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CHINA AIRLINES review :  19 January 2009 : by David Passmore

AMS-BKK-AMS Business Class B747-400. Equipment seemed a little dated and inflight entertainment needs to be modernised. The seats in business are not the best as they have limited recline, however, I always attempt to reserve the bulkhead window seat on the upper deck which allows your legs to stretch out on the side storage panels. Boarding was efficient on both sectors and both flight were on schedule. Crew were efficient and polite without being too overwhelming. The food on the AMS - BKK sector was a vast improvement on my last trip. CI business class still represents good value and I will still use this carrier, but a little refurb on the equipment and entertainment system would not go amiss.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  15 January 2009 : by R Wu

LAX to TPE, AVOD not working well, meal quality declined and meal servings decreased. Lounge at LAX is a joke as almost nothing served but fruits, chips and instant noodles. Cabin crews worked hard to try to accommodate the passengers, yet it cannot overcome the poor quality addressed above. Both the pilot and purser's announcements were difficult to understand.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  14 January 2009 : by Nethran Pathman

Sydney-Delhi via Taipei return. China Airlines made this trip a pleasure in the A320-330s. The seats were quite good, and vegetarian food was brilliant - typical chinese veg. The transits in Taipei both ways was great, with accommodation in high class hotels with meals. The only problem was that we arrived hungry and quite late in Taipei, so veg food was hard to find at that time. The free tour of Taipei city was truly a highlight. A great trip.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  13 January 2009 : by J Huang

Economy Class Brisbane-Taipei-Hong Kong return. Clean and reasonably new A330-300 equipped with PTVs on all legs. Unfortunately they've taken out the footrests in Economy and replaced them with some sort of Inflight entertainment computer box (I hadn't noticed those before when there were footrests). Brisbane - Taipei return flights have an improvement - a warm snack now instead of cold. Meals great on all flights and service was friendly and efficient. We were served Hong Kong style dim sim flying to Taipei which was very nice. Call bells were always answered, and this is quite amazing considering all 4 flights were full to the brim. All flights were on time and the flight attendants even have a good grasp of English. I will continue using this airline.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  13 January 2009 : by Frank Mauz

HNL-NRT-TPE-HNL. Generally excellent experience, friendly, efficient cabin crews, food quality and quantity both good. A340 aircraft on return far superior to B-747 outgoing in terms of roominess and in-seat entertainment. China is slight below the best (Asiana, Singapore, ANA), but much better than US carriers.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  9 January 2009 : by Tony Koo

SYD-NYC via TPE/ANC return economy. On a general scale I give CI a 8/10, with a fantastic experience. Cabin crew mostly friendly and helpful and pleased with the food/meal service. SYD-TPE A330-300 with AVOD, which was alright but dont expect too much. Legroom on the A330 pretty good, clean cabin and quite pleased with service. CI offered me a night in their hotel near the airport after arrival in TPE however I turned it down and opted to stay with a friend in downtown Taipei. The hotel was at no cost however, which would have been an attractive option if it was in downtown Taipei! Taipei to NYC via ANC a 747-400 with no PTV's which was a big disappointment due to length of the flight (total 17 hours, excluding the 1.5 hour stop in ANC). However cabin service was excellent and crew very helpful. Food was fantastic out of TPE but from ANC it went downhill. The trip back to Australia was a mirror-image of the trip out. The downside I have with CI is their punctuality - my flights on CI saw 3 delays out of the 6 legs I flew.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  28 December 2008 : by W Nieuwenhuijsen

AMS-TPE First Class, despite being the old style seats the sleeper seats are very comfy. The food was wonderful and the service very personal but not intrusive. The staff does everything to make you feel welcome and very friendly and has eye for detail. Wines are good quality and food choice as well.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  24 December 2008 : by R Nunzio

FCO-BKK return economy class A340. Seat and pitch good, each seat provided with blanket and cushion of good quality. Crew welcome on board and provide good assistance, chosen fish options and very tasty with full range of drinks including alcoholic. AVOD with good selection including air camera. Return check in iat BKK swift and for my Skyteam gold status got lounge access, reasonable food and drinks available, but toilets not acceptable for biz class. Onboard once more greeted by efficient and courtesy crew - food, seat and service again outstanding. China Airlines surprise me for outstanding service and performances on board at relatively bargain prices.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  24 December 2008 : by Vincent Wang

SYD-TPE in Economy on A330. Seats were comfortable with a reasonably decent seat pitch, the downside being the footrests which used to be under the seat in front of you have been taken out. Lunch was pretty good with constant water runs throughout the flight, with a hot snack service (and by snack I mean something along the lines of a pie or a quiche, not a hot refreshment/meal) which is an improvement from before - it used to be a cold snack like sandwich/sushi. AVOD was excellent as it only froze once, but the selection has clearly decreased when compared to before. The inflight magazine was not available at any of the seats but instead put at the front where you can grab a copy if you like (surprisingly, the only reading material available at every seat was the duty free catalogue). The flight attendants, while not as friendly as they used to be, were none the less efficient. On the plus side, our flight landed 15min early and our checked baggage arrived quite quickly.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  24 December 2008 : by T Jones

AMS-TPE-SYD. First Class AMS-TPE, not offering 1st on TPE-SYD, but business. Really excellent service and quality on TPE-SYD that is on level with any other top airline but the First Class on AMS-TPE is poor, despite the relatively low price - 747 is old and the seats may even be older. With consequences for IFE : just 8 films available, for others you have to ask them to insert a tape. Also no power in the ancient seats, so laptop soon runs dead. Wines are excellent, but stick to the Asian food choices, because the western choices on First Class were quite tasteless and poor. But excellent Asian breakfast on the return flight to AMS. Will do it again, though I hope their First Class on AMS-TPE will improve.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  28 November 2008 : by J Huang

Brisbane - Taipei. A330-300 with AVOD in Economy. Flight departed on time and was full to the brim. Flight attendants did well considering the amount of people on board and seemed to have a good grasp of English. The meals were very good - featuring a western and eastern selection. IFE had a great selection and was easy to use and very responsive. They had to reboot it at the start when it wasn't working (which only took about half an hour), but it worked fine for the rest of the flight. Throughout the flight, water runs were done frequently, and call bells were always answered. The passengers kept the flight attendants busy! Flight arrived on time.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  18 October 2008 : by Andrew Lin

KHH-HKG-KHH in Economy. On this one hour flight I found abundant service. Staff work hard on HKG flights, due to the need to squeeze in the meal service AND the duty free. Flights were on A330-300. I found the seats nifty and AVOD great. There was a personal mirror and glasses compartment for every seat, and AVOD had over 30 movies and tons of music and clips. FA's worked really hard throughout with professional service. So, overall, lots of good service with average tasting meals.

CHINA AIRLINES review :  13 October 2008 : by A Sulz

BNE-TPE-AUH. We had a newer A330-300, all with AVOD, excellent selection of movies, music etc. Economy seats were good - prefer seating 2-3-2, so that was great. FA's very good, most had good English. We found the meals excellent & enough provided, drinks were consistently offered. TPE- AUH we were upgraded to Business Class FOC, heaps of room to move, nice food, FAs good. On arrival China Airlines provide free transfer to Dubai. Return transfer provided by China Airlines was again a bit of a drama, confirmed with them 24hrs prior - our transfer picked us up at 4pm which just got us to Abu Dhabi in time for our 6pm departure after doing 150 kph to get there. Checked in and flight on time - again newer Airbus, nice and clean, pillow, blanket. Return flight good, clean aircraft all with AVOD, same selection as outbound. Friendly staff & good meal. Overall we had a very pleasant trip with and would fly them again. They are doing a very good job to get their name back in there. Compared with other airlines we have flown with, this one is up there.

CHINA AIRLINES review : 9 October 2008 : by J Tang

Customer Rating :   3/5

SGN-SFO Via TPE economy. Flight on time, seat cramped, aircraft need a face lift. There is no AVOD, only a big screen. Food was okay, but small portion. I am used to them giving me hot towel but they did not on this flight - I think they are cutting back cost but overall still a good airline

CHINA AIRLINES review : 19 September 2008 : by K McFadden

Customer Rating :   4/5

BNE-TPE-FRA return Economy. Flight attendants very friendly, helpful and speak good English. All flights on time. Missed the return leg of the journey due to a hold up caused by a cancelled flight in MAD, but when I made it to Frankfurt, the airline put me on the first open flight. It meant spending a couple of days in TPE, but I was given a voucher for the duty free shops, a free Taipei metrocard and travel book assistance locating a hotel and shuttle transportation both ways and a free city tour of Taipei. Only real complaints were the food (I quickly learnt to buy some snacks at the airport) and the quality of the seats. However, on all but the first flight (nearly full and stuck in a middle seat), the plane was not crowded and I was able to lift the arm rests between a couple of seats and lie down and sleep. The blankets and pillows provided were a nice touch. Overall, I was pleased with the quality of service and would considering flying China Airlines again.

CHINA AIRLINES review : 16 September 2008 : by Andy Chuang

Customer Rating :  3/5

LAX-TPE-LAX, Business Class. Both are daytime flights and operated by old type 747. FAs are excellent for both flights. Food is good but not perfect. CI no longer provides amenity kit to business class passengers due to the newest cost cut policy. Really bad. Seat is OK. Only 48" pitch. However, it can be adjusted to a very comfortable angle for seat reclining and legrest. 6" PTV with eight channels program and No AVOD system.

CHINA AIRLINES review : 12 September 2008 : by Stuart Walker

Customer Rating : 4/5

Sydney to Rome via Taipei, Business Class. SYD to TPE is on A330 and TPE to Rome on A340. The seats on the A330 are newer than on the A340. Neither are flat. I find the older seats more comfortable as they are wider. Cabin service was good. The amenity kit did not come in a bag - apparently they have run out, not that the contents was really worth having. AVOD on both legs was very good - good selection of up to date films and enormous selection of CD's to listen to. The headphones, although not noise reduction are better than they used to be. Food still not as good as it could be. The stop in Bangkok on the TPE to Rome leg is a pain, especially as there are no showers in the BKK lounge.

CHINA AIRLINES review : 27 August 2008 : by Ray Miller

Customer Rating : 5/5

JFK-TPE-KUL Business Class. Great service. It was a great experience. Staff and service were great. We flew KUL-TPE-JFK economy class, that was a good trip. We know what to expect in economy class. The airline put us up for the evening in a good hotel (City Suites) with meals and transportation included. Staff at the airport and hotel were very helpful. The only downside was that the aircraft 747-400 from TPE-JFK didn't have individual video and the projector in our area of the plane didn't work. Not big deal for us, as our children had their own entertainment we brought. Overall I would recommend China Airlines to anyone.

CHINA AIRLINES review : 23 August 2008 : by Peter Schweizer

Customer Rating : 4/5

BNE-FRA via TPE return in business class. Very good in the air and really enjoyed their friendly service. Very competitive pricing and would not hesitate to fly them again. Seats need to be updated but overall a 4 star performance. TPE is a very boring airport to transfer. Lounge in TPE offers good food but why are there no windows. ? Felt like I was in a basement.

CHINA AIRLINES review : 21 August 2008 : by Paul Tyrrell

Customer Rating : 5/5

AMS-BKK-AMS first class. Excellent service, cabin, space, food. The sleeper beds all combine to give fantastic value for money. Would have absolutely no hesitation whatsoever flying in future. It is up there with the best 5 star Asian airlines. No AVOD as yet, but am sure that will come in time. Check in at both Bangkok and Amsterdam airport flawless. All flights on time. High standard of excellence all round.