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Old Jan 9th, 2007 | 08:34 PM
  #1  
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Best China Domestic Airlines

What is the best or should I say safest Airlines inside of China. When checking air schedules these airlines keep popping up

China Eastern Airlines
China Southern Airlines
Air China
Sichuan Airlines
Hainan Airlines
Dragon Air

I guess my question is, which airlines do I avoid,which is the best?

Aloha!
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Old Jan 9th, 2007 | 09:06 PM
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I have flown more than 100 times in domestic china and Dragon Air is by far best, but it only flies to international destinations.

Note, that the service level in China is far below most foreign carriers. So the rest is just an apples to apples comparison of domestic airlines.

Hainan airlines has decent service.

Air China is adequate.

Shanghai Airlines is compatible with Air China.

The service China Eastern and southern are WAY below standard. I will never, ever fly China Eastern again. Once my plane went into a dive in clear skies, dropping thousands of feet. It is irrelevant whether it was pilot or equipment error.

I've never flown Sichuan Air.

Hope this helps
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Old Jan 9th, 2007 | 09:37 PM
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That's because Dragon is a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, both based in Hong Kong.

For internal Chinese flights, just fly whoever has the best schedule and price for you. Hardly any difference.
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Old Jan 10th, 2007 | 04:13 PM
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Just flew China Eastern from Shanghai to Hong Kong. It was excellent....better than say, United, American, Delta, Northwest, Jet Blue, etc., etc.
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Old Jan 11th, 2007 | 08:15 AM
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Thanks everyone for the advise.

Ramblero'

How much did you pay for the Shanghai/Hong Kong Tix? Did you wait till in China or buy before?

Aloha!
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Old Jan 11th, 2007 | 09:09 AM
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You can read my report on 4 internal Chinese flights embedded in this report from November:

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=126&tid=34899811

I flew China Southern, China Eastern (2 segments) and Shenzhen Airlines.

In summary:
- very punctual (but not necessarily for flights to/from Shanghai)
- very pretty, but indifferent FAs
- weird food combination (and I'm Chinese and eat all kinds of stuff)
- lots of irregular stuff on my Shenzhen Airlines flight

Anyways, I didn't book those flights, but I wouldn't choose one airline over any other for internal Chinese ones. Just go with price and schedule.
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