Air China

✅ Verified Review | Bangkok to Montreal via Beijing. You get what you pay for. This was my first time and last time flying Air China. I'm wondering how they could pass Star Alliance basic standards. First, my flight was cancelled and I had to fly one day later. Their ticket office offered me a refund or change the booking to the next day. Having no choice to come back home, I had to take the flight the day after. Regarding the check-in, I had issues on both legs. From Bangkok, the check-in is done by Thai Airways staff but they were useless. I arrived 2 hours before at the airport and almost missed my flight because they could not fix the issue. I was traveling with my wife, an infant and a child. I had requested a baby bassinet which was only done on one leg. They had the great idea to put my wife and the infant on the first row and me and my child on a different row at the back of the plane. They couldn't give us seats all together so me and my wife could take care of our baby together. I even talked to the Station Manager in Beijing on the phone but she could not care less. On the way back, it was even more ridiculous. The check-in staff was very rude. The flight was full so they upgraded my wife to premium economy but me, my infant and child in Economy. Despite asking them to downgrade my wife so we could all seat together, they refused. They said they were unable to downgrade my wife nor upgrade the rest of my family so we could all seat together. What kind of airlines would separate a family on long-haul? This happened on both legs, so I assume this happened often. During the flight, the entertainment system was mostly for Chinese as there were very few English movies. As for the food, I would advice anyone to bring some snacks on board. There were only selection of Chinese food which was simply disgusting. It was so bad that I couldn't tell what kind of meat it was. My wife and I took different dishes to spread the risk, and all of them were very bad. Last but not least, when we came back home, we had one luggage missing. I took them 4 days to bring it back and my suitcase is really damaged so I can't use it anymore. My only positive point, which I was very surprised considering their ground staff, is that the crew were very nice and friendly.

✅ Verified Review | I recently traveled from Washington to Bangkok via Beijing on Air China. My travels started out on 8th December 2016 and as of today I have yet to receive my checked luggage nor be compensated for the loss. I filed a Property Irregularity Report as soon as I landed in BKK and my checked bag was not with the rest of the people's checked bags that I flew with. They said if or when it arrived they would bring it to my hotel. It never did. My hotels were even nice enough to follow up with it everyday multiple times a day on the trip. I ended up having to buy clothes, borrow clothes, and purchase other items I had previously packed. It was the worst experience I have ever had with an airline. When the trip ended and I arrived back at BKK I let the gate agent there know the situation and she turned it over to another person, this person made some phone calls and told me I should speak to those in DC. SO I flew back to D.C. and when I got there I spoke to their baggage claim that worked for the airline. She informed me they have 21 days from the date I file the report to find my luggage (I filed it on the 10th December). Once the 21 days past if it is not found I am to file a report for compensation and it should take 2 months for them to compensate me. On 30 December 2016 I called the baggage claim office in IAD and spoke to an agent who acted completely incompetent when I started speaking to her about the issue. I told her the 21 days past so I am now seeking compensation for my lost luggage. She basically said they would keep looking for it and I asked how long do they have to look for it? An infinite amount of time? What is standard procedure? She then copied a bunch of people on an email (all of which had Gmail email address which I find absurd for a company this size and also extremely fishy) and turned it over to BKK and Beijing to handle my claim. I received a reply from one of the individuals she copied on the email in Chinese. I don't understand what about our previous correspondence indicated I speak Chinese. I had a friend translate it and he said the email was extremely unprofessional, it does not give a timeline of action or state a standard procedure. Everyone I have dealt with in this airline has either acted incompetent or unprofessional and I have lost a good amount of my belongings. I can't even get a standard procedure, a timeline of next steps, or an email in English. I will absolutely never fly on this unprofessional and incompetent airline again.

✅ Verified Review | Chengdu to Shenzhen flight is on time and smooth. Service is adequate and drinks were served with hot snack. Seat pitch was standard, not too bad as in some cheap European flights. After flying China Southern I found Air China service to be less good. Shenzhen airport has good connection to town via bus and metro, even to Hong Kong on a direct bus. My destination was Hong Kong and I made it in less than 3 hours from airport to hotel.

✅ Verified Review | My husband and I flew New York JFK to Mumbai via Beijing with Air China. A very pleasant experience. We read about the not so great entertainment system and no wifi, so we downloaded movies onto iPad ahead of the trip. The food and wine was not exceptional, but not bad for airline food. Service in-flight was fine. Connections were quite tight and I had an agent waiting for me at the gate to rush me to my next flight, clearing me through immigration and security so I didn't miss my flight. Much appreciated as I would most definitely have missed my connection without their help. For the price, it's an exceptional value in business class. We would fly Air China again.

✅ Verified Review | Taipei to Dusseldorf via Beijing. It turned out to be a very nice flight comparable with other airlines. During the flight food and drinks were served. The staff was friendly. The inflight entertainment system is very much focused on the Chinese with only a few western series and movies. The food was good and much the same as any other airline.

✅ Verified Review | Tokyo Haneda to New York via Beijing. I've flown with Air China on three trips and the experience has gotten better every time. Not largely due to anything Air China has done differently, but because I've adjusted my expectations and I've gotten better acquainted with airport and inflight regulations. The mode of operation of Air China comes across more as a hard and fast checklist, rather than keeping customers comfortable or even satisfied. I've had to be rather forceful and persistent when I make requests inflight. That way, my requests as a paying customer are usually met. The cabin crew aren't usually the most inviting or pleasant but keeping busy with the entertainment system is a good distraction. The entertainment system is decent, even on a 13 hours journey. Try your hardest to stay away from aisle seats. The aisles are narrow and you're sure to be disturbed by constant bumping from passengers and crew alike. The menu is rather limited but the meals aren't the worst- balance of flavours and sizeable servings. The seating comfort is pretty average too. I'm 6'1 and it works. Lastly, though the expectation is for the crew to be multilingual, English isn't a strong suit for all attendants. I've always used simple English and I get by. I'll continue choosing Air China because of their prices and punctuality. Yes, the service can be rather dry, but it isn't abrasive or intolerable. I just need to get where I am headed, with the security of being on time, fed and safe, and that's what I've gotten from Air China..

✅ Verified Review | Seoul Incheon to Qingdao. I have travelled with Air China for the second time, and every time I travel I have bad experiences. Last time I travelled they just threw out my brand new battery from my bag without my knowledge and this time, despite my pre booking of the vegetarian meal, they tell me they can't provide me with vegetarian meal. You ask them for veg they say sorry and walk away. I was seriously disappointed. When you reach Qingdao airport, staff at the airport make the passengers to wait somewhere in the chilly minus degree winters, where there is no heating system. They close the airport without any waiting lounge or anything. If you want to communicate the Air China staff don't know English. So frustrating it is when you have to wait for another flight for 9 hrs waiting in the chilly winters.

✅ Verified Review | Düsseldorf to Bangkok via Beijing. The experience with Air China was not so bad. The cabin crew could speak English, although they always started with Chinese. Food was just okay, but my advice is that you should buy some snacks and taken them on board. The inflight entertainment did not offer a lot of movies, and some were only available in Chinese. Seats were a bit small. I didn't like the transfer in Beijing Terminal 3 because you have to pass thru special immigration lanes. I do not mind if I have to wait for a long time, but what happened was there was no line. Transfer passengers just cut the line. I recommend Air China if you are on budget. I chose these flights because Air China offer cheap tickets.

✅ Verified Review | Düsseldorf to Taipei via Beijing. The customer service is really bad. The rest is like you would expect it from a cheap airline - food okay, unfriendly service onboard. The airline changed my transfer flight to two days later, so that I would have to stay in Beijing for 2 days without giving me any possibility to choose a different flight or offering compensation. At their Beijing call center they told me I could change the first flight from Taipei to Beijing to two days later, which sounded very good, but I should call a day later to confirm. I tried for the two following weeks on different days and at different times, sometimes at 1 am, to call them, without any success. An email was also left unanswered. After I finally got someone on the line, the woman simply said I should call the German office and hang up on me. I am really angry about the way they treated me.

✅ Verified Review | My flight itinerary was LAX to Indonesia via Beijing. Everyone in coach got two meals during the flight from LAX to Beijing. Aside from the food, I thought the ticket was suspiciously cheap for a roundtrip flight to Asia and back. $450. Turns out that you get what you pay for. I thought I paid for an LAX to Indonesia roundtrip with a layover in Beijing but Air China failed to say there was a stop at Xianmen en route to Jakarta. When I pointed this out to cabin crew and how nothing in my email confirmation my ticket indicated a layover in Xianmen, his response was "the ticket says the flight from Beijing to Indonesia is 10 hours. You should assume there'd be another layover if the flight is that long." I was lucky enough to snag an aisle seat. I'm usually pretty good at keeping my feet inside of my seat space but I have wide shoulders. Literally every single time I was able to fall asleep, a staff member would storm through the aisle and bump me in the shoulder. No apologies. No acknowledgment. My advice: spend an extra couple hundred dollars on EVA Air or Cathay Pacific.