Air China

Stockholm-Bangkok via Beijing. Return flight Bangkok-Frankfurt via Beijing. Seat was awful headphone socket didn't work. Food was poor and service was slow I managed to get 3 beers in 6 hours after that they were out of beer and wine. Business class Beijing-Bangkok. Only good thing was the seat - fairly comfortable though no electric socket for laptop. Service not up to much. Very poor English from staff. Toilets smelt really bad and were dirty.

Beijing to Shanghai. Only one check-in desk for standby passengers. Flight time was 2 hours. Hot meals served and no options. The A/C was B777 without IFE system. Crew were helpful. Flight was on time. Shanghai to Beijing B747 without IFE. One hot bun served as breakfast. Flight delayed 45 minutes due to air traffic control.

London to Sydney return via Beijing. A cheap flight and lived up to cheap expectations. Very friendly check-in at Heathrow and Sydney. Chinese staff do not speak much English. Meal selection was "Chinese" or "Western" with menus offered on only Heathrow-Beijing and Beijing-London sections. No snacks in between meals and no amenity bag. Drinks were revolting - no ice and tea is warm and stewed black tea. Coffee has milk powder to add. Announcements in English impossible to understand Captains' English was good on all flights. Overall it lived up to expectations with good entertainment and the food was okay. Due to poor English and lack of assistance from staff I would not recommend or fly again with this airline.

Sydney-Beijing-Paris then Rome-Beijing to Sydney for a family holiday. That's four 12hr flights. As others have said price is the only advantage of this airline ($1500 AUD return to Europe from Australia during new year). The plane's facilities were poorly maintained (seat cushions slip at awkward angles TV screen falling apart or not working poor selection of entertainment toilets unkempt and food that was difficult to stomach). However it was mainly the other passengers that made it worse - yelling clearing their throats loudly rude to staff jamming their seats up and down violently and worst of all leaving the toilets a mess. Perhaps a single 12hr flight would have been tolerable but 2 of them in a row was insufferable.

Round-trip from Hong Kong to Munich. The main reason for flying Air China was no surprises the price and that was also the best and only good thing about the flight. The food was atrocious the plane worn out and the so-called entertainment system awful. The bathrooms were bad. Conclusion: everyone has their own priorities but next time I'll pay extra to fly another airline.

LAX-PEK return. Food low quality staff appeared when time for mandatory service large screen viewing on main bulkhead without sound on both trips. They were older 747s. It seems staff had something to say at irregular intervals making it hard to try and sleep but they were very good at making business transactions ignoring everyone so they could count money and look at receipts. You want a cheap very basic airline trip to China then this is the airline for you.