December 2014 I flew with my family from Copenhagen –> Beijing –> Hong Kong –> Manila. We were in for a horrible surprise when we arrived in Hong Kong. I have never been so disappointed, shaken and furious before. Air China technically robbed my family for 16.000 kr. (2666 US dollars). I will elaborate on this matter.
We arrived in Beijing with no problems. In Beijing we boarded as planned and everyone was seated inside the aircraft in time. Although everything went as planned, we were seated there for 1 hour without being informed by staff about why we the flight was delayed. When we finally took off, the crew did nothing to catch up with lost time from the delay. Instead the flight took even longer than what was expected. This, though, was nothing compared to what we were met with in Hong Kong.
Arriving in HK airport (just 15 minutes before our flight to Manila would take off), we were slowly escorted by a Chinese woman to the Air China counter – not to our flight! Here we were told that the delay had caused us to miss our flight with Cathay Pacific. Air China did nothing to help us with getting on a new flight. We were simply told to keep coming back every 3rd hour to check if the incoming flights had any available seats, going to manila. This went on for two days. We were told that “everything was overbooked”. For two days we went back and forth in HK airport between Air China and Cathay Pacific.
CP tried to help us, saying that Air China had sold our (paid for) tickets to someone else. Staff from Air China continuously ignored our entitled request for a new flight! They were responsible for the delay and our missed flight we paid for! Therefore they should have been able to provide us with a new flight. Instead, we were spoken very rudely to and treated like trash. We demanded them to find us a new flight, whether it was Cathay Pacific or not, to make up for their mistake and get us to Manila. Instead, no help was offered AT ALL! The communication, too, was HORRIBLE! I have never met anyone who danced around a request so much as Air China’s staff.
Lastly… being told by Air China that every flight going to Manila was overbooked, we decided (after 2 days of talking to the wall, Air China) to finally check every airline online and in person. Philippine Airlines had seats!!!! YES. We were lied to by AC. There were seats available! Air China simply did not bother to pay for their wrong doings. Instead, we were left with long noses and empty wallets. New tickets for a 1,5 hour flight costed 16.000 kr. (2666 US dollars!!!!), which Air China did not want to pay…. EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE THE ONES WHO CAUSED THE PROBLEM. We, as customers, were left to fix the airline’s problem in a foreign country. Tickets, we had already paid for, we had to pay for ONCE MORE.
I am so disappointed with this airline. Words cannot express how much trouble this has caused us. I am surprised how they did not offer their customers any help, guidance or information. I would never have thought it was possible to ignore people this way – but an AIRLINE did. Air China did this! I would not even give this Airline ONE star. I will NOT recommend Air China to anyone.
