Air China review by Stephen 2017-01-10

We have flown Air China before and have been happy with what we got - good and cheap. However, this time, our flight home from London to Sydney via Beijing was wholly unpleasant. On the first leg, they almost immediately ran out of beverages. I got a rationed sip of beer froth - my partner's request for a Pepsi went unanswered. Then after enduring the overbearing military grunt at Beijing Airport, we found ourselves squished into a 3-4-3 layout, 777. Absolutely packed in like sardines. While cruising, and with my phone on flight mode, I got chastised by a flight attendant for 'using my phone' and despite my best pleas to explain to him that it was in flight mode, I had to switch it off. Several other passengers suffered the same abuse. Then came supper, consisting of one finger of bread with some sort of SPAM substitute and another with nothing more than a smear of mayonnaise. Any time the plane had the slightest wobble there was this long and whining pre-recorded announcement about 'suspending the (non existent) hot drinks service' due to turbulence. What turbulence? EDITORS COMMENT: Apparently most Chinese airlines don't let you have your phone on even in flight mode but we are unsure as to why.