Beijing Travel Forum

Hi
I am thinking about going to China in January next year. The best price I have is with Air China. I have heard stories about Air China, some good and some bad. I am flying from Sydney Australia to Beijing. Could someone tell me what they are like to fly with?
Thanks
John

Air China is fine in general especially for international routes, although it's not as good as Singapore Airline in my opinion. But overall, service and food are good. And Air China is a member of Star Alliance. It shares airport lounge with Air New Zealand at Sydney airport, quite nice (at least it's better than the one in Beijing airport). Usually Chinese people like to choose Air China when they fly international routes, so most of customers in flight will be Chinese.

I think you hear good and bad about all airlines. Personally my first trip with Singapore was my last, because the experience was nothing like as big as the hype.

On Air China's domestic flights they're a bit tight with food, usually not more than a bottle of water. But they're not alone.

Bad stories I have heard are more about China Airlines (Taiwanese) than Air China (Chinese).

Air China is ranked as a 3 Star airline.

http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/CA.htm

Most of the airlines in the world fall into this rank.

http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/3star.htm

That being said, statistics are statistics after all and each individual's experience could be totally different. One could be murdered in the safest country in the world and not a single incident may happen to you in the most dangerous country in the world.

I flew with Air China a couple of times and it was okay. My last flight to China was on Asiana and I really enjoyed their service. The food was pretty good, too. We flew with them because they had the cheapest price. I am from the US so I am not sure if Asiana is a good option from Sydney.

We just flew Air China from Beijing to Xi'an and had a positive experience. The plane was new, the staff was friendly, and the flight was on time.

I just returned from Beijing 2 days ago on Air China. The domestic flights are better than the international ones. The planes used for the international flights were B757s, very cramped and hardly any leg room. My departure flight was delayed 2 hours. It was a 6 hour ++ flight. Better check with the airline what planes they use for departure from Sydney.