China Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Bangkok to Taipei. After a pleasant flight, this was the worst arrival I have experienced after millions of miles of travel. The flight arrived at the terminal just a few minutes late. There had been the usual pre-landing announcements but these were totally inaudible as the purser clearly had never checked the volume. Deplaning there was one China Airlines employee at the gate with a sign directing onward passengers to Fukuoka. This was gate D2 at the end of the terminal, and so it was a long walk to get to Immigration at the other end. Since I have a frequent visitors pass it took less than a minute to get through the formalities and I expected to get my bag and be on the way to my hotel within 30 minutes at most and just missing the start of the evening rush hour traffic. The wait for bags from BKK was interminable. I know Taoyuan can be busy, but after 40 minutes I had had enough. I walked the length of the baggage hall to the CI office. There I was told I was in the wrong terminal! This was totally unbelievable! I then had to walk upstairs, reverse the Immigration process and somehow find the route to Terminal 1. Once there, I was told the Immigration officer at Terminal 2 after voiding my arrival stamp should have returned my entry form which he failed to do. So there was a lot of phoning after which another form had to be completed. By the time I finally got to the the baggage hall, the carousel had stopped and my bag was the only one there. This whole nonsensical process had taken 90 minutes by which time I should have been in my hotel room. The Immigration staff at Taoyuan were efficient and only doing their duty. But for CI to have a flight arrive at the wrong terminal and then fail to ensure that every departing passenger was perfectly aware not only that they had to proceed to a different terminal but that each was directed very clearly to that terminal is an absolute disgrace. I will stick with TG and Eva for this route in future.

✅ Trip Verified | Taipei to Ontario. They started the pre-landing safety check 7 minutes prior to the arrival time. No one checked the entire row of overhead bin above. The cabin crew finally finished the random safety check 2 minutes prior to landing. It was a long haul flight so I don't get why they pushed it to the last couple minutes and did it so rushed and irresponsible. I am thinking about flying with Eva air next time. At least Eva pays a lot more attention to safety issues.

Ontario to Taipei. China Airlines has a lot to improve. The boarding is the slowest I've ever seen. They just kept pausing the boarding. The cabin looks super nice on its official website yet it was actually not as impressive or comfortable. The seat was the crampest I've ever seen on a long haul flight, I kept moving my back cause it was really uncomfortable. The yellow blanket looks super used. As for the food, again, the worst I've ever seen on a long haul flight. Often I don't expect any nice meal on a coach class, but China Airlines really went too far. You don't even get a dessert like cake, only two side dishes. And the salad was a mess. You should not expect much for the snack in between the meals when flying economy class as well, but saltine crackers, what a joke. The restroom was kind of dirty. EVA, ANA, or Asiana all kept their restroom clean so I don't get why can't China Airlines keeps it at least not dirty. The service was okay, they are neither attentive nor rude. One last thing, just when we arrived at 5, I waited for my checked luggage till 6:30. The bottom line is you China airlines really has a lot to improve.

✅ Trip Verified | Sydney to Amsterdam via Taipei. Don't fly this airline from Australia / North America through Taipei to Europe. Booked a Premium Economy flight from SYD to AMS for a personal trip. Premium Economy looked very good on their A350s. Only a week after booking they cancelled the SYD to TPE flight on the way out which when challenged, they suggested leaving earlier and having an 18 hour stop in TPE. I got them to book me a hotel, some meals and as the hotel was only for 12 hours, business class lounge access for the final wait, which took a fair bit of persuasion. Then a month before departure they cancelled the return TPE to SYD leg and caused me to stay yet again another 18 hours in TPE. At this point I had had enough but was too close to departure to try and find another Prem Econ ticket anywhere near the price. I tried to persuade them to upgrade me to Business so I could sleep properly, as I was now arriving on a workday and had to go straight to work. They just refused, even though the ticket price difference was 550 Euros, if I was to compare a fresh single ticket Business versus Economy. So they had to book the hotel and meals but this time refused point blank access to the Business Class lounge on the basis they don't run their own lounges in their main hub. Unfortunately, as a non-EU Carrier, they are only liable for delays on flights leaving the EU, so only 1 of the 2 delays was covered, although they are trying to ignore their responsibility at the moment. The planes are nice. The Premium Economy Seat is very big, and when you first sit down, with loads of leg room. However, to recline it, the seat goes forward - a lot! So much so that (and I am not tall, only 1.78m) you cannot fit your feet under the seat in front, so unless you are very short, the complete recline is useless. The food in Premium, unlike most other airlines, is pure Economy, and to be honest even more unappetizing than standard airline food. Their onboard service is questionable to say the least, even in Premium. For example, on 3 out of the 4 flights, they only produced a pre-dinner bar car once, and you had to keep asking for drinks, which might finally arrive. The inflight entertainment is pretty basic unless you are Chinese, luckily, I had a load of Netflix downloaded. All in all, I will never fly them again, and would suggest anyone tempted by decent pricing on tickets, particularly in premium classes, be very careful if flying long haul through Taipei (from Australasia, North America etc) - if the flights are not full, they will drop them and you will be stuck in TPE. Customer focussed - not on your life!

✅ Trip Verified | New York JFK to Yangon via Taipei. I have flied so many times with different airlines from JFK to Yangon. But this is the worst experience ever. All my baggage are left at the transit. I can understand that that’s because of short transit hour and the airlines told me that’s normal for them. The problem is that I requested the wheel chair and no one picked me up at the transit. This is seriously ridiculous. I was awaiting the wheel chair until the last 5 minutes to the next airplane. This must be my last time taking China Airlines.

✅ Trip Verified | Amsterdam to Taipei. I had booked through KLM (who partner with China Airlines) and I had trouble to access my booking via China Airlines and therefore could not select my seat, which I found rather disappointing. This shouldn't be difficult to get right. The flight itself was very good. A new plane with comfortable seats. Good leg space. Very attentive cabin crew. A lot of choice of movies and TV in the entertainment system. The food was good, although there was no hot chocolate, in lieu of coffee. An overnight bag with blanket, toothbrush and slippers was provided (which unfortunately is not standard anymore on long haul flights). All in all I would fly with China Airlines again, although I hope they improve the booking and check in process.

✅ Trip Verified | Jakarta to Taipei. The flight was supposed to depart at 14:10 from Jakarta to Taipei, but it was delayed for 1 hour 40 minutes due to technical problem. No reconciliation provided by the airline for this delay to the passengers. Our first time to fly China Airlines, and disappointing. They shall not fly problematic aircraft unless that is all they can afford. Will not fly China Airlines anymore.

Not Verified | Sydney to London via Taipei. It was a new A350 plane, with a herringbone business class seat arrangement, meaning that everyone had a private, yet aisle seat. Seats were excellent, fully flat with convenient pockets to store things and wider than some others. The table for meals or laptops etc was very stored under the TV screen, and deployed directly towards the passenger, rather than swivelling out, which is a great improvement on other business class table layouts. The slippers and personal vanity bag contain nothing worth taking off the plane. Service was somewhat functional rather than engaging but a lot of the crew had little English. They were kind and helpful but not very interactive. Food was okay and substantial, but not exceptional. China Airlines seem to be able to leave and arrive at airports on time. All in all a great business class outcome if you aren't fussed about the food and service but want a great seat and on time delivery. The Taipei lounge is good also. Comfortable seats and food and drink on tap and a kitchen doing Chinese dishes on demand.

✅ Trip Verified | Taipei to Gatwick. Really impressive service and comfort. I’m a tall person and still had plenty of leg room. The staff are friendly and helpful and attentive. If you are English speaking you may struggle a little as the airline is very Chinese focused. So language could be a problem. Not a big problem but have patience and humor. The airport at Tai[ei is fantastic. We were in transit both ways. The transit area is bright and spacious. For me and my wife, we had no problems. I’d happily go again, as soon as I’m over the jet lag. The food was excellent I must say.

✅ Trip Verified | Vancouver to Taipei. Flight original schedule to depart at 2:20 am and due to mechanic failure, it was announced to delayed to 5:00am. At 5am on Aug 5, it was announced, it will further delay to 8:00am. At, 8:30am, China airlines announce they can not fix the problem and the flight is canceled. 5 hours of delay and only CAD$15 meal voucher provided. After 8:30am, I was arranged another flight in the next day 2:20 am. After that, no meal, no accommodations, no transportation, is arranged. Ground staff orally mention the compensation will be done while landing in Taipei. but it never happen. Complaint in Taiwan China Airline office. No compensation and verbally apology.