China Airlines

Flew from Brisbane to Honolulu (stopover in Taipei and Tokyo) on CI53/54 and CI17/18. All flights on A330-300 aircraft (Brisbane flights had upgraded interiors). Have flown with CI previously but was impressed with the high standard of food on all trips. Drinks so-so with less variety of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and cabin crew were reluctant to give the entire can of soft drink unless requested (and had to ask other colleagues for permission to do so). That being said service was great for the most part and most flights departed on time with minimal delay. As an end note I submitted positive feedback to the CI website and received a phone call from the Brisbane office within 2 days thanking me and asking if I had any further comments. Appears to be a company that listens to its customers and I will choose to fly with them again in the future.

Flew Taipei to Tokyo on 23 June. At the boarding gate the scanner wasn't working well to scan my boarding pass and the passenger in front of me but was overall smooth and didn't cause too much trouble. Inflight service was okay and crew members were friendly. Food was good and a lot of choices for films and music for a 3 hour flight. The cabin pursers announcement was difficult to follow. The most strange thing was that on leaving the aircraft there was no one to greet you at the door and in fact no crew member could be seen from my cabin.

We flew from Brisbane to Auckland on Business Class (I upgraded us last minute on the flight June 27th) - I think people are very harsh with their reviews as we had a fantastic experience.

On board service is absolutely minimal. Unfriendly staff no trace of hospitality at all. Entertainment: all music is Chinese only! No classical music at all (but Chinese traditional music in abundance). Inflight magazine in Chinese language (with some minimal English words added). Cleanliness is rather low overall impression: very low. The good things: flights were smooth and we felt safe. Punctuality was good.

I flew Frankfurt-Beijing-Guiyang and return and I was completely satisfied. The first flight was on-time. In Frankfurt Air China flies from the Lufthansa gate which is quite conveniently located. Entertainment was good but it can be boring for people who speak neither Chinese nor English. The flight attendants were very friendly the food was good supply of drinks after request at night. Flight landed on-time in Beijing but we needed to take a bus to the terminal. Connecting flight was on time again but operated by Shandong Airlines which was also okay. On the way back both Air China flights were punctual leaving but due to high air traffic (not Air China's fault) we were delayed for about 90 min at Beijing Airport. During the waiting time drinks were available (self- service only) The cabin crew was friendly and we encountered some turbulence so service was suspended quite often. There were too many announcements telling passengers to stay at their seats! Self-service in the galley was okay even alcoholic beverages were included. Flight attendants didn't mind people going into the kitchen and getting food and drinks by themselves.

AMS-BKK-AMS on CI late June 2014. I chose CI because of the great fare and the early arrival in BKK and AMS on the return flight. CI uses the A343-300 on this route. May not be the most modern plane but it has a very comfortable seating lay-out even when full like my 2 flights with ample legroom. Flights departed a little late but arrived ahead of schedule. Meals and service by the crew were much better than expected. The IFE is basic compared to Emirates but still provided for a good few hours of entertainment with an interesting non-Hollywood selection. All in all 2 fine flights for a great price. I will use this airline again.

Terrible service all around will not fly with them again. Our flight did not even land in Beijing because of a "weather" condition but when I checked the weather at the time it was sunny. No other explanations were given. Upon landing in Beijing I obviously missed my connective flight to Harbin. They offered us a hotel and a good 3 course meal but instead we were transported to a rural area with only a cup noodle.

Beijing to Shanghai Business Class June 21. Despite both ATC and weather delays (neither of which were the carriers fault) we had a really good experience. Flight was operated by an A330 which was internationally configured as it was continuing to Melbourne. Very comfortable seating good entertainment including camera's and maps and a very decent snack. Crew were efficient and kind although not overly warm and they were inconsistent in their enforcement of safety regulations i.e. Cell phones on and seat backs up. The female crews seemed hesitant to enforce correct behavior of Chinese men. All in all a very good professional experience.

I did not have any service related problems with air china on return flights SYD-PEK-STO. Slight flight changes were emailed well in advance. I requested special meals which I got on all legs. Crew were very courteous. Some of the PEK-STO have inflight personal entertainment now but the selection is very poor and worst of all it is the same on all legs. Better to have your tablet or laptop pre loaded. If you are tall like me then don't choose a window seat. These seats and the middle two seats in the centre rows have a large black media box that sits where your left leg should - very uncomfortable on overnight flights. Overall a good experience minus any frills.

I flew from Osaka to Ho Chi Minh with a connection in Beijing. The first flight from Japan was ok although staff were quite unfriendly and check in was really slow they took about 15 minutes looking at my passport and visa. The second flight was an hour delayed just boarding - no announcements were made for the reason of the delay. Once we boarded we waited another hour and a half on the plane. Again no announcements were made as to why we were waiting for at least the first hour and no crew were in sight we just sat there. Food was pretty mediocre and when offered a choice of chicken or seafood they then said there was no chicken and I had to wait. It took about 15 minutes for them to bring the food out after serving everyone else and when I asked for it after about ten minutes the crew member just laughed and said you will have to wait. Small uncomfortable seats. However no issues with baggage being transferred which was good and flight itself was pretty smooth. All in all not a great experience and one of the worst airlines I have flown with.