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.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 28 June 2008 : by Victor Garg

Customer Rating : 4/5

Shanghai Economy. Check in very efficient and friendly. Surprised with the cleanliness of aircraft, very attentive FAs, courteous and they tried and went an extra mile to make the trip very comfortable. What a pleasant change and I wish that it will continue.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 4 June 2008 : by O Ayben

Customer Rating : 1/5

I had booked China Eastern to fly from Australia to London (with a Shanghai stopover). With my stopover in Shanghai, I had ticketing complications. The staff could not sort it out and wouldn't let me board the plane. I missed my plane and had to stay overnight. I was only expecting to be in Shanghai overnight, so didn't look into obtaining a visa. By not allowing me to board the plane, I had now been in Shanghai for 2 days. The maximum is 48hrs without visa. I tried to get an emergency visa but no one could understand me. They are very poor with their customer service and english. Even on the second day, they couldn't sort out the ticketing problem, so i had to purchase another ticket. I wasn't happy at all as the ticketing complication was not my fault. I wasnt allowed to board a flight which I had already paid for. I couldn't get a visa to stay in the country to sort out the ticketing situation. Aside from the above complications and lack of professionalism, the aircraft only have 1 television screen for every 12 seats. I think this is unacceptable for long haul flights. The food is terrible. I will never fly China Eastern again and wont recommend them to anyone either.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 4 June 2008 : by J Grayland

Customer Rating : 3/5

China Eastern is ok if you are flying domestic. I have used them for many years and their service is acceptable and offers a good set of connections for those travelling to/from Shanghai. I promised myself I would never fly them long haul, however I recently joined a new company who booked my PVG-LHR ticket with Chinese Eastern. The flight was nearly on time, but apart from that it was not a journey I'd like to repeat. Service basic to say the least. Food acceptable, entertainment is dire and the seats are hard with relatively little leg room. Only fly with China Eastern if it is cheaper and there are no alternatives.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 29 April 2008 : by John Kou

Customer Rating : 5/5

PVG to HKG economy class. Check-in and Security at Shanghai quick and efficient. We were bussed to our aircraft. A321 clean. No audio or video entertainment even though those systems were installed . We were given two meal options. The cabin staff always came around the cabin refilling water cups.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 23 April 2008 : by James Edwards

Customer Rating : 3/5

Xian to Beijing (domestic) - Plus: left and arrived on time, fairly cheap fare - so basics covered for a short domestic flight of 2 hours. Minus: Airbus A300 felt quite tired, seats were rickety, food was pretty grim, entertainment screens invisible/broken. Not a problem on this short flight, but I probably would avoid the airline long haul.

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES review : 23 April 2008 : by James Ling

Customer Rating : 3/5

I initially booked CX from MEL to PVG but flight was delayed due to the typhoon in HK. So CX arranged an alternative flight. Check in not an issue. Initial impressions was that plane was clean and appeared well maintained. This is not a direct service but via Sydney. Signage and information in SYD not clear for transit passengers. No proper info was provided for pax. Flight was smooth and arrived in PVG close to schedule. No personal entertainment unit. Would be seriously annoyed if I paid full fare to sit in this airline. Inflight movies were started and stopped for no reason. Case in point-movie was interrupted halfway for exercise video and then never restarted. Choice of movies fairly dated. Seats fairly comfortable, but slightly on the hard side. Food provided was sufficient. and average. Strangest thing I had was a bun wrapped in tin foil for the MEL to SYD leg. No menu provided and lack of drink choice. Features a little lacking compared to CX, SQ, QF etc. Seem to cater more for Chinese passengers rather than international passengers. Would be annoyed if I paid full fare for this (which I didn't).

CHINA EASTERN review : 22 April 2008 : by H Jockers

Customer Rating : 3/5

I recently have taken MU from S hanghai Hongqiao to Seoul Gimpo, as well as Tokyo Haneda (HND). These two destinations are being served with new A321's. Coach seating is tight, I usually get the exit row seats in either row 8 or 21. At least half the flight attendants are native Korean or Japanese. Very convenient airports in terms of check-in, immigration and local access. Highly recommend this connection and MU on this sector. We look forward within the next months to fly Shanghai Hongqiao to Taichung Taiwan, both sides are gearing up for that it seems. MU on the shuttle flights Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing PEK are also fine, using new A330, no thrills flights but international standard. Pity the deal with Singapore Airlines (SQ) failed, still no alliance membership (I am SQ Sol. PPS - Gold, thus usually prefer Star Alliance).

China Eastern Airlines - by B Tucker

4 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LAX to Shanghai. Transfered to Beijing, then back to Shanghai, then return to LAX. Plane was clean, FAs provided whatever was requested (coffee, extra pillow, eye shade, beer or wine). It was an excellent value and on the top end of 3-star rating. We did arrive at the airports 3.5 hours early to ensure window/aisle seats as there is no advanced seat assignments. TV screen is a little hard to see in the center of the plane - but with lights out, we preferred the aisle/window combination. For the price, it was a good flight and a safe trip.

China Eastern Airlines - by R Bussels

15 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Economy Frankfurt - Shanghai Pudong and back. Relatively new Airbus A330-200, legroom fine, seat quality OK. Smooth check-in, seat choice no problem, no delays. Cabin crew attentive, English was OK, generous with drinks and sandwiches, food quality was good although choice between pork rice and chicken noodles was quite predictable after reading other reviews. Inflight entertainment sufficient - LCD screens, 3 American and 1 Italian movie on the outbound flight, and 3 American and 1 Chinese movie with English subtitles on the return flight.

China Eastern Airlines - by John Kou

15 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

HKG-PVG check-in at Hong Kong was smooth and the flight was on time. The flight attendents were kind and could understand some english. The plane was an A330 with new seats - comfortable and had power outlets. Bathrooms clean. Legroom was better than United economy. Food good and entertainment was okay even though there were no PTVs.

China Eastern Airlines - by C Austin

11 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-PVG - the staff did not understand my English and I speak clear English. No safety video given on way out! Entertainment consisted of a video screen flip down shared between 10 rows of people - was above my head so couldn't see it. Food average - best part was the direct flight, not needing to change! Shanghai-Tokyo: a more modern plane, empty seats available which gave me more space and comfort. Attentive staff.

China Eastern Airlines - by K Atkins

7 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

China Eastern Airline are very basic! I flew with them to Melbourne. Staff were friendly, and smartly dressed, although didn't speak much English. The aircraft seemed quite old, in flight entertainment was in Chinese, only one TV screen per 6 rows, Plane seemed fairly clean and tidy. There was a good selection of free drinks, although food wasn't good at all! You get two small sized meals per 12 hour flight, you get a choice between noodles with beef or noodles with seafood for nearly every meal including breakfast! Not much leg room. I guess you get what you pay for, and if willing to put up with these things just to save money it's ok.

China Eastern Airlines - by Gregory Sutch

4 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

I would urge anyone who is considering to fly on MU to think again! I live in Shanghai and have travelled on MU many times, domestically and internationally, but only when there are no other options, e.g. to various destinations in Japan. I have had MANY bad (nay, terrible) experiences, but yesterday's takes the biscuit! Bad weather at Shanghai had resulted in many delays, but we were told that our flight MU761 for Kagoshima (about 90 mins) would depart on time (at 9.55 am) and rushed on to the aircraft. My wife and I had our 13-month old son with us, and many of the other passengers had young children. There was one very elderly lady who could hardly walk. We all boarded the A320 before 9.55 am in anticipation of an imminent departure... To cut a very long story short, we were eventually told at 7.30 pm (after 9 and a half hours on the plane), that the flight had been cancelled because Kagoshima airport had closed (Kagoshima airport always closes at 8.00 pm local time, but it seems that no one had told MU!). Quite apart from trying to keep a 13-month old baby occupied for 9 and a half hours, the attitude of the staff, in particular the cockpit crew, was absolutely deplorable. We had one announcement about two hours into the wait (the captain said he was waiting for clearance), but otherwise we were told absolutely nothing. The chief purser said nothing to any of the passengers and just looked away when you asked her for information. After 5-6 hours, we were told by one of the stewardesses that the flight would depart in an hour, then that we were third in line for departure - all lies. But the worst came at the end, when the passengers were deplaned into a bus and were made to wait for another 30 mins (standing and with the bus doors open - it was probably about zero outside) while the crew boarded their own bus and disappeared. It became clear to us why we were waiting when we saw the elderly lady being assisted down the stairs by some ground crew. The cabin crew had departed before the last passenger had got off. We were then dumped back in the departure lounge (where we had started 10 hours previously) with no airline staff on hand to tell us what to do. We eventually found a way back through immigration (in the departure lounge) and then waited one and a half hours to get our bags back. We got home at 11.30 pm, having left that same day at 7.00 am. Much more happened during the course of the 10 hours - an ambulance was called when a young girl came down with a high fever, and the airport police were called when about 10 of the passengers (after 6-7 hours) decided to confront the cabin crew and demanded to see the captain - who never once appeared. Not one member of the airline staff apologised for the debacle, and the elderly, parents with children and unaccompanied children (there was one) were treated like anyone else.

China Eastern Airlines - by K Owen

21 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Melbourne to Shanghai via Sydney. I fly China Eastern because it is the only direct flight into Shanghai and the cheapest. Food onboard good, but a little oily. Service excellent. As a speaker of Mandarin, I found most of them to be polite, but not sure how this impacted on non-speaking passengers though. On the relatively new A330-200, nice LCD screens. on the 9 hour trip, one chinese movie, and Casino Royale. Also played a few skit shows. Not a bad airline compared to recent times, but one to avoid if you can.

China Eastern Airlines - by Stephanie Wilson

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Shanghai to Paris return. As we live in China this is always the first choice offered by travel agents. My advice, don't take it unless you have to. As usual the flight departed 2hrs late. However they dont tell you this until you are sitting on the tarmac. The seats are terrible - on the return leg the entertaiment screen was not working. Food is poor, although to be fair on the return leg from Paris we did get sandwiches as well as a meal. The staff generally cannot speak more than a minimal amount of English. My son speaks Mandarin and when having a conversation with them, they told him they hate working for the airline! They certainly pass that impression onto their customers. The worst I have ever taken with them was Shanghai to Bangkok. Full of passengers who will not sit in their allocated seats and in turn cabin crew screaming at them. In short a 4 hour experience from hell. They now show a video teaching passengers how to fly. It tells them not to spit, how to use the toilets, and to stay in their allocated seats. Not sure if they have made one for the crew yet!

China Eastern Airlines - by C Law

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Sydney - Shanghai - (Melbourne) Sydney. The flight attendants were amiable and willing to please. It wasn't full so had spare seats next to me. Both flights were on A330-200 and seats were comfortable. Being a native Shanghainese speaker I find the atmosphere in the plane familiar and reassuring. My advice to foreign travellers on this airline is to adapt to the Chinese way of travel.

China Eastern Airlines - by Richard Forcella

11 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Business Class from LAX to SHA; poor service and food but the convenience of a direct flight from LAX compensates for this. Cocktail and wine selection very poor. Flying First Class within China is hit or miss; some nice aircraft but usually no meals worth eating. Try China Southern or Shanghai Airlines within China; both offer better quality service on every level.

China Eastern Airlines - by Matthew Jacobsen

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Los Angeles to Shanghai in Economy. I travel from LA to Shanghai about 6-8 times per year on business and the only airline with a direct flight is China Eastern, so I take it. There is very little legroom and many seats have a metal box underneath them further limiting it. Seat cushions are extremely firm and it is impossible to eat if the person in front of you doesn't put their seat up for the meal. There is no space to use a computer unless there is an empty seat beside you. They serve two meals which are the same two foods reversed; for instance, on my last flight it was fish rice or beef noodle for the first meal and then beef rice or fish noodle for the second. Same sauce on all four of them and all are horrible. They stopped serving beer and wine for about 6 months - thankfully resumed serving alcohol although the beer you get is warm Budweiser or Budweiser Ultra (although if you ask for a cold one they do offer ice). All drinks are initially served with no ice and you must ask. For entertainment, there are 3 movies which are invariably childrens movies although there are usually few children on the flights. At least one bathroom breaks down during the flight and they are usually extremely messy with toilet paper all over the place, unknown fluids on the floor and the sink clogged, counters wet and the trash bin totally full. Luckily I speak Chinese though, because the stewardesses speak a sum total of 10 words of English. The best days to fly this route are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday when the plane isn't so full and you have a chance to get a whole middle row of 4 seats and just sleep right through it. A fellow passenger called this the poor man's first class. I have flown this route in business class and it was much better. I highly recommend this if you have the means or the frequent flyer points. China Eastern does not belong to any of the frequent flyer groups though and only shares points with two airlines. They do not offer many perks at all for your accumulated points so about the only thing you can do is upgrade your class. Be sure to do this at least a month in advance though because they have very few seats available for people upgrading and they are reserved well in advance.

China Eastern Airlines - by A Liao

6 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Shanghai (PVG) - Beijing (PEK) First Class. Flight Attendants polite and professional, and the food well cooked and beautifully presented. The seat is an angled lie-flat bed and has its own AVOD inflight entertainment system with good programmes. A330-300 for this particular route, thus the cabin is clean and spacious. Overall, it was a very good flight. I will be happy to use China Eastern again.

China Eastern Airlines - by L Campagna

19 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Shanghai-Xian Guilin. I was impressed by the new Airbus we took from Shanghai to Xian. The seats seemed larger than those of a typical US economy class. The flight attendants were polite and had varying degrees of English proficiency. Food service adequate, food looked a bit strange but was quite tasty. Drink service also good. The flight to Guilin was on a smaller Airbus but the service and food were similar. Certainly a step above domestic economy class!

China Eastern Airlines - by J Lee

17 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

PVG-PEK on Economy onboard an A321. My first time on MU, and was glad that the flight departed and arrived on time. The cabin was clean and the crew was professional and friendly. However, the meal was poor. On a 2-hour flight, I was served a sandwich with mysterious fillings wrapped in clear plastic wraps. I wished the presentation was more appealing with the ingredients labeled. They were playing something on the overhead TV screens but the audio system of my seat was not working at all. The crew was able to speak simple English but it was hard for me to distinguish whether they were speaking in Mandarin or English throughout the PA announcements. Despite all these negative comments, MU was actually above my expectations and their product is better than most North American carriers. At least they did not charge you for drinks, snacks, and headsets.

China Eastern Airlines - by Fiona Johnson

9 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-PVG-BNE return economy. have flown many times with different airlines between Australia and the UK. This flight was the horrendous and I will never fly with China Eastern and would never recomend the airline. The stop over in Shanghai was a nightmare. We waited over two hours for a bus to take us to our hotel. The staff were rude and reluctant to speak to us. Some families with children ended up taking taxis. The hotel staff were rude, the breakfast horrible and we felt like cattle being rounded up. Some people were quite distressed by the experience. I was stunned by the lack of service and poor quality.

China Eastern Airlines - by W Hamilton

5 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

PVG-HKG-PVG Economy. Usual hour delay out of Shanghai to Hong Kong, they didn't even bother to announce it until the plane was already half an hour past its departure time. So we sat in the hot cabin for an hour. The plane was a good 20-minute shuttle bus ride from the gate, in Hong Kong the plane was at the gate. Flight good because on both legs the plane was half empty and I could lie down on one of the middle rows of three seats. On the return leg cabin crew were very helpful and friendly. Half the price of Dragonair who charge £300 for this two-hour flight and not too bad really. The seats are tiny and I don't know if I could really fly with China Eastern on a flight over three hours. Didn't eat the food. Normally don't bother on mainland Chinese airlines as it's normally inedible. It would be nice on an 8 am flight to get a proper breakfast. I note that Dragonair service their planes in Hong Kong and China Eastern in Xiamen, and this I am sure contributes to increased price and appeal of Dragonair. I almost always fly Dragonair for this reason and because of the better food, drink, and service. China Eastern has still some way to go to catch up, if indeed that is what they want to do.

China Eastern Airlines - by R Sears

27 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Travelled economy LHR-Shanghai (A340), Chongqing-Xian(A320), Xian-Beijing(A320), Beijing- Shanghai (B737), Shanghai-LHR(A340. All flights excellent, on time and plenty of leg room. Staff spoke good English, helpful and attentive. Drinks including wine and beer served on long haul flights, plus good meals. Food was served on internal flights. LHR to Shanghai and return, Western breakfasts were offered, and were of good standard. Entertainment was not up to Western standards, but a good book remedies this.

China Eastern Airlines - by A Cheng

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Los Angeles to Shanghai. Flight attendants going and returning were quite pleasant and their PA announcement in English was understandable. Inflight meals are really not edible not to mention no in seat video. The in seat power outlet is a plus for laptop users but on my return flight, it did not work which was disappointing.

China Eastern Airlines - by Liz Harvey

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Return London to Sydney (transiting in Shanghai). All the attendants spoke English but to varying degrees - but very attentive and keen to please. The inflight entertainment is not great; on a typical 10 hour flight there were a couple of Chinese films with English subtitles and a couple of English films. There are no individual screens in the back of the seats, only overhead screens every 6 or 7 rows. Expect rice and noodles for food, all perfectly edible. The highlight of the flight was the night stop over in Shanghai on the return journey. We were picked up by a representative of the airline as soon as we stepped off the plane, collected our bags and then were taken to a 4* hotel (Donghu Lingang hotel) in a minibus, about 30 mins away from the airport. I was told initially that when I received by tickets that I would be staying in the Jinlihua hotel (3*) so I'm not sure what happened there but I certainly did well out of it! The hotel was fantastic and the staff were great - it was also really nice to get a decent nights sleep. We were taken back to the airport the next morning and arrived in plenty of time for the flight. I can understand why some people have had a bad experience with China Eastern but as long as you're not a fussy traveler then you'll be fine, and considering the amount that I paid for the ticket, I consider it to have been very good value for money.

China Eastern Airlines - by Gavin Slater

11 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

MU flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai. Short flight uneventful, plane full - food served was strange as appeared to be mostly bought in sweet snacks (chocolates, etc), 2 drinks runs and good service form cabin crew - no announcements at all from cockpit but flight on time with no hassles.

China Eastern Airlines - by Chris Jones

2 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London-Shanghai-Sydney return. The worst travel experience of any type I have had. Travelled as a family of 4, got off to a bad start at Heathrow when we were told that 2 of our tickets had been cancelled. We had arrived 4 hours early and eventually cleared check in with 45 minutes before take off, even though we where pretty much the first ones there. The old style TV positioned directly above us was on constantly making sleep even harder due to the light coming off the screen. Transfer in Shanghai OK and then onto Sydney via an unexpected stop at Melbourne of which we knew nothing. Return was the same and we had no choice in seating (even though again we were several hours early). Shanghai was dreadful. The ‘close to the airport’ hotel was a 45-minute coach journey and we sat on the coach for 20 minutes before it set off! The Hotel turned out to be OK (Dunghu Lingang) and one of the staff became the first Chinese worker to smile at us! Breakfast, on the other hand, was a shambles but we didn’t really mind – guess it’s a cultural thing but even so I don’t think you should have to look for basic politeness. We arrived at the airport less than 2 hours to departure. We found this strange as the transport was entirely organised by China Eastern but we thought that perhaps we would have some form of priority check in as we had effectively set off the day before from Sydney. This turned out to be not the case and we found ourselves sat at the very end of the plane, backs against the rear toilet with seats that reclined about an inch. They didn’t even manage to sit the family together, we had no say in the seating during check in, and after take off when it became apparent that other seats were free we were told that we couldn’t move. The crew performed to the standard we had become expected and so ended our first and last journey with China Eastern.

China Eastern Airlines - by Adrian Mueller

28 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Shanghai-Honqiao to Ningbo in First Class on an A320. MU is only carrier serving this route, has 3 morning flights and then one at 21:05. I finished my meeting at 3PM, thus had to wait 5 hours plus the normal delay of almost an hour, so got to the hotel almost at midnight - regretted not to have taken a taxi which is a 4-hours drive. First class is a joke: worn Business class style seats, no food, beverages available only water, orange juice and beer. If you fly MU First Class on short haul domestic, be careful when price is very low (full fare 97US$), do expect a service that would not be approved as Economy on any quality carrier. unfortunately to some smaller destinations in Eastern China you have no choice.

China Eastern Airlines - by Roger Stone

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Shanghai Pu Dong Airport to Beijing in First Class. Two hour delay departing Shanghai due to severe thunderstorms closing Beijing. However, the cabin crew did a superb job keeping the passengers refreshed with fruit and red wine (an interesting combination) and maintaining a pleasant atmosphere overall in the cabin. Considering almost all in the first class cabin were non-Chinese nationals I could see this was an admirable job in the circumstances. The flight itself was interesting as the flight crew constantly and cleverly diverted the aircraft around major thunderstorms en-route to Beijing. The aircraft was a spotlessly clean A330 - with this experience, it seemed to rate a much higher rating and appeared to be 4-star.

China Eastern Airlines - by Alain Kupferman

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Beijing to Xian and Xian to Shanghai in Economy. Good and clean planes, reasonable meals, friendly service in the air. In Xian, over 4 hours delay (restriction of air traffic control): catastrophic information, no meal or refreshment served.

China Eastern Airlines - by Casper Velds

17 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Shanghai Pudong to Beijing Capital in economy class. New A330-300, very clean. The seat for less than two hour flight was pretty good. Most of the crew could speak English well and service was very good.

China Eastern Airlines - by Rémi Pallaro

16 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Paris CDG - Shamghai Pudong PVG. Economy Class, a 12-hour flight A340-600. Plane was not full, got a window seat with 2 other seats free in my row so able to lay down. Staff english was limited but friendly. Meals weren't huge, was often hungry. Temperature too low. Interior ambience a little bit too saddening, so Was the thin blanket. Arrived at Pudong at 7am, airport almost empty, luggage quickly delivered. good value for money if you can enjoy some extra seats to balance the poor seat pitch.

China Eastern Airlines - by Thorkild Lykke

17 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Kunming-Dali and Lijiang-Kunming-Xian in First class. Aircraft on both flights B737 with 2x2 seating and good pitch. Slippers and lots of warm towels handed out throughout the flights. The best feature was check in at Lijiang airport - Tickets, passports and luggage was given to the officer at the VIP-counter, who escorted us to the first class lounge immediately. He returned 20 min later with boarding cards, baggage tags etc. At the time of boarding, the security check was directly from the lounge to the gate. On the 2hr stretch from Kunming to Xian full lunch was served - starter, choice of entree, fresh fruit for dessert. The relatively little extra price you pay for first class on Chinese domestic flights are worth it.

China Eastern Airlines - by Michael Kasberg

3 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Beijing to Shanghai in business. Check in took one minute, Lounge with drinks and some food, overcrowded in the morning. Modern A 320, seat configuration 2-2, seats were very wide. Welcome drink and slippers (for a 2 hours flight!) were offered before take off. FA`s spoke good English and were very attentive. Food was good, two choices of main course, no wine, only beer, tea, coffee and soft drinks were served. Flight was in time. Compared to a 2 hours flight in business in Europe China Eastern did a good job.

China Eastern Airlines - by Simon Whittaker

31 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Heathrow - Sydney Return (via Shanghai). The plane was modern, service fine and food OK (if you like noodles, noodles and noodles). Inflight entertainment is indeed abysmal, with the old fashioned one screen between 10 rows. A couple of films were OK if fairly grainy while on the way back a truly awful film was about to be repeated for the third time when a mutiny started and it was changed! All flights were on time, however the time of take off when we arrived at the airport on every occasion was different to the time on the ticket (within 30 minutes always but still a bit worrying). Can't comment on the hotel on the way home as we stayed a week in China so didn't use it. All in all - you get what you pay for. Take plenty of books / entertainment of your own and you'll be fine. For slightly extra comfort and better in flight entertainment I'd only pay up to another £100 for this trip.