China Eastern Airlines

Shanghai to Hong Kong to connect to Jet Airways for Mumbai - India 12th July 2014. This is the worst airline to travel. Most of the time the flights get delayed. Cabin crew cannot speak English. No timely announcements. Flight got delayed 3.5 hours missed my connecting Jet Airways flight. No proper care taken by ground staff at Hong Kong airport. No proper arrangement made for return to home destination.

Yichang to Shanghai on 9 June. Flight left on time. Plane clean but very little legroom. Flight an d cabin crew have very limited English. Impossible to understand the announcements. Pilot seemed to climb very high for a long time on take off. Flight was very bumpy with seat-belt sign on most of the flight. Landing was "interesting" - plane bounced onto runway. Not a pleasant experience.

SYD-SHA-YVR Economy Class. I was anxious about taking these flights as while I've flown internal flights within China on China Eastern I'd not yet used them long-haul. The aircraft interior was brand new on both legs with comfortable seats new-looking IFE screens although with quite a limited choice. The flight attendants were extremely polite friendly on boarding and very responsive to call requests. The food was adequate only in that it was edible - it was served on the SYD-SHA leg in a plastic box and on the SHA-YVR leg in a tray. The choice for both meals on both legs was just a variation of chicken/seafood rice/noodles. The dessert was okay though! Alcohol was very limited - just red wine and beer. But they were very responsive to refills (I asked early to avoid missing out). The return flight from Sydney to Vancouver was just AUD $1500 and to be honest - I felt that China Eastern has (so far) offered value for money.

Flew Shanghai Pudong (PVG) - Beijing (PEK) domestic first class on an A321. Lounge in PVG was a disappointment - I'd say below average standards across China based on my experiences. Flight itself was good. Seat was a recliner. Typical on narrow-body legroom was good but didn't recline much. Food was pretty tasty asked for beer and water and was provided. Crew came around often and were friendly. There was personal IFE but the controls were a bit difficult to figure out and the touch-screen was slow to respond. Overall a pleasant experience though minor things can be improved. Considering the price I paid (even a little less than full-fare economy when I booked a week in advance) I would definitely recommend.

June 14 KMG to BKK. Flight was on time only about half full or less. Flight attendants were polite and friendly. Food was acceptable given the only 2-hour flight. Because the airport was newly built and there were not many international flight out from KMG the international section of the airport was very spacious. Overall it was a good experience.

PVG-CCU via KMG June 8-9 Economy. My ticket clearly stated PVG-CCU. Flight was via KMG with a 23 hr. stopover. My booking for 8th June was cancelled by the airline due to cancellation of their KMG-CCU flight on June 8. At that time (a month before) I was given the option to cancel the entire booking but it was too late and any fresh booking would cost me much more so I opted for the date change to June 9. However when I arrived for check-in at PVG they refused to provide through check-in to CCU and said that I would have to collect my baggage at KMG and go for a fresh check-in. This was ridiculous since PVG is the home base of China Eastern and they can easily manage to put systems in place for through check-in for through bookings. But they refused and when I met the duty supervisor she told me to contact the check-in counter at KMG for immediate check-in. However as expected when I arrived at KMG at midnight none of their counters were open. I managed to locate the duty supervisor who refused to help out. I had to spend money and stay in a hotel. When I returned to the airport the next day around 6 pm again they refused to check me in until 9 pm.

SFO-PVG June 6 Economy. Aircraft was a A-330-200 which was quite new. Seats were good and the crew service also good. They were serving beverages and water throughout the 12 hour flight. The toilets were also being maintained by the crew. Two meals and a snack were served; which were reasonably OK. There was option of chicken-rice and beef-noodles for lunch but by the time they reached our seats (62) they ran out of the chicken. I had to wait some time and was given a vegetarian option instead. The flight was on time in fact arrived before schedule at Shanghai. However my later subsequent flights were a bad experience which is why I would avoid taking this airline in future.

I took Shanghai Airlines 767 (China Eastern Subsidiary) from Singapore to PVG then hopped on a China Eastern A340-600 on the long trip to JFK. Then a couple months later did the same thing in reverse. I loved my experience although such long flights are tough the China Eastern crew made it seem shorter. I am 6'4 so when I politely asked check-in attendants if they had any leg room seats I got them both times with no hassle and no extra charge which would never happen on any U.S. airlines. Food was decent entertainment was decent. But then again I don't fly for the food and entertainment. Staff was great and that's what counts.

I cannot recommend to take China Eastern within China as their staff is not able to speak English sufficiently. I was supposed to go from Changsha to Shanghai at 8 am this morning but the plane was delayed but nobody could tell me to the new departure was. My question about connection (3h 30min) or going via another route was understood by nobody. Arriving in Shanghai 4hrs late I just missed my connection and there was no help to rebook it (original quote: "No our fault bad weather" leaving me very disappointed waiting 12h for the next connection and never using China Eastern again.

PVG-SFO A330-200. Seats were OK. Flight pretty much on time and cabin crew were quite attentive. During the 11 hr flight they served 2 meals and 1 snack with rounds of water and juice. The meals were all Chinese but sufficient only choice of pork and fish was offered. The snack was hot and refreshing. The crew try to be friendly with their almost zero knowledge of English. The toilets were clean though no supplies inside no toothbrush or face lotion; only hand-wash. The choice of entertainment was poor though each seat had a screen and a USB port. Pillow and blanket was provided upon request. The seat belt signs were kept on for most of the flight duration. Only some airline magazines were available for reading.