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cliffj
Lurker
Joined: Aug 03, 2008
Posts: 20
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Aug 21, 2008 - 03:27 AM |
 
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| Post subject: how's air china? |
i was just wondering how it stacks up in your opinions to other airlines (in terms of service, seat space, etc.) since i'm going to be using for the first time when i'm headed off to china next week. of the airlines i've used a clear hierarchy exists in my mind:
- horrible: united airlines
- respectable: most major european airlines (e.g. British Airways, Air France, KLM), Air Canada
- great: ANA
i've never really cared for food on airlines, so no need on opinions concerning that, due to my unfortunate affliction of motion sickness which virtually cripples me during the end of most long flights. any opinions on other criteria would be greatly appreciated. |
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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7618
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 05:42 AM |
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Singapore Airlines are generally excellent.
Virgin ， OK
I would never travel long haul on any of the Chinese airlines. |
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YorkshireKing
StreetBeater
Joined: Mar 16, 2007
Posts: 2366
Location: Loooooooooooooooooose in Luwan
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 06:44 AM |
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I flew China Eastern from Shanghai to Heathrow and they were dreadful
Had to fly in an emergency..
10 hours on a plane,
Bloody Matrix playing on chewed up video followed some chinese television shows, lousy pork and noodles/chicken and rice for dinner and breakfast.
They arrived late, didn't inform the passengers and made me miss my flight connection and then lost my baggage - only after an 5 hour wild goose chase/argument did I get a hotel room and flight the next day.
Their attitude just stunk -
And all for more money than Virgin Atlantic. |
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"So help me God I will kill you and you will stay dead this time" |
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kpmautner
Reacher
Joined: Aug 01, 2005
Posts: 316
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 07:29 AM |
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Air China is quite decent on internal flights within China. However, I had the misfortune of taking them from Shanghai to San Francisco and return last year, and will never make that mistake again.
The seats were almost OK, and the food was worse than United or NW (and that's not easy). The real problem is that they pulled the irritating trick of landing in Beijing, changing planes, and claiming it's the same flight. Worst of all, the plane change was totally disorganized, and I'm amazed some of the passengers didn't go the wrong way. They put you on seperate busses depending on if you were getting off in BJ or continuing on, but didn't tell that you needed to get on a seperate bus, much less which bus to get on. They had 2 or 3 people there to tell you all this, but they were chatting away with each other and couldn't be bothered to actually do their job. A total mess. |
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BaoLe
Raver
Joined: Aug 13, 2005
Posts: 493
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Aug 21, 2008 - 08:10 AM |
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| Bloody Matrix playing on chewed up video followed some chinese television shows, lousy pork and noodles/chicken and rice for dinner and breakfast. |
They were showing that movie and serving the same food four years ago  |
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Renovator
Raver
Joined: Apr 18, 2007
Posts: 488
Location: Century Park & MA,USA
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Aug 21, 2008 - 08:17 AM |
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Last year one of our Shanghai employees had to come to the US twice in one month. Her first round trip was on United Economy and her second trip was on Air China Economy. Both flights Shanghai to US East Coast and back. She was so impressed with United compared to Air China that even as a China National, she said never again to US on Air China.
I personally don't find United any worse or better than the major European airlines on long haul flights, but do agree that ANA is superb compared to most airlines. Furthermore ANA on the long hauls, I believe is usually a 2 class airplane so if you fly business class, you are really getting first class service. During the Winter, I sometimes miss my United connection in Chicago to Shanghai and get re-routed through Tokyo which takes an extra 6 hours but the Tokyo to Shanghai portion is on ANA and that is always a real treat. |
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Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 5291
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 08:30 AM |
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The advantage to Air China is that you can sometimes pick up cheap airfares when you cannot get them other places. Outside of that... I really would not recommend it for several of the reasons posted above. I took it once from west coast to shanghai..it was packed.. had a knees-in-my-chest seat, lousy food, and the movies did not work if I remember. |
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Elegua
Newbie
Joined: Sep 21, 2007
Posts: 2
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Aug 21, 2008 - 08:42 AM |
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Worse that United = old equipment, old & surly stewardesses. Next time I’ll take Y on SQ as opposed to C on CA |
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MoonOverMiami
Raver
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 461
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Aug 21, 2008 - 10:28 AM |
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ANA is nice, but I have one problem with them. It takes them longer than normal to make an announcement over the PA system. First, they say it in Japanese, English, then Chinese. And there is a long pause between each sentence.
United is not that bad, at least not with Economy Plus seating to give you a little extra leg room. Food is decent, not the best but at least its edible.
A co-worker of mine flew on Air China a couple of years back domestically and internationally...said she would never fly Air China again. Experience was just horrible.
Singapore Airlines is my favorite! =D |
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Netswimmer
Talker
Joined: Jan 12, 2006
Posts: 96
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 11:34 AM |
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| MoonOverMiami wrote: |
| ANA is nice, but I have one problem with them. It takes them longer than normal to make an announcement over the PA system. First, they say it in Japanese, English, then Chinese. And there is a long pause between each sentence. |
maybe they're just giving time for the message to sink in 
kidding aside, to the OP, if taking CA (Air China) or MU (China Eastern) bring an extra luggage of patience with you. 
re other airlines, although it's a treat flying SQ (Singapore Airlines) and was awarded 2008 airline of the year - IMHO, I still think ANA is the best. CX (Cathay Pacific) business class is great too.
never tried and been avoiding United or NWA after neg feedbacks from friends (even if sometimes NWA has the lowest rate.) Don't know if NWA got better after the merger w/ Delta.
since we're at it, anyone here have tried SQ's A380 jumbo? hoping to get a chance on that one  |
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travelinjack3
FooJay
Joined: Sep 19, 2005
Posts: 1718
Location: Right Bank
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 01:23 PM |
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While I am not a huge fan of United, I do think they are comparable with the major Euro airlines (Lufthansa, Air France, BA) which makes them far better than any of the Chinese Airlines.
I try my best to avoid the chinese airlines at all cost due to frequent delays and generally bad service.
My favorites are Singapore and ANA. Haven't flown JAL in a while so I can't remember how they were. |
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Adimnistrator
Rocker
Joined: July 20, 2007
Posts: 683
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 02:25 PM |
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I just buy lot of sandwiches/burgers, some cookies + few ottles of water at the airport and ignore the airplane food totally. What I buy always taste better than any airplane food and I can eat/drink whenever I feel hungry/thirsty, not when they feel to serve. |
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MoonOverMiami
Raver
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 461
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Aug 21, 2008 - 02:36 PM |
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Regardless of my comments on ANA, I do still like flying with them. The stewardesses with their hankies around their throat look so cute! However, I have to give an edge to JAL. Flew with them last Christmas from PVG to NRT and it was a treat! Seat was a bit short for the legs but service and meal was quite nice!!!! |
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"One who falls asleep with an itchy backside, will wake up with smelly fingers..." |
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MoonOverMiami
Raver
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 461
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Aug 21, 2008 - 02:42 PM |
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| Netswimmer wrote: |
| MoonOverMiami wrote: |
| ANA is nice, but I have one problem with them. It takes them longer than normal to make an announcement over the PA system. First, they say it in Japanese, English, then Chinese. And there is a long pause between each sentence. |
maybe they're just giving time for the message to sink in |
Could be true, but they tend to pause the movie during the announcement. Only watched 1hr 15min of an 1.5 hr long movie because of their announcements....missed the ending!!! 
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_________________
"One who falls asleep with an itchy backside, will wake up with smelly fingers..." |
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cliffj
Lurker
Joined: Aug 03, 2008
Posts: 20
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 05:09 PM |
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thanks for the advice people. i'll make sure i try to get as much sleep on the flight as possible in order to shield myself from reality. btw, i just wanted to quickly share an interesting article i found a while back in case any of you have issues with jetlag:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/23/healthscience/jetlag.php
apparently the solution is to eat as little as possible prior to a flight. |
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YorkshireKing
StreetBeater
Joined: Mar 16, 2007
Posts: 2366
Location: Loooooooooooooooooose in Luwan
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Aug 21, 2008 - 07:09 PM |
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| Michael wrote: |
| it was packed.. had a knees-in-my-chest seat, lousy food, and the movies did not work if I remember. |
The sets on my flight were the old style CRT televisions spaced down the cabin at intervals.
You know, where the nearest set is behind your head and the next one is 20 rows away..
Jesus I thought I was on some retro 80's flight
All that was missing was Leslie
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"So help me God I will kill you and you will stay dead this time" |
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hautumncloud
LoopKicker
Joined: Nov 04, 2006
Posts: 912
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Aug 21, 2008 - 07:36 PM |
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I flew Air China business class from Vancouver to Beijing two years ago and will never do it again. The direct flight from Toronto to Bejing was full. I was so disgusted that I paid extra to change my return ticket to fly direct to Toronto via Air Canada.
Air China - food was bad, seats were uncomfortable, air stewards were there for looks only, there was NO English movies, no private TVs - one of the most miserable flights I have ever had in a business class.
To top it all, I was told I will not get my United points since the flight did not originate from US.
For domestic flights, we do still use them from time to time but now that Air China has joined Star Alliance, we still don't get our Aeroplan points flying with them on domestic flights - go figure. |
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hawks
Seeker
Joined: Jan 25, 2008
Posts: 48
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 08:13 PM |
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All of the Chinese airlines are total crap. Would avoid at all costs!! Some are shockingly worse than others, I know one company that has a policy that does not allow employees to use Southern China Air. I think Shanghai Air is the "best" of the bunch, but they still suck.
RE: star alliance miles...doesn't matter where your flight originates, you can accrue them. Don't let some Air China employee tell you otherwise, most of them are pretty useless. Sometimes, if some mistake is made, you have to send in the ticket stubs to get your proper miles counted. |
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MoonOverMiami
Raver
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 461
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Aug 21, 2008 - 10:32 PM |
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Make sure the ticket class is eligible to receive miles by checking with United Airlines.
I flew on Shanghai Airlines in February and thought I was eligible to accrue miles, but then found out the ticket class was the cheapest and could not earn any miles. |
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"One who falls asleep with an itchy backside, will wake up with smelly fingers..." |
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Fido
Reacher
Joined: Jan 22, 2008
Posts: 242
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 10:42 PM |
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| hawks wrote: |
| All of the Chinese airlines are total crap. Would avoid at all costs!! |
I don't know. As far as frequent flyer programs go, China Southern Airlines' is far better than any of the others. |
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I am HC's dog. I bite whomever he asks me to bite.
Last edited by Fido on Aug 21, 2008 - 11:09 PM; edited 1 time in total |
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Renovator
Raver
Joined: Apr 18, 2007
Posts: 488
Location: Century Park & MA,USA
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Aug 21, 2008 - 11:04 PM |
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| hawks wrote: |
| RE: star alliance miles...doesn't matter where your flight originates, you can accrue them. Don't let some Air China employee tell you otherwise, most of them are pretty useless. Sometimes, if some mistake is made, you have to send in the ticket stubs to get your proper miles counted. |
It is true that you can accrue miles regardless of where your flight originates but just be aware that not all tickets are eligible for frequent flyer miles. Deeply discounted tickets often do not qualify, as well of course, as non rev and award tickets. At time of ticket purchase, the terms and conditions for your ticket are available and should be checked for frequent flyer mile eligibility because often it does not make any sense to save very few $ to lose those miles.
For a quick calculation, you can figure your miles are generally worth about $.02 per mile.
United Airlines recently upgraded its website to make it very easy to claim unposted miles on a star alliance flight through their missing mileage link so it is no longer the hassle it used to be and you can claim those miles for up to one year from the date of flight. |
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MoonOverMiami
Raver
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 461
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Aug 21, 2008 - 11:27 PM |
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| Renovator wrote: |
| United Airlines recently upgraded its website to make it very easy to claim unposted miles on a star alliance flight through their missing mileage link so it is no longer the hassle it used to be and you can claim those miles for up to one year from the date of flight. |
Did they upgrade it so that you can claim unposted miles for all Star Alliance members, or a select few. Last time I checked (in February) only half the airline one can file a claim online, while the rest had to be mailed in to their customer service address. |
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"One who falls asleep with an itchy backside, will wake up with smelly fingers..." |
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Fido
Reacher
Joined: Jan 22, 2008
Posts: 242
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 11:53 PM |
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What good is it when it takes an Act of Congress to get an award seat with them? |
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I am HC's dog. I bite whomever he asks me to bite. |
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Renovator
Raver
Joined: Apr 18, 2007
Posts: 488
Location: Century Park & MA,USA
Status: Offline
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Aug 21, 2008 - 11:53 PM |
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| MoonOverMiami wrote: |
| Renovator wrote: |
| United Airlines recently upgraded its website to make it very easy to claim unposted miles on a star alliance flight through their missing mileage link so it is no longer the hassle it used to be and you can claim those miles for up to one year from the date of flight. |
Did they upgrade it so that you can claim unposted miles for all Star Alliance members, or a select few. Last time I checked (in February) only half the airline one can file a claim online, while the rest had to be mailed in to their customer service address. |
MoonOverMiami is right that not all partner airlines can be done online on the United Website. Only United Airlines, Air China, Air New Zealand, Asiana, ANA, EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Swiss, Turkish, TAP, Thia, and US Airways Operating Carriers of the 24 partners can be done online. Sorry for any confusion.
I had Air China on the brain when I wrote my original post. |
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Renovator
Raver
Joined: Apr 18, 2007
Posts: 488
Location: Century Park & MA,USA
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Aug 22, 2008 - 12:05 AM |
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| Fido wrote: |
| What good is it when it takes an Act of Congress to get an award seat with them? |
Ah, patience, patience. Standard award tickets are available almost anytime to anywhere on United Airlines but rarely can a person or does a person want to give up so many miles for a trip.
It is the Saver Award tickets that are harder to get. On my monthly runs between US and China, I can score 2 to 3 Saver Award tickets each year in Business Class. Economy Award Tickets are easier to get but either way takes frequent visits to the website. |
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