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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Looking at 52 reviews, most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Many customers found the service to be poor and encountered issues with the product offerings, including uncomfortable seats, outdated entertainment systems, and unsatisfactory food and drink options. People also reported problems with baggage handling, such as lost luggage and strict, inconsistent rules regarding cabin baggage weight, leading to significant frustration and additional expenses. However, some customers also noted that the staff could be helpful and friendly, with a few individuals receiving excellent professional service. Some reviewers also found the flights to be good value for the price, with decent food and entertainment options, and comfortable seats on certain aircraft.

What people talk about most

Service

Users describe negative interactions with service, with many reviewers expressing strong dissatisfaction and... See more

Staff

Reviewers highlight ambiguous aspects of staff, with some customers praising the staff as helpful, friendly,... See more

Product

Consumers find the product offerings to be disappointing, with many reporting issues with outdated and... See more

Price

Customers consistently note ambiguous experiences with price, with some reviewers finding the prices good... See more

Quality

People report negative experiences with quality, with many reviewers describing the aircraft as old, unclean,... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

The food during the flight was decent and the cabin crew very attentive and pleasant which is why I give them a 2 star. But the rest was horrible. Their booking system is a joke and their staff by che... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

We travelled from London to Shanghai and from there to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Beijing and then to London. The seats of the plane were very small especially when you are travelling for up to 11 hour... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Do NOT pay for premium economy. All you get extra onboard is a bit of space. You get the standard meals and the extremely limited drink service. We were offered 3 drinks on a ten hour flight, on... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Complaint about flight handling and service I would like to inform you of a particularly unpleasant experience at Milan Malpensa Airport by Air China. We had booked a flight with Air Chin... See more


Company details


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1.9

Poor

TrustScore 2 out of 5

382 reviews

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

HORRIBLE AIRLINE

Very bad , seriously don’t go with them.
The flight from London to Beijing they have ONLY ONE lady can speak English, they speak China to you all the time. The flight attendants were very rude very rude too. If you don’t speak China they would never care.
Most of the flight is go to Beijing airport, and Beijing airport is the worst airport ever.
SERIOUSLY DONT USING THIS AIRLINE

12 August 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful web interface when it comes to online check in

Online check in does not work
Even if I am a member of Air China, I logged in, it still requires me to provide the full flight information to proceed to check in. Wouldn't you know what reservation I have once I logged in? Then what's the point of logging in?? It's just a stupid website.

25 July 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Check in service online NEVER WORKS

Check in service online NEVER WORKS. I have a chinese Mobile number and full information required, yet it still didn’t work! This is the third time so I should’ve known better than to fly with this airline again, but it was the cheapest flight I could find for my trip. I called their version of ‘customer services’ and they were quite useless, resulting in my having to rush to the airport in due to constant defunct systems online in 2019, how backwards! Beware

14 July 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE

Suffered significant delays without any updates from staff. The food on board was rancid. The planes are dated and have terrible leg room and to top it all off the staff are rude and incompetent.

22 June 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Air China is widely known for the worst…

Air China is widely known for the worst customer service. I wanted to buy additional luggage but the website did not work, after having tried several customer service numbers I got through to a lady who said that I have to go earlier to the airport. However, I had to pay for it even more than online... I will fly nver again with Air China

13 June 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I have never ever experienced anything…

I have never ever experienced anything as terrible as the so-called customer service at Air China! Flew to South Korea with no problems, but when I was to return to Denmark I was - to my big surprise - told at the airport in Korea, that my transfer flight from Beijing to Copenhagen was cancelled. Or so they guessed at the airport as they couldn’t see/get any info, just that I was put on a flight two days later (whiteout any notice, by the way). So after some back and forth, I just accepted that they where unable to inform me further, about what was going to happen in China, what I should do with my luggage and so forth. I just thought “well, that’s the worst that can happen?”...! And now I can tell you what the worst that can happen is: You arrive at Beijing late at night expecting to get some kind of information and/or basic customer service, such as maybe some drinking water, some food, just a smile and a “we are sorry, Miss”. But no! You get send around the airport for hours, without any Air China employees able to understand or give you proper information. When you finally get send to a hotel with a promise of food and water, you get send to something from a deleted scene from “The Shining” - you know, the one in the end with skeletons and huge spiderwebs all over the place. And absolutely no food or water, by the way! Back to the airport, getting send around from one corner to the other again, now trying to locate your suitcase - oh, didn’t I tell you this? Of course they couldn’t find it and when I finally found it (hours later) Air China had managed to smash it too. At this point I just had to laugh out loud AND cry at the same time. What the actual f Air China, how can you do SO wrong? It’s beyond me! Now over 12 hours since I arrived at Beijing, with a panini and a juice I bought myself, waiting for the SAS flight I was lucky enough to get rescheduled to, writing this review realizing how I’m never, ever, ever never again am going to travel with Air China. And I’m strongly advising you to not do so either.
(I apologize for the misspelling, am running on two hours of sleep)

13 May 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Thank you, Air china ♥️

It was my first time to fly Air china and I would recommend it to anybody. I read lots of not so good comment in reviews and I was brave enough to try it and wanted to try it myself. I would honestly say that this airline exceeded my expectations. From flight attendants to food, leg room, comfort everything was great! I would only comment on the sit as it is not so soft but would say it is pretty much comfortable and there is nothing much difference compared to other expensive airlines. Thank you very much, air china. You made my holiday as comfortable as possible considering It took me 16 hours to fly home to the Philippines from London. I did not feel the hours i fly back home because I was comfortable enough to have a good sleep. I hope you keep up the good work. Much love from Ms. Philippines xxx

4 April 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Overreacting, dramatic and self-entitled whiners

Bought tickets to Japan via Beijing. Biggest reason using Air China was lowest cost. I was nervous however, due to the crappy reviews below mine, and my trip to Japan is using up all my savings and celebrating my honeymoon. Firstly you get what you pay for - lower fees means less luxury but guess what? The decision to fly with Air China is financially related so stop moaning expecting something pretty. The aircraft is old fashioned with old, withering fabric and slightly uncomfortable, cramped seats. If you're tall, aim for the aisle. Every seat has a functioning (albeit slow) screen with tons of movies, shows and games, and a USB charger for electronics. Pillows and blankets provided (could do with a wash to be honest). The food was SURPRISINGLY delicious for aeroplane cuisine. They always provide 2 choices. Jasmine tea is so lovely particularly. The sweet and kind staff would frequently visit all passengers to offer free soft drinks and beer, and tea/coffee. There were zero delays. The pilot was highly experienced and we didn't die. This review is describing my journey from London to Japan (where I am now). I hope the service is just the same on the way back. Thanks Air China for the great service!! 4 stars instead of 5 because of the need for renovation. And I'm only leaving a review because I want to reassure others that it's not THAT bad.

29 March 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

meal requests mean nothing

Took 4 flights recently in a return trip to Japan. Booked 10 months advanced and requested vegetarian food. First two flights they had no record of our request. I ended up eating 3 bread rolls as they had nothing else.

On the 3rd flight coming home, they somehow had remembered and provided a veggie meal (which was the same as the normal meal, but no meat. Just plain rice!).

By this point I had given up hope. Low and behold, the 4th flight was no vegetarian food.

How they can let this happen is beyond me, not because of me being a vegetarian, but what happens to those with nut allergies or something??

Also, the aircraft are awful. The final leg home from Beijing to London, we were ferried out into the middle of Beijing airfield, where a lone aeroplane stood, looking very dirty and unused. This plane was from around 1999, with old tv sets, practically no leg room, and uncomfortable seats.

Hands down the hardest flight I've had to endure. Will pay more next time and fly with a company like Singapore.

22 March 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

We missed our flight and honestly their…

We missed our flight and honestly their staff could not have been any less helpful. They gave us no information, help, advice or guidance and would have happily seen us stranded thousands of miles from home. Some of their staff even chuckled when we seemed a bit panicked and asked if we could please use a telephone to try and rebook new flights since they refused to help us. I find it ridiculous that even if we offered to pay for new tickets they refused to even offer advice let alone help us book them ... even Ryanair help u book new flights if u miss them. It is a below average service with very poor entertainment on the plane by comparison to other long haul airlines - I would steer clear!

16 March 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful airline

Awful airline,
3 hours + delay just sat on the airline on Flight CA937 04 FEB 2019, sat on the runway due to a technical fault. No food or drinks for the 1st 2 hours. Until my partner complained. If she did not complain i think we would of sat there for 3 hours with no food or drink.

My ticket number is ETKT9992853233941/4090 – MR JASON ADDO
Seat 42K

Served out of date food on the flight. Which is absolutely disgusting, i have pictures of these, and will be posting them on the internet.

Customer service are completely useless. Called to complain on the 5th feb. Was asked to send an email. its now the 8th of March and still no reply. Called both Europe office and UK office- UK office staff do not pick up the phone, so its pointless calling. Europe office cannot make out going calls to UK office which again is useless. Europe office do not have manager so i cant speak to anyone else other than agents who tell me to continue emailing.

Going around in circles with no luck. Next step is to physically go to the UK office, hopefully there will be someone there in person to speak too.

Don't use this airline, 0/10 for customer service. I wish i did not spend any money on China airlines. Worse decision ever made.

8 March 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible airline

Terrible airline. Flew four times with them on the last trip. Reconfirmed vegetarian food for every flight, but it wasn't until the last flight of the four that they managed to take this on board. I wish they hadn't bothered: got dry pasta - no sauce - with a single floret of broccoli plopped on it. From the reactions of the other passengers, the carnivore options were no better. Google worst airline food and Air China comes up #1 every time.
Every flight took off late, and the staff were pushy seat belt Nazis.
I won't fly with them again.

23 February 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Pretty ropey airline recently flew 4…

Pretty ropey airline recently flew 4 legs with them on 2 of them the TV for my seat didn't work. I also did online check in and had chosen my seats when I got to Bkk airport they had been changed. Errr no. I am vegan and they had provided food for me and it was OK, so two stars.

15 February 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

I went to Bangkok via Beijing with Air…

I went to Bangkok via Beijing with Air China. Their service is really good, press the attendant button and they are there in a flash. The seats are quite comfortable too so overall the flight is really good. Where they need to improve is with their budget range of beverages. You can only get cheap Chinese beer, no vodka, whisky, brandy, etc. Beer is the only alcohol. I feel that this makes them look like a very low budget airline. Also, no snacks are given with the drinks. With this small improvement they will be much better! Otherwise, great!

28 January 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

5 stars for UK costumer service

5 stars for UK costumer service. After booking the wrong dates with Airchina trough Gotogate.com I’ve called straight away the gotogate costumer service to change the booking. The guy at the other end of the line quote me £184 to change it which was a lot having in mind I only booked the tickets 30 min ago. So i’ve Emailed airchina asking for help. I’ve got an email in the morning saying that is up to the website to change it and they can’t do anything but few minutes later i’ve Got a call advising me to call them again as is shouldn’t be that much. And he was right. I managed to change my tocmets for less thanks to him. Thank you so much for caring!!

27 January 2019
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Disgraceful service and attitude. Avoid this airline

Disgraceful service and attitude. Avoid this airline.

Flight: 13 Oct 2:30am, JFK-Hong Kong, CA990.

Due to unexpected transport problems (incredibly, NY JFK's Airtrain system broke down, leaving us stranded onboard), I arrived at the Air China check-in desk exactly one hour before the flight. However, the staff had already closed the check-in desk (there was literally just one person left, closing down computers etc); and they would not let me check-in.
The rules state check-in closes one hour before the flight, but the Air China staff had clearly closed the counter before that cut-off time.
There were around 20 passengers left stranded due to being stranded on the airport's airtrain shuttle, but Air China made no attempt to help. In fact, the staff were completely indifferent.

Air China refused to refund the money and would only allow us on a later flight if we paid the fare difference in full - which was several thousand dollars. I had to cancel my trip.

I advise you never to buy tickets with Air China. If everything goes as planned you might be fine; but if there are any unexpected problems, Air China has no interest in helping and will be completely inflexible.

Choose a better airline that Air China, one with reasonable customer service, one that solves problems rather than simply waving away passengers in need.

AL

9 November 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Air China

LHR to HND London to Tokyo return through Beijing. All flight were pretty much on time save the possible logistics of the airline awaiting connecting passengers. I had 1hr 50 mins to connect and even though transported by shuttle bus to terminal 3 in Beijing and having to negociate security. i connected without concern.. I flew on 777 for the main leg of the journey, seats are a little narrow. Aircraft was clean. Staff attentive and food was your average airline offering (avoid the chinese breakfast if western). I was overall very pleased after reading poor reviews. I paid only 415 GBP and have since booked with them again to fly to Bangkok as their prices are so good

6 November 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Avoid at all costs

Flew from London to hanoi and connecting flight in Beijing delayed by 24 hours with no offer of compensation. Avoid at all costs. Their customer service team are rude and incompetent - they even pretended not to be able to hear me at the end of a 40 minute phone call and hung up. Genuinely the worst airline experience I've had.

11 September 2018
Unprompted review

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