China Airlines

✅ 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.

✅ Trip Verified | Vancouver to Taipei. I have flown this airline several times and normally had good service but my last flight was a disaster. We were scheduled to leave Vancouver at 2:20 am. After no notifications the flight was delayed for one hour. At 4 am we were told it was now delayed until 8 am. After trying to sleep for a few hours on benches or the floor at 8:30 we were told the flight was cancelled. This was just the beginning. After going through customs and immigration (we never left the country?) We got back to the checkin counters and formed an enormous queue of approximately 300. They had 3-4 ground staff to attempt to rebook all of us on other flights as they were not sure that the aircraft would be ready to fly the next morning. Complete chaos ensued. There was virtually no communication between CA staff and passengers. Finally around 5:50 pm the last of us were confirmed on flights the following day. They begrudgingly gave a few dozen passengers hotel rooms with no food allowance. I lost 2 days in Manila, my final destination and was not offered any compensation for my prepaid hotel room. Overall a terrible beginning to a trip.

✅ Trip Verified | Taipei to Vancouver. I was impressed with the comfort and service. The staff was very friendly, they were prompt with meal time and very accommodating. The take off and landing were quite smooth, and I was happy with how painless the boarding was. The food was pretty good, with enough in the meal to fill me up for hours. For economy class the seats were decently comfortable, and the leg room was more than I was expecting. I loved the touch screens and the quantity of movie choices. My overall experience was as comfortable and painless as a flight can be. I would recommend this airline to anyone looking to take a lengthy flight.

Not Verified | Christchurch to Auckland. Have previously flown with this airline in Business Class and could not fault it. We flew Premium Economy this time and were very disappointed. The seats are very comfortable and lots of movies to choose from, but the food and service were average. We had flown from Brisbane to Auckland three days earlier and were fed Fried Rice - no other choice(s) that was it! Coming back it was chicken with mushrooms, rice and vegetables. It was OK, but under seasoned and very bland. My husband cannot eat mushrooms and he eats hardly any vegetables. When he advised the hostess of this she came back with a serve of garlic bread from Business Class. That was his meal! He has a healthy appetite and was not impressed. I would point out that the same meals were being service to Economy Class, so not effort made to provide something a little bit better in Premium Economy. Drinks service limited - one with your meal, and another one just after. That was it. I do not think they were ever offering spirits. They also did not come round offering water on a regular basis, as most airlines. Will definitely go Business Class next time - I do recommend that.