CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  29 June 2009 : by S Foster  (China)

The worst airline I have flown, and I have to fly them regularly. They are late (at least 9 times out of 10), cancel flights at the drop of a hat, and are unapologetic and unhelpful in changing arrangements. Service is at best indifferent, but usually rude. The food can be inedible, and if you fly outside of narrowly designated meal times is limited to bread rolls and sweets - even on medium haul flights. Inflight entertainment is boring and often not in English.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  29 June 2009 : by Wilfred Ng  (Hong Kong)

Shenzhen to Shanghai (2 hour trip), got on plane, closed doors then tell you there will be delay. Only reason being "air traffic control" which is something they blame on too often now. Sat on plane for 2 hours before take off. Shanghai to Guangzhou (2 hour trip). This time officially delayed for 30 minutes, so got on plane 30 mins after scheduled time, then same trick. Close door and blame it on "air traffic control". This time delayed for 3 hours. So in summary, I spent more time on plane waiting for take off then actual time in the air. Why they have the tendency to keep you waiting inside plane rather than tell you honestly flight to be delayed for 3 hours therefore don't come so early is beyond me. This airline simply has no sense of being on-time and being state owned, there you have it.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  6 June 2009 : by M Morgan  (China)

We have a joke in my company, for the longest time spent on an MU flight without flying. The winner is a colleague in Beijing, who spent 7 hours on the tarmac in Shanghai, bound for Beijing. I also spent 7 hours, but I was flying around the Pudong airport as the plane couldn't pressurise on its way to Australia. So instead of tell the passengers it flew around, using fuel, and then told us were returning as it descended. We were put on a new plane, 7 hours later, without being told what was the problem. A flight stewardess had to be coaxed for the answer.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  4 June 2009 : by Jerry Liou  (USA)

I have horrible experience with China Eastern airline. My flight was May 31 flight from Los Angles to Shanghai. The flight is cancelled because mechanical problem on May 31. All passengers are asked back home or hotel (paid by airline) and wait for instruction. China Eastern team makes very poor planning and communication. China Eastern doesn’t know when the plane can be fixed and refuse rebook the passengers through other airlines. All passengers are stuck in Los Angles. I have to cancel my trip and fly back to Dallas (paid by myself) on June 2 afternoon. Never fly with this airline or you may stuck with foreign city if surprise happen.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  4 June 2009 : by K Masin  (USA)

Shanghai - Sanya. The flight was delayed (never posted on the departure monitors, no announcements made and no staff at the gate to answer any questions). Finally we found China Eastern staff at another gate, who told us the plane had to be "sterilized" because it had just been used for an international flight. Inflight entertainment was in Chinese only, with no English subtitles. The hot aluminum meal containers were just handed to passengers (no tray, so burning some people's hands) along with a snack-box. Overall just okay.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  4 June 2009 : by C Harrison  (Canada)

Vancouver to Shanghai return, Shanghai to Dalian and Qingdao to Beijing. Excellent service YVR to Shanghai - crew came around with water at least hourly throughout the entire flight. On arrival we had to stay on board an extra 2 hours while health officials came on board due to 2 suspected cases of swine flu (we were subsequently quarantined overnight in a hotel). On all flights we were treated respectfully and kindly, and the food was fine.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  25 May 2009 : by D Steuer  (USA)

HKG to PVG Business Class. Cabin was clean, staff friendly and helpful, food good enough. Business class shell seats that are quite comfortable. IFE selection was mediocre, but a short flight. Plane left on time, arrived on time.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  1 May 2009 : by Rafael Gaszynski

Sydney to Johannesburg via Shanghai. Really long flight but $1200 dollars cheaper then any other airline. Old plane but good service. Had a good laugh before each landing when the exercise video came on. For the price I think it was a good experience and would fly with them again.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  30 April 2009 : by T Kelly

ICN-PVG on A321. Like another reviewer mentioned, no announcements from the cockpit-- cabin crew did all of that. Cabin crew proficient in Mandarin, English (though a little hard to understand) and there were also Korean-speaking crew. Cabin clean and seats had great pitch. No PTVs but drop-down screens every few rows. Headphones supplied in each seat pocket. Food was memorable for all the wrong reasons - in spite of calling the Seoul office to reconfirm my vegetarian meal and my request being confirmed by the check-in agent, they only had record of my partner's. However, the crew kindly gave me their vegetarian crew meal, and it was a lot better than my partner's "Indian" vegetarian meal which was actually just a whole heap of random un-Indian things like potato wedges, fried Chinese beehoon noodles and lots of Chinese mushrooms, thrown together. Don't fly China Eastern for the cuisine. Two rounds of drink servICes were also made on this short flight. All in all, for the price paid and the short distance, it was delightfully unmemorable. However, for long haul, I think I would pay extra to travel another airline.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  27 April 2009 : by Simon Loh

SIN-PVG return A330 economy class. Outbound flight departs on time. Blanket, pillow, hot towel were provided. No comment at all from the pilots throughout the flight, announcement is made by FA on what time the meal would be served, distance for the flight, expected arrival time, etc. FAs look a bit weary for the morning flight, but are courteous and polite. Seldom see FA does pre take-off check that thorough. Food is ok, but I find it strange that one of the choices has ran out so fast. No personal IFE system, just a few small TV screens along the center row. Seat pitch is acceptable, but there's this box below every window seat, which takes up a quarter of the legroom space, even though it does not have any PTV. Inbound flight was late, in fact it took off almost an hour after the scheduled departure time. Already expected such delays, as I notice that this afternoon flight to SIN is always late on arrival whenever I see the arrival information of Changi Airport. Missing magazines are not replenished. Catering from PVG is really not up to standard. Generally the service is not as good as my outbound flight. Overall its A330 is a pleasant plane to be in. Quite a standard inflight service and nothing much more outstanding. A fustrating part is whenever the plane met some slight turbulence, an auto-announcement will be made, like fasten seat belt, refrain from using the lavatory, etc, which is rather disturbing, can't imagine if they did have IFE onboard and was constantly paused for such announcement.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  26 March 2009 : by Yuan Xu

ShangHai Pudong- Beijing. Very old plane, a A300, no inflight information and average food. The ground crew made no efforts to assist passengers on the ground and no information in the airport at all. I arrived in Beijing 8 hours after I scheduled to.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  13 March 2009 : by Ingrid McCulloch

Worst experience ever! Cancelled flight Shanghai-LAX so had to change from Sydney-Shanghai. Only passengers in Business, 15 people in Economy, none in First. Awful food, crew hurried meals so they could rest in First Class. Chief Steward smoked on the plane, no snacks, cold drinks or any service. Had to confirm return flight 3 days prior but couldn't get anyone on the phone. Spent 2 days and $300 on phone bills to be told our LAX-Shanghai flight had been cancelled. Had to stay an extra night in LAX, lose a night in Shanghai, change car transfer etc - was in tears with frustration and anger. Flight to Sydney was on older plane where seat pitch nearly the same as economy, couldn't even read without the person in front pushing my book in my face and this is Business class. Again awful food (pre ordered vegetarian and got prawns and chicken - when I said I wanted vegetarian they said "there's the vegetables". Got boiled rice then. Only one movie in German, dubbed in Chinese with English subtitles that you couldn't read because the screen was too small. I have never been so glad to get home.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  10 March 2009 : by R McCarthy

SHA-CAN, Economy Class. This was my first time flying China Eastern, and it was a fairly okay experience. The airport experience at Beijing Hongqiao wasn't all that nice - I was the last person boarding my flight, due to being unable to work out exactly where we were boarding (this was partly my fault, though the flight monitors at Hongqiao are quite hard to read). I was pleased to hear that MU was offering upgrades to Business Class after boarding to passengers willing to pay, but the 500 RMB cash-only payment is inconvenient - no credit card facilities. At any rate, Economy Class was fine, though I would suggest they serve a hot meal for the two and a half hour flight to Guangzhou - they certainly do have the time. The flight attendants were friendly and professional and did two rounds of drinks services, however. The plane was quite modern, but it was irritating that my seat reclined automatically and I had to constantly re-adjust.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  16 February 2009 : by G Dufoyet

Guangzhou - Shanghai, very few airlines are capable of messing up a short 2 hour flight and China Eastern just did that. I had printed my own boarding pass and got rejected by airport security. When I went to the check in counter, a very disinterested MU staff said it is not possible and asked me to push forward with the public security. I asked him whether he could print out a conventional boarding pass for me and got snarled at. Flight delayed for 30 minutes but considered usual for MU. On the plane, 4 surly, definitely 'need to pay attention to their grooming' MU employees barked out orders to passengers. People were using mobile phones and they couldn't care less. Never in my life have I encountered a service personnel who could be so rude to scream out " JINK (drink), you want JINK (drink) or no choice, you want meal or not". They are employed for maintaining cabin safety and security but they don't seem to be capable of doing either. No wonder they lost so much money and airlines like this should just close down. Return sector on Shanghai Airlines, and truly a world of difference! My advice is to avoid any flight by China Eastern, you will do yourself a big favour!

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  16 February 2009 : by J Singh

Planned to take flight from Shanghai (PuDong) to Narita Japan, early morning flight so left home 6am got airport 7'ish. Got there checked in, usual below average service got to gate. Flight was supposed to leave 9am - 5mins to boarding time sign displayed at gate as delayed. No information, just wait. Time ticked on, then 2hrs so later told to come back at 5pm - we could not go anyway as we were at boarding gate and luggage checked in. We were given no drink, information or food so we had to just walk around a very small airport until 5pm.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  5 February 2009 : by H Yin

Round Trip AUS-LAX-PVG-PEK. Flights were delayed both ways (LAX-PVG). First delay forced me staying in Shanghai overnight. Second delay made me stay on the road for 6 more hours and one more connection. In both cases I missed my connection flights. The food/drink and service on airplane are OK. Airplane are newer than US airlines. Asked around on plane, most people had bad experience of delays in the past, I guess the only reason they come back is because China Eastern fares are cheaper. Both delays put extra exhaustion to me on an already very long flight. This is first time for me to fly with them and will not do it again.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  31 December 2008 : by G Chew

Beijing - Shanghai - Shenzhen in Economy. I was unable to check in for both flights together, which was annoying, and staff seemed very disinterested, and asked no security questions etc. The first flight on a new A330 was very pleasant, thanks to the light load, and friendly staff. Food was tasty. Upon arrival in Shanghai, I collected my bags, then went to check in again. I asked to be put on an earlier flight (there were two earlier ones). They said if I wanted the first flight, I'd have to pay, but it was delayed to the same time as the second one, so I didn't pay. As it was, my original flight was cancelled. My new flight was delayed too, so I ended up leaving only 30 mins before I was originally meant to anyway. Service on this leg was worse, and the food was poor. There was no beer on offer either. Arrival into Shenzhen was fine, and the bags were out promptly. Despite the hassles, the price was good (half that of a direct flight), just don't expect too much, or to be able to be checked in all the way.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  11 December 2008 : by G Rosa

Nanjing-Shijazhuang-Shanghai, fare reasonable. Reserved flight was cancelled two days before departure, moved to different time. Airplanes clean even if not new, standard seat pitch, meal and drinks minimal. I consider China Eastern the "average" airline for domestic flight.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review :  1 December 2008 : by Colin Pay

LHR-PVG return on an A340.Both flights left on time. Outbound almost full, return about 100 spare seats allowing people to spread out. FAs fine, food and drinks OK. Overall a good experiEance. PVG-XIY-PEK-SHA in economy on A320s and A330.All flights on time. FAs efficient. Seat pitch on a par with other airlines. Food not very good, the breakfasts not to European tastes.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 23 October 2008 : by L Codr

Customer Rating : 4/5

PVG-SYD-PVG on 330 in Y. Check-in smooth and friendly on both places, flight to SYD 100% full, flight to PVG 70% full. Very little entertainment onboard (no personal IFE, just a few LCD screens scattered around the cabin), only uninteresting movies and Chinese news. FAs friendly and drinks abundant. Food reasonable, although it was the traditional rice/noodles choice. Seat pitch decen. Overall a pleasant experience, my only concern would be about many Chinese pax ignoring the "fasten seatbelts sign". On the way to SYD one lady even unbuckled and went to the toilets carrying her baby while the airplane was still in a full climb (not more than 2 minutes after takeoff). FAs still sitting in jump seats saw it but did not do anything.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 10 October 2008 : by L Austin

Customer Rating : 3/5

SYD via SHA to PEK. Aircraft clean, service from staff was good. You need to be prepared for not much inflight entertainment. The screens are scattered throughout the aircraft. A couple of old movies shown, however, not much else. Take reading matter with you. Red and white wine is dreadful, which is the only alcohol served. Food reasonable. Chaos on arrival in SHA, as were connecting with last flight to Pek. Ground crew had us sprinting through airport to catch connection. As long as your expectations are not high, they are okay.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 18 September 2008 : by M Labanich

Customer Rating : 4/5

LAX-PVG First class, A340-600. The first class cabin has 8 lay flat pods in a 1-2-1 configuration which is nice change from the 16 on an AA 777. Bathroom and cabin spotless. The flight attendants were very responsive and helpful but did not go out of their way to be overly friendly. Amenity kit was dumb containing a plastic comb, shoe horn and tooth paste. A nice touch to hand out pajamas for the flight and blanket and pillow more than adequate - but no "fresh linens for turndown" as I had expected. At 6'4" in the fully flat position I was comfortable. Food was more of a disappointment than usual these days and the alcohol was provided, but slow. IFE was confusing to work and consisted of a few out of date movies, and no western inflight magazine. The true value here is price. Compared to the American domestic airline prices to Shanghai the first class cabin on China Eastern is a steal.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 12 July 2008 : by B Li

Customer Rating : 3/5

JFK-PVG-CTU. JFK-PVG attentive crew members, empty seat next to me on a A346 on 2-4-2 layout. Food was the usual bland varieties you would expect from airlines. The entertainment was lacking with only movies shown on the big screen. However power outlets are provided at the seats, although mine was not working. Only other complaint would be the passengers constantly opening the window shades. PVG-CTU is what prevents this airline from shining. Flight is on an old decrepit looking A300-600. After boarding we were held in the plane for almost 40min. Temperature was over 90 degrees inside, and no explanation was given to the delay as we sat on the hot tarmac. Domestic crews seemed to be less attentive.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 3 July 2008 : by B Stewart

Customer Rating : 4/5

PEK-SHA in First Class. Finding First Class check in was a little problematic at PEK T2 and once located we found an exceptionally disinterested agent - did not bode well for the rest of the experience. Through Fast Track and in to the new MU lounge in minutes. Escorted to the waiting A330 and found the cabin clean and spacious with lie flat seats. Inflight service excellent with several main course lunch options on offer and full bar service if you wanted it. The 1.48 hour flight passed without a hitch and we had our bags and were in a taxi within 20 minutes of landing. Worth the extra $ for First Class on this shuttle service - only flaw was the mood of the check in staff.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 2 July 2008 : by Ewan Barr

Customer Rating : 2/5

CAN to SHA return. A mixed view. Outward flight on tidy A320 that was punctual, however breakfast was a miserable sandwich served by sullen crew. Arrived 10 mins early. Return leg had already been rescheduled to an earlier flight some days earlier by the airline, due to a flight cancellation, and we arrived to be told that there was now a small delay. Once into the departure lounge we were told that bad weather at CAN had resulted in delays all over, which was true, however our flight was eventually delayed 5.5 hours. Other airlines only had 1-2 hour delays for the same routing and China Eastern even had the bravery / gall to allow a later flight for the same route to leave 30 mins early from an adjacent gate, rather than take us back! We got served a small meal with a drink but communication was poor and staff very unfriendly. Having been in China for almost 4 years I have to say that China Eastern experience the most delays of any domestic airline and the hub of SHA does not materialise into any decent contingency plans when things go wrong. Heaven help us if they get into OneWorld, as they are attempting. Avoid.