Air China

[arcadianagain]

mrs.A is taking a solo trip to Sydney and Air China have come up as the cheapest option, via Beijing, has anyone any experience of them, good or bad. Thanks in advance.

[pharvey]

Have not flown with them for a long while on long haul - was certainly not impressed with the Beijing to London flight taken back then, but I guess you get what you pay for. I've flown with them man times short haul in recent years however and can't complain with the service.

China Eastern are a decent airline long haul - allow up to 30 Kg baggage per passenger and at very reasonable prices. Would be a good idea to check flights from Thailand - would fly via Shanghai.

[PeteC]

A few old stories:

1) Hong Kong to Tianjin both pilots left the cockpit and sat in FC reading the newspaper. They did leave the cockpit door open though so I guess they could see any flashing lights or hear warning alarms!

2) Shanghai to ? sitting on the tarmac after loading via stairs instead of jetway, the whole plane filled with flies within a 10 second time period. I assume they all hatched somewhere in the overhead bins. The plane was evacuated and after about 2 hours we got on again.

3) On one of those big soviet era wide body cargo planes with about 20 wheels converted for passengers. Again Shanghai to ? Overbooked and they allowed people to stand in the aisles the entire flight including takeoff and landing.

I've avoided flying them after those episodes. Pete

[margaretcarnes]

I've used China a few times from the UK to Bangkok. Never had a problem - although the last time (2 years ago) the standard of the food was pretty poor. I can hack that though for the 12 hour or so leg from Schipol to Swampy. Much depends on the length of flight IMO.

[Dannie Boy]

mrs.A is taking a solo trip to Sydney and Air China have come up as the cheapest option, via Beijing, has anyone any experience of them, good or bad. Thanks in advance.

I've no experience of this airline but they could be cheapest for obvious reasons. Unless it's a huge saving, I personally would always chose one of the more reputable airlines where you can be reasonably assured of flying in a well maintained aircraft and receive good in flight service.

[PeteC]

I should have noted above that my experiences with them were in the mid 90's. Hopefully they don't pull stunts like those any longer. Pete

[pe7e]

I've flown Schiphol to Swampy with them, and would do so again, provided the 'price was right' otherwise I would choose a direct flight on Singapore or Thai Airlines

[Virmand]

Air China has a poor safety record. The company I worked for did not allow us to use China Air.

[Frank Hovis]

Air China doesn't have a poor safety record, I think they've only had one incident with fatalities since they were split out from the Chinese Civil Aviation group in the late 80's.

China Airways doesn't have a very good historic safety record, there may be some confusion in a couple of early posts regarding flights on route AMS-BKK (I don't believe that Air China fly that route, China Airways does)

[Bristolian]

Air China doesn't have a poor safety record, I think they've only had one incident with fatalities since they were split out from the Chinese Civil Aviation group in the late 80's.

China Airways doesn't have a very good historic safety record, there may be some confusion in a couple of early posts regarding flights on route AMS-BKK (I don't believe that Air China fly that route, China Airways does)

Agreed, Air China actually has a good safety record but the food and service on board are at best....adequate but not good. For a 12 hr flight I don't see an issue, eat before boarding, have a couple of drinks and sleep.

[brianks]

There are two airlines that one could call China Air or Air China. One is Beijing Based China International and the other is Taiwan Based Air China.

What I can't figure out is why you would want to spend that many hours in flight by traveling North for 5 hours then South for ???? hours. One must sure like to live in those airline seats for long periods of time to subject their body to that suffering. Not my cup of tea no matter what the price.

[Frank Hovis]

Sorry, my mistake the Chinese one is Air China, the Taiwanese one is China Airlines (not China Airways as I wrote).

Air China = Safe.
China Airlines = Getting a bit safer than they used to be.

[PeteC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_China (Mainland China)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines (Taiwan)

[Dannie Boy]

So are you having second thoughts arcadianagain?

[arcadianagain]

So are you having second thoughts arcadianagain?

I should have explained that as we live in North Africa the best option is to fly from London, at the moment Qantas, Cathay and Singapore are offering good deals, so better to spend the extra £200 or so, thanks for the comments.