China Airlines

Currently waiting in Air China lounge in Beijing where the food is terrible and all the supposed "cold" drinks are warm. Flight has been delayed twice. Due to depart at 4.45pm now departing 8.40 no announcement this after a 3 hour delay yesterday traveling from Guangzhou where they loaded us and pushed back from the gate and sat there for 3 hours due to bad weather. Surely with all the technology available they know this before boarding us? I was traveling in business class which is far below most other airlines standards. Never again.

CDG-PEK-TYOTYO-PEK-CDG. Flight Attendants behave very rudely to passengers have very poor English skills (even the most common words) barking at passengers when they "order" them to do something (put your seat in first position when landing for example). Don't expect them to bring you something after the meal was served (water for example). No choice with meals but despite that no smile and they almost throw the meal at your face. The transfer in Beijing was the most unpleasant and horrible experience I've experienced. We had 1 hour only from our flight CDG-PEK to the other flight PEK-TYO. After passing the corridor when exiting the first plane (CDG-PEK) an attendant was present to ask whether we have a transfer. As we said "Tokyo in 1 hour' she said Hurry hurry go! and pointed the direction where to go. But a huge queue of passengers was our destination and among them some with a transfer for a flight 3 or 4 hours later. No Airport staffwas present to direct us. We had to apologize to other people to come before them as our flight was leaving in 30 minutes as time was passing and the officer did not dare to accelerate the process of immigration control (for a transit flight!). This queue was a joke as people in transfer had to face immigration control and security control just like they trip would stop in Beijing. All that passenger had already passed these different controls in the country of their departure. Then we had to run for 500 m with our bags to the gate were a bus was patiently waiting for us. TYO-PEK-CDG looked like the same except that we had 2 hours for the transfer. Always security and immigration control with unpleasant and unhelpful officers sure of the power they have to annoy cistomers. One officer even took the external hard drive of my friend in a suspicious way (he had all his pictures in it) making him almost believe that he would confiscate it. I cannot believe this airline takes part of Star Alliance with ANA Lufthansa and others. Air China in 3 words : Incompetence Inefficiency carelessness.

Beijing to LAX and a number of minor run-ins that I didn't expect. The first annoyance was when I asked for a second bottle of water. The flight attendant replied with: “Didn't I give you one earlier?” The first bottle I received when I boarded the plane and I asked for the second bottle after I'd eaten my meal. Rather than bringing me a new bottle she proceeded to fill up my empty water bottle. My second complaint was the breakfast. I slept past the breakfast time. When the flight attendant gave my breakfast after I woke up it was cold dim sum. The flight attendant did not bother to heat up my food. My last occurred when I was about to fill out the customs declaration; I was given a choice between English and Chinese on the flight to Beijing but the flight attendant made an assumption and gave me the Chinese one without asking. I've lived in the US for 30 years and would have preferred an English one over simplified Chinese. I never expected to face this kind of attitude and service from a first class flight attendant.

LAX to Taipei in Business Class and Taipei-LAX in Economy. Renovated 747's both ways which was a vast improvement over the older product. Food and wine selection in Business was excellent and the staff were very attentive. Food was good enough for Economy but plentiful again the staff was excellent. The only thing that needs a slight improvement is the IFE I wish they have more selections for recent movies.

Sydney to Rome return. My tv screen did not work. Asked staff several times could I move and they just kept resetting it. Majority of the consoles did not work properly. Very poor movie and food choice. But the worst part by far was then they added a 3rd destination without our knowledge. Major confusion increased because it was a domestic leg added. So had to check out of the airport and back in at both Beijing and Shangai. I tried calling their complaints department but conveniently you can only email and its been 2 weeks and no response.

Booked Business for my wife and myself from Sydney to Beijing Beijing - Munich Paris - Shanghai and Shanghai - Sydney utilizing the 72 hours Visa free stopover in Beijing and Shanghai. We did the first leg from SYD-PEK. Flight is on Airbus A330-200. Seat is comfortable and it's genuinely a Flatbed 180 degrees with an ample leg space comfortable pillow and quilt. Meals were served hot with a choice of Western and Chinese Dishes. The TV is large with plenty of movies. Cabin Crews were friendly and attentive although some did not speak English well they understood our requests. The Restroom was cleaned and wiped each time a passenger used it. Plane left on- time. On Arrival in Beijing the plane stopped on the Tarmac and a small bus was waiting just for the Business Class Passengers. After the arrival gate 2 ground staff members were holding our names and took our cabin bags and guided us to the Immigration Express Lane then to pick up our luggage. Air China is now our preferred Airline.

SFO-PEK-MNL. The flights were better than expected based on past reviews I read. The food was fine and the kid's meal provided for my son was much appreciated. The FA's were not overly friendly but polite and efficient. I particularly liked the beverages made available in the galley. It was nice to be able to get up and get something to drink when needed. The FA's kept it well stocked with water soda tea and juices. The inflight entertainment could have been better. The movie & TV options in English were limited and aged. However they still gave us something to do during the flight. The provided headsets were not very good but we brought our own for the long trip so it wasn't a problem for us. Overall I was satisfied with Air China and appreciate the money saved when compared to other airline prices. For the value I would consider flying with them again.

My flight from JFK New York to Beijing China was 14 hours long. I was pleasantly surprised that the quality of my requested dietary preference was excellent. The meal times also were appreciated because the cabin crew requested all passengers move their seats back to the upright position. I am 6 feet tall and when the seats recline the passenger in front of me ended up crushing my knees. The bathrooms were top notch. On a long flight I expected them to be a disaster but they were always clean. The inflight entertainment was good and kept my kids busy when they were not eating or sleeping. Compared to other long flights I have been on before Air China better than I expected.

San Francisco - Manila via Taipei. Boarding was smooth I was assigned a seat with bulkhead directly in front of me limited leg room however no seats getting tilted back on me. The TV and dinner tray are built into the seat in this arrangement so the seat is even narrower than normal. I am a fairly average size guy and I was cramped due to the reduced width. The service is OK served two meals offered water twice coffee or teas once and received a warm towel once. The movies were fairly new although I watched foreign movies with Chinese subtitles didn't understand a thing. The flight to Manila was uneventful the transfer in Taipei is really smooth. The return flight was quite more eventful. Boarded only to find my assigned seat was already be used by a young child apparently the ticketing agents changed the seat assignment by simply writing it on the boarding pass. I was one of the last to board so I just stood in the galley and kept fingers crossed for possible upgrade. No upgrade however I did get an aisle seat so win-win family stayed together and I was in a better seat. All things considered given the price I was able to book this flight for the overall friendliness of the staff the quality of the food and the choices of entertainment I would say "Do it take a chance be adventurous."

DEL-PEK-SFO. After great service at Delhi departure check-in it was downhill for the next 2 flights. None of the cabin crew spoke a word of English or Hindi they were rude and unhelpful. Food was still frozen coffee and tea were not served without a hassle. I booked for convenience of arrival time and it was a mistake. I fly to India once a year and have flown many Asian airlines and they are excellent. When you have 21 hours on a plane you really do expect movie choices more recent than 1960's. I could deal with bad food and no entertainment in a comfortable seat but they should give the ones they have back to the bus they got them from.