China Eastern Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Paris to Sydney via Shanghai. An absolute shocker - avoid at all costs. It's hard to know where to start. Two of our daughters recently flew with China Eastern Airlines. The food, particularly the vegetarian options, was very poor at best and the in-flight entertainment very limited. However, the main difficulties occurred whilst transiting through Shanghai. The personal security checks on these 2 young women was very invasive. The information provided during their time in transit was extremely poor, there was a need to re-check in luggage checked through to the destination and to apply for temporary entry permit to move between terminals. After a 6 hour layover, with no contact from officials, one of our daughters was told as she was boarding her connecting flight that there was a problem with one of her bags. In a very intimidating manner she was given the 'choice' to miss her flight so the bag could be searched or to get on the flight and sign a form giving permission to have the bag searched, the offending item removed, and the bag put on the next flight in 3 hours time. I might add at this point that this bag had already cleared security and customs in both Oslo and Paris. The bag was not on the next flight and 12 days later, with too many to count calls and e-mails, we were finally reunited with the bag. Over this time China Eastern did not answer a single phone call (the phone just rang out) and replied to approximately 1 e-mail in 10+, and with limited information provided. Throughout this time they refused to provide the standard 10 character file reference code for the check delayed bag status/file information form. In the end it was calls to Qantas and the baggage handlers in Sydney that resolved the matter. We are yet to hear from China Eastern that the bag has arrived even though we picked it up 2 days ago. Oh, and there was nothing missing from the bag when we ended up getting it - so nothing had been packed that was on a banned list for China. When we finally picked up the bag we were told by the baggage handlers that in their experience we were very 'lucky' as in these sort of circumstances they have found that very rarely is the bag reunited with the passenger... No amount of discounting makes this experience worth it.

✅ Trip Verified | Avoid at all costs. If you have something important like a well-deserved vacation or business trip, you'll have it ruined by taking this airline. From start to finish, it's been headaches and frustration. The website is old, buggy and online check in is impossible. You need to arrive at least 3 hours before to avoid getting bumped, however on both trips the gates never opened until 2 hours before. Phone customer service is very difficult to reach and you'll be dialing a few phone numbers to reach someone barely able to speak English. Hostesses barely speak English. You won't hear from the pilot at all. If you have a layover with this airline in Asia you will be routed through Shanghai Pudong, a terrible airport with three security checks, passport control and a feeling that you're selling your soul for a discount flight. Food is mediocre. Online entertainment consists of a handful of heavily censored vanilla Hollywood flicks. Expect half of the passengers to stand up the minute the landing gear hits the ground, sparking a very loud shouting match in Chinese Mandarin between the hostesses and unruly passengers to put a nice finishing touch to your experience. It never ceases to amaze me how this airline became a Skyteam member. Any other airline for your flight to Asia should be used if you want a pleasant beginning and end to your journey. You deserve better.

✅ Trip Verified | Taipei to Frankfurt via Shanghai. The first leg from Taipei to Shanghai was operated by China Airlines, the Shanghai to Frankfurt leg by China Eastern Airlines, both members of Skyteam. Upon checking in at Taipei with China Airlines I was told that due to Mainland China's regulations, China Eastern Airlines cannot check through my suitcase at Shanghai, since this can only be done when connecting "on the same day". Incidentally, in Shanghai upon re-checking in my luggage I was told a different tale, namely that it's due to being "two different airlines". My comment that the implication of this justification would be that no transfer at any other global hub would ever work - more so given that they are part of the same airline alliance - was met with baffled faces. The arrival of my flight from Taipei in Shanghai was at 18:35hrs, the onward flight to Frankfurt at 00:10, so "on the next day": the ridiculousness of this cannot be overstated. The implications of this I knew from a previous Air China flight from Taiwan to Germany. It means an arduous procedure of being confronted with the increasingly aggressive and assertive Chinese surveillance state, having fingerprints and iris scans taken and having to apply for a 24hr transit visa (!) in order to then have the privilege to collect your suitcase, clear Shanghai customs and queue again for a good hour at the China Eastern Airlines check in desk. To add to this is the hassle of getting a stable Wifi connection (only available to non-Chinese nationals after a passport scan, so more data collected) to spend the time in Shanghai Pudong. At the end of the experience you are so exhausted and glad to get away that the measly service and poor food onboard China Eastern won't phase you any more. China Eastern Airlines are trying very hard to appear to be modern and service-oriented and have cheap and very tempting offers from Europe to the rest of Asia via China, but the reality is the opposite. Don't fly via China on China Eastern to save a few bucks! The hassle encountered is simply not worth it.

✅ Trip Verified | Shanghai to Hong Kong. Came from Budapest and had a smooth transit in Shanghai where I boarded the China Eastern flight to Hongkong on an A321. It was early morning 2nd January 2020. Priority boarding at gate as SKY team silver card. Onboard, newspapers were given (Chinese). Shared monitors showed some educational movies from underwater sea world which was nice and informative, texted in English. Food was limited to a tidy pack of biscuits. Drinks were unlimited (water, tea, coffee, beers), but only for 1½ hour while the flight lasted additional 50 Minutes. During descend services closed down until landing. That leaves passengers with very limited time of service. FAs were fine. Frequent drink rounds. Button calls answered quickly and needs were addressed instantly. Fair legacy carrier service without pay. Cheap ticket, better product than for most European carriers. Luggage transfer faultless (in custody inspected by customs which left a note – nothing missing). Full flight. On time. Mileage rendered to Skyteam account. Jetties availed for aircraft entering and exit. What is needed is a hot meal, extended time of service, and individual IFE.

✅ Trip Verified | Taipei to Sydney via Shanghai. We flew return SYD-TPE with transit in Kunming on the way to Taipei and Shanghai Pudong on the way back to Sydney in December 2019. It was our very first time travelling with China Eastern and did not have high expectations, to begin with since reading many of those bad reviews. Here is how it goes for us: Upon receiving my e-ticket, I cannot use the ticket verification function on their website because the purchase was made through the third party. However, I was able to select seats on their website - so that was good. Check-in in Sydney was easy and quick. Only then we were made to realize that transit in Kunming requires us to get our luggage and go through check-in desk again, the staff, however, said that 3 hours layover should be more than enough for all that process. Flight from Sydney to Kunming: spacious seats compared to the newer plane from PVG - SYD, however lack of padding so it's a bit hard to sleep on. Entertainment was not too bad, not extensive but since my flight was overnight, I slept most of the time. FAs were all smiley but felt a bit robotic. Meals (both dinner and breakfast) was ok for us - my husband enjoyed his braised pork belly dinner. Didn't have the alcohol so can't comment on how good or if they had enough throughout the flight. Do not expect to see nice amenities kit here. Check-in in Kunming was a problem due to the language barrier. She kept insisting we don't have proof of residency but didn't relay the message to us. Wasted about 30 minutes on things that could have been cleared right away should the staff able to relay her concern to us than going around to her manager to finally realised she made a mistake. No apologies whatsoever. Lounge at Kunming was just sad and had so little to offer. Flight from Kunming to Taipei: good seat, really good FA service, she tried her best to communicate with us in broken English and we really appreciated her for this - redemption point after what happened in Kunming airport. Check-in in Taipei was easy and she informed us that no need to pick up the luggage in Shanghai, they will be transferred to our next flight to Sydney. Good lounge at Taoyuan Airport, was very quiet when we were there. Flight from TPE to PVG: same good seat as Kunming to Taipei, good light meal served, not so friendly FA, unfortunately. Flight from PVG to SYD: I had the best service on this leg. The seat was comfortable for sleeping with nice L'occitane amenities kit. I have to applaud the FA serving my row, he was thorough. sincere and speaks English well, personally explained the new procedure on landing at SYD even though there is an announcement later on. The FA on my husband's row, however, was not as attentive, she didn't even ask what breakfast he likes and suddenly a western set was served. Overall, I think it's really not that bad and I wouldn't mind flying with them again if there was a good deal. It probably not as nice service in Economy class as many bad reviews point at - but we didn't have those issues in Business class. All four flights left on time. Do notice that the FA will tell you to not use headphone anymore around 1 hour before landing.

✅ Trip Verified | Vancouver to Shanghai. Poor ground staff service. The person who helped me check in threw tantrums at me when I did nothing to him. His attitude totally made me feel miserable, and ruined my trip with China eastern. This airline needs serious training for these ground staff. When I asked him if there’s empty seats in premium economy, he said “there’s no such thing” without even looking up. I guess he just never flew with his own airline? What does he even mean there is no such thing. And I picked a seat I wanted, he asked me “don’t you want you original seat?” I said “ cuz that was given by Expedia (Which means I didn’t pick the seat and I don’t want it). Without letting me finish, he interrupted me and said “that’s not what I’m asking, I need a yes or no” in a really really rude tone. No one ever talked to me like that. I believe their staff need to know how to respect other people. I wanted to complain this to the airline but I haven’t found a way to contact them. Don’t fly with China Eastern.

✅ Trip Verified | Sydney to Rome via Shanghai. First of all i need to shame Qantas for selling me this flight via their reward system. As a platinum frequent flyer im deeply disappointed you associate yourself and expose your customer to this airline with sub-par services. We started the journey from Sydney in a very small cramped economy seat. If you are taller than 178cm and weight more than 80kg then you are going to feel squashed in their economy seats. The staff barely speak any English and leave us stuck in our seats without water or liquids. The inflight entertainment is sub-par. Mostly Asian films. The food onboard was horrible. Absolutely inedible and tiny tiny portions. No snacks offered during the flight. China Eastern airlines also didn't recognise my platinum status at the airport in Shanghai and therefore i was not allowed lounge access. To top things off, they lost my luggage. It never arrived in Rome. I had booked my luggage straight through from Sydney to Rome at the checkin desk and had my luggage receipt handy as proof. Apparently it will take at least 3 days to find my bag and no compensation offered. I have no spare clothes, toiletries or shoes. I was just given a reference number and told to wait and hope. Qantas should not be associating with this airline and nobody who is expecting a decent flight with good service should ever fly China Eastern, I'm devastated and disappointed.

✅ Trip Verified | Hong Hong to Budapest via Shanghai. Flew on A320 on HKG to Shanghai while in a newer B787-9 on the long haul to Budapest. China Eastern marketed flights. The long haul leg was flown by their daughter company Shanghai Airlines to Budapest. Amazing experience, pure adventure. Bought this ticket some months earlier for the high season to Europe as a huge bargain for 347 USD including 2 x 23 kg of luggage which is welcomed near X-mas. It costed me in addition positioning and depositioning flights to which I volunteered as I needed the extra miles for my elite status. However, I was notified (2 months before travel) by my online travel agent (Travelgenio), that the return flight from Budapest was preponed by 1 hour. Then, I was forced to change as I would not be able to arrive in time for the new departure. I then decided to change plans completely and celebrate New Year in Budapest instead of Vietnam. Thus, I postponed my return travel from Budapest by 3 days. This was done by emails to the Travel Agent (no response) and then phone calls to Ch. Eastern in Brisbane and Shanghai. Eventually, it went smoothly and I was changed to my wish without added costs (apart from changing onward flights beyond Hong Kong with another airline). That even allowed me to do another, cheap detour to Hanoi on my way back to Hue. The homepages of China Eastern and Shanghai are difficult to penetrate and to book or change bookings from. Unless one has a Chinese telephone number. However, 10 days before departure I could access seating and chose freely my favourite seats, even got 1 of 4 legs in exit seat. However, one cannot access the entire booking unless registered with CE’s flyer program in which I am not interested. Apart from that it was a good adventure: a complicated travel where everything could have gone wrong, but all went smooth. Arrived in Hongkong early and was able to check-in 6 hours before departure as the airline have many departures daily. No queues at the check-in and the ground staff were good and answered questions though fearing speaking English. Two BPs issued immediately. Flying HKG-PVG is considered as international flights though it could be considered as domestic. That give the advantage of not leaving transit while leaving HKG and passing PVG. First flight was on an aged A320. Extremely controlled and organised priority boarding at gate where all business and elite flyers were boarding entirely before the remaining passengers. Onboard, newspapers and 10 channels of music were offered (bring own headset). Shared monitors showed some educational movies. Food was limited to a tidy pack of biscuits. Drinks were unlimited (water, tea, coffee, beers), but only for 1 hour out of the 2½ hour long flight: during ascend and descend all services were closed down until 40 Minutes after kick-off and again 40 Minutes before landing. That leaves passengers with very limited time of service. FAs were fine. The second flight were by Shanghai Airlines’ Dreamliner. It was a very positive surprise and was faultless. Modern aircraft, good food and service, 2 hot meals offered at dinner and then again at breakfast. Frequent drink rounds. Button calls answered quickly and needs were addressed instantly. Individual IFE on touchscreen monitors was very easy and quick to operate with a good number of Western and English translated movies. Toilets clean. Both flights took off earlier than scheduled.

Not Verified | I found a really good deal on business class flights to Singapore from Chicago. I was very leery at first due to some of the reviews but I had a very pleasant experience. The staff was helpful and the plane was nice. Dealing with the US customer service to pick seats etc is a little frustrating but overall I have no real complaints.

Not Verified | Special Needs for a Wheelchair passenger by China Eastern Airlines is ignored during flights from Vancouver to Shanghai. The in-flight service between Vancouver to Shanghai has substandard meal service and inflight service staff ignore you to provide any drinking water. The shocking encounter is that the Shanghai Airport wheel-chair porter left me abandoned in the end-corner of the terminal because I did did not give him cash. The service support is a very poor, lousy and regrettable experience. I will never ever recommend anyone to fly with China Eastern Airlines again!