Have you flown Air China
 

I'm going from Washington DC to Beijing this July, flying coach. Air China has the cheapest fares, and I'd like to hear from anyone who has flown with them. Are they about the same as other carriers, better, worse? I'm used to flying coach and don't expect much in the way of service, but leg room is important. Thanks for your advice, Joe

When receiving replies to your message, watch for the fact that there is an Air China and a China Air. One of them is reputedly a terrible airline - I believe it is China Air. I am pretty sure we used Air China to fly domestically so it would be a different plane/standard to yours. All in all it was acceptable (China standards of most things are different-no offence to anyone) but, they forgot to load our luggage and we had to wait until the evening for some warm clothes as it was much cooler in Xian than Beijing.

Have not flown them, but they use 747-400 on all its American flights. www.airlinequality.com reports that coach seats have 34" pitch, which is the best standard coach you'll see anywhere in the world. I cannot confirm that report.

I don't believe they have individual screens in coach, and from what I've read, they are notorious in playing decade(s)-old movies. So, bring your own entertainment.

I have flown China Air twice but in business class only. It was excellent and the service was outstanding. I would have thought otherwise but I was very pleasantly surprised.

ralferr - Are you talking about Air China of Beijing, China; or China Airlines of Taipei, Taiwan?

Like Tina says, please be careful and clear with the names.

I flew Air China in coach 3 years ago from LA to Beijing. It was one of the best flights I have been on. No complaints whatsoever.

I have flown Eva Air that also uses 747-400. They have the best coach seats with lots of leg room. The seats don't have individual TV displays but they were playing decent movies on the overhead screens.

To clarify:

Air China - one of the 3 primary mainland China based carriers (other 2 are China Eastern and China Southern) that flies between the US and mainland China. I personally haven't flown them except on intra-China domestic routes so can't comment on transpacific aircraft and service.

China Airlines (not China Air) - flag carrier of Taiwan. Does NOT fly to mainland China (except for the exemption given over the Chinese New Years holidays but that's a particular special circumstance). Have flown them in both economy and Dynasty (business) class but not recently. Dynasty class service was very good as I recall. Their safety record is not stellar but putting it into a more realistic perspective, your statistical chances of being involved in a crash are still infinitesimal. I'd fly China Airlines in J or F anytime.

EVA Air - secondary carrier of Taiwan. Does NOT fly to mainland China. Has an Evergreen Deluxe class which is in between their economy and business class products with better seat width and pitch over economy. Priced only slightly above economy, a very good value IMO. I've never flown them but if I were headed to Taipei or elsewhere in southeast Asia, I'd seriously consider their Evergreen Dlx service.

Thanks, Patty!

[I think EVA actually has as many, or even more, flights between Taiwan and the US as China Airlines. A lot of Taiwanese will not fly China Airlines if possible, for safety or political reasons. And Evergreen Deluxe class is only on EVA's flights between Taiwan and US; not available on other routes.]

Yes that's probably true that they have more flights now! I always think of China Airlines as the primary Taiwanese carrier because EVA wasn't around when I started flying to/from Taipei ;)

BTW I priced out LAX-TPE-BKK a few months ago for later this year and it did show Evergreen Deluxe class on the TPE-BKK flights. I'd also thought it was US-TPE only for Evergreen Deluxe so was surprised. Will have to look into it again.

I just flew China Airlines and found the service outstanding. They were friendly and had individual on demand movie panels. I believe their safety record is more a thing of the past, but you can research for yourself. You can also find the types of planes and cause of error that caused accidents on any airline.

I just checked the EVA site again putting in some random dates in April and it shows Evergreen Deluxe for BR67/211 TPE-BKK and BR68/212 BKK-TPE. I don't know what other non-US routes offer it as I just happened to come across this myself.

Thanks to you all. I appreciate all the information. To clarify, I'm flying AIR CHINA to Beijing. I'll appreciate any other comments.

My cousin flew by coach on Air China last October from JFK to PEK. At least at that time Air China had no advance seat assignments for coach passengers; in other words seat assignments were based on a first come first serve basis at the airport.

China Airlines and EVA airlines are Taiwan based airlines and do not fly to Beijing from the US.

I've only flew Air China btw HK and BJ which was fine for about 3 hours. My friends who live in China prefer to fly Air China among other domestic carriers within China for safety reasons.

The common complaints I hear among Air China travelers between the transpacific routes are
1. the lack of in-flight entertainment. To me that is important since I can't sleep the entire transPacific fligh. If you fly Air China to BJ and you can't sleep in-flight, then you will need to prepare your own entertainment for the duration (~ 18 hours)
2. service - don't expect the same service like other international class airlines. It will probably improve as time goes by just not there yet.