China Eastern Airlines

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai PVG to New York JFK with China Eastern. The plane that I took was brand new B777-300ER and the cabin entertainment system was excellent. The beverage and meals not bad but not to my personal taste. The cabin crew were very helpful and had a good attitude. One thing that really impressed me was that if you are a student you can check in 2 large suit cases for free. The wifi on board requires you to apply with ground service crew but the speed was so fast that I could video with my mom during the flight.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai to Singapore. The plane was better than expected. Seat was comfortable for the price-point and a good entertainment system. Certainly better than a true budget airline. Food was average - not the best, but not the worst. For the service I was not impressed. The staff seemed to have a very selective enforcement policy and had attitude. I was asked not to use my phone, even if in flight mode (is this not 2016?). The passenger sat across from me had his phone on throughout the flight and was watching a movie. I was ordered to remove my headphones for landing - the two passengers sat next to me had no such request made. I am all for policy, but let's keep it consistent across all passengers.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Bangkok via Shanghai and a really bad service. No drinks and the staff dont speak English. On the way from Amsterdam to Shanghai I did ask for some drink during a flight off 11 hours, but the drinks were finished after 7 hours already! On the way back from Shanghai to Amsterdam also the same - no drinks. And each time I asked, I get the same answer that it is finished. Only water was supplied. Really bad and I will never fly this airline again.

Shanghai to Manila. There is no separate or priority line for business class. The staff treat you like an economy class passenger or even worse. It was raining so hard but they let passengers walk under heavy rain. All our carry-on bags were soaked. Flight delayed for 3 hours. We were boarded after 45 min delay. While inside the plane, we were informed of another 2 hours delay. China Eastern, do a favor and stop your operations. You don't deserve even a single star rating.

✅ Verified Review | Beijing to Saigon via Shanghai on 25 Aug 2016 and returning on 09 Sep 2016. The crew doesn't understand basic English. The food is inedible on each leg. None of the flights was on time. I feel like motto of the airline is "Never on time". Crew training is appalling. On Beijing-Shanghai leg we had a group of Indian travellers who were allowed to heat up their own food on the airplane. Crew did nothing to stop it. On a way back in Shanghai we missed connecting flight to Beijing and had to wait for 3 hours. The ground staff instead of offering us a meal/drink voucher like any reputable airline would do, yelled at us in broken English, gave us pack of crackers and bottle of water, after which returned to her game on the phone. Absolutely no idea of customer service. Pay more, fly different airline.

✅ Verified Review | Manila to Shizuokavia Shanghai. The flight was on time from Manila to Shanghai, connecting flight was on time. Shanghai Pudong Airport is nice and the airport staffs were approachable. Meals were served on both flights. Very comfortable and inexpensive. I would recommend this airline.

Manila to Amsterdam via Shanghai. China Eastern managed to confirm their worst-in-the-world airline status again. Yet again, whatever could go wrong, went wrong. I arrived at the airport 2h prior to the flight just to learn that the flight has been rescheduled by 4 hours due to runway maintenance. Obviously, China Eastern felt no obligation to inform anybody, even though airport staff informed maintenance was scheduled well in advance. Otherwise empty airport only confirmed that no other airlines treats their customers with such disrespect. After sitting on the ground for 4 hours we managed to check in just to realize the plane is further delayed due to late departure from Pudong. Arriving in Shanghai all passengers scrambled to get to their flights, again no assistance or information given. After a lengthy queue I was informed at the transfer counter I was lucky my flight to Amsterdam was rescheduled (sic) by 2.5h so I still had a chance to catch it (of course, no prior information given on the "reschedule"). After a desperate run I arrived at the gate just to see a huge queue of people chaotically boarding 2 other planes from the same gate. My flight was of course even further delayed - this time by another 1.5h (no interim info given of course) granting a total 2h queuing time at the gate (standing as there were no free seat anymore). Just to add to the insult, all bags were lost and I only recovered them after a week. In the plane itself staff was rude, food was to be forgotten, entertainment system worked OK. Overall, this experience confirms no price can justify such low quality, I will definitely never fly with them again.

✅ Verified Review | Chengdu to Shanghai. I have not flown China Eastern since 2009 because I had such a bad experience with it. I decided to give it another go, and was handsomely rewarded for this largesse with the worst experience I have ever had in a business/first seat. I showed up to the airport and had 15 minutes to kill in the lounge. The hostsess meets me at the door and physically bars me from entering, saying that my flight is going to board early. I know this is utter nonsense, because I have never seen a China Eastern flight take off on time, much less early. I then explain to her that I have bad knees, and that I may need assistance to get to the plane on time if they are boarding early. I ask if I could catch a ride on one of the electric vehicles. She flatly refuses me, and after I asked why, she said it was a 100RMB charge if I did. I get to the gate, early, and of course, they are not boarding early. I wait 15 minutes again, and the counter person directed me to get in the back of the line for coach after I showed her a first class ticket. They boarded late, as I knew they would, and then upon getting on the bus, driving around the airport, we walk up the rickety steps to the plane. And no drinks for first class passengers - the flight is too short, the flight attendant tells me, followed by "maybe just this flight", and the worst meal I have ever had on a plane. On landing, we start down a jetbridge, and I think, great, we get a reprieve from the stairs. Nope. Halfway down the jetbridge, we are directed down more rickety stairs to another bus, even though the airport is literally five feet away. I give one star only because -4 stars is not possible.

✅ Verified Review | Return flight on A330 in C with China Eastern from Shanghai to Auckland. Contrary to what was expected, A330 on this route also had the herringbone new business class seats. Very comfortable. Quite spartan business class service, with acceptable food, but poor service. Attendants polite and correct, but do not go further to cater for individual needs, make it a nice experience, serve another wine etc. But if you look for a good seat that allows you to get some hours of sleep, it is excellent. On the way back, the aircraft was old with old seats. However, the old seats are also full lie-flat and not at all bad. Both ways pyjamas supplied, and slept well. Inflight entertainment was OK, with some nice international films. Very acceptable and entertaining in fact. Flights also on time both ways. Food relatively simple, but imaginative and with good portion of vegetables. Chinese food really quite good.

Shanghai to Phnom Penh. We were very disappointed to learn that we could not check in two bags per person at the time we checked in. The China Eastern Airlines website states very clearly that each person is allowed two check ins without further cost. Because we had to bring one of our smaller pieces of luggage through security we lost several items. Our flight was MU759 on the 18th of Aug from Shanghai to Phnom Penh. I don't know if I would recommend this airline.

✅ Verified Review | Nanjing to Xi'an and later from Xi'an to Shanghai with China Eastern. Considering a large number of critical reviews I was somewhat apprehensive of flying with China Eastern. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The check in was easy, both flights arrived on time and on both flights meals were served: a hot meal on the first flight and a sandwich on the afternoon flight to Shanghai. The baggage was promptly delivered on arrival. Overall, a positive impression.

✅ Verified Review | The cabin offers nice full flat seats. Cabin staff were correct. The amenity kit does not offer much. Pyjamas are offered which I appreciated. The seat is good to sleep in, with a thick duvet, that can double as mattress, as the cabin was very hot. The food was acceptable, but not on par with that offered on airlines like KLM, Air France or Korean. No choice of wines, the menu is just opened and you have to make a choice on the spot. The portions are small. The Chinese dish was nice however. No choice of wines, just a glass is given (wine was good though). Not asking if any more was desired etc. Dining is more a necessity than something to look forward to. The selection of movies was quite good. The maintenance of the cabin was poor, with loose seats or cover elements. A bit cheap. The business lounge in Shanghai is the worst I have ever seen in a large airport. In fact, there are many lounges with every couple of gates. Seats very uncomfortable, rather poor food, lots of noise, not nice to spend a long layover. China Eastern has lots to learn from its Skyteam peers, even simple things that do not cost money. For a good sleep on a long flight without long connection it is good value for money.

✅ Verified Review | Beijing to Nanjing with China Eastern Airlines. The flight was seven hours delayed, every airline employee at the airport gave different excuses, so I assume none of them was right. Beyond that, staff at the Beijing International Airport was not able to speak English. They used some translation app on their mobile phone to "talk" to me. The comfort of the seats was horrible, far too small, seat pitch made for very small people, not for people like me (6'4"). Food was terrible (a cardboard box with a dry piece of bread and a dry piece of cake plus one bag of dried apple slices). Drinks were served in half-cup sizes, ie. the already very small paper cup was only filled half. Flight attendants were unfriendly and distant, in other words: a farmer treats his livestock much better than the flight attendants of this airline treat their paying customers. No in-flight entertainment except some advertising videos on the overhead screens (no personal screens). Terrible airline! Would like to give -1 stars in every category, if possible.

✅ Verified Review | Hong Kong to Shanghai Pudong. I booked with some trepidation after reading less-than-flattering reviews of China Eastern. I was also aware that this particular flight was on average an hour late, and not infrequently several hours late or even cancelled. Fortunately, the experience exceeded these low expectations. The plane was quite new, the cabin airy and spotless, if relatively spartan. Seat comfort was good. Onboard service was professional and efficient. We were served a hot meal (spaghetti bolognese) even though this was a mid-afternoon flight. To be honest, this was filling more than anything else, but the dessert of fresh melon chunks was refreshing. The flight departed about half an hour late and endless taxiing on arrival in Shanghai added another half-hour delay. We had to take a bus to get to the terminal. All in all, nothing spectacular but a reliable and competent service for a very cheap fare.

My experience wasn't as bad as some of the horror stories here, but they made my return travel unnecessarily painful, which could have been avoided. My issues are not with the on-board experience, which was acceptable. On my flight, there was no individual entertainment, but we had a collective screen. This means China Eastern had to find a compromise in terms of entertainment, a common denominator, which turned out to be - a cockfight. The real problem with China Eastern was their logistics. I flew with a partnership between Air France and China Eastern, going first from Geneva to Paris, from Paris to Shanghai, and finally from Shanghai to Phnom Penh, and three weeks later the exact opposite sequence. There were absolutely no issues the first time round, the Air France ticket counter issued three boarding passes, and my luggage was sent all the way through. However, for incomprehensible reasons, the return wasn't as easy. China Eastern check-in refused to issue all three boarding passes, giving me only the boarding pass to Shanghai, and insisted that I leave the airport at Shanghai, only to check in again, for a flight that was to connect four hours later. So I wasn't able to go through the regular transfer circuit, instead I had to go through immigration, customs, and then check-in procedures all over again. Chinese officials did not understand why I was to leave the airport since my flight was leaving a mere four hours later, and neither did the check-in lady, admitting that this procedure was lacking basic logic. It took me a lot of explaining each time, so the whole process took three hours. I did not have to check in my luggage again, because surprisingly, my luggage was allowed to transfer immediately to Paris, unlike me. However, this actually proved to be a problem. They refused to send my luggage any further than Paris, which meant that I had to leave the system again, to wait for my luggage and recheck it, even though by this time I had already acquired both of my remaining boarding passes in Shanghai. I had 1.30 hours transfer time in Paris, but due to significant delays in getting off the plane this was reduced to 25 minutes. In this time I had to pass the French border check, customs, wait for my luggage, run to another terminal, check in my luggage, and go through security again. Exhausted from a long flight, I ran all the way, begging the other passengers to please let me cut in line. Fortunately everyone in Paris (CDG) was very nice. Once more, the check-in lady admitted that this was all very unusual, not understanding why I hadn't received three boarding passes, and why my luggage had not been checked all the way to Geneva. Fortunately for me I made my flight in the nick of time, but not thanks to China Eastern, whom, through a serious lack of logic in their logistics made a stressful day out of a journey that could have been very straightforward.

Sydney to London and London to Guangzhou via Shanghai with China Eastern. To be fair, the inflight staff service was alright and they were pretty friendly. The worst bit was that my connecting flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou was cancelled twice. The staff onboard and on the ground were no help at all, they were impatient, rude, and unhelpful, directing me to different lines. I spent 7 hours at Shanghai Airport being sent to different queues where the staff there just shrugged and didn't care. I stayed until midnight where luckily one staff member was nice enough to help us reschedule our flight (our flight was cancelled that night). They offered no accommodation, no apologies, despite it being their issue. I spent 300 AUD on accommodation out of my own pocket. The next morning I was again told my flight was cancelled, the main issue was that if I don't fly to Guangzhou and use that part of the trip, my flight back Sydney would be waived too. After struggling at Pudong airport for another 8 hours, the next day, I decided to go to Hongqiao Airport and was lucky enough to get a China Southern flight to Guangzhou. Although China Southern had flight delays, the staff apologised and offered free meal services. I was told to call the China Eastern service centre to check whether my flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai and back to Sydney was cancelled, the call centre advice was dreadful. Tired of their service, I spent another 1000 AUD and bought a ticket from Hong Kong to Sydney via Cathay Pacific, the Cathay Pacific service was much better. I would never fly with China Eastern again.

✅ Verified Review | Seriously not worth wasting your money, China Eastern is by far the worst airline I have ever caught. I had to catch 4 flights (Sydney to Rome via Shanghai, and London to Sydney via Shanghai with China Eastern, all flights were international 10+ hours flights and I regret taking this airline. Flight is always delayed and they tell you after it is already delayed and you’re sitting at the gate or on the plane waiting. China Eastern never warns it’s passengers or give them advance notice that there will be a delay. Every single flight I took had this problem, the worse was Shanghai to Rome. Everyone was waiting at the gate for 3 hrs and the board does not say ‘delayed’ and the airline workers do not tell you how long you have to wait for, they just give you a bad attitude and say “just wait”. On all 4 flights the flight attendants were rude. They complain under their breath right after you ask for a cup of water or if you are standing at the back to stretch your legs. It’s like they are trained to be rude, if you don’t want to serve people, don’t be a flight attendant! I heard 2 female attendants complain right in front of my face about how annoying I am in Chinese because I am standing with 4 other people at the back of the plane. They do not offer basic needs. No tooth brush set, no extra blanket. You cannot ask for another blanket if you are feeling cold, the flight attendant will say “one per person”, I had no one on the seat next to me so I asked to be given a blanket. the flight attendant says he “can’t find it”, I didn’t even see him try to find one. I was not the only one surprised by this on a 10+ hour international flight. Everyone who is considering this airline due to the low cost, please don’t. Just pay a little bit more and get China Southern or a better airline that treats you like a human. You will find that you wasted your money going through all these problems, and it is much better to be comfortable and treated like a person for a long international flight. This is going to be my first and last time with this airline.

✅ Verified Review | Paris to Tokyo via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. The lay over in Shanghai Pudong was supposed to be 2 hours long with transfer to MU569. However, while checkin in in Tokyo that day we were issued boarding passes to a different flight MU553 leaving 12 hours later than the one we initially booked. This was done without notice from the staff and we did not pay attention to the change indicated on the boarding pass. During the transfer in Shanghai we realised the boarding pass issued was different and tried to seek support from the local staff because my wife was 6 months pregnant and we in no way intended to wait 12 hours at this airport. This experience was traumatic and mostly unsuccessful : almost no english speaking staff in the entire airport - mostly lack of interest in the problem. After being sent from desk to desk for hours to only meet obviously annoyed staff from china Eastern airline we decided to wait for the given flight. As a result we had to wait 12 hours in this unpleasant airport and reached our destination with a delay of 12 hours.

✅ Verified Review | Vancouver to Sydney via Shanghai / Nanjing. I booked the trip myself online and thought that the routing was a bit odd as we landed at one airport in Shanghai, then went from another airport in Shanghai then flew from Nanjing to Sydney. I assumed the airline would at least assist us to get between the Shanghai airports but they gave zero help. When we got to the second Shanghai airport and looked for our gate we learned that we had to go by train to Nanjing. It took forever to find where we could get our train tickets. The airport staff - not China Eastern staff - were helpful or we would not have made it. Overall the worst airline I have been unfortunate enough to use and I have done a lot of traveling. Food was poor and cabin staff not friendly and service very poor for business class.

✅ Verified Review | China Eastern Airlines have a bad meal service. The Economy Class depart from Sydney to Shanghai, for Economy Class,two choices - Chicken Rice or Pasta, the chicken rice is very bad, the other dish also very bad. The ground staff is good, the seat and IFE system is OK, but next time I will choose Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Shanghai. They just started flying to Europe with their new A332 planes, so I went ahead and purchased the ticket. Big mistake. Please do not follow my steps, I am quite a bargain-seeker myself, but no price can justify such a bad experience. During check in my ticket was allocated a "standby" boarding pass, meaning I might fly or not. Due to that reason my bags were only checked to Shanghai, despite me having a connecting flight to Manila later. I insisted to check in directly to Manila. Not possible. At the gate I was allocated some random seat (not negotiable), despite willing to pay for upgrade to business, I was told not possible, no seats. Funny enough, some 6 or 7 people got upgraded from economy or standby to business right after me. The worst part was still to come - the seat. Literally, I have never experienced such small pitch in a intercontinental airline, they say it is 31-32 inch but it is not - 29, maybe 30. I could hardly fit in (I am 185cm), with my knees hitting the seat in front. Comparable to Ryanair, but that for a 12h flight. Recline was normal, but the seat moved even further forward - making it impossible to fit the leg straight in the gap between the seats. It was a nightmare. Inflight service was quite slow, staff English level limited, food normal. Mind, they only fill 1/3 of a cup of beverage, "so that it does not spill", granting a few walks to the back galley for refills (there is no further service after dinner). Entertainment system works, but there is a very limited selection of movies, which were all dated 1-2 years. I managed to find only one that I have not watched already. Shanghai Airport is big, and of course I had to go all the way through border control, customs and back again to check in to handle my bags 1.5h process, I wonder how that would work on a short connection, Connecting flight to Manila was delayed by 1.5hrs, of course no information or apologies given. In general, this airline entered my never-again zone.

✅ Verified Review | Beijing to Chicago via Shanghai. I was very sceptical about flying this airline after reading reviews from different websites, but we had a wonderful experience. We were upgraded to 1st from Business as our PEK-PVG flight was late arriving in PVG because of bad weather. The flight attendants were outstanding and very polite and professional. The food was top shelf and the entertainment was equal to other airlines.

✅ Verified Review | Fly frequently with China Eastern Airlines and an Elite plus member, but I have to say that their services are not great, a 3-star rating is not under-estimation. Flew to Toronto from Shanghai in Business class round trip at the end of May with family. Price was excellent, that’s the main drive I took them. Starting with check-in at PVG, check-in staff I met at PVG T1 First/Business Zone was not great. They processed our check-in with a bad emotion, and were careless. He printed out 2 boarding pass with same name, hence missed one. Lucky, I verified all boarding pass in front of him, and pointed that out, and asked him to double check. Then, he processed it again quickly, and pass to me without a sorry, and again with errors! If I didn’t pick up those errors, and made queue till border check, I would have had to return to make check-in again. The lounge at Shanghai PuDong T1 cannot be considered as a normal lounge among top tier airports, very limited choices of foods and drinks, and you won’t have desire to eat them. Seats are aged and not comfortable. The lounge is crowded, staff shout for boarding calls, noisy just like at a local market. China Eastern Airlines use Boeing 777-300ER for PVG – YYZ, the one I got has excellent condition, as only 1 month old. Inflight entertainment starts only after take-off and ends before descending, selections of movies and shows are so so, not very up to date. WIFI is offered during entire flight, but you have to register online before your flight, Internet Speed sounds like 2G, but better than nothing. Business class has 1-2-1 layout which has great privacy, seat is comfortable for sleep. But seat is not clean, you can see soup trace on the seat. I cleaned it up by myself. FAs were with commercial smiles and tried to be attentive, but you won’t feel warm. Again staff are efficient, sometime too efficient and become careless. You can tell they just want to finish their jobs. I asked them to push my 1st meal 2 hours later, the FA first-of all looks surprising, then keep asking me every half hour. Foods were quiet good, tea selections were excellent! Services on the inbound flights were quiet similar, but FAs were more attentive and patience, without issue with ground stuff. Overall, don’t expect China Eastern Airlines to match its international competitors, or even other Chinese airlines such as Hainan Airlines or CZ.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh return with China Eastern Airlines, and overall not a great experience. Check-in in Shanghai was an absolute nightmare. The rep didn't speak a word of English and insisted we needed a visa to Vietnam, although we were Spanish and UK nationals (no need for tourism). Eventually after much consultation and sign language, all was ok.. Outbound flight was delayed, still showed "On Time" on the screen an hour later than the scheduled departure time. Eventually left with 2 hour delay with no explanation or apology from the airline. Plane in good order, especially on the return as it was a newer one. We were stuck in the last row which does not recline. Flight attendants had very limited English and were quite rude. I got yelled at for having my table out, even though the announcement in English to put it back hadn't yet been made (they were in the midst of the Chinese announcement). Would probably fly again because they are far cheaper than the rest, but only if you have flexible travel plans and no short connections to make.

Fukuoka to Paris via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Overall a pretty bad experience. We flew four times with them and every flight was late. The cabin crew were rude and visibly displeased with having to do their job. The entertainment selection was not so great and the in-flight game controllers were so bad they made the games unplayable. The bathrooms were disgusting and one didnt have a working sink. On the brighter side, the meals were ok, the seats relatively comfortable, and it was cheap.

Let me begin by saying I don't have a problem with staff or facilities of the airline, however, there is one thing and one thing only that an airline must do correctly and that is to have a schedule that can be relied upon. I've flown with China Eastern many times, each time I swear I'll never fly with them again, each time I'm attracted again by their cheaper fares. My last flight I flew business class from Chicago to Wuhan via Shanghai because there were no other cheaper fares available and I needed to be home in time for my mother's funeral. Once again China Eastern Airlines "delayed" a flight (in this case for 13+ hours), with no reason given and in increments of 2+ hours instead of simply canceling the flight and offering passengers alternative transportation or accommodation. No staff member could tell me anything other than, "I don't know". Fortunately, I was already familiar with this practice and so arranged to have a taxi driver me to my mother's funeral, Shanghai to Wuhan, an overnight trip at a considerable cost. If I had waited to catch the next China Eastern flight I would have missed the funeral by 4 to 5 hours. China Eastern's response to my dilemma,"very sorry, we can't do anything". I haven't had a single trip with this company that didn't have at least one delayed segment. My last trip has finally brought home how important it can be too have a reliable airline as my first choice.

Shanghai to Frankfurt with China Eastern Airlines. This has been the by far worst experience and I will certainly never fly this airline again. Our flight has been delayed by 10 hours (entailing an overnight wait). No explanation was given at any time. No hotel or anything at all was offered to us and I was traveling business class by the way. We couldn't even take a shower because they were supposedly "out of towels". And maybe worst of all, no apology for this whole impossible situation was ever offered. Basically, there has been zero communication or crisis management throughout. Their so-called business class lounge is a dump, I've never seen anything like it with old stained chairs and a hot water maker which had signs in Chinese only and was not working, smelly toilets etc etc. All in all, I honestly can't believe this whole thing has actually happened and has cost me ten hours of my life. Thanks for nothing China Eastern, and see you never, ever again!

✅ Verified Review | Nanjing to Los Angeles via Shanghai with China Eastern. The domestic flight from Nanjing to Shanghai was on time and fine. The flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles was a disaster. The lounge for business class was overcrowded and very loud. The boarding was delayed for over an hour without any notice on the board in the airport. Once boarding started we were not alerted! By checking the gate itself we determined boarding had started. Once on the plane, we waited a long time after all passengers were on before the door was shut. Next the plane moved 8ft from the gate and sat for more than two hours without an explanation as to why or what was the problem. We were not offered anything for over two hours. The given fruit, cake, ice cream- nothing to drink. Needless to say, we took off over three hours late from original departure time. I have flown business class to and from every continent in the world and this was the worse airline ever! The food, lack of service, and lack of effort by the staff was extremely poor. The dinner when it was finally served - there wasn't a cocktail with appetizer offered - was not edible. When Asked for water I was told I had a bottle in the rack! Breakfast was a joke! In the menu a western breakfast was offerred; however, the western breakfast offerred on the plane was pork and rice - when I replied that is not a western breakfast, the attitude was a shrug of the shoulders with oh well that's all there is! Then instead of going to get the cloth to cover my table, she tried to give me fresh fruit with a fork! I said, no please get the cloth for here. That took 30 minutes before someone else came back and did that. In the meantime I asked for coffee - after 40 minutes of waiting and asking two different stewardesses, I went to the galley and asked to please have a cup of coffee - I was told ok and to please sit down. It took another 10 minutes for my coffee and 10 minutes more for creamer and sugar! Needless to say the only edible part of breakfast was 2 slices of watermelon! The toilet in the business class bathroom was dirty, trash was overflowing and the sink filled with soapy water. Usually business class offers lotions in the restrooms. As to sleeping, after the lights were finally dimmed, people behind me continued to talk in loud voices. Overall I rate this international flight poor in all areas and recommend to not fly with them. I know there are better choices and I will not ever fly internationally with them ever again!

✅ Verified Review | On 13th June, an 8.5 hours delay because of rain from Beijing to Shanghai. Then 2 hours waiting in the plane. Only one comment: "We don't know", the support is disaster. Today on the flight back, delay again without information. No respect of flying blue seat preference. Treated like animals. Take it only if you have no choice.

✅ Verified Review | Singapore to San Francisco via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Got an exit row seat at no charge. Flight was 2 hours late arriving into PVG and missed its takeoff slot, so an extra hour on tarmac. Ground staff were not able to supply any information as to why the flight was late. In fact, there were no ground staff at the gate. My vegetarian meal wasn't available (I had ordered it), but the staff improvised and I ended up with boiled cabbage and rice. I was starving but grateful. The cabin staff brought me an iPad with a roster of vegetarian meal orders to prove that my order wasn't on it, and I was therefore to blame - never mind. At least they offered me food. Plane seemed rather old, no inflight entertainment, no charging and no wi-fi. But it got us to SFO safely. Not the most comfortable experience, but I paid $580 for a round trip from SFO to Singapore, so I recommend China Eastern to anyone on a budget. The staff try hard (in a difficult corporate culture), to be friendly.

✅ Verified Review | China Eastern from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing on 31 May. I was confirmed on the 5pm flight but when I arrived at the airport to check in I am told that my flight was cancelled (for no reason, or the airlines feels there is no need to offer any explanation, the weather was too good to be blamed). I had a contact number and no one bothered to notify me. I am a confirmed passenger (flying from Vancouver to Beijing via Shanghai where I made a stop), yet when they cancelled the flight I am virtually not protected on any subsequent flight as is the trade practice. I was only asked to walk half a street block's distance and queue in another counter for 20 minutes to get my passage 'endorsed' on another flight. Only with that I can check in again. There are earlier flights but I was able to get only the 8:40pm flight, a 3hr 40min delay against the flight time of 1h40. This new flight was 'too early to check in' so I was turned away by the counter staff after some quering, and I was asked to come back to check in 1h 30m, holding on to my luggage. There is absolutely no sense of some form of apology - the trouble is all the passenger's bad luck, as this clearly is the airline's attitude. No drink or meal voucher is offered and we the victims are only new passenger with absolutely no responsibility on the airline's part, and that should consider yourself lucky to get a seat on a later flight they allow. Check in staff attitude was rude, and unhelpful, and I was unable to reserve an aisle seat or any seat, just get whatever available on check in. I got on the 8:40 flight and on arrival I lost my ground transportation in Beijing and had to stay in an airport hotel. There is drinks service on the flight but no snack, not even one to purchase. And to think that I should be on the 5:30 flight. I do not know whether there is any law in China governing flight cancellation and passenger's right, but all my blame will go to the attitude of China Eastern Airlines. They simply have the right to cancel without reason and if the passenger had it, it is the passenger's bad luck. I live in China and fly every month so I know airlines. Not all airlines are the same but China Eastern is for me, the worst airline of China, definitely. My advice is that if you have a choice, avoid flying with them.

New York JFK to Tokyo Narita with China Eastern - the flight was decent, better than I expected, especially for the very cheap tickets. The flight from JFK was delayed a few hours so they gave out $10 food vouchers for the airport - this was good as the food is expensive and I was hungry. There was a decent selection of movies (some fairly new ones) and some classical music (my favorite). They even served food on a 2 hour flight. The apple juice was delicious and they served fresh watermelon.

✅ Verified Review | Flew China Eastern Airlines from Vancouver to Shanghai. A smooth daytime long haul flight, quite comfortable though full. Cabin was clean and staff service more than adequate. Check-in was good. Seat pitch is not among the best but acceptable. But standard, not delivery, of food service is slightly below competitor's. Not much to expect of food on an economy flight but the food seems extremely economized compared with competitors. My seat was well-located but I had no choice of my preferred main course. The meal was the lowest cost option, no bottled water, and bread was served well after the meal by the time when you have finished eating. The food is domestic Chinese, for example the salad is beans in a sauce with seasame oil which suits me but doubtful if for foreigners. Good that the Chinese tea is decent. Cabin staff do speak adequate English, compared with flights on a Russian or a East Europe airline. It was a satisfactory flight particularly for value (I took a OW flight).

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai to Paris was the first time I have flown with China Eastern Airlines, and I won't be using them again. It was booked as a package through a travel agent, so we didn't actually choose it. The seats were okay and the food was okay but the service was slow and some Chinese cabin crew were rude and annoying. For example one of them kept nudging and walking into me as we walked by and spilt cold water over me - I said be careful and she ignored me. No apology nothing. Then we had to sit through and watch a stupid exercise video all in Chinese for half an hour near the end of the flight when some of us were watching films, TV or the map and others were listening to music. Some very strange ways and rude service by most of the cabin crew so I won't be using them again.

✅ Verified Review | London Heathrow to Melbourne via Shanghai. Never fly China Eastern Airlines. We paid for Business Class due to the need for flat bed seats. We got an old plane with seats that didn't recline fully meaning a sleepless flight. The reason for the delay in departure was blatantly untrue (icing on the wings - the outside temp was 9ºC) as was the reason for the excessive cabin temperature (27ºC). We were told that was the normal temperature passengers liked, but after a couple of hours of complaining of the heat, an honest attendant told us the air conditioning wasn't working! We moved seats after a sleeping member of cabin staff was moved out of one of the seats. There was a poor choice of food and it was lukewarm, as the attendant seemed unable or unwilling to heat it to the correct temperature. There was a terrible choice of films. Our stopover was Shanghai, a horrible bleak airport, where we were met by rude and unhelpful ground staff and had to find our own way to a shabby VIP lounge. This was a very long way from where we had entered the airport. Our luggage was left out uncovered in the rain, so when we got to our destination, we found the clothes in one end of my husband's soft case, were very wet. All in all it was a dreadful experience. I can't stress enough that this is an airline to avoid at all costs,even if, as in our case, it came highly recommended. China Eastern haven't the foggiest idea of what good service is, particularly if the passenger has paid the extra cost for Business Class.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai to Honolulu with China Eastern was terrible. Hope to never have to fly them again. Traveled with my pregnant wife and two kids both under the age of five. They had no personal tv on the seat back in front of you. Hoarded their water and ice, my wife had to beg them for more than one glass of water. The wine serving was tiny and by the time I asked for a refill they had no more wine. I think each cart had just one bottle of red wine for a few hundred people.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai to Delhim with China Eastern Airlines. A Hindu Meal (purely vegetarian) was requested with the booking, and the airline served me meat, rice and cabbage. I am an English speaking person, and complained to the cabin crew, but they pertained to have understood nothing - this was despite the fact they were speaking English as per their own convenience during other conversations.

✅ Verified Review | Phnom Penh to London Heathrow via Shanghai with China Eastern. The usual cramped seating, that we expected. A 7/8 hour stopover in Shanghai. We also knew about this but the company (cheapo air) emailed me to say it had changed and they said they would put £3.85 back onto my credit card? We were so confused by these mails that we had to go to the airline in Phnom Penh to make sure that everything was ok. The journey itself was awful. The meals, that you kind of look forward to on these long haul flights, were dreadful - even the Chinese passengers were not eating them. We ended up hungry as we just couldn't eat. Then to top everything off, the steward spilled a cup of hot coffee over my boyfriend!!! They gave him a few dollars by way of compensation and apologised profusely, but maybe they need some extra training.

✅ Verified Review | Sydney to Shanghai, and a new W330 with the latest seat configuration. We left on time outbound and arrived a little early. A little late leaving without an announcement but arrived on time. Lovely FA's each way with good English and the food was fine. Nice selection of wine and a reasonable drink menu. Entertainment/movies were average but ok. Only downside was the lack of quality headphones, certainly not noise cancelling. Comfortable seating with plenty of space for storage. The layout of 1-2-1 leaves plenty of room. Cabin temperature fine. Boarding etc was fine although the lounge in Shanghai is just terrible. Not even a handle on the toilet door! Overall a really nice experience.

✅ Verified Review | Hopeless disgrace of an airline. At least two flights ex Guangzhou to Wuhan cancelled on evening of 17/04/16. Bad things hapoen, of course, but China Eastern could not have made a worse job of handling it if they had actually tried. No communication and zero apology for what is now a totally sleepless twelve hour delay, almost all of which has been spent in different lines/queues (four just to get my bag back, which took so long [but was not optional] that it was almost time re-check it by the time I found it). I fly in and out of and through China a lot. This is the last time I will use China Eastern. Avoid.

✅ Verified Review | New York JFK to Manila via Shanghai Pudong with China Eastern, and I echo other reviews you get what you pay for. But this airlines has a major attitude issue with their cabin staff. I was trying to turn my cell phone off, the plane was not moving at all, the door was just closed. A cabin staff who was checking on seat belts saw me she screamed at me in Chinese, she saw what I was trying to do to turn off my phone. Her face was so red I was scared.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Bangkok to Paris via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. After reading all the reviews I was a bit worried about flying with them, but in the end it wasn't that bad. You get what you pay for. My first two flights were operated by very old planes, and to my surprise, on the flight from PVG to CDG they didn't even have PTV's so it was a very boring flight. From CDG to PVG the plane was brand new, and entertainment system was nice. PVG to BKK was operated by Shanghai Airlines, quite new aircraft although not very clean. The worst part of the flight was transiting in Shanghai, it took me nearly 2 hours to validate my boarding pass and go over the security check. Food was also not very good, although crew came around with drinks quite a few times during the flight. All flights were on time and my checked bag arrived quite quickly as well. Maybe I was lucky, but this airline is not bad.

✅ Verified Review | I am extremely happy flying domestic first class with China Eastern from Beijing to Shanghai. At Beijing Airport with premium check-in and lounge. This something you will not find in the US. Onboard was a very warm welcome from the cabin staff who were friendly. At first I swapped seat with some guy who wants to sit with his friend. So, I got his window seat and didn't really like it. Later I asked to switched to an aisle seat and was no issues. The only problem I had with flying in China is I have to turn the phone completely off. This is a business trip and I needed to take some notes/emails on my phone. Ended up writing it on a piece of paper. On boarding, drinks and hot towel were provided. The food (I believe I had the Chicken) was the same as economy food and nothing special. The plane was very clean. All magazines were up to date.

✅ Verified Review | I flew China Eastern Airlines from Changchun to Hong Kong on via Shanghai Pudong. The first flight (an A321-200) was pleasant despite the fact is was near full capacity. The legroom was ample compared to similar aircraft from other airlines that I had flown. Inflight entertainment from drop down cabin screens. The cabin crew were courteous, but unable to communicate English fluently. The meal was served shortly after take-off plus drinks and hot beverages. The second leg from Shanghai Pudong was an older version A320 with classical seat and limited seat pitch. I found it difficult to move my leg and any movement is restricted. A big disappointment as it was not equipped with in-flight entertainment. Inflight meal was slightly better, probably because this is an international flight and provided with ice cream as well. Overall flying experience with China Eastern is acceptable though it is not the best China based airline that I had ever flown it.

As other reviewers have stated, we were interested in the low fares offered by China Eastern. We actually flew out of Chicago on the first day the route from Chicago to Shanghai was offered. The check-in line was a nightmare, but we excused them given it was their first day in O'Hare airport. The flight left an hour late, but arrived in PVG on time. The plane itself, which was a relatively new 777-300ER, was comfortable and our seats were great (though we had to swap with another passenger so my wife and I could sit together). The long flight to PVG was one of the smoothest flights I have ever experienced, so I would give a high rating to the pilots. Unfortunately, that's about the extent of the positive aspects of this airline. Their flight attendants really should have a better grasp of English if they are going to keep adding North American routes. It was frustrating to communicate even simple requests. Perhaps the greatest downfall of this airline is being based at the Shanghai airport. That place is dreadful and cause enough for us to avoid China Eastern from now on. While the pilots and the planes earn nice marks, the language barrier and the horrific transfer experience mean we will be using another airline next time.

Tokyo Haneda to Shanghai Hongqiao with China Eastern Airlines, and if you have a choice use another airline. Seats uncomfortable, aircraft not cleaned. I moved the blanket to sit down and the previous passengers part drunk bottle of water was under the blanket. It was a mid afternoon flight and I was asked what I would like to drink to which I replied a Gin and Tonic. Flight attendant surprise and reply, we don't have cocktails. You can have Cola, tea or a glass of wine with the meal. I chose red wine as I was having what they described as western meal is pizza. Tray arrived, so called pizza was a slice of baguette and all the topping had fallen off onto the plate, what a mess. Glass of wine - a 1/4 glass was a better description.

My second experience with China Eastern Airlines, from Toronto to Phuket via Shanghai. This time I requested food I could actually eat, Western food. They called it western food but it was the same as what everyone else was served. Uncomfortable seating, a bad experience, same as the first flight. Why they have flight attendants with rudimentary English, working Canadian flights is quite remarkable, as there must be quite a few Chinese with English as a second language to choose from? It makes for a very poor rating in an area where service is highly regarded and incredibly important. Luckily the flights were on time but boring with limited programming and film in English.

✅ Verified Review | Paris CDG to Manila via Shanghai, flying China Eastern for my first time, and it made me want to cry. The seats are incredibly unconfortable and 11 hours flight was something close to hell. The meals were different than the flight attendant told us (couscous with vegetable is not a rice) and if there would be any other option than to eat, I would go for it. The cabin staff did not go through the plane regularly to offer anything, and I had always to ring a bell to get a glass of water. During the 9 hour long transfer in Shanghai Pudong Airport we did not get any meal vouchers or drinks. We were trying to speak with the staff on the information desk but they did not help us at all. Flight was delayed for other hour but no one was concerned to announce it - people were waiting in the queue because on the table there was "boarding", but for almost 1 hour nothing happened. I am used to travelling long haul flights with different airlines, but until now I could not tell how bad air travel could be as it is with China Eastern.

Vancouver to Kuala Lumpur via Shangai return. We spent 3 months traveling through Malaysia and Thailand. We traveled to Asia and back to Canada by using China Eastern Airlines so we flew on two different dates on 4 flights with them and I feel our experience was pretty common for them. This is the worst experience we have had with an airline. Their planes are good. Relatively new and in good condition and their prices for flights are good - however from there it is a deep slide downhill. From your first dealing with them to the last goodbye you will be treated poorly. My wife was yelled at for asking if her seat was close to a bathroom as my wife a medical bladder condition. There isn't a language issue going on here just an uncaring poor staff issue. The flight attendants do the minimum. You get poor meals and even though they have coffee, tea, wine etc on the carts at mealtime they will bypass you and offer you nothing. At check in or between flights they don't give you needed information for flights or connections and don't ask as you will be yelled at or treated very rudely. My wife and I try very hard to be undemanding and polite and were treated with indifference or rudely by airline staff. When we deplaned in Shangai to make a connection to Vancouver Canada in our haste an expensive hat of mine was left in an overhead bin. I enquired at their check in quickly after we were off the plane while we were dealing with our transfer to our next flight if somehow I could retrieve my hat. I was dismissed with a wave of a hand and told to go to lost and found (not told where this was). I was then told rudely that I would be gone there a very long time and never would get it back. Even though I was only off the plane minutes it was obvious they would not help and I would never get it back. I never did. This just fit with our overall experience with China Eastern. My advice is that there are lots of airlines out there that offer quality service at reasonable prices. You don't have to deal with airlines like this one. Vote with you cash and hopefully poor airlines like with will just disappear. Have a good trip by going elsewhere. Do not fly China Eastern.

Sydney to Shanghai on China Eastern. If you want to fly paying the least amount of money, this is the airline for you. If you want more than 10 hours of virtual torture think very seriously about flying with this airline. The way I got through the it was I thought about the alternative - it was about $400 more to get on Qantas. First thing to do is get some of your own food in your carry on. The food onboard is not fit for consumption. Second try and pick a seat. We didn't and despite being told we had "good seats" we were next to the toilet and smelled urine all the way. Be prepared with a good book because entertainment is non existent. If you have any money avoid this flight, it just isn't worth it.

Shenzhen to Shanghai Pudong. Online check-in did not work for some reason and China Eastern Airlines website overall is pretty bad. But self service check-in at the airport was fine and flight too. On time, pretty good food for such a short flight and nice crew. Seats were reasonably spacious, but not so confortable. Announcements were in English and Mandarin, but hard to hear.

Vancouver to Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines, and the service was good, seats comfortable. The food from Vancouver was the best we have had on an airline. Staff were very pleasant. All the electronics did not work, and the movie selection was geared to Chinese audience, but we were a minority. But otherwise no complaints.

Delhi to Seoul Incheon via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. No source of entertainment, seats not comfortable, Food was ok. I had a stop at Shanghai where I had to change to another China Eastern flight going to South Korea - which was 3 hours late (despite our 7 hours transfer and 3 hours delay). It was the worst 10 hours of my life and the flight was the worst.

Shanghai Hongqiao to Chengdu. Two full-price tickets for Chinese New Year but the flight obviously only sold half and have to merge with previous flight to Chengdu - so why no discounted tickets offered? Plane was delayed. The ground service is very unfriendly. Captain made no announcement and the crew apologized perfunctorily. Seats very uncomfortable and tiny, making it hard to fall asleep at midnight. Very boring movies and disgusting meal, not fully heated. Attendents refused to move bar cart to allow a passenger to go to the lavatory. I witnessed an attendent playing cellphone in the sky while all Chinese airlines forbid passengers to do that.

Sydney to Frankfurt via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines was the worst flight and service I have ever encountered. Some of the flight attendants were arrogant and impolite. But the worst was the customer service in Shanghai. Most of the staff at the service counter for international flights can hardly speak any English. I had applied for a free transit hotel on their official website, but they never replied. So when asking about it in Shanghai they pretended that such offers did not even exist and I was forced to get a hotel at my own cost. Never again!

I bought a return trip from Auckland to Manila, with both trips having a 15-17 hour layover in Shanghai. A few days after buying my ticket, which I bought well in advance of my trip, I was told there is no courtesy hotel when I asked. One of the passengers on the same flight was also from New Zealand and on the same connecting flight. He was told that he can get a courtesy on just one way but not both and it is up to him to choose which one he'd like to avail the courtesy hotel. When I wanted to have my courtesy hotel, I was told that I sent my request under 7 business days but I asked for it when I bought my ticket! They lied to me. Another China Eastern person told me that courtesy hotel is only available if flight is delayed. When then was my friend offered a courtesy hotel when the flight has not even commenced yet? They lied a second time.

One of the worst airlines. Flew China Eastern Airlines from Delhi to Vancouver via Shanghai on January 9th. Flight cancelled from Delhi for no reasons. Got on to the flight next day. Old plane with no TVs on Seat, no alcoholic beverages. Flight Attendants rude. Arrived at Shanghai at midnight, was told that I will be able to catch 13:30 flight next day - but that never happened. Waited two days to arrive in Vancouver. Spent hours at Shanghai airport and of the worst travel experiences of my life. Avoid this airline.

Colombo to Busan via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines was shambolic. The worst was the queuing at Shanghai for transfers. Multiple flights arrived pre dawn and had to wait for two hours for a boarding card. Most of those waiting already had boarding cards and had to wait all the same for their boarding cards to be rubber stamped. The queues were poorly marked and no staff guided them resulting in abundant cutting in line and queue hopping - some intentional, some not. At one point a member of staff bypassed a huge section of the queue leaving many trapped in a limbo loop. It was like a mob. Out of 9 counters, 5 were set up though only 3 were operating. Remaining staff lounged about cluelessly chatting behind the closed counters. Entertainment was awful. Food a disgrace to Chinese culture. Drinks barely existent. What a disaster you are China Eastern.

Sydney to Dubai via Shanghai and Kunming, returning to Melbourne. A nightmare and terrible. Not just because of the the oil soaked food and entertainment which was horrible and limited (no alcoholic beverages), or the touch screen LCD which is not working, but China Eastern Airlines added a connection which was not there in the ticket. They added an airport called Kunming to the route. I did not know where we were. We were shipped like cattle - the whole plane - and squeezed into one small bus like a can of sardines. Then forced to go through the immigration / passports check, in other words forced to get a visa, then again had to go through security, who are impolite and uncivilized. The airport authorities forced me along with others to sign a paper written in Chinese. I don't know what I signed on, as they refused to give me a copy - I was in a city which I don't know it's name and was not in my ticket, and we are supposed to be connecting there only. Even at the security screening, passengers should expect to get pat down search by the opposite sex. They just do not comprehend what the word courtesy means. By the way, it is a big fat lie that China Eastern offers a hotel room if the layover time is more than 8 hours.

I flew China Eastern from Rome to Sydney via Shanghai, returning to Frankfurt. All flights were great and on time, they had in flight entertainment - except Shanghai to Frankfurt which didn't have TVs to my surprise. Nice hostesses and comfortable. Food was the only let down, which was greasy Chinese food, but for the price you pay is fine.

Shanghai to Melbourne. Our family of 5 booked flights with China Eastern as they were cheap - what a mistake! Plane modern, departures were on time, food wasn't bad, entertainment was good, but I was very dissatisfied with the lack of customer service. On arrival at Shanghai China Eastern check in we were told there was a problem with my infant son's passport, that he needed a transit visa for Melbourne (we were only transiting in Melbourne before flying to Auckland). We were told to wait 10 minutes. There were no seats. We had 3 young children and finally after an hour of sitting on the dirty floor were given our boarding passes. No explanation. No apology. No transit visa. This is terrible! Left a bad taste. Onboard the flight, limited smiles from cabin crew who were clearly tired and were spotted sleeping in the business class section. Also no word from the captain - nothing. To hear from the Cockpit reassures passengers and is something most airlines do. If they want to compete with other airlines, customer service needs a big improvement! I will not fly with this airline again.

Colombo to Incheon via Shanghai Pudong with China Eastern, with my family (3 children between 2 and 7). Both flights were delayed by more than one hour. At no time company has informed about the delay. At check-in counter staff assigned us separated seats whereas I was traveling with young children. I had to argue for more than 10 minutes and finally call the manager to have seat together. Staff told me that I could bring the baby stroller at the gate of the plane but when I arrived at the gate of the plane stewardess told me that she would not take care of the stroller and that I had to come back to boarding gate. I folded the stroller and left it in front of plane gate and she finally took care of it. The inside of the plane is like the service, very poor. The cabin seats were worn and in poor condition. Strips missing from seat armrests, seat cover had some old stains, and the headrest cover was marked with hair from previous traveler. Inflight entertainment is one tv for 20 passengers. Connection at Shanghai (PVG) was just a nightmare. We had to queue for more than one hour at transit counter. Fortunatly we had 3 hours to catch the next flight. Boarding gate was used for several flights at same time and there was no information on the displays so it created a huge traffic jam. When embarking I noticed that the escalator which was going to the plane gate was not working and that there was no elevator. So I asked someone from the staff to help me with the baby stroller. Staff just acted as if they did not hear me. Once again I had to complain several times to finally have someone help me. Just avoid this company.

First time on China Eastern opting for a direct flight, as normally use Qatar Airways. What a big mistake, even if I saved about 5 hours in total! Whilst the fare was cheap I now know why from this experience. Seat comfort was okay, but had the misfortune to be squashed between two Chinese passengers that talked (shouted!) across me much of the time, and one proceeded to spit into the seat pocket on several occasions. The meals were awful - very cheap standard underlined by fatty and inedible meat. Staff started out okay with a smile, although they could not understand any English off a very brief script, but after the meal service they disappeared. Getting up and walking around midway through flight, I peered into second business class cabin and saw FA's were sprawled out sleeping there - 6 of them! IFE needed rebooting several times, and while okay for a Chinese airline, is pitiful compared to most airlines. If you're lucky you will get a thimble of wine, as they run out before they have even done one service in the economy cabin. Pilot maintained total silence from boarding to arrival - I assume there was one? Wouldn't have mattered as the other staff announcements could not be understood. I had high hopes for a direct flight, but will now avoid China Eastern like the plague.

Dubai to Narita via Shanghai return. Seats have excellent legroom and seats booked beforehand were honoured on all flights. IFE was excellent with plenty of movies. Food had 2 options, but not of great quality and sometimes it was inedible. Drinks options very limited. Friendly staff. Will use again and excellent value.

Sydney to London via Shanghai Pudong with China Eastern. The aircraft was modern and fairly clean. The cabin staff were polite and attentive, overheard them handle some anxious passengers who seemed to be asking for Kosher food that had not been requested. I was eating Hindu (because I like the food not through religious conviction) this was excellent outbound from SYD and okay outbound from Shanghai : seems to depend on airport more than airline. It is true there is limited alcohol available. I had no problems getting water, there was a regular walk up and down with a water jug. Seats are what you expect in economy, maybe a tad more spacious than some. Seemed like a reasonable range of Hollywood movies, good range of Chinese movies. Limited but sufficient range of European movies. Flights were on time or early. As noted elsewhere they put the aircraft into might mode more or less anytime (PVG to LHR was a long afternoon flight). You can open the blinds and look out but it is all quite organised. Personally I think the night mode does encourage young passengers to nod off rather than cry/laugh/shout. I asked for and got complimentary food vouchers via email to the London office. This worked very well and were met both times at Pudong by ground staff giving us vouchers. Baggage was checked through from SYD to LHR and arrived not much the worse for wear. Overall great value for money great staff.

Shanghai to Hong Kong. Flight left Shanghai late, although that seems quite normal. Crew smart with their uniforms and lots of smiles. Can't remember the last time a member of the crew, without even asking, placed my wife's luggage in the overhead bin. The meal on the short flight to Hong Kong was excellent and wine offered twice. All announcements clear and safety was top priority. No hesitation to fly with them again.

Melbourne to Shanghai. The seat was average for Economy class, food was alright, and the inflight entertainment provided plenty of options. We chose China Eastern Airlines because of low fares, and would recommend it to people who don't want to spend much money on a trip to China.

We flew on a very old China Eastern Airlines plane from Shanghai to Paris, filthy in every aspect, no films nor music on this flight, no online check in or seat selection available, no white wine, limited red wine and beer that they didn't want us to have anyway, inedible food, almost no snacks and no water brought during the flight unless you asked for it. Seat had almost collapsed with no support, reclining was broken, no soap in toilets after 3 hours. Be careful when booking though Skyteam as although the flight had an Air France flight code that was not made clear until I received the online Ticket - very naughty. A word of advice on departing from Pudong Terminal 1. There is almost nowhere decent to eat in this depressing place, just a Starbucks with 4 tables and a Subway with 2 tables. Stock up with some munchies or better still, stop off at the Ramada Hotel just 5 minutes by courtesy bus as they have a pretty good International restaurant where you can get Western style food like pasta. After an 8 hour layover I was about to jump off the roof.

Osaka to Singapore via Shanghai and Kunming with China Eastern. Flight from Singapore was delayed for more than 1 hr, causing us to rush like hell collecting check-in baggage when transiting in Shanghai. Were given the few back rows and the crews behind were practically chatting non-stop during the whole flight. When returning to Singapore, 1 of our 3 baggage did not turn up. Reported to SATS baggage and had to call the hotline several times before our baggage was found in Kunming. The reason given by the airline was the baggage tag was until Kunming, not Singapore. When we were at Kunming, the airline staff even brought us to a waiting area whilst waiting for the inspection of our 3 baggage and confirmed to us our baggage passed the inspection and will be sent to Singapore together with our flight. If the tag is only till Kunming then what for we waited at the waiting area! Already 5 days since we came back to Singapore and the airline are still holding back our baggage at Kunming despite the fact that SATS had told them the tag indicated final destination as Singapore not Kunming! Very disappointed and frustrated with the poor service and low efficiency of China Eastern Airlines.

Bangkok to New York JFK via Shanghai Pudong. We attempted to book a flight with China Eastern for April 2016 and instantly regretted our decision to fly with this airline. The website is incompetent to say the least; when we booked, the page loaded for ten minutes before sending us to an "Error" page through their website. My credit card was charged despite receiving no confirmation email, ticket information, flight details, booking number, or anything at all even noting that the order was processed. We are currently living out of the country and called the Sydney office to see if we could fix the error; they told us that because we booked from the US website, they were unable to help us. After spending hours on hold with the offices in both LA and New York (to no avail), and sending out multiple emails to each office, we finally received an email saying that they only had a record of a canceled flight from us and that was it. We are still desperately trying to get ahold of them and fear that our money is lost. If we are having this much difficulty trying to simply get confirmation of our tickets, I cannot even begin to image how hard it would be to get our money back. I am dreading the day of our flight.

London to Sydney via Shanghai Pudong. Both flights ran on time or nearly so. Aircraft modern and clean with smiling helpful cabin crew. Bags were checked through to SYD no problems. Food was no better or worse than most other airlines. Everything worked as it should. On the PVG to SYD leg a first class welcome even though on a bargain basement ticket.

We took the China Eastern Airlines flight MU2421 from Shanghai to Kunming on Dec 5, 20155. Two times in the first leg and one time in the second leg, there was a strong tobacco smoke in the plane. As I could see nobody smoking in the cabin, I suspect the pilots were just smoking in the cockpit. This plane smelled like a ashtray.

Vancouver to Bangkok via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. The staff treated me like I wasn't even there. they didn't speak enough English to communicate with non Chinese. The food served was disgusting. I did not know I would have to fill in immigration form for Bangkok as my first time there, but no forms were given on the flight! I arrived in Bangkok with no idea on what to do or where to go. I will never travel with China Eastern Airlines again.

China Eastern Airlines is a terrible airline with horrible service. Generally service on the plane is quite bad and the crew is not very friendly or proactive. This is not entirely their fault : I learned that the cabin crew is not even allowed to leave the plane after a five hours flight from Shanghai to Singapore and has to work on the flight back! No wonder they are very grumpy. All customers were forced to queue in a huge line to enter there tickets into an electronic machine which could not find the booking. After that we were split into two endless lines to queue again at the check in counter. After queuing for a long time they closed down one of the counters and we had to merge into the other line. People who know China can imagine how this went. Since this was a codeshare flight with Qantas I was able to earn 1,175 miles per sector on my trip Singapore-Shanghai-Singapore. In Singapore the check-in agent happily added my Qantas number and was very professional. In Shanghai she initially refused stating that it was no use. When I insisted in a friendly and polite manner the agent grumpily added the number, rolled her eyes and said "no use anyway!" As the miles are in my account already, I can gladly say that she was wrong! I was really hungry and therefore ate the onboard food even though it was quite terrible. Please China Eastern Airlines : train your employees better.

China Eastern Airlines was the worst airline I've flown with. Starting with the wrong information given by the check-in agent at LAX about immigration and customs (you go through those in Nanjing, but she insisted we would not leave the plane there), we were in for a treat. Even though the plane was new (B-5902), if felt very old, with seats getting jammed when trying to move them and lots of noise. Food was horrible, so I would highly suggest getting a sandwich at the airport just in case. Sodas were served warm (and they only have Pepsi). Upon arrival in Chengdu, they offer no assistance whatsoever as to where to go for your luggage, and it's really easy to end up in the domestic terminal since there's no signs and nobody to help. On the way back, check-in opens at 8am for a 9.30am departure. Lines are not respected and people just cut in front of you. There's no separate line for business class, but that wouldn't have mattered much since the ones cutting in line were business class customers. Once you get to Nanjing, expect to have a choice between a local restaurant that doesn't look very good and a place that sells snacks at airport prices. You can actually see the McDonald's and Starbucks on the other side, but can't access them (I'm not a McDonald's fan, but at that point it would've been very welcome instead of China Eastern food).

I'd recommend passengers avoid China Eastern Airlines, especially if you're expecting any kind of decent service. At Shanghai airport, this airline is at a different terminal every other international airlines. Their check-in process for business class sucks- there's a long waiting line despite several agents lounging around. The lounges are even worse - uncomfortable and stained seats, stale and tasteless food, no cold beverages or ice, and completely packed, as they offer their lounge to other airlines. Their lounge is located below the departure level and there is an escalator down but none to go up. So if you have a heavy hand bag, you're going to be doing some hauling. And to top it off, flights to the US don't deserve a jetway. You get bussed there, and there's more heavy lifting to do. The airport and lounges are hot and uncomfortable. Don't get fooled by their cheaper price.

I flew China Eastern Airlines, with an Alitalia ticket in business class from Rome to Shanghai on 31st October, and then returning from Shanghai to Rome on 7th November. Flights were on time and good schedule times. Both aircraft had confortable flat seat in business class. The service was very basic for business class. Food quality was very poor. On the return flight no menu was available. The champagne, served already in the glass without showing the botle, as were all the wines, was warm and of a different product from the one announced in the list. With a full business class they had only one or two bottles of champagne wich became unavailable very soon. I discovered that they had only one botle of the wine choices, and these were of low quality. It is realy unacceptable in a business class.

Efficient check in with a 1.5hr wait in the business class lounge (don't ask!) before boarding on time. 'As new' aircraft which was kept surgically clean throughout the flight. Air traffic control delayed take off 20 minutes and flight deck kept everyone updated regularly. Arrived at the scheduled time. Professional, friendly cabin staff made for a pleasant flight, as did meal and beverage selection. Then into pj's for six or seven hours sleep.

This flight was of the standard you should always receive. Clean (spotless) aircraft with everything working, crew happy and professional and on time departure and arrival. Brunch was a nice Chinese hybrid and just right for the time of day. Compared to the inbound Nanjing to Hong Kong flight, it was hard to accept it was the same airline - CE seems to run hot and cold on domestic sectors.

The checkin went smoothly. You could not get seats until you got to the airport which is annoying but my husband and I were able to get seats together. They were no more uncomfortable than other airlines. A plug for charging electronic devices is provided. The movie selection was good and several meals were served. The only real negative was the sparseness of alcoholic beverages. There was no white wine and very little red wine or beer. On the return trip, since we had a 9 hour layover, the airline provided our group with a room in Shanghai at the Lihao Hotel. It is one of the worst hotels I have every stayed. I would not plan to fly this airline in the future but it was not as bad as I expected.

Qantas doesn't fly out of Beijing so they codeshare with China Eastern Airlines. There was a fast business class check in at the airport but when we asked for the lounge we were told there was none, but we could sit in a few comfortable chairs in an airless alcove. And no, they couldn't give us a bottle of water. We were cooler waiting in the public areas. There was no priority boarding, no priority disembarkation at the stopover in Nanking but it did have a business class lounge with comfortable seats, drinks and unappetising food. The meal selected from the menu couldn't be provided even though business class was only two-thirds full and the standard of English comprehension wasn't good even thought the flight attendants were attentive. We received a priority card on landing which expedited our way through to the baggage claim where our baggage came off last and damaged. The handling was so rough an item packed in moulded styrene to fit its shape was broken in the suitcase which was also split and scratched. So if flying out of Beijing, don't go China Eastern Airlines just to collect Qantas partner points. It's not worth it! Oh, and my entertainment system didn't work either!

After many international flights with China Eastern Airlines over the last few years, Nanjing to Hong Kong came as a shock. The aircraft was dirty, an overhead light and the tray table mechanism were broken. Catering of a light breakfast for eight business class passengers was a challenge that couldn't be met.The cabin staff approached their tasks with the enthusiasm of a press gang who had been ordered to cut off their own arms with the cutlery.

Shanghai to Beijing in China Eastern Airline Business class. From inside the terminal I thought the A330 aircraft looked like it would be okay - how wrong I was! The cabin was filthy and everything so worn and in poor condition. Strips missing from seat armrests, seat cover had some unpleasant old stain, and the headrest cover was marked with hair from previous traveler. This airline seems to use cabin staff on domestic flight who really don't understand or speak English, and in the event of safety incidents I would be truly concerned with them. Despite this, there were about 8 other westerners in the cabin. Flight was delayed for over 1.5 hours, but that's not unusual in China these days. Of course during such delays, there is no offer of a drink, water etc while on the ground. The meal (light supper) was okay to poor - not the worst I've had with a Chinese airline, but far from acceptable. Managed to get a glass, or about one quarter of glass, of wine with my meal. Have flown China Southern and Hainan Airlines domestically in past 2 months, and they are both about 10 years ahead of China Eastern Airlines. My best, advice is to avoid China Eastern.

Quick check in and okay lounge. Very comfortable flight in a spotless A330, everything working in the aircraft. Professional, attentive cabin crew. Main meal offers Chinese and Western selections, desserts, ice cream, fruit etc. Wines, beers and spirits offered and large selection of entertainment options available. An enjoyable and relaxing journey.

Shanghai Hongqiao to Chengdu return with China Eastern Airlines on an ancient Boeing 767 but with new seat. Luckily both 2 sectors were on time which was very rare as China Eastern Airlines is seldom on time. Check in at both Shanghai Hongqiao and Chengdu airport efficient. Lounge awful and always packed, food quality bad and fake orange juice provided (I always take my own food when flying with China Easter). The seat was uncomfortable and legroom extremly narrow. In general, China Eastern Airlines is a typical budget airline or even worse than budget airline.

San Francisco to Saigon via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Fights were on time departing and early arriving. Seats were comfortable and reclined nearly flat. FAs attentive without being intrusive. Meals were surprisingly good for airline food. China Eastern business class is not so posh as Ethiopian Airlines or Iberia, but is nevertheless good - and fares on the SFO-PVG-SGN route cannot be beat. Shanghai Pudong airport is another matter.

Me and my brother flew China Eastern Airlines. Our experience was worst ever. In flight we ask for pillow (they supplied to some passengers already) and the air hostess replied that I don't find more pillow. We asked for water more than four times but they did not provide this. When we asked for a beer, she said its all gone! When I go to their senior staff and ask her for complaint book she offered me some food from business class and a beer came also, but I could not take food because it's non veg. They gave 1 beer to me but not to my brother, but they continued serving beer to Chinese passengers. There behaviour is different for Chinese and other nationality of passengers. One couple we met at Shanghai airport, coming from USA with China Eastern Airlines also said they would never fly this airline in future because they also faced these type of problem in their flight from San Francisco to Shanghai. Other passengers were very unhappy with their hospitality. So my brothers if want self respect pl. don't fly in China Eastern

Avoid China Eastern Airlines at all costs. Our original flight was cancelled, when we boarded our next flight we sat in the plane on the tarmac for one hour before we eventually taxied and took off. When we arrived in Shanghai, my luggage never appeared. After repeated and questions and prompting at the baggage services I was finally able to get a delayed luggage report, they seemed very reluctant to do this. Four weeks later and I have had one phone call to tell me my bag is still lost. No offers of compensation whatsoever. Terrible airline, terrible service.

I flew with China Eastern Airlines from Paris to Fukuoka, with a transit at Shanghai. I have traveled quite a bit and this is the worst experience of my life! Due to the delay of the flight and the incompetence of China Eastern Airlines staff at Shanghai airport, it made me miss the transfer to Fukuoka. In Shanghai, I found my luggage literally destroyed. The customer service at Shanghai refused to listen to my complaint, laughing with a sort of contempt. I was forced to sleep one night in Shanghai to catch a flight the next day. I could have sleept at the airport as everyone did not care to answer my questions in English. But, thanks to an American traveler who spoke Chinese in the same situation as me, I was able to sleep in a bed that night. The hotel management, the hotel Shuttle, the Airport and the meal was just dismal. The hotel was dirty and shabby and the food barely edible. I asked about compensation for the delay and damaging destroyed my suitcase, but China Eastern Airlines policy is to never give me a reply.

I didn't even get to experience China Eastern Airlines terrible service because they cancelled my Beijing to Hanoi via Kunming flight right out from under me. Which I wouldn't mind, except it was 1 week before the flight. Replacement tickets cost three times more than we paid. All we got was some smug China Eastern Airlines customer service rep saying : "Your refund will be delivered in two to four weeks." China Eastern Airlines are the worst ever. Never again.

I flew China Eastern Airlines from Bangkok to Shanghai with my mother (who needs a wheelchair). The plane arrived Pudong airport without any equipment to help my mother out of the plane. On return the plane was delayed for 1 hour and again the plane was not at the gate (we had to take shuttle bus). I clearly asked the ground staff to prepare service to send my mother to the plane as she couldn't walk up the high. The ground staff confirmed that the plane was at the gate and no need for that equipment. Finally, gate changed and we had to go with all passenger on the shuttle bus to the plane and stood there for 20 minutes waiting for the elevated car. We couldn't book even the seat which usually reserved for disabled passengers. During the flight, the food was so terrible and I asked for a second can of Tsing Tao beer. The answer was "there is only 15 cans on this flight and they are finished".

Bangkok to Toronto via Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Everything was great until we were delayed and missed our connection in Shanghai. Total incompetence ruined our flight rebooking and trying to get into a hotel. Constant deception and lack of integrity by China Eastern Airlines staff prevented us from getting a hotel and we had to sleep on the floor in the airport with hundreds of others. The ground staff should be fired.

China Eastern Airlines staff is not friendly at all. Check-in was okay, but our first shock was the lounge. Food and drinks are a total no go. Onboard a menu card was handed over, we choose a glass of champagne, and with the dinner white wine. Both were served at once! Food was served fully on plastic dishes, and this for over 6 hour flight. After dinner no hot drinks were offerd at all. Our request to get another glass of champagne was without success. The answer from crew was that they don't have more. Flight was not full at all. Cabin crew was really rough and almost Tunable to understand English. We will try to avoid this airline and China Eastern Airlines should be kicked out from SkyTeam.

I flew China Eastern Airlines return from Sydney to Shanghai and Shanghai to Moscow. Never have a I flown with a worse airline - especially the last leg, where at dinner they give you 1 alcoholic drink. If you are silly enough to ask for another one, they tell you there are no more - a cheap and nasty airline service. Cabin staff are rude and when I had the audacity to ask one young lady when I would be getting the Immigration forms, I interrupted her laugh and chat with her friend, and I was told to wait. She then begrudgingly said she would get them. I was not the only one concerned as we were pretty close to Sydney. Do yourself a favour and never fly China Eastern Airlines - or worse Shanghai Airlines.

Chengdu to Songpan with China Eastern Airlines. Chengdu airport is a nightmare for check-i,n as all airlines check-in at the same counters. Fortunately as a Skyteam Elite Plus member, I could check-in with my family at the business counter which made things a whole lot easier. Chengdu to Songpan is a quick 25 minute flight at best, as Songpan airport is about 3000m in elevation. Unfortunately airport delays usually mean this flight takes around 1hr. Being the first flight of the day, departure was not delayed too much and the 737-700 was comfortable enough for the short flight. One issue on all China Eastern flights has been the lack of air conditioning provided whilst on the ground and to some extent also during flight. No air provided on the ground (no ground power unit hooked up either), made the aircraft very stuffy and uncomfortable. The temperature during flight was also on the warm side adding to the lack of comfort. Same problem again on China Eastern for the return back to Chengdu. One bottle of water handed out on boarding which is all you would expect for a flight of this short duration.