China Eastern Airlines

Flew their new B77W from SHA to PEK in F two weeks ago. Overall the experience was mixed. Pros - needless to say brand new airplane and facilities. Above average (based on my experience on Chinese carriers) crew. Meal was nicely presented. Large IFE screen with plenty of choices. Cons - my seat did not go flat. I don't know if it's a mechanical failure so I asked an attendant to help me. She wasn't able to recline it either. Maybe acceptable for this 2hrs flight but certainly unacceptable for long haul. Annoying ads before every IFE program but overall worth trying out.

I flew China Eastern on a recent trip between Melbourne and China. The seats are very uncomfortable they are skinny and hard with little leg room. I am 6'2" tall and requested an exit aisle seat for extra leg room which they accommodated however they said there was no way one of my travel companions could sit with me and the 5 people from my group were seated at the other end of the plane from me. This would be fine if all the exit aisle seats and other seats around me weren't empty once we were fully boarded! The food was acceptable and there were regular drinks offered their English style breakfast was odd to say the least I would opt for the Asian style were I to travel with them again. The service on the flight was friendly and welcoming. The TV on any of the flights didn't work for me either there was no sound or the screen wouldn't stay up or it just wouldn't turn on. Not on a single flight did it work. It did work for some of my travel companions and they tell me they were able to watch some recent movies and TV shows with a selection of English Indian Chinese and Japanese shows to choose from. I can't really comment on the quality however as I was never able to access it. All in all it is a budget airline and you get what you pay for but it was much better quality than I expected for the bargain price we paid.

Flew Sept 10/14 Vancouver to Shanghai return Sept 25 plus 4 domestic flights. All planes were new comfy and had great staff! The 330-200's had individual entertainment screens. We were surprised and impressed. No baggage issues no problems. One of the 6 flights was late 20 minutes. It was a tour arranged by China star well done on all accounts.

We had 5 flights with China Eastern while visiting China and Hong Kong. Our largest journey was Heathrow to Shanghai. Staff were very helpful and friendly. Aeroplane was very comfortable and choice of entertainment was fantastic. Only problem on every flight there was not a Vegetarian meal for me this was booked with our Tour Operator and requested three times during our visit. The Steward on the Heathrow flight managed to find some food for me so I thank him for that.

For the price it was great bang for my buck. I flew a roundtrip from Seoul to New Delhi for $450 can't beat that. Everyone else was charging at least $1000. The plane to New Delhi was nice and had a PTV screen in the seat. The food was whatever but it an airline food so I don't have high expectations. The stewardess were a refreshing change from US carriers. I would definitely fly with them again. I wrote this review to balance all the negative things said. I was completely satisfied with everything.

MU598 Vancouver to Shanghai July 12th. MU581 Shanghai to Vancouver August 10th. I took a round trip between Vancouver and Shanghai with China Eastern. The flight attendants spoke fluent English (with a Chinese accent). The planes on both trips were new Airbus A330-200s (a huge improvement from the A340s I used to fly). The planes were clean with comfortable seats great inflight entertainment systems plenty of leg room and convenient USB charging ports. The meals were very tasty. The crews on the ground and in the air were very helpful and friendly. Both flights left on time one arrived on time and the other arrived an hour early. From the check-in to picking up my luggage at the destination the whole experience has been quite enjoyable. The fact that the whole trip cost me under $1000 made it even better!

I travel in and out of China regularly transferring at Guangzhou and then on to Kunming with China Southern Airlines. I was forced make changes to my usual pattern and ended up having to use China Eastern transferring to a domestic flight at Shanghai. I should have arrived at Kunming around midnight but due to 'unspecified delays' at Shanghai didn't clear Kunming airport till well after 4am. Return flight to Sydney was even worse. Left Kunming on time but with China Eastern there is a 6 hour wait at Shanghai for a connecting flight so my travel agent got me to transfer at Nanjing instead should have been only a 3 hour wait - Nanjing isn't set up for proper international transfers so you have to unload your baggage at Nanjing exit the domestic terminal and go through the booking process again at the international check in. And guess what China Eastern has different rules as regards baggage on domestic and international flights so I ended up having to abandon an oversized item I was bringing back at Nanjing airport. The officious supervisors at the China Eastern check in counter weren't interested in the fact that I had booked the baggage in at their Kunming counter knowing full well that I was flying on to Sydney. The kicker was that the flight on to Sydney was delayed 2.5 hours for 'unspecified reasons' so didn't even get the shorter wait time anticipated. I will in future be making every effort to avoid flying with China Eastern Airways or transferring via Shanghai and Nanjing.

I flew China Eastern Airlines from Chongqing-Jinan. The seats are very uncomfortable there is a very thin padding that separates your body from the metal under the seat. There is absolutely no entertainment no drop down TV screens or personal TV screens. The food is very nasty and tastes inedible the rice was very dry and tasted like it was over a week old the vegetables have no seasoning and tasted horrible the beef was the worst the meat tasted very dry and was under heated as though it were a leftover from another airline it was cooked in a sauce that had no flavor and tasted like water. Passengers randomly got up during take-off and landing when the seat belt sign was on and no flight attendants even tried to tell people to sit down. I will never fly China Eastern Airlines again because of it's terrible service and nasty food.

Flew LHR-PDG-SYD and returned three weeks later. Was somewhat tentative given some of the reviews on here but the price was at least £200 cheaper than next best fare. Needn't have worried the flights were punctual on all legs the planes were very clean and the attendants very helpful albeit some have limited English. The food was good though best on the legs from LHR and from SYD to PDG. IFE was excellent with a wide range of films and games. The flight booked for the return leg was changed three months prior to flying and we were informed by email. We left SYD later in the day and were accommodated in the airport hotel overnight in Shanghai which broke the journey up nicely. Would be happy to fly with this airline again.

My wife stepson and I chose this airline because I naively though they were trying to encourage travel to China how wrong I was. My wife has a mobility problem we were told by airline staff at Pudong airport that they must have the supplied wheelchair now so my wife was without a wheelchair for over one hour whilst I arranged with the information desk for a replacement wheelchair - she was unable to look in the shops or go to the toilet during this time. The crew that I had dealings with were more concerned with the requests of Chinese people before the other passengers probably because they spoke little or no English. On all the trips we had problems with obtaining a wheelchair for my wife the worst incident being on our return trip when we were checking in at 9.30am we were informed that no wheelchair was available until 11am. After nearly 30 minutes of trying to communicate with staff with a poor understanding of English and asking to speak to a manager we finally obtained a wheelchair then the flight was delayed by over two hours after being told to arrive at the departure gate an hour before take off so we could enter the plane on "priority". At no time were we given ant information for the delay and gate change and having to read the " Departures board" or ask at the Information desk. I had no inflight entertainment for the last three hours of the journey from Pudong to Heathrow.