Air China

Frankfurt-Beijing-Frankfurt. Second time on this airline as I do not make the bookings myself. Flight as horrible as last time. Old and filthy cabin tatty seats. Crew very poor in English and everything but service minded. Food quality poor and so is the selection of drinks. No announcements from flight deck. Flights at least both on time.

PVG-NRT last month in J. Flight delayed 2 hours due to late incoming flight from Shenzen. No announcements in lounge and little knowledge of situation from lounge staff. Suddenly a boarding announcement and we raced to the plane. On board A330 the seats were tatty the crew's English was poor and the meal was the worst I have had in a long time. On approach to Narita we were buffeted by what seemed to be strong winds. No announcement from the captain just a short "we try to land again don't worry" from the flight attendant. Landed extremely heavily and made our way to the gate. No AC for me in the future!

Air China bears no comparison to Thai Airways that I normally use. The food is very poor drinks service minimal and the service is basic. In its favour the flights left on time and safety standards were good but I would not fly Air China again from choice.

Will never travel with this airline again. Comfort level poor video selection poor. Flew London to Melbourne via Beijing. No prior instruction about stop over in Shanghai. Thus lost in Beijing Airport as had to discover that Shanghai was a domestic flight and had to change terminals to do this. No instructions from airline no signs in English no English speaking staff at airport. Got to Shanghai flight settled in seat had to get off 1hr later with all my stuff be walked through length of airport to fill in a customs form to say why I was there. Then all the way back to same plane same seat with all my stuff in tow - having given up the bottles of water I had bought for the initial flight at security. Got an e-mail for return journey flight changed extra day in Beijing. Booked Malaysia airline instead.

PEK-LAX. New 777-300ER was completely full a very young crowd so much excitement during boarding. Once underway the passengers were very well-behaved. Crew reasonably friendly and immaculately presented. Two hot meals - one soon after takeoff and another about 5 hours before landing. After the second hot meal sandwiches were distributed for passengers to snack on for the remainder of the flight. Entertainment was a good selection of movies on individual screens. Pushed on time to the minute and landed forty mins late due to headwinds. Only complaint is almost all pax on Air China are Chinese and hence all have visas which means each pax takes longer for US immigration - which can be interminable at the best of times - will take an hour unless you're one of the first off the plane. For me it took 1h20m to clear immigration which was also the case when I flew the airline PEK-LAX last year. Other than that charming and professional will definitely fly Air China again.

Flight from Paris to Taipei via Shanghai. They could not check our luggage all the way to Taipei we had to pick them up in Shanghai go through emigration and check them in again. Plane was dirty staff onboard between Paris and Shanghai was sullen never a smile. I had to ask twice to get an extra blanket on our way out on our way back I didn't get one. We had a light meal (very light) and breakfast both of rather poor quality. Entertainment was non-existent as they do not have personal screen in the front seat only a few tiny screens in the middle rows. Flight from Shanghai to Taipei was fine though with nice staff and good food. Otherwise it was a very poor experience which I will never try again.

Hong Kong - Beijing - Moscow Sheremetyevo with Air China on their A321 and B777 because their more competitive price than any other airlines. Check in staff in HKG not polite due to early morning flight or maybe seeing my Chinese passport? Ground staff in PEK was polite . HKG-PEK arrived on time while PEK-SVO delays 4 hour because of waiting for transfer passenger (not sure if it is the real reason) but CA distributed foods and drinks to us with no extra cost. Compare to unfriendly cabin crew on Air China I have seen before cabin crew on these two flights were friendly and attentive with limited English ability on both segments. I found my no-lactose special meal tasteless and asked for another regular one which was tasty and good. Seat on B777 PEK-SVO is very comfortable with good recline. No IFE on both segments. I would still recommend Air China for their price and attentive service.

CA984 LAX-PEK. On-time departure of a (new) 777ER. Great AVOD with movies in English and Chinese not recent releases but good adequate selection. 2 full meals Chinese fare both consisted of rice or noodles with beef or chicken good and abundant. No western meals menu. Frequent cabin walk-throughs with water. Self-serve refreshment section in the mid-galley. FA's professional and efficient. Great seat pitch and recline on coach. Overall a very pleasant experience on a long haul flight. Boarding was not by row or section just general boarding but surprisingly quick and efficient. Impressed by the nice new 777 ER. My experience was totally contrary to most reviews on CA perhaps the introduction of new aircraft was the key.

JFK to PEK and returned 8 days later. Outbound flight was on an ancient 747 there was no entertainment system on the plane. The food was mediocre at best. Flight attendants were pleasant. Our return flight (981 on 4/7/2013) was on a newer 777 with an excellent in flight entertainment system. The food was worse than that served going over from JFK. The huge drawback to this flight was the rudest flight attendant I have encountered in 50 years of flying.

Flight from Shenzen to Guiyang. Domestic flight. Flight was delayed. Onboard I found the seats very hard and you could feel the frame of the seat. The meal was just a small piece of cake and a bottle of water that didn't taste very good.