Air China the flight from hell

[ravip]

Can the OP clarify which airline he is writing about? He refers to both Air China and China Air in his post...they are 2 separate airlines; one Mainland Chinese, one based in Taiwan.

Correct and good point.

China Airlines are based in Taiwan and have a superb service.

Air China and China Southern are Chinese mainland airlines.

China Southern hub out of Guangzou which in my opinion ranks alongside Mumbai as one of the worlds worst airports.

Really? Never had the pleasure of using Mumbai, but I thought Guangzhou was O.K. Nothing special, but alright. (Transit.) Why did you dislike it so?

Mumbai (and Chennai) airports?

Just on transit was hell - never again.

[Caitrin]

Agree with Bung and Cruisemonkey: if it's got China in it, run. I don't know how the Taiwanese airline, China Airlines is, but I imagine a lot better. When I booked my tickets to BKK, I made sure that I didn't book anything like that. I ended up going with Cathay Pacific, which is a Hong Kong airline, and seems to be a pretty normal international carrier.

Best airline I've ever flown? Air New Zealand. Worst airline I've ever flown? Spirit.

[Albertnobgammer]

I travelled with Kingfisher via Mumbai on a flight from Thailand to the UK, and it was the most hellish journey I have ever taken.

Mumbai Airport is a disgrace, it was like being herded as cattle, the security, the police the airport officials were absolutely disgusting. I would avoid that airport for ever. Terrible.

[cruisemonkey]

I've never felt unsafe on a mainland Chinese airline. It's the delays and changes that 'get me'. Ironically, the delays can work in one's favor -

I had three flights with tight connections. Flight 1 was delayed one hour and I thought I would miss my connection. However, flight 2 was delayed two hours and flight 3 was delayed three hours... so I made all the connections.

Worst food -

Shanghai Airlines. A stale bun with a piece of Chinese 'Spam' in the middle (no butter, no mayo, no mustard, no lettuce)... that's it.

Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) used to be better than it is now... but it's still pretty good. China Airlines and EVA (Taiwan) are both fine in my (limited) experience with them.

Edited October 16, 2014 by cruisemonkey

[siam2007]

Some Chinese Airlines are pretty much OK, I have flown China Eastern, Dragonair, China Southern, China Northern, Spring Airlines, Jun Yao (they have no movies or anything else, very basic and terrible legroom) without any sort of problem.

The only ones I had an issue with was Hainan Air, they got everyone on this rather small plane (maybe 20 seats from Haikou to Sanya) and had to abort take off, instead of going back to the terminal they brought some engineers on board with laptops, opened the cockpit doors and tried for 30 minutes to rev up the engines which set every alarm off on the flight deck.

They did this for half an hour, cancelling the alarms each time and then said no problem, go for it. A few passengers got off in fear but I stayed put, it was quite frightening.

The only other one I recall was Air China, which I believe is from Taiwan, I remember flying out of Hong Kong with one of their planes upside down just off the tarmac. Other than that I have never had an issue with China flights

surprising that someone who is obviously travelling to and within China frequently does not know the difference between AIR CHINA and CHINA AIRLINES.

AIR CHINA is from the P.R.C. and not from Taiwan

[Ricardo]

I travelled with Kingfisher via Mumbai on a flight from Thailand to the UK, and it was the most hellish journey I have ever taken.

Mumbai Airport is a disgrace, it was like being herded as cattle, the security, the police the airport officials were absolutely disgusting. I would avoid that airport for ever. Terrible.

"Mumbai Airport is a disgrace" (my emphasis)

At the risk of being criticised, for repeating what I pointed out in post #23 & which you must have missed reading, the new terminal at Mumbai has been open since February this year, and having transited through it three times since then, I can safely say that it's a VAST improvement on the old terminal, to which you're referring.

Last week the transit security-check at Mumbai took five minutes, whereas LHR-Terminal-4 earlier the same day took 15 minutes, due to most of their shiny new scanners being unmanned.

Let's try to supply comment & advice to fellow-posters, on the current situation, rather than the way I fully agree it used to be ? Kingfisher Airlines, on which you were then flying, died three or four years ago.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Ricardo

[Dannyboy666]

Air China is The Worst, even my Chinese Friends , never have anything nice to say about that Airline, except eye-rolls....

[Satcommlee]

A toilet attendant tried to charge me $5 for a p##s in either Guangzhou or Beijing airport once and got quite aggressive when I pushed past him.

It really doesn't surprise me the same thing could happen on the shuttle bus..

[Lancashirelad]

OP if you care to provide the date and flight number of the Bkk - Beijing flight I may be able to dig up a reason for the diversion.

[sirineou]

OP if you care to provide the date and flight number of the Bkk - Beijing flight I may be able to dig up a reason for the diversion.

Bangkok, TH (BKK) to Beijing, CH (PEK)

Departing Bangkok Intl Airport Sat, Oct. 11, 2014 at 1:00 AM Arriving Beijing Capital Intl Airport Sat, Oct. 11, 2014 at 6:30 AM Flight / Class Air China 980 Economy Class Layover Time: 2h and 30min Beijing, CH (PEK) to New York City, NY (JFK)

Departing Beijing Capital Intl Airport Sat, Oct. 11, 2014 at 9:00 AM Arriving John F Kennedy Intl Airport Sat, Oct. 11, 2014 at 10:20 AM Flight / Class Air China 989 Economy Class

She ended up arriving at JFK on at 2:40 pm on a different flight, I dont remember the flight number right now, the flight that got diverted was the first leg Flight 980.

As egregious the 5 hr delay was, compounded by all the other problems she had with Air China, The worst was that Air China would not help me locate my wife, or show some concern over our situation,

It was only when I contacted the US authorities that I got some service and resolution. They were polite. pleasant ,and concerned, and were able to locate my wife in 5 min flat.If she was not an American citizen and traveling with an american Passport they would not have being able to help, and I would have had to relay on Air China and the Chinese or Thai authorities.

Which brings up an other issue that I have not thought of before

Leaving the US on a US passport but entering Thailand with a Thai passport to avoid overstay,

as many Thais with dual citizenship do.

In such case you leave the US "radar" and if something happens they might not be able to help you. Something to think about.

Anyway thank's for any info you might be able to provide.