Air China

I have recently flown multiple flights with Air China, being Auckland to Beijing return on flights CA784 and 783, Beijing to Chengdu return, flights CA 1405 and 1408. I had read a number of reviews when I booked these flights so was not expecting too much, that said I went ahead and booked flights to China. (For the record I am a regular flyer with Air NZ, Qantas, American and United) I booked our flights on the Air China website, when doing so, make sure you have your passport details ready as you will need them. Remember in most cases you’ll need to get a visa for China. A day before travel I was able to select my seats and print off my boarding pass for the internal flight. Could not print the international boarding pass. Check in at AKL was slow as ground staff (Air NZ) needed to ensure passport and visas were in order, also some time was spent explaining how your bags could be directed to your final destination in China without the need to clear customs at Beijing (this was a great service). Boarding out of AKL was OK. Food on the plane was quite good, just remember to choose the western food as the Chinese options may not be to your liking. I have read reviews about people saying the Chinese porridge for breakfast is ghastly, whether you have this porridge on a plane or in a smart hotel, the porridge in any place is ghastly. The beverages were in keeping with what Chinese patrons would have expected, so no sparkling wines, or white wines though if you like a strong red you’ll be in luck. All of our flights were on 787 Dreamliner except for one on a 777 300 so all good here. IFE was as good as other airlines I fly (noted earlier) With Air China if you pay attention to the detail, then you’ll be alright. Their website is slow so be patient. Despite some small niggles these were vastly offset by the extremely competitive price we paid to travel with them. The other flights we took with Air China were similar to the AKL to Beijing flights, all being punctual.

Never, ever fly with this company. Their website doesn’t work, they’re impossible to get a hold of by phone & they never return calls. They left my daughters & I stranded at JFK airport for 26 hours with little communication until others on our flight rioted. Air China allegedly hadn’t paid their airport tax so the airport wouldn’t give thematic gate. Their in flight staff ignored my request for some more water & their English was very poor making all communication difficult. I suppose with 1.3 billion customers they don’t need to be courteous to foreigners.

I had flight from Incheon to Dusseldorf via Beijing. I had more than 7 hours of layover in Beijing airport and when I arrived in Dusseldorf, I found that my bag is still stuck in Beijing. It was New year’s eve so the airport agent in the Dusseldorf airport told me it will take 2-3 days. It arrived after 3 days with broken baggage. I contacted their email and called them to China, Korea, European office. None of them answers phone calls neither the emails I sent them. Refund my broken baggage and compensation that you sent my luggage after 3 days while I had so much essentials goods from Korea! I will never take Airchina ever again and tell all my colleagues and friends and family members from taking your flight.

My travel agent booked my flights to Macau from Sydney by Air China & Code sharing Air Macau (via Beijing). It was a journey and experience which I would like rather like to forget. Total apathy and disrespect to passengers causing immense discomfort. Firstly – ringing the Air China office in Sydney gets no response – no one cares to answer. Hold for 1 hour and disconnect!!! If you want to do web check in – BAD luck – the site would not open – keep trying!! Luckily if you get connected – it will never take you to end the complete check-in. At the airport – no boarding passes – re check-in at Beijing. At Beijing – no check in counter open that time – Long Wait! International transfer was a joke – 1 km long queue for security check (Not moving for 1 hour as there was only one counter open!! In flight service is forgettable experience – lucky if they understand English! Pathetic food! If you have ordered special meal – forget about it!! Return journey was even worse !! NEVER TRAVEL by Air China – avoid at all costs!

The flight was supposed to take off from Mumbai, India on Sep-20-2017 at 2:35 AM. It was delayed dues to heavy rainfalls which is completely understandable. The problems were – 1) Air China staff at mumbai airport never confirmed the status of flight or any developments. They did not liked people asking questions and replied to every concern/query rudely and denied any responsibility or accountability. Cant blame them, looks like Air china have employed college dropouts looking to kill time and make easy money. 2) No announcements were made about rescheduling of flight or new flight timings. 3) By 6 am, all Air China crew disappeared IRRESPONSIBLY leaving all the passengers hanging. 4) No new boarding passes or tickets were arranged. They are necessary in case Passengers leave the airport and want to enter back to board flight at rescheduled time as per Airport security rules. No guidance was provided in this regards. We called Air China customer support. Obviously they had no idea, what was happening on airport. They spoke very irresponsibly. Worst part was , they had no new information, provided no assistance in letting us know new flight timings. On top of that they transferred the call to Beijing office numerous times where no one picked up the call. 5) Other airlines helped escorting passengers out of airport while your staff just ran away. We have filed a complaint with Department of Transportation. Ref no- ML2017090059.