China Airlines

FRA-TPE-BKK return. FRA-TPE sector full on old A340-300 clean with 2x4x2 configuration. Seats comfortable with adjustable headrest and footrest. After boarding flight was delayed for 2 hours. FAs handed out slippers headset IFE and Duty free catalogue. AVOD started and staff served drinks. AVOD with just 12 current movies 40 oldies in several languages games music etc. FAs mainly young and well presented. After 1 hour another 3 hour delay announced and FAs served hot lunch. On departure drinks offered and duty free. During the flight FAs offered sandwiches and soft drinks. Breakfast (2 choices) served before arrival and purser provided information about connecting flights. CAL offered day rooms and meals at Taipei for passengers who had late evening connecting flights. TPE-BKK on old B747-400 with no PTV just a main screen - lunch served with better quality and quantity than TPE-FRA. Return flights on A340-300 and similar experience.

LHR-TPE-DPS return in Y. Ground staff polite and helpful cabin crew attentive some better then the others. LHR- TPE-LHR very good cabin presence offering water and juice. AVOD good with some current movies to choose from. Two good quality meals served LHR-TPE-LHR and one TPE-DPS-TPE. Baggage arrived quickly. Seats reasonable comfortable on A340 and very comfortable on B738 (try getting row 16/17 as much more legroom). Would fly with them again especially as it was £600 for the ticket.

Taipei to Tokyo round trip twice this summer. Services provided on flights from TSA to HND are more improved than other routes. Free slippers earphones blankets and pillows are placed in the seat pocket when boarding. Attendants with mediocre language skills still served well meals were fine with two main selections captain's inflight broadcast was clear and fluent in Mandarin English and Japanese which meets most of the passengers' need onboard. Although the price was a little high compared to TPE-NRT where TSA-HND is considered a business route the service and punctuality still made the journey worthwhile.

BKK-AMS with old 747-400. Got a bargain deal with China Airlines. Legroom just about okay (I am 180 cm tall). FA's busy but still smiling. Flight 02.20 am was delayed 1 hour and after boarding they left lights on for hours during service. Our children tried very hard to sleep despite the noise from service and tax-free shopping. No IFE onboard.

NRT-TPE-HKT. Connecting in Taipei was a 3 hour wait but the last call for boarding was 30 min before boarding time. We were rushed to the gate to be met with a huge line and a 20 min wait. Meals were mediocre and they waited nearly 1 hour to clear away trays. Having to wait so long before going to sleep was very uncomfortable.

TPE-YVR-TPE. A340-300s. E-Checkin and Self Print Boarding Passes were quick and easy to use at Taipei. Boarding commenced with proper order according to zones. After takeoff the Fantasy Sky AVOD was immediately turned on slippers and headsets handed out. AVOD had a selection of 101 movies meals were tasty and served hot numerous drink rounds were made. Toothbrushes put out during the night and restrooms were kept clean by FA's. Delayed on the return due to technical issues however the purser and FA's handled the situation well. Announcements from the captain were made quickly and FA's quickly began drink rounds. AVOD was started as soon as the drink rounds finished.

TPE-FRA A340-300. Check-In was smooth and ground staff gave our luggage priority. Cabin was clean. Crew nice and attentive. After departure given drinks ear phones and slippers then a meal service - vegetarian meal was very tasty. Cabin staff made beverage and snack services during night time and 3 hours before arrival a second meal service. Seats were comfortable and had IFE with AVOD.

LAX-Manila return. Refurbished 747 to Taipei still looks old but nice movie selections. Disappointed with the food though service was efficient and the flight was mostly on time. Although not on par with Cathay or Asiana it's still a good airline.

Vancouver-Manila I was so impressed with the service I received form China Airlines. I am not new to flying having worked internationally for 23 yrs on all continents except Australia. The meals come quickly and the tray only sits infront of you for 15 mins tops and is removed The cabin staff are so efficient. I look forward to travelling with this airline again and again.

Been travelling with China Airlines 4 times now. And I have to say it is quite a service you get plus comfortable seats with LCD screen lots of movies (even new movies which just released) games. I have nothing to complain about. The food is acceptable and they are mostly right on the time with the flights. Only one time it has been late at arriving. However it was only 30 mins which is acceptable for me.

TPE-SFO. Flight was 2 hours late due to late arrival of aircraft and later a mechanical failure. Boarding chaotic and disorganized. Very tired cabin flickering lights dirty overhead projectors no PTVs not even air nozzles. Blackout twice during taxi and crew had to manually perform safety demo which took up 10 mins both in Chinese and English. They try very hard to sound pleasant and friendly with their English but it doesn't work without 'pleases' and 'thank yous'. Food ok. Overall I regretted paying more for such an outdated product. They're currently upgrading their cabins but that's no excuse for the poorly co-ordinated delay and rudeness.

Flights on China Airlines are fine. My complaint is about their frequent flyer program. Don't bother. They give you an award ticket for 30000 miles but it is only good for Hawaii which has no Availability through the year end (a full 12 months at the time of our attempt) at which point the ticket is no longer valid. So we had to make a special request to "downgrade" our award to 25000 miles so we could chose any flight in the continental US. Still pretty much impossible to get a ticket. The stupid thing is the staff will sit with you on the phone for hours trying. First they have to plug in a specific flight both outbound and return and then wait for their partner airline to get back to them. It is always unavailable even though the super saver discounted tickets are still not sold out on the web site. So they not only waste my time but they pay their staff to sit on the phone and go through this useless exercise. Eventually the staff will tell you that they can't stay on the phone all day!

Auckland to Brisbane return. Modern A330-300 2-4-2 seating configuration cabin fresh and clean if a little cramped. The fare was less for a full service airline than a low cost airline with no meal or baggage allowance - hence the plane was pretty full. Check in was done by Air NZ at AKL and Qantas at BNE so efficient and without difficulty. The personal allowance of 20 kg per person was allowed to be pooled over our family group so we weren't charged for the 28kg case as we would have on other airlines. Cabin crew were mainly young and well presented. Their English was possibly only at a novice level. The seats were comfortable with adjustable winged head rests. In flight entertainment was a touch screen seat back TV approx 7 inch screen; a choice of about 15 current movies plus a catalogue of oldies and regional content as well as the usual games music etc. Outbound headphones blankets and pillows on seat on. Soft drinks served before a light dinner - reasonable quality. Wine served with the meal this was poor - maybe ask for a beer instead. Hot drinks were served afterwards. The inbound was a little different; as the aircraft had arrived from Taipei some seats had headphones others none. The cabin crew distributed these shortly after take off. All in all a decent flight crew were pleasant not exceptional but not poor either.

Brisbane to Auckland Easter Friday and flight was very busy. An ageing A330 seats were rather hard and uncomfortable. IFE was very good and offered a range of movies and music. The service was above average with a good meal and tea and coffee offered. The service was efficient but not polite and had an indifferent aspect to it. If the price does not remain competitive I would not use this airline again.

Flew economy LAX to TPE. Flight was late 30 minutes at least taking off. Then after take off the estimated arrival time kept being moved back. The flight ended up 1 hour 25 minutes late landing. Flight was completely full - to the point they were weighing bags and people. The check staff literally told people to get on the scales. The plane was an upgraded 747-400 that had personally video screens in economy seats were very narrow and the seat pitch was painful. Food portions tiny. No more hot towels provided upon boarding and before landing.

We booked our return trip LHR-BNE in August 2010 with China Airlines. We are due to depart from LHR on the 10/4/2011. Two days before our departure China airlines called and cancelled our flight due to the cancellation of the flight from Taipei to BNE. They didn't give us any reason and not even try to find us the alternative route. Although we have the full refund we have to find another airlines in the last minute. Luckily we are able to get on another airlines but it cost us £600 extra due to last minute fare. We are so disgusted with China Airlines and we would not recommend China Airlines to anyone. It is a joke that a 4-star airline provide such a terrible service.

Two weeks ago my wife and I travelled to Taipei and Hong Kong on China Airlines Economy Class. On both ways we find the services worthy of high commendation. Both the ground staff and the attendants prompt courteous and responsible to the customer needs and details. The food and beverage were sufficient and of excellent quality.

BKK-YVR. Planes new but had a 3 hour mechanical in BKK so missed connection in Taiwan. It felt like they had this problem many times before. As I was on a bereavement fare they placed me in the bulkhead with no other seats occupied in the row (seems nice) When I boarded there was a family of 15 with at least 8 kids from India. I was told there were no other seats available but after 8 hours of screams and people sleeping and crawling on me and other passengers getting upset they moved me to 1st class where there appeared to be several empty seats. After being lied to and putting up with sub-par food and no sleep the flight attendant moved me to avoid a scene. I would fly another airline next time even if it's a little more money.

CGK-LAX-CGK last time was not entirely satisfying. CGK-TPE was good with TV screen on the back seat though it was only 5 hours flight. I continued my 16 hours flight TPE-LAX with no TV screen on the back seat and it was boring. China Airlines lounge in Taipei is good. Staff are friendly good snacks and drinks. I count it as a compensation to my disappointment to long- hours flight with no TV screen.

Supposed to fly LHR-TPE-SYD flights changed at short notice to LHR-AMS-BKK-TPE-SYD adding 13 hrs to journey - no explanation. Given 45 hr trip with 11 hrs at Taipei : not good with 4 yr old and 9 yr old. Rice or noodles every meal - my kids didn't eat whole journey. On the plus side they did give us a complimentary hotel room in Taipei.