Air China

I havnt managed to fly with this terrible airline. I booked tickets to Thailand for our honeymoon. Unfortunately my fiancees mum died of cancer a few days before our wedding so the wedding was cancelled. The airline point blank refused to change her name to her own maiden name, despite it being the same passport etc. They even cited the reason as, and I quote "the fact she died just isn't my problem". We can now no longer afford last minute flights to replace them.

Forget comfort in economy. I did however figure that someone would at the least respond to a problem with my checked baggage. The retracting handle was extended, snapped and jammed so as not to retract. The drill is to contact baggage claim, but at 1 am everyone must have been fast asleep. A round-trip from Bangkok to file a claim runs over $100. Reimbursable? Still awaiting reply from "customer service" after one week.

Melbourne to Rome via Beijing with Air China. Aircraft were clean and well presented. Inflight entertainment for Westerners is terrible. The service onboard was adequate, and the food was not bad. Flight left on time. I did not consume alcohol, but it was offered. The flat bed with the ottoman at its end enabled a taller person to be able to stretch out and be very comfortable. Cabin temperature was warm. A good quality blanket is provided. As other have stated, cabin crew disappear after meal service. All in all great value for money and I will travel again with this airline.

Air China from Beijing to Melbourne, and as I was transiting from an ANA flight, getting a boarding pass was difficult as the transit desk was closed on one side. PEK airport is enormous and efficiency does not seem to be a priority. All powerbanks are banned from checked luggage and some from hand luggage depending on how big they are. I found the ground staff to be helpful, even letting me know about an item I left behind at security and driving me back to the gate in a buggy. Business class seats are excellent, roomy, and recline a comfortable flat bed with soft blanket. The inflight service sounds great in theory but needs a lot more polish. Pre take off champagne and all wines were served in a thimble, which probably only holds 100ml. All the drinks are served warm. Johnny Walker Red Label would seem to belong in Economy, not business, and I'm not sure about the Great Wall chinese red wine offering. After the first meal the cabin crew disappeared until lunch was served before landing. They never offered water or came through unless you asked for something during the 11 hour flight. The inflight entertainment is very clunky but had a few western films. The crew's english was passable, the uniforms seemed be military inspired.

I'm 6'3" tall and a big plus using Air China on prior occasions was the ability to request and usually receive, reassignment to exit row seating. (Don't try this on United. The upcharge is $227 per leg). My flight was San Francisco to Harbin via Beijing return. Harbin is beautiful even if the weather man didn't cooperate as I might have wanted. I decided to cut my Harbin visit short and return to Beijing for a few days there. Having read about train travel on the continent I decided to see if it really was that good. The train ride was great. I showed up at Beijing airport on my scheduled date to return to SFO but attempting to check in I was notified that because I did not use the return ticket from Harbin to Beijing, I would have to speak to an agent. Said agent informed me that my return ticket had been cancelled and I would have to purchase another (price approx. $950) .Believing I had no other choice I handed over my credit card. Adding insult to injury, by the time I got back to the check-in counter all exit row seats were taken. Upon my return I checked all communications from the ticketing process with regard to airline policies, but could find no such restrictions. Two letters of inquiry to Customer Relations both went unanswered.

I was travelling Air China from London to Macau via Beijing. Air China has share code agreement with Air Macau, which allows Air China passenger to take their Beijing to Macau flight. When I arrived at Heathrow, I have tried to print the boarding pass, and luggage tag using the self check in machine. However, I have noticed that the system does not allowed me to print the Beijing to Macau bound boarding pass and luggage tag. So I asked for assistance, the ground staff agent told me since my Macau bound flight is operated by another carrier, not with a CA flight number. Air China told them to advice the passenger to collect their luggage at arrivals and check in again at departure. (This flight is operated by Air Macau but it has a CA flight number), the staff insist I have to. However, when I check my luggage at the counter, the staff told me the luggage can send straight to Macau, although I need to collect my boarding pass at the transfer desk. The boarding was smooth. When I found my seat, I noticed my pillow is full of fabric that comes off from the used blanket. The pillow looks really dirty. The inflight entertainment is poor, full of dull advertisement and useless company info about awards they have received. The meal was edible, not exciting. Overall the inflight experience was okay despite dirty pillow. When I arrived Beijing, I tried to collect my boarding pass at the transfer desk, the lady was not polite and told me the checking in for my flight to Macau will not be opened until 10 minutes later. I can see other transfer passengers also waiting at the transfer area. So afterwards, I make myself to security checks, and have to enquire again about my luggage to make sure it is loaded to my connecting flight. The staff confirm to me the bags were loaded on the air craft. Air China has to do better on the ground management, particularly to their codeshare flight. The inflight entertainment needs more hard work. The system for transfer and connecting flights need to improve and optimise.

Air China is not an airline I would recommend or ever fly again, I ended up with this flight because I booked a flight using Star Alliance points. The food was not bad, but the IFE is ridiculous, very poor selections. Service was poor, with flight attendants slamming down the window shades after take off and then turned off lights immediately after the meal service, chastising those who tried to open a window or turn on a reading light. Boarding was chaotic, pushy passengers, and the crew who could not wait to get everyone off the plane at the end of the flight.

Check in handled efficiently, managed to change to a window seat by asking. Nice clean aircraft, IFE of good quality but not enough western content. Flight attendants were nice and eager to try and speak English. Pre-ordered a special meal when I booked the flight, unfortunately it wasn't there. Choices for the first meal were chicken and rice or pork and rice. After serving one round of drinks and meal the FA's disappeared until 2 hours before landing in PEK. Second meal choices were pasta or more rice. Had about 2.5 hours in PEK, very empty terminal, decent shopping. Connecting flight to BKK left on time and uneventful. Return on same route, BKK to PEK and they had my special meal this time. Had six hours in PEK, getting a 72 hour visa was a breeze and took less than five minutes. Lots of Chinese tourists on the PEK-YUL portion, interesting direct flight on the way back. People standing up as soon as the plane basically touches down. Flight attendants seems used to it.

The flight from Frankfurt was okay for confort of the seat, but service, meal food and onboard TV was all really bad. Cabin attendants have almost no knowledge of English, forget German, and once meal tray was cleared they disappeared. Cabin lavatory was dirty after 1 hour of flight and nothing replenished and not cleaned for later use. Transfer at Beijing to a domestic flight is poor, no staff to help, long queues for immigration pass through and security even worse. Boeing 737 we flew domestic was in terrible condition and cabin was dirty even when we boarding the plane. We chose Air China for schedules, and were lucky our ticket allowed to change for Lufthansa on return trip. Never again with Air China.

My Air China flight from LAX to Beijing was pretty comfortable and service efficient, Flights were on time, and cabin comfortable.