Air China review by Ian 2015-01-15

Air China CA855 PEK to LHR Airbus A330-200 Appalling long-haul business class product from China's main airline Check-in Upon arrival at Beijing's Terminal 3 I checked the flight boards for check-in directions. Flight CA855 departure 14:30 check-in desk H27. I tried the Air China automated e-check-in machines dotted about, they didn't work, mostly out of order. Join queue at desk H27 and wait for 20 minutes for desk to open. When it is my turn I am told that this is economy-ONLY check-in and to go to aisle A for business class check-in. As I was travelling light with hand luggage only I asked if the clerk could check me in anyway. Nope, only economy check-in possible at this desk. Walk to aisle A to find dedicated First and Business class check-in area, conveniently located all the way to one end of the massive terminal area. It would have been great to have some signs or prior notification from Air China about this check-in facility. Nada. Walk all the way back to the middle of the terminal again to go to security. Business Class lounge Disappointingly tatty scruffy over-used Business Class lounge, anything but luxurious with a dismal array of unappetizing snacks and soft drinks on offer. No wines or spirits. While free WiFi is available, you have to scan your passport to get a passcode, so you can be sure that your every keystroke is being monitored. Not a place you would want to spend much time, but the shopping in the terminal is equally bad. Boarding Despite endless modern air-bridge gates sitting unused in this massive terminal, flight CA855 to London Heathrow is a bus gate on a stand. Perhaps London is just regarded as a fairly unimportant secondary international destination. Upon arrival at bus gate E53, I am delighted to be told to board the VIP bus. It is indeed a VIP bus with plush seating and not the usual standing-only airport transfer bus for economy passengers. That is however where the VIP bit ends! I board the bus which is standing, engine running with its doors wide open and minus 6 degrees Celsius outside. More 'VIP' passengers board and we sit there for 22 minutes in the freezing cold. Next we see the now full economy bus depart for the aircraft and the 'VIP' bus is reversed back into the bay the economy bus was in to wait, with the doors still left wide open, for late arriving last minute Economy stragglers!! So Air China's idea of VIP treatment for its premium passengers is to leave them sitting in a freezing cold bus to wait for late comers and let the Economy passengers board first in comfort!! Wonderful service, well done. Upon finally boarding at least the concerned cabin crew provided me with hot tea and a quilt to thaw me out. In-Flight Meal and No Drinks service The Air China in-flight long-haul F&B service is dreadfully flawed. Unlike nearly every other business class service, you are not provided with a pre-dinner cocktail and nuts followed by the meal service with more drinks and perhaps wine served with the meal. On Air China you are asked what drink (singular) you would like and that is it, you are not offered or served another one. So if you order a beer or gin and tonic and even if that is served early with some nibbles, that is what you are going to be drinking with your meal. There is no further drink service. Yes, you can ask for something else and when you do you get served a room temperature glass of white wine. If that wasn't bad enough, the food offering is a nightmare. While offering an apparently distinct choice of a Western or a Chinese meal, in fact both are a totally random mix of culturally dissonant poorly cooked nonsense dishes. Take the smoked salmon starter for instance. Not a world famous Chinese appetizer to my knowledge, but when you drape it over some cold vermicelli noodles and throw on a few lettuce leaves its just fine and then serve that with Thousand Island Dressing and follow that with Economy class GungPo stewed chicken with rice and grey overcooked bok choi Delicious!! Not tea or coffee service was offered. Any chefs associated with the menu selection should be fired. In-Flight Entertainment The Inflight Entertainment system is about as user unfriendly, clunky and slow as it gets with a dismal selection of dated movies and TV soaps. Of course a large portion of the offering is Chinese made which is perfectly fine, but the rest just unwatchable rubbish. On a 11.5 hour day flight that's pretty tedious. Thank god for laptops and iPads. For some reason the Chinese aviation authorities have decided that Flight Mode for mobile and smartphones is dangerous and so ALL mobile for type devices have to remain off for the entire flight. Complete nonsense when you can sit there with a tablet, which has identical Wifi and Bluetooth capabilities with no problem. I guess the considered views of the US FAA and the European CAA just can't be trusted on this one. So a pretty dismal trip from start to finish from the world's largest airline. The only mitigant was the quite friendly cabin crew who certainly work hard and try their best, but who are hampered by a flawed service protocol and lack of familiarity with international food and drinks service. Air China have quite a way to go to meet the high international standards of their peers, especially the top-tier Asian and European carriers. I will not be in any hurry to repeat the experience.