Air China

Beijing to Paris, and if you can, try to avoid Air China. This airline is providing very basic service and every time I had to fly with them cigarette smoke can be smelt quite strongly! On my last flight CA933 from Beijing to Paris, the smell was so strong that I asked the flight attendant if passengers from first class where allowed to smoke. She said no, so the pilots must smoke in the cockpit or in crew-rest area. This is just incredible in 2016! The inflight entertainment is very poor - try to get organized and have movies on a tablet with you, or else the time is going to be very long in those flights. The state of the toilets in economy (even at the beginning of the flight is terrible). If you have the choice, avoid Air China

Do not fly Air China, but spend the extra $100 plus dollars to book with another airline. I flew them from New York to Bangkok via Beijing. The seats were so uncomfortable and tight for such a long flight, the cabin staff didn't understand a single thing you say to them. The worst part about the whole experience was our layover in Beijing. We had a 6 hour layover in this airport, not only was it beyond cold in Beijing, the airport itself had the AC on and we were shivering from the cold at the airport. The options for food were horrible not to mention the people who work at the airport were rude and ignored you. With Air China review you have no option but to layover in Beijing, and if your layover is more than 2 hours you don't want to be in this airport! The experience from start to finish was just horrible with Air China. If I could rate this airline zero, I would.

Delhi to Vancouver via Beijing, flight CA991. If you don't want to travel home easily, then fly with Air China. My flight was delayed for 48 hours (11hrs + 13hrs + 24hrs). I faced a lot of problems throughout the delays. There was no food for the vegetarians and the hotel service was horrible. We had to wait outside Beijing Airport for 3 hours to go hotel and it was in the minus degree temperature. There was no one to speak to us because the staff who serves the travelers, don't know English. I personally would never travel with Air China again.

Los Angeles to Singapore via Beijing with Air China, and a disappointing experience, particularly on the Beijing to Singapore flight. The business class seats in the A330-300 were spaced too tight for me to lay flat without bending my knees. I'm 6'4" but I think anyone 6' or up would struggle in those seats. That plane was filthy. Fortunately the Boeing 777-300er from PEK-LAX had room to stretch my legs and was cleaner. But, the seats were narrow because of the 2-2-2 layout. The 1-2-1 layout I'm used to on EVA Air 777s offers significantly more width. During the flights they won't let you have cell phones powered on, not even in airplane mode, which spoiled my entertainment plans. Another frustration is they prepare for landing 40 mins early rather than the last 15-20 mins like other airlines. The food was mediocre. The flight attendants were polite and prompt.

London to Bangkok via Beijing with Air China, and you get what you pay for, which is awful service and a horrible experience. Arrived in Beijing on an intentionally long layover so I could see the city. After I came back for a scheduled midnight redeye, was told at the terminal of a delay until 4am. After a few hours nap, was told again of a delay until 8am. 8am came and went with no boarding. The counter person just stood there and repeatedly told all of us angry people that he "had no information." Other passengers boarded other flights from the same gate and other planes to Bangkok which were scheduled for that morning took off while we waited for another hour. Finally we board and were treated to a 1.5 hour delay on the tarmac before setting off to Bangkok. All this while, no updates, nothing more than perfunctory apologies, no hotel voucher - which is what they should have given us by delaying us 10 hours over night, instead of making us all sleep at the horribly cold Beijing terminal. Never again.

Bangkok to LAX via Beijing was the worst experience in my several travels around the world. Air China changed our flight by over 6 hours without giving us a choice to re-arraign our stay. Due to the change we had to leave a paid night at our hotel and miss our last tour in the Phi Phi Islands. We asked for a refund since we had made changes to that specific flight so we could stay that extra day in Thailand, but we were given a number in China to call. We spoke with the manager in Bangkok who said we were going to be upgraded in Beijing and that we needed to go to the "transfers" counter - which does not exist in Beijing. No numbers to call within the airport and we couldn't go out to the counter to get our business class upgrade. We were told that no upgrade was going to be given since we paid for coach. We explained that we had already paid an additional $400 dollars to change our earlier flight to the original flight in the late afternoon so we wanted our $400 back. The manager continued to give us a number in China to call - and that was that. Never again will fly this airline. Liar agents, horrible service and rude flight attendants, makes you feel as if they are giving you a free lift to your destination.

Auckland to Beijing with Air China. Food was average, but entertainment system is lower standard than other Asian/European Airlines. My wife's system did not work at all. Service came after roughly one hour so that is okay and friendly when you put some effort in it. The flight assistants that serviced us were able to understand English. Second service was okay. Beijing Airport however is the worst experience. My wife is a smoker but there is no way to smoke and they also took her only lighter. Transit is terrible, we had a checkout (for transit passengers!) that took ages and then we (all transit passengers) were in line with the new guys checking in coming from outside. We only had 2.5 hours transit time and just made it. Customs officers yell every few minutes, all in Chinese, and no smiles to see on this airport. We arrived 4.30am..

London to Kansai via Beijing with Air China. Cabin crew were not as horrible as some say. Food was quite pleasant, and you could have a drink. Unfortunately you are not able to use your mobile phone even in flight mode. Pillows and blankets are provided on long haul flights. Overall flight was comfortable but our luggage did not arrive at our destination, which overrides however nice the flight was.

The worst experience ever. I travel quite a lot with several companies, but I've never had so terrible experience. My Air China route was suposed to be Barcelona to Bangkok via Beijing. They added a 4 hours stop in Vienna and changed the sehceduled time 5 times! The way to BKK took us 12 hours extra! and the way back 7 hours extra! No apologies, no voucher for food or drink. We asked for a complaint form in Bangkok and in Beijing, but the answere was that they don't such a thing, and that they don't understand why they have to have one - because they don't understand why we want to complain, just because of the extra hours. All said in a very rude way and in a very poor English (if you get a person that speaks English, of course). The planes are old, not confortable at all (unless you are in 1987), the crew was useless (hardly speak english) and give you orders like you were at the army. We got seats at the exit door, where there was a powerful light. We was told that they would gave us an eyemask to let us sleep. We had to ask for it 4 times, and they just threw them to us. Believe me, is like a Ryanair flight, but staff without any knowledge of english.

Dusseldorf to Singapore via Beijing and these Air China flights were on time. Flight attendants were okay and food also okay. Legroom was fine, just the width of the seats are designed for the smaller asian people, which is too small for a big european guy. A good experience and excellent value for money.