China Eastern Airlines

Xian to Zhangjiajie. Bought a business class fare on C-trip for the same price as a regular fare, so very happy about that. The Xian lounge was okay - decent range of cold drinks, and food. However the food was more miss than hit. On the flight we only received a fruit platter and tea for the 1 hr flight. Inflight entertainment selection was poor, but my partner and I both managed to find something to watch. Staff were friendly but their English was poor. Only chose this airline because it was the only carrier on the route but would fly again if required.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai to JFK New York. I flew 8 flights with China Eastern between October 16 and November 2, six of these domestic flights within China on Shanghai Airlines, which is owned by CE. On the international flights planes were new and clean, with seating you'd expect in economy class. Meal and drink service were fine, but food quality was lacking. Noodles were extremely greasy and fish was very fatty, not appetizing. Another dinner consisted of eggplant (again greasy) and rice, with a side dish of a cold white pickled vegetable, plus a packet of 8 saltine crackers. No cheese or anything else with the crackers. Water melon for dessert. Inflight entertainment was odd, perhaps chosen solely with Asian passengers in mind. Baggage handling : the outbound trip checked my bag from JFK to my destination in Guiyang, with change of plane in Shanghai. In Shanghai I learned that my flight to Guiyang had been cancelled because of weather so about 4:00PM I and 10 others in my group were taken to a hotel about 15-20 minutes from the airport. At 9:30PM our tour guide knocked on each hotel room door to tell us that CE required us to return to the airport to claim our bags. Why? "If you leave it overnight it may get lost." We went. After Guiyang we headed to Wenzhou, again via Shanghai. We arrived in Wenzhou on a morning flight but bags did not. When would they arrive? "Maybe tomorrow." This seemed strange since there were two more flights the same day. In fact the bags reached our hotel shortly after midnight, probably arriving on the second of the two remaining flights that day. My TSA-approved lock was missing, but bag contents were complete. These experiences did not raise confidence in China Eastern's ability to handle luggage. End of my trip involved a flight from Guilin to Shanghai leaving Guilin at 12:10PM on November 2. At dinner November 1st our tour guide received a call informing us that our flight had been cancelled "due to a change to winter schedules on November 1." We were re-scheduled on a November 2 flight leaving at 7:30AM, the only flight of the day. This required leaving our hotel at 5:30AM. If winter schedules go into effect on November 1, why did CE sell us a ticket for November 2 using "summer schedules"? And why was our guide only notified of the change the night before the flight? No traveler in our group received any email notification of the schedule change. We can only thank our tour guide that she had contacts that informed her of the change; otherwise we would have shown up at the airport about 10:00AM November 2 to discover that the only flight of the day had already departed. Our ongoing flight from Shanghai to JFK, summer-scheduled to depart at 7:30PM was re-scheduled to depart at 8:15PM and actually departed about 9:00PM. I'm glad I had no ongoing connection to catch the night of my arrival in JFK. This experience does not give confidence in China Eastern's scheduling nor its ability to inform passengers of schedule changes, though I see in reading other reviews that other travelers have had experiences much worse than mine. Improvements in scheduling, baggage handling and meal quality are be required if China Eastern hopes to succeed in competing against other airlines offering service to China. Personally, I will avoid China Eastern.

Honolulu to Bangkok via Via Shianghai + Wuhan with China Eastern. First off the ticket price was very good. The food was good, staff were friendly and helpful. Legroom on the seats were acceptable. The only big problem is that they can't get their flights going as scheduled. Every stop there was a long delay. Departure date from Honolulu was delayed 1 day. When checking in for my flight from Wuhan 2nd stop, to BKK the staff asked me for my baggage I said "it was checked thru to BKK in Honolulu". tHEY said "no you must pull your luggage here and check it for your flight to BKK" which I was not told in Honolulu. The flight from Shianghai was already late. If you have ever been to Wuhan the arrival baggage area is quite far from the departure area. The staff at the counter told me "You must go quickly or you will miss your flight to Bangkok". I had to run out of the departure terminal and all the way down to the arrival baggage area saw no signs in English. The staff wrote something in Chinese on a sheet of paper and said "show this to the security there," I finally got my luggage which was being held at the luggage security area. I rushed back to the departure area and the check in counter is closed. I ask the staff behind another counter and explain my dilemma. They check my 2 bags and gives me a boarding pass. I scurry to the gate and get there as they are boarding for BKK. The plane is half empty and was delayed - if not I would have missed my flight as the flight. Return flight from BKK was no different they changed the schedule by 7 hours twice I had to keep checking schedule in Thailand. "Delay in BKK" arrived late in Shanghai. Got to the gate when they are almost done boarding for Honolulu already. I get on the plane, find my seat and buckle up and sit for almost 2 hours waiting to take off. The woman next to me says "This flight always delayed". No explanation, no water or beverages while waiting. Both meals were ok although I only ate one, the breakfast before arrival in Honolulu. This flight with China Eastern was quite an experience not to be repeated. I already booked for BKK again in February with KAL at $250 more but without the drama. The "China Eastern" check in counter in Honolulu needs more training to give the passengers all the information they need. They say never say never but in this case I will never fly this airline again. Disappointed China Eastern flyer.

✅ Verified Review | Xi'an to Pudong China Eastern on an A321. The priority/first class check-in area was difficult to find. For domestic flights it is located at the far-left check-in island (N) close to the security area. The N-sign is not visible from the departure hall. During the day I had a meeting near the airport, so I checked in about 8 hours before scheduled departure time for the flight to Pudong and for my connecting flight to Amsterdam. Check-in was OK, but staff barely spoke English. When I returned to the airport, the flight was delayed by 2 hours (because of travel disruption at Pudong Airport the aircraft arrived in Xi'an later than scheduled). As a result I would miss my connecting KLM flight from Pudong to Amsterdam. Airline ground staff were not very helpful, it took them 30 minutes before an English-speaking staff member arrived. They said they couldn't do anything for us, we should sort things out at Pudong Airport and made it KLMs problem (the flight was part of a KLM ticket). Because of all the hassle and because the staff where not very sharp we almost missed our flight. The MU A321 aircraft looked quite new, as do most MU A320s and A321. Good, soft seats, this time even with adjustable headrest. Good seat width and pitch for economy. Friendly flight crew. The food on this 2-hour flight was terrible. As it is on most domestic flights within China. We arrived with more than 2 hours delay and I missed the connecting flight to Amsterdam. Staff at Pudong were not helpful and it was quite chaotic at the transfer desk. They said I had to go to the KLM counter next day to check for flights to Amsterdam. Knowing that could be risky, as KLM flights are often fully booked, I called KLM to check for flight options. (KLM customer service was friendly and helpful and was able to put me on the first KLM flight of the next day). China Eastern arranged a hotel to spend the night. This hotel was old and shabby and quite far from the airport (30 minutes drive). Overall: good aircraft and flight crew, very poor food and customer service.

✅ Verified Review | Paris CDG to Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Overall a disappointing business class experience. The lounge in Paris CDG offered a mediocre choice of food. Onboard the seat space and privacy is good with space for cabin luggage and a good selection of meals - but astonishing bad service. I asked for a drink when entering the cabin which never came. I needed to ask 3 times for a single glass of wine - and they never asked if I would like something else. In the morning they did not bother service the breakfast - without removing empty water bottles remaining from the night. The cabin was heated to seemingly sauna temperature, without a chance to get indivudual fresh air to my seat. The seat was a nightmare : good while sitting but with poor upholstery - the more it reclined the more it became a graded patchwork - no way of getting a nice sleep.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai to Hong Kong. First time using this airline. The flight was delayed by 7 hours. I realize that this happens to other airlines, but what made it more stressful is that they never announce a rescheduled time. Basically we all had to sit down by the gate and waited until they finally made the boarding call. Even though Hong Kong was my final destination and didn't have any connections, other people that I talked to, lost their connections because we really didn't have the info to react to it. On the positive side, they did offer take-out food trays to all passengers by the counter, and the plane looked pretty new.

✅ Verified Review | Sydney to Shanghai, flight departed at scheduled time and arrived early. Attentive and friendly cabin crew whose standard of English seems to be improving. Meals were relatively tasty and plenty of wine and spirits. Crew asks if want to be woken for meals if you are sleeping later. Good experience rounded off by courtesy limousine service.

Sydney to Hefei via Shanghai Pudong. I had an average experience on my flight. Seat comfort was decent, the meals were good, and the entertainment was adequate. Flight attendants sometimes have trouble communicating, but this has improved recently. Our flight home was delayed by an hour. China Eastern offers good value for money, but the crew members should work on their communication skills.

✅ Verified Review | Manila to Shanghai. I have flown China Eastern Airlines several times before but this flight was definitely the worst one I had with them. In general it's not a good airline but it provides basic service, getting from A to B. On this particular flight the ground staff was extraordinarily rude and privacy doesn't matter for them at all. They somehow introduced new company guidelines for the return flight where you are not allowed to bring a lot of additional things. They opened and checked from a lot of passengers the bags again by opening up the carry-ons completely but they didn't even check every customer. After asking why, there were no further introductions given and just told you can also decide to not take the flight instead. This was the rudest behavior I ever experienced with the airline but I guess nothing should shock you anymore flying with a Chinese carrier.

I have flown 3 times the same route from Chicago to Seoul via Shanghai since 2015. Two good things of China Eastern Airlines are the low fare and free hotel voucher. The bad thing is the below average standards of the food and beverage. I can't complain because of very cheap fare.