standard. The lie flat seat was more than adequate for the short 2.5 hour flight.

AIR CHINA review : 21 October 2008 : by C Sterling

Customer Rating : 3/5

ULN-PEK y class. 737-800 aircraft with adequate seat pitch. We were eventually moved to the window exit row as passengers seated there did not speak either English or Chinese which is the policy of Air China. Drop down video screens showed documentaries. Meal service of seafood or chicken was served on this 2 hour flight along with full beverage service including free beer/wine. Impressed that there were 6 FA's working on this flight. Female F/A's were well groomed and helpful, males looked sloppy and disinterested. All crew spoke excellent English on this segment. Pilots were smoking in the cockpit and this was smelled throughout the flight and admitted to by the FA's when inquired where the smoke was coming from. Landed on time in PEK. Also important to note: We transited PEK without a Visa, even switching terminals from T3 to T2. This process was easy and straightforward. As long as you have a copy of your itinerary or boarding pass for connecting flight leaving within 24 hours, fill out an arrival and departure card, you get a special stamp at immigration allowing you to transit the airport. Good to know for future travels and to save on the Visa fees.

AIR CHINA review : 11 October 2008 : by Stefan Zehle

Customer Rating : 5/5

Beijing to Xianyang, Xianyang to Shanghai, Shanghai to Beijing in first, flying with my wife. On all flights we had no check in queue, modern and clean aircraft, friendly flight attendants, and an English language newspaper. There were no delays. The food was adequate. We made use of the lounges - these were ok, but not great. Overall good value for money.