Air China Reviews 382

After not great reviews I was very hesitant to book with them, but I had I am glad I did as we had a great experience!
We flew from London to Tokyo with a stop off in Shanghai on the way there and Beijing on the way back.
As other people mentioned- it is impossible to check in online, although we still managed to choose our seats when booking the flights so were still sat with each other. And when we got to the airport, it was very easy to check in at the counter and they printed off our boarding passes.
I am vegetarian and was worried about getting a meat-free option, but I called up the day before our flight and got through very easily to a lovely lady who added vegetarian meals to each of my flights, which was all fine and happened very smoothly. I would recommend doing this as they didn't have any meat free standard options.
All in all very good easy experience for us :) and saved around £500 for flights to Japan with other airlines !

LEGAL COMPLAINT – TravelUp & Air China Violating Consumer Rights

🚨 Public Legal Notice – Formal Complaint Filed Against TravelUp & Air China 🚨

I am officially documenting my unresolved legal dispute with TravelUp and Air China due to consumer rights violations, failure to provide paid services, and unfair trading practices. I have already filed legal complaints with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Small Claims Court and will continue to escalate this matter.

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1️⃣ Case Summary: Breach of Contract & Denied Boarding

I purchased a round-trip ticket (London → Bangkok → London) through TravelUp, which included a return flight on Air China Flight CA980 (BKK → PEK) on 24 February 2025.

After missing my outbound flight on 28 December 2024, my return flight was automatically canceled—yet I was never informed by TravelUp or Air China.

I arrived at Bangkok Airport, where I was denied check-in without prior warning, left stranded, and offered no resolution or assistance.

TravelUp refused to take responsibility, only referring to "policy" despite their failure to notify me.

Air China’s airport staff called security on me when I simply asked for clarification about my flight.

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2️⃣ Violations of Consumer & Passenger Rights

🔹 Breach of Consumer Contract & Passenger Rights (UK Consumer Rights Act 2015, EU Regulation 261/2004, and Montreal Convention)

I paid for a round-trip ticket and was denied service without advance notice or opportunity to amend my booking.

Failure to notify passengers about ticket cancellations constitutes a breach of duty of care and consumer protection laws.

🔹 Misleading Omissions (UK Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008)

TravelUp failed to inform me of the consequences of missing my outbound flight, depriving me of the ability to make an informed decision.

Refusing to assist customers and failing to provide key information violates fair trading laws.

🔹 Unfair Business Practices & Failure to Provide Service (Financial Conduct Authority Regulations)

TravelUp’s refusal to offer a refund or an alternative resolution is unlawful under UK & EU passenger rights regulations.

Air China’s refusal to address my complaint demonstrates a lack of consumer care and accountability.

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3️⃣ Legal & Regulatory Action Taken

✅ Formal Complaint Filed with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – Now investigating TravelUp and Air China’s failure to notify passengers and refusal to provide service.
✅ Small Claims Court Case Filed – Seeking compensation for financial loss, distress, and breach of contract.
✅ Bank Chargeback Initiated – Filing under “service not provided” regulations.
✅ Complaint Submitted to IATA (International Air Transport Association) – Investigating airline compliance failures.
✅ Review Pending with UK Trading Standards & Financial Ombudsman for misleading commercial practices and failure to refund a non-provided service.

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4️⃣ DEMANDS FOR RESOLUTION

I am now formally demanding the following from TravelUp and Air China:

🔹 A full refund for the return flight segment that was unfairly denied.
🔹 Written confirmation of TravelUp’s and Air China’s notification process regarding ticket cancellations due to missed flights.
🔹 Compensation for additional expenses, financial losses, and emotional distress caused by this failure of service.
🔹 Immediate response from TravelUp’s senior management and Air China’s legal department.

If this issue is not resolved within 7 days, I will proceed with:

✅ Further escalation with UK Financial Ombudsman & Trading Standards.
✅ Expanding public complaints across consumer legal platforms, social media, and travel watchdog organizations.
✅ Pursuing legal action for damages.

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5️⃣ FINAL WARNING: AVOID TRAVELUP & AIR CHINA 🚨

❌ ZERO accountability
❌ VIOLATIONS of consumer and airline passenger rights
❌ FAILURE to communicate critical information
❌ DENIED boarding without assistance
❌ DISMISSIVE and misleading customer service

I strongly advise travelers to AVOID booking with TravelUp and Air China until they improve their compliance with consumer protection laws.

📢 If you have experienced a similar issue, file your own complaints with CAA, IATA, and Trading Standards. Passengers must stand up for their rights!

My friend and I booked round-trip tickets from Barcelona to Hanoi, but due to a visa delay, we had to take a different flight for one leg of the journey. We informed Air China in advance and followed their instructions, yet when we arrived at the airport for our return flight, we were shocked to find out that our tickets had been canceled without notice.
No one from Air China ever informed us that missing one leg of the trip would automatically void our return flight. Their staff in Hanoi admitted we should be eligible for a refund, yet despite multiple emails and follow-ups, Air China has completely ignored us. It has been weeks with no response.
This is unacceptable and highly unprofessional. We are now forced to escalate this issue to aviation authorities and consumer protection agencies. Beware when booking with Air China—their lack of transparency and customer support is appalling.

What a garbage airline! They have a website that doesn't work, and you can't use their app to check-in. Wtf

1 because 0 is not possible! Absolutely unacceptable experience with Air China. The website is completely useless, it barely lets you check in and when you finally manage to do it, you can’t download or email your boarding pass because the page simply doesn’t work. The app is just as bad. You can’t create an account unless you have a Chinese phone number and when you try the one-time password option, it just crashes with an error.

Frustrated, I tried calling customer service. The phone number for English speakers doesn’t even exist. I then called the main customer service line and thankfully, found an English option. I explained the issue and asked how I could confirm my check-in was successful and receive my boarding pass. The agent told me they couldn’t help, that I should send an email with screenshots of the errors and just check in again at the airport. When I asked for an email to submit a formal complaint, she said she would report the issue to her manager. When I insisted on writing the complaint myself, she claimed no such email existed.

Am I having a nightmare? How is this even possible in 2025? A major airline should have a functioning website, app and customer service team, yet here I am, struggling to complete something as basic as online check-in. Air China, fix your systems. This level of service is completely unacceptable.

Please Air China be serious

1 Cancel my Flight
2 Rebook with Mytrip
3 now no bags included
4 Give me a solution I had never problems like that before a Flight
5 what will happen....

got a solucion but still felt bad

Enable to retrieve the invoice form my flight despit my mails and phone call. Poor costumer service.

Easily the worst air line I have flown on in over 30 years of travelling.

Firstly it was frustrating to find out that despite repeated attempts I was not able to check in online and select seats. When checking in at the airport the staff laughed and said this was only allowed for Chinese customers. She actually seemed very proud of their racist policy and how they only look after their own. I was getting two 11 hour flights so was disappointing to be stuck in a middle seat for both legs.

Customer service is non existent and the staff have no hesitation in lying to you. Their website clearly says for flights for over 8 hours you can get a free transit hotel. The check in staff in London confirmed that I was eligible for a complimentary hotel. On arrival in Beijing staff said that there is no complimentary hotel at all and the website and London staff were not telling the truth. I'm not sure who was lying to me but someone was.

On the plane the staff are robots and clearly hate their jobs. Can't blame them really as it must be an awful company to work for.

The food is barely edible, so recommend you bring some snacks.

Such a frustrating experience. Avoid this airline if you can. It's just not worth it

My recent experience with Air China was absolutely horrible. I booked a ticket on their official website (not through a third party), and within 30 minutes, I had to cancel due to an emergency. Any reasonable airline would allow a free refund or at least a rebooking within such a short time, but Air China refused outright.

What’s even more ridiculous is their so-called "free refund within 2 hours" policy—it only applies if you book through their app or the Chinese version of their website, NOT their international website! So even though I booked directly with them, they refused to honor the same policy just because I used their global site. This is misleading, unfair, and completely absurd.

but guess what? The app kept crashing due to technical issues when i initially booking the ticket on their app! After multiple failed attempts, I had no choice but to book on their official website instead.

Their customer service was useless and robotic, simply hiding behind their unfair policies instead of actually helping. I will NEVER book with them again, and I strongly warn others to avoid this airline unless you want to be treated unfairly.

We travelled economy from Heathrow to Xi'an via Beijing and for the price we paid couldn't fault them. We're vegans and the food provided was good and the cabin crew were lovely - very attentive. We'd definitely travel again with Air China

I wanted to move my flight due to external circumstances, and happy to pay the £130 fee.

Apparently the difference between my current and new flights was £170 even though I could see on the website it's £50. They couldn't answer how the £170 was made up when the flights were only £50 different, apparently more taxes and costs.... Not honest company at all, poor to non existent customer service

We flew Air China from London to Tokyo via Shanghai. I would have given Air China a 5-star review as the planes were good, the air stewards were amazing, the food more than acceptable, the seats comfortable and the entertainment entertaining. And our flights were almost half the price of direct flights with other national carriers.

But, and it's a big but, while we were in Japan we got an email telling us they had cancelled the first leg of our journey home (Tokyo to Shanghai). No alternative flight given, only a couple of phone numbers, one in Europe and one in Japan. We attempted calling both numbers a number of times over several days and at considerable cost to ourselves as we could only use payphones as roaming charges would have cost us a fortune, but no one ever picked up, even after being on hold for over an hour. Disappointingly, they wouldn't rebook us via email. In the end we had to divert our trip to their office in Nagoya so we could request a new flight in person. They did this for us no problem and despite a longer than planned layover in Shanghai, we got home on the correct Shanghai to London flight.

So, as long as you don't need to contact their customer services while abroad, I would recommend Air China.

Worst experience ever. The flight from Bangkok to Barcelona was delayed at the start and therefore we were late on the connecting flight. After asking the staff for guidance and actually getting in contact with the ground they refused any help and simpel said they don’t support or contact other flights. Once we arrived we had 5 min to board the other flight to Barcelona , the security was extra slow and the gate closed without even waiting 4 min, that was the delay we arrived there , after spending another 3h at the airport to talk to many different people to get a rebooking and a hotel for the night , at 5am we were in the hotel - avoid this company

Flying with Air China is fine but the process before is bad i.e. managing bookings and checking in

Unhelpful and unfriendly staff.
Also permitted Chinese passengers to move freely around the cabin but I was told immediately to return to my seat when trying to fetch something from my bag while the seatbelt light wasn’t illuminated.

London to Bangkok with a stop in Beijing, paid £915 for 2 people economy in Nov 2024. For this price you can't fault them! Plane was on time, food was adequate, cabin crew excellent, seats were fine i mean this was economy so don't expect to lie down flat! The only issue i have with this airline is that you get the email when you booked the flight but you don't get a reminder email so ensure you keep that original email. Planning another air china trip in 6 months again looks to be the cheapest.BTW UK passport holders can get 10 days transit visa free travel in China now look it up.

Recently flew Air China from Manila to Beijing, then Beijing to LHR and was a pretty good experience. Okay, they're not Oman Air, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates or Etihad Business Classes, but they still made Britshit Airways Business Class look like the pile of crap it is! The inflight service from the flight attendants and the local dishes were simply brilliant. On my first flight I had no one sitting next to me, so that was great. 2nd flight the nice elderly Chinese gentlemen, kept his seat in the upright position, so there was no need for me to jump over his legs, to use the bathroom. The 1st class Lounge at Beijing Airport was very good also. The savings i'd made using them, one way from Manila to London, compared to the earlier airlines i'd mentioned was £1080 to 1700. So yes, I would highly recommnend flying Business class with Air China. Brilliant In-Flight service!

I had an awful experience with Air China, and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. My friend accidentally booked a ticket in their name instead of mine, and we simply wanted to correct the name. This should be a straightforward fix, but Air China made it impossible.

We tried everything. We emailed, called, and even spoke to a representative who told us to contact their European office for assistance. After days of back and forth, we were completely denied any help or solution. They showed no understanding or willingness to resolve such a basic issue.

Their lack of empathy and rigid policies are shocking. It felt like we were talking to a brick wall the entire time. Save yourself the headache—choose an airline that actually values its customers.

-⭐/5

Worst Airline ever. Cancelled my second leg flight day before the travel only with a mail. There is no way to call or communicate with them. Never again!

i flew with air china from italy to australia in 2012 and from italy to thailand in 2019, everything went smoothly. the xperience was not top-notch but YOu know: you get what you pay for! I had to reschedule my return flight and did it over the phone, overall a good experience