CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES review : 5 May 2008 : by Jonathan Liu

Customer Rating : 2/5

HKG-PEK-HKG economy. I simply can't believe that a CZ aircraft is operated for 5 sectors a day. Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Peking-Hong Kong-Guangzhou! Meals ample portion but tasteless meat. The cabin crew need extensive English training as they couldn't make an announcement in English and gave it up! Would not recommend this at all.

CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES review : 29 April 2008 : by Eric Giddio

Customer Rating : 3/5

SYD-CAN-SYD Economy. You certainly get what you pay for! Food is below average for airline food. English was not really understood well. Inflight entertainment is catered to the mostly Chinese pax (which is fair enough I guess). Next time I'll pay the extra few hundred dollars and go Qantas etc.

CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES review : 23 April 2008 : by R Koning

Customer Rating : 2/5

Beijing to Amsterdam. Aircraft B777. Very spacious business class, although quality of seats not fantastic. Headrest kept sliding down and seat doesn't go flat. Inflight entertainment system is a joke; hardly any choice and mostly Chinese. The food was reasonable, although they serve a breakfast in the middle of the day! As I purchased a KLM ticket and flew on this codeshare airline, it is a bit of a deception.

China Southern Airlines - by R Wu

16 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

A very short flight from CAN-HKG that took about 50 minutes. There's nothing special to concern on this flight except that there were only 76 passengers so the boarding went quickly, and there's no IFE. The food/drinks offered at the usual Watson Water and peanuts.

China Southern Airlines - by Kunal Gautam

12 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Shenzhen-Beijing-Shenzhen. To Beijing an A320. Old plane but clean. Efficient English speaking staff. Flight on time, baggage arrival on time, out of the airport in 30 mins. IFE was in chinese. Flew back to Shenzhen in A330, efficient and helping staff. This leg of the journey was more comfortable. Got vegetarian food on request.

China Southern Airlines - by K Chen

9 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Sydney-Guangzhou Economy. Food alright but the cabins were a bit uncomfortable for a 9 hour trip. I do speak English and Chinese so there is no problem with my language skills. Their inflight entertainment isn't too bad, just enough for a 9 hour trip. I recommend they improve on their English skills and their inflight entertainment. Nevertheless, they are improving.

China Southern Airlines - by W Schaack

11 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

PHX-CAN: 777 well maintained and cabin clean. Great amount of room in Premium Business Class. Seats from the 1980’s, power provisions but not hooked up. I did not know this until into flight. Also, the seats do not lie flat - not even close. Audio Visual systems are as old as the seats, with only one movie in English. Cabin help is very good with just a minimal amount of difficulty with English. Food is ok with some items I could not figure out. Still not up to standards of other non Chinese carriers. Taking a bus from the awful LAX airport to board the plane. Why bother with a business class line at all. After flying this route for several years China Southern should have learned by now. If you are a business traveler needing business class services, then this airline is not for you! If they just get rid out those terrible seats and upgrade the audio visuals it would take them from a (C-) to a (B) rating.

China Southern Airlines - by C Young

26 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

In the November 2007 issue China Southern inflight magazine, there is an article on the "Beauty Contest" of its female flight attendants. It brings to mind whether the airline is more eager to sell the female staffs as sex objects - they have to parade in swimwear! And the article goes into the nervousness of the attendants - then the attendants as professionals who we can trust for safety and alertness. Not "sweaty palms etc as described in the article when met with pressure ". I hope the airline pays more respect to their customers' safety and more so, to their female air attendants as professionals of the "new" type !

China Southern Airlines - by C Waugh

19 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Xiamen - HK in economy. I found this flight on China Southern to be basic but quite acceptable. IFE basic, but I bring a book, and food nothing fantastic. I got a choice of food and drink that I don't have to pay for, and a pillow! I allowed enough time to account for inevitable delays on China internal flights, and I don't care if the plane was a little tired looking inside.

China Southern Airlines - by D Aston

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CAN-LAX return Business. Check-in at Guangzhou OK, but no class distinction, just one long line. Boeing 777. Seats not lie flat, not quite as wide as normal. Food good, both dinner and breakfast. Staff attentive, very good English, and quiet. IFE pretty basic, but I don't use it much anyhow. Cabin clean. Return trip through LAX, staff at counter very helpful on getting us through Security, as connection was tight. First Class Lounge in CAN not great, cramped and noisy, not much variety in food etc.

China Southern Airlines - by Richard van Straaten

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

B777 from Amsterdam to Guangzhou. Nice comfort in the Pearl Class and very professional. Flight smooth and all in time.

China Southern Airlines - by A Liao

1 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

AMS-PEK-AMS Business Class. I thought I would be travelling with KLM both ways. However, only when I started to look for the check in counter in AMS did I realise that both my flights were actually code- share services between KLM and China Southern, and operated by the latter. At that time, I did not know what to expect, so I decided to go with the flow. I was pleasantly surprised by the service. Flight Attendants were polite and professional, foods were well cooked and beautifully presented. Whist China Southern call this business class, it is actually between the old style First Class and Business Class, with a generous seat width, recline angle and space between rows. I had a good sleep. As I did not have any breakfast, I cannot comment on it. I am a regular First / Business Class traveller with BA, CX and SQ, and I have to say that there is still a considerable difference between the services you receive from China Southern and these airlines, for example: the wine list (only red or white on CZ), inflight entertainment (almost non-existent) and amenity kit (very basic). However, for the price you pay, the overall services considered excellent.

China Southern Airlines - by Y Leung

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Hong Kong to Urumqi return. This is a recently established weekly flight and most of the passengers are participants of group tours. Plane was a old 757. Strange to see members of the crew (in uniform with name tag) sitting in front row of business class talking loudly to each other and to crew who were working. Plane delayed for an hour without explanation. Food was served and barely edible. Coffee was only 3-in-1 with sugar and cream pre-added. When asked about black coffee, flight attendant looked annoyed and said black coffee was not available. Inflight entertainment was only via LCD panel hung from roof of cabin. Poor audio because they are still using obsolete air-transmitted ear-phones. A Chinese film was shown but was stopped in the middle and a number of other programs were run. Then the same film was restarted again but never got a chance to finish. Apparently none of the crew paid any attention to these 'trivial' things. Returned to HKG from Urumqi a week later. Plane again delayed for an hour. Again crew members in full uniform sitting in business class before boarding of passengers. This time the flight attendants seemed to be more helpful. LCD monitor displaying the flight information was wrong for several hours without anybody noticing. The expected time to destination was 13 hours 20 minutes. This was much beyond the range of the small 737. The flight attendant apparently did not seem to be alarmed when told that the information was wrong. Needed a lot of explanation to understand that if the information was wrong, it means there was something wrong with the computer that needed to be fixed. It was better not to show the wrong information than showing it. Finally they closed the panels and thought I was a trouble maker. Went to Aletai from Urumqi as a side-trip, also on China Southern. Very short flight without any service. Passengers were scolded by security before boarding the plane because they were not lining up properly. Fully uniformed flight crew sitting in business class again eating a full meal while the passengers were boarding. Really strange sight. The short flight of 55 minutes did not serve any meals except for a drink and some nuts. In conclusion, China Southern is not up to international standards. Even if they buy A380's or extend their service to every corner of the world. The attitude of the crew needs to be changed radically. Mentality of the management needs changes too. There are better airlines in China (though some are much worse).

China Southern Airlines - by Nick Fortuna

30 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Pek-Guangzhou in Y. Flight a packed 737-800 with departure delayed by 1.5 hours. No explanation given, but the weather in Beijing was terrible. Drinks service started with a water bottle run on this 3-hour flight. Meal was a choice between fish or chicken. Edible. Another two drink runs followed. Seats narrow, pitch was terrible. During meal service, FAs requested passengers move the seat upright and it was strictly enforced. Plane landed in the international section of Baiyun Airport - pax were bussed to the domestic arrival. Baggage on carousel as we entered the building. FAs made an effort. Chinese movie with English subtitles shown. Plane tired, seats uncomfortable. No English reading material on board. Had much better flights in China.

China Southern Airlines - by Gordon Hwang

17 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Shenzhen to Shanghai in economy. This airline is a very mixed bag. Tired and dirty Airbus with very tight seat pitch. The aircon could have been turned up as the plane was very warm. FA let a mother take a very young child to the bathroom during landing. Bland but edible dinner (chicken, rice, vegetable), two drink services during 2 plus hour flight, IFE did not need headphones, friendly and efficient FAs who spoke English. This airline is essentially like an economy airline in the US; it's a bus with wings that will get you there.

China Southern Airlines - by A Felix

10 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Changsha-Shenzhen in Economy. I fly domestically within the US quite often and this flight was easily on par if not better than US domestic standards in Economy class. I had an 8 am flight on a newer A320. The FAs spoke English well and were very courteous. The flight was just over an hour long but left on-time and arrived without incident. I was surpised that we were served a breakfast sandwich and drinks twice on such a short flight. The sandwhich was just a large roll with ham, mayo, cucumbers, and a tomato but it was a whole lot better than nothing. As far as the boarding process goes, like everyone else has mentioned earlier, it is a madhouse - but that's China. You need to keep in mind if you're a Westerner that you cannot hold your standards when you are in a foreign developing country. Just have a sense of humor and let it go or find another way to get there if you can't deal with the cultural differences- remember you're the foreigner as soon as you step foot on their airline or in their country.

China Southern Airlines - by Erik Libbrecht

24 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

It beggars belief that an airline touting for international business should lack an English-language timetable on the World Wide Web. Te only hopeful option is "Reservations". That leads, after a bit of messing about, to a Chinese-language page which appears to invite input of particulars and offers an "English" language link. But the "English" language link goes nowhere.

China Southern Airlines - by Alejandro Canton

20 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Xian-Guilin on a B737-800. Boarding was a free for all. Once inside the aircraft, it started moving while at least a third of the passengers were still looking for their seats. Full lunch and beverage service offered. English well spoken. Film was shown which needed no head phones. Though this airline has joined the Sky Team Alliance it does not award miles for flights within China. Don't think I would fly this airline internationally, though.

China Southern Airlines - by Nick Fortuna

20 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Beijing to Guangzhou Y-class. Probably one of the weirdest flights I've been on. Check-in took mere minutes, the excess baggage charge is RMB26 per kg - reasonable! The bus to the outlying a/c parking position took ages. Plane 777, badged ETPOS Pacific. Seated, then held on ground for one hour - expecting passengers from Amsterdam to join. No drinks. Announcements were made twice, but no indication of time. English spoken slowly and well articulated. PTV, seats very uncomfortable, plane grubby, in-flight magazine was part-English, food terrible. Just imagine flying to the US in that! Pilot nailed the landing sideways and with force, eliciting a collective gasp from pax. At least he didn't get us killed. Now to the weird part. Upon landing, we exited into the jet bridge but nobody was moving. Took maybe 10 min, then down the stairs into waiting buses. Bus stopped at what we assumed was arrivals. Everyone got off. Except this was for Amsterdam-Guangzhou pax only. Those that boarded in Beijing had to get back on the bus. Airport staff held a cryptic sign up, yelled into a megaphone, but no English announcement. Those clever enough to ask realised they had to get back on the bus. Domestic passengers were then bussed to the domestic section. The flight was a mix of domestic and international passengers - the latter still on their international leg. Weird.

China Southern Airlines - by Andrew Wright

15 April 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Guilin to Shenzhen in a 737. The seat pitch was the narrowest of any of our domestic flights and during the 50 minute trip we were only given a bottle of water and face wipe. The inflight magazine was somewhat bilingual and the English announcements were okay. It was adequate for a short flight but I'm not certain I would want to travel a few hours with them.

China Southern Airlines - by Anthony Williams

1 April 2007

It beggars belief that an airline touting for international business should lack an English-language timetable on the World Wide Web. Te only hopeful option is "Reservations". That leads, after a bit of messing about, to a Chinese-language page which appears to invite input of particulars and offers an "English" language link. But the "English" language link goes nowhere.

China Southern Airlines - by Dmitri Kense

29 March 2007

CZ from XIY (XIAN), to CTU (Chengu). Thankfully, the flight was only and hour and ten minutes. Seating cramped for my 5'11" frame, and the aircraft interior was shabby and ill kept, with the lavatory out of service and smelling foul. Flight attendants were pleasant enough, though spoke very little English. To top it off, there was the usual standing up and grabbing carry on baggage before we were even on the ground, and the customary pushing and shoving to exit the aircraft. This was the worst flight I have ever experienced - even worse than most domestic US flights.

China Southern Airlines - by Colin Shepherd

8 February 2007

My wife and I have been in China for two and half years now and have travelled internationally and internally with CZ at least twenty times. Of all those flights one took off on schedule. Unfortunately it had to return due to bad weather. Every other flight , mainly from Guangzhou, has been delayed. The international flights to Melbourne probably average 2 hours delay. We don't know if the airline's fault or what causes the delays as there has never been an explanation. Rarely is there an apology. CZ has finally worn us down and we will not fly with them any more unless there are no other options. We have tolerated the very poor food, the very limited English spoken by cabin crew, poor audio advice systems, limited and repetitive inflight entertainment and the broken fittings for a certain amount of time but at some point we realised that the airline and its staff don't really care. I have been battered about by people standing up to get baggage from overhead lockers before the aircraft stopped on almost every CZ flight I've taken. Sometimes passengers have been permitted to get baggage during the final descent. I guess CZ know China has an enormous and growing population, increasingly middle class and mobile. With such a market why should they worry about a few expats or seasoned Chinese travellers who know what standards should prevail. Until the airline sets standards for its staff and introduces processes to ensure those standards are met, they will not become the airline of choice for many. It's such a shame that we feel that we would rather fly via Singapore or Bangkok to use another airline than to tolerate the apathy of CZ.

China Southern Airlines - by Reynald Fetizanan

19 January 2007

Beijing to Manila via Xiamen that usually takes about 6 hrs was most likely unbearable! The fleet is okay I guess not really that bad. I guess it's an Airbus type. The food is not that bad either. They usually serve 2 meals during the flight. I've just noticed that the trays they were using were kind of old and some of their utensils were even belong to other local airlines coz I saw a sign on them from xiamen airlines. The drinks were fine. But I don't really understand why most of the flight attendants can't speak English where they were suppose to since it's an international flight, right? The crew were not really that hospitable. There's no much order specially during the transit period in Xiamen. Like one time, the passengers were swarming from any directions which created annoying noise and cramming going out. I saw the airline crew just watched these passengers. It's like "mind your own business!" Crazy and very disorganized it was and they didn't even mind it whatsoever. It was really a lot of hassles. Our flight that time was delayed 45 minutes from the scheduled time due to disorganization. Anyway, just like what they say, "there's plenty of room for improvement!"

China Southern Airlines - by K Siu

9 January 2007

Guangzhou (CAN) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) return. Check-in for both legs were done within a few minutes with minimal fuss. Outgoing flight on new 737-800, aircraft was clean, with reasonable legroom for a 2 hour flight. Only gripe for China Southern was lack of organization during boarding process. Although passenger lined up at the gate they were not grouped according to seat rows from the rear, hence it took 25 minutes to load a 737. Service was great though, much better than most, if not all North American domestic flights. Flight attendants welcomed passengers with smile, helped load luggage in overhead bins, and bowed when being introduced at the beginning of the flight. I noticed they even turned on the reading lights for passengers without being asked. Drink service was followed immediately by a hot meal with 2 choices, with free beer available. The meal itself was quite bland, but still better than nothing! Return flight was on 777-200ER. Same attentive service with drinks and hot meal again. Legroom on this 777 was amazing for economy class, the best I ever had on any airlines perhaps at 35” seat pitch. I only wish I can have this kind of space on my long-haul flights! Seat reclines more than other airlines too. China Southern configures its 777s as 10-abreast (3-4-3). Overall China Southern compares well with other “established” airlines, and would take them again for the next Chinese domestic flight without hesitation.

China Southern Airlines - by Iain Hogg

10 December 2006

Have travelled internally before without any issue. Yesterday PEK to AMS delayed 4 hours due to unexplained mechanical fault. We were fed on the tarmac at Beijing. Selection of beverages very poor in C class. During flight, woken after 5 hours, fed breakfast, it was 10 pm China, 3 pm AMS! Food totally unappetising and crew almost without any English. I will not use them internationally again.

China Southern Airlines - by Jason Birbeck

27 November 2006

Shenyang - Beijing, economy. On time departure and early arrival into Beijing. 1.5 hour flight with great service. Soft drinks and pretzel variety, but what more should you expect? Staff capable of reasonable English. Would fly again for internal flights in China.