Air China Reviews 382

I booked a flight with Air China and had a transit of over 10 hours. Traveling with my elderly parents, both in wheelchairs, we arrived at Beijing airport and sought a transit visa at the immigration counter. Our New Zealand passports entitle us to a China visa on arrival for up to 144 hours. The purpose was to rest at our hotel, arranged by Air China in Auckland, before catching our connecting flight to Islamabad. However, we faced rude treatment from immigration staff who couldn't communicate in English. Our entry was denied because our place of birth on the NZ passports was Pakistan. We had to stay at the airport for over 10 hours, unable to secure a hotel room. Despite seeking a reason, the staff refused to explain. Their behavior was shocking, and it seemed racially motivated. I strongly advise choosing an alternative airline to avoid such experiences with Air China.

My name is IGNACIO, AIR CINA It is an incompetent company, I started the process of canceling my flight on the website by mistake, minute I continued calling air china because on the website there is no way to cancel the cancellation, I spoke about this with the air china teleoperator and we came to the conclusion that it was better to leave the flights as they were, I asked him to cancel the cancellation attempt that I made from the website and it seemed that everything was fixed, a day later I am without flights and with a pittance refund. I call again and very arrogantly he tells me that I was left without flights and without money. I only ask that they return the flights as they were, if their telephone operator did not perform their task well I should not be the one who will pay the consequences .
a suggestion should be able to cancel the initiated refund operation from the same place where flight cancellation processes are generated
and you should send an email saying the refund amount and if you agree to continue with the operation

AIR CHINA canceled the flight. We didn’t receive any communication and they don’t refund the new ticket .
Now at 8.30 pm I’m stuck in Guilin ( China ) and I can’t come back in Shangai. Flight number CA8570
Don’t buy on this website

If I could give zero stars for this airline, I would, because the service is absolutely terrible (not talking about the flight attendants). I have been calling the number for rebooking my flight so many times without any answer (for a lot of money of course, approximately 20-40minutes every time) and there was no result nor any relevant answer to my questions. All responsible airlines have a possibility to rebook a flight online but not this one. I highly do not recommend to fly with this airline because they are not willing to help you with any issue. A few days ago they told me I can rebook my flight (which was paid for already!) for 180€ and then suddenly it was 700€???!!!! I repeat - the tickets have been paid for and I only wanted to rebook my flight for another date and it is more expensive than the original price on the web? I am really upset with this service and I will recommend not flying with this airline to ANYBODY. No refund either. The food on board is horrible too despite the fact that they advise you to get it for an extra fee. This airline is absolutely terrible in all aspects and if you are considering flying via it, consider other options.

Worst flights ever. I would strongly advise against it.
We had 4 flights in total. On every flight it was a big issue to get vegetarian food (once we got plain rice). It was not possible for foreigner to change the booking without calling a chinese hotline. Mails are also failing, just answering you should call an chinese number..
After a horrortrip to cambodia we decided to invest time during our vacation and went to the air china Office in Phnom Penh but everthing failed again on our flight back to home. Noboy is interessted to help you at Beijing airport. Also they provide a free transit hotel when you have a long transit - but unfortunately the online booking is not working and at the airport they told us they cant do anything for us.
Homepage is a catastrophe, not working processes (meal choice, changing booking,...), unfriendly and unprofessionel staff. Sorry to say this but I have so much experience with many other airlines, but Air China was the worst experience ever and not even a dollar worth to fly.

The worst airline in the world. They lost my baggage in a transit flight, they left me without clothes for two days and they do not reply to my emails and calls for compensation. They do not also have a clear compensation process online and you rely on the emails. Apparently they want your money with zero responsibility. Totally unreliable, give more money and book a ticket with a serious company.

Hello,

First of all the seat was very dirty. The screen (TV) not working. Flight was late and they only speak Chinese. No translation for Japanese & Foreigners (English)

One hour waiting without information and they give water only at the business class. What a service.

CA 919 - SHANGHAI - TOKYO

4 h delay during Transit from Chengdu - connecting flight in Frankfurt could not be reached .
As Air China is not an European airline u will not get any compensation!
Be aware of that , no compensation!
Besides: no seat check in , bad English Skills, bad food quality, moderate entertainment with very old partially not working TVs

Hello

Do they have English speaking entertainment on long haul flights , please?

Crappiest offboard service so far. Phone service got me wrong when I ordered a vegetarian meal. For my flight back I wanted to change but no one took up the phone. Order online: impossible. Change meal at check in: impossible. It was a business class flight!

China Eastern ( and Air China ) really set a very high bar for supporting passengers with mobility issues.
Because of ill health I had the occasion to fly with China Eastern recently. I was travelling overseas to a world renowned hospital to have some medical investigations carried out. But because of my current health, and age I was obviously going to experience some difficulty during the journey, as nobody was available to assist me during the flights.

China Eastern were asked if they could give me any assistance, if needed. Their response was exceptional! They went way over and beyond what might be expected in those circumstances ( and at short notice ), and ensured that from start to finish, a journey of over 10 hours, I was completely looked after and cared for. The aircrew on both flights were really lovely, and although I did not need any extra help during the flights, they repeatedly came back to me to ask me if I was alright, or needed anything. They provided me with wheelchair support from the check-in desk to the aircraft door...and from the aircraft door to the terminal on first arrival, and the same on the second leg of the flight which was with their sister carrier Air China.

There is no other way to describe their 'total' care for passengers, than to say it was superb! It was literally seamless from start to end. I've travelled with them so often and will continue to do so whenever I have the opportunity. With very sincere thanks to China Eastern ( and their sister carrier Air China ).

On August 23rd, 2023, I was flying from Amsterdam to Frankfurt on flight LH993, then Frankfurt to Beijing on flight CA932. Then, I was supposed to continue my journey to Shanghai. However, I could not make it to the scheduled flight since I needed to fill in very detail health and arrival forms (which could have already been provided during the flight to save time for people with connecting flight), performed covid test, went through long immigration line, transferred to other terminal, and went through another security lane all within 1 hour 15 minutes after my arrival in Beijing International Airport. I was begging a lot of people in front of me if I could cut lines since my flight was already boarding. Unfortunately, after all those struggles, I still could not make it to my connecting flight to Shanghai. After trying to calm myself down and talking to the security, I was directed to go to the Air China ticket counter. From there, I was told by Air China office lady that I can either get off at Beijing (my luggage is still there at the time) or reschedule my flight to Shanghai. I told the employee: "if I can get out in Beijing then it is okay; I don’t have to go to Shanghai". Never have I ever told that my return ticket would be blocked if I didn’t complete my departure to Shanghai. I was also not told if I needed to re-book my return ticket. I even received an approval stamps (photo attached) from the Air China staff on my boarding pass indicating that I could exit at Beijing. Therefore, I thought everything was fine and I was travelling through other cities with separate trains and airplanes to other cities in between Beijing to Shanghai.

The great disaster occurred on September 11th, 2023, at 11:35 am when I was supposed to fly back home with Air China from Pudong Shanghai International Airport all the way to Schiphol Amsterdam Airport with flight CA935 & LH1002. I was not able to check-in and the Air China office lady refused to print out my boarding pass. After quite some time, they came back to me and told me that I was at fault since I didn’t complete part of my previous journey from Beijing to Shanghai 3 weeks prior. Therefore, my return ticket is blocked. The solution from Air China staff was to rebook my ticket as buying new ticket where I had to pay 1300 EURO to get on this flight. Please bear in mind that my roundtrip ticket only cost me 620 EUR. So they proposed to me to pay twice the ticket price that I already paid. And it is the price for a one-way ticket, which is insane.

I have attempted to address this issue by going in-circles and explaining to the customer service at the ticket office, the supervisor of Air China on duty and the airport manager. However, the responses I received were below standard and I feel that my concerns were not adequately addressed. Some of the responses I received from the Air China employee were unprofessional:
- “You need to pay for this 1300 EUR, if not then who is going to pay. Am I the one who supposed to pay 1300 EUR for you?”
- “You need to prove to me who said you can get out in Beijing, give me his/her name. Without it, how can we know if you really went to Air China counter in Beijing. How can we know you are not lying?”
- “I cannot help you anymore. If you want to get on this flight, you need to pay this fee.”
- “I cannot help you to book another ticket. Only Air China.”

With all of these issues happening to me, not a single person in Air China staff apologized for what happened with the situation. They just bluntly put the blame on me as their customer.

With so much desperation, I had to book a new one-way ticket back through Bangkok to Dubai then Amsterdam. This ticket had costed me additional 640 EUR from my saving account and I had to wait another 12 hours in Pudong Shanghai International Airport without any single compensation from Air China.

I strongly believed that Air China as the member of Star Alliance should have the potential to provide exceptional products/services but unfortunately my personal experience told totally opposite story. I tried to contact the customer service online by sending email and through phone but of course it didn’t have any proper response from their side.

Just beware of how you will be treated if you ever decide to fly with Air China.

Never fly again with this airline staff are rude. No manners!

All day long trying to do an online check in - blocked over and over again - won't book this ever agian.

Can't be compared to most European Airlines. The staff is more than friendly, happy to help with any needs. I forgot to let the airline know that I'm vegan, but they prepared a mushroom dish for me. The stewardess asked multiple times whether or not I need another meal etc. A long 10 hours flight felt way more comfortable than the connecting one with the Austrian Airline. Miss Wang and the rest of the crew did a great job to ensure everybody's comfort from Beijing all the way to Poland. Looking forward to my next trip with Air China.

Seats are so small and terrible food from AKL(Auckland, New Zealand) to PEK(Beijing, China)
CA-784

Tarvelled in multiple airlines around the globe but this one is the worst,as i came to Pakistan from Australia and the flight was cancelled due to the disease originated by chinese themselves Corona virus,and later when i asked for another flight they simply said we cant do anything ,go back to Australia and ask refund from where you bought it .Long story short they cancelled the flight and did not issue me a new ticket and now they are saying you cant even get a refund ,furthermore directing me towards Either head office China or Pakistan again and again .
THEY SIMPLY DONT WANT TO REFUND .
RESPECTED READERS, ITS MY BEST ADVICE TO YOU GUYS IS NOT EVER TRAVEL BY AIR CHINA,WORST EXPERIENCE.

My daughter has been trying for over a year now to get a refund from AirChina. I can understand the delay in the refund at the height of the pandemic but this present delay is ridiculous. She was told she would receive her refund in September of last year (2020). She received an email yesterday saying it would be paid within 30 days - what a joke. Never book with this airline. At this rate she'll never be repaid.
Michael McGowan

Do not bother to try and claim for cancelled flights with this airline. I booked a flight to Manila in March 2020. My flight was booked for 5th December to go spend xmas with my 6year old daughter. Got to the airport only to be told that the flight had been cancelled months before. I had to make special arrangements at great cost. Contacted air China and they tried to say it was lastminute.com,s fault. Then they try 2 more different reasons. The best way to beat this airline is to take them straight to a small claims court. Because air China will completely ignore your claims until you make it official. Once the court send them the papers they pay up straight away to stop the case against them. Best advice to anyone is to straight away email them and give them 2 weeks to resolve it otherwise you will begin legal action. Keep copies of your email to show the court that you tried to resolve it. It only costs £75 to bring a case and it will be dealt with in about 6 to 8 weeks. If you try the ombudsmans or the other resolvers you will be waiting about 9 months and you still might not get the result you wanted. Save yourself time and stress and go straight to court. They can't deny it to the judge. Good luck and don't ever book with air China.

Great service, nice flight attendants, and barely any delays. Their lounges are one of the best. Would highly recommend this airline.