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1.4 164 Reviews

Air China Complaints Summary

16 Resolved
148 Unresolved
Our verdict: With Air China's very poor resolution rate, careful consideration is needed. Research their service comprehensively, and read up on how they handle customer disputes. If you face issues, be prepared for potential challenges in obtaining resolutions and explore other service providers as backups.
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Air China reviews & complaints 164

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8:56 am EDT
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Air China horrible service

Horrible experience with Air China ! My flight was late leaving from JFK had a connecting flight from same airline in china going to Bangkok. Was told at jfk that the plane would make up time and if not I would be put on a plane by a different airline. That was not the case I ended up at the hotel that night the connecting flight was through air china so they knew that the plane was late and other passengers were transferring but I guess they did not care. I also booked a separate flight from Bangkok to phuket so I ended missing that flight and the service in china was NO help at all. So when I finally arrived in Bangkok I had to purchase a separate ticket going to phuket when I returned to JFK I went to the counter and the lady working there told me that they did everything they could and they would not refund the money for the extra ticket I had to purchase because their flight was late.

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Saylalang
, NL
May 02, 2013 3:24 am EDT

About a year ago (February 2012), I flew with Air China, from Sydney it left about 3hrs late, supposed to be leaving on time (like 11:15am) and I've been sleeping in the departure lounge. I was so worried if I turn up in Germany so late and staying in Beijing overnight. Luckily doesn't happen, still being in Germany by early morning. All Chinese passengers were very pissed off at the gate staff over a delay in Sydney without any explanation and they also being forgetful about Meet & Assist too (on my way) in Shanghai, Beijing & Frankfurt Airports. I will never fly with Air China anymore, stuff them!

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1:15 am EST
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Air China not accepting visa or foreign credit cards

Tried to order tickets online. There was a consistent error message in the "Contact Info" area. It is brilliant that I use their English webpage but the error messages come in Chinese. After giving up, I call the hotline, where the English speaking customer service had to transfer me to the Chinese speaking only internet service, who eventually transferred me back to an English Customer Service Rep.

After being fed up with the incompetence, I pleaded that they just book the ticket for me so I can finish with this disaster.

All this, to find out they do not accept foreign credit cards over the phone nor online. I have to have a local bank card with "Web Pay" option or go into a local branch.

Seriously? It is tough to be this ###ed.

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10:49 pm EDT
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Air China poor service

Air China: 2 days with no sleep.

I need to express my experience flying Air China. This is first and last time I will fly Air China. On April 23 I was to fly from Singapore to Beijing on CA970 after which I was to connect to AC1569 to Qingdao. I was to be giving an important business presentation in Qingdao. After being in the air approximately 20 minutes from Singapore, the passengers noticed that the cockpit reduced engine speed significantly. After another 20 minutes it was announced that we would soon be landing in Ho Chi Minh City due to a mechanical problem.
We entered the HCMC airport at 1:30 am. We were put in a small holding gate area where there were not enough seats for all the passengers. There we were held for 3 1/2 hours. We were told that the airplane would be repaired and they were looking for parts. No estimate of repair time or flying time was given. Over the next few hours groups of people were lining up to talk to the staff who appeared to be local Vietnamese airport people. General announcements were few.

The problem was later announced to be a faulty oil seal in the starboard engine. The in-flight entertainment system was also faulty. The airlines various overhead screens were flickering wildly for the duration of the flight. Upon leaving the aircraft through the front door it was also noted that several of the First Class seats were badly damaged and being warped and bent at odd angles preventing them from being put to their full up right position. A safety hazard I presume as I am normally ordered to put my seat in the full upright position before landing. It certainly makes this passenger wonder about the maintenance procedures at Air China. If the airplane was only 20 minutes out of Singapore when the oil pressure problem was noticed, why did we not return to Singapore?

At approximately 0530 an announcement was made that the passenger could proceed up to the third floor for refreshments. We were given each a cold plate of spaghetti. Passengers wanting a beer had to pay USD 5. This is extremely poor service. After this snack, people were searching for seats to lie down on. There were not enough chairs or benches for everyone to stretch out on. No attempt was given by the airline to get anyone a hotel room. No showers were available at the airport and no toothbrushes or soap or towels were handed out. Occupation of chairs in the restaurants was not allowed after eating and restaurant staff were telling people to move on. Finally they turned off the air conditioning to get people out.

Checking back at the gate, one airport staff said the flight would resume at 0100 pm some 12 hours after landing. A different staff said the flight would resume at 1800 pm some 17 hours after landing.

No additional meals were given, no drinks were offered and no announcements were made.

Finally the flight resumed at 1900 hours some 18 hours after landing. The flight landed in Beijing at approximately 0200. We were processed by airline staff and given CNY300 compensation. Passengers with connections had to wait around for all to get through the system. No place to sit. Little English was spoken by staff. We were told the airport terminal hotel was fully occupied. We were then bused to the CTS hotel some 30 minutes away from the airport. We arrived at 0300, after 28 hours without sleep. The hotel staff informed us that passengers must share rooms or else the cost would be CNY 300. The hotel staff was extremely rude with extremely poor service. After paying the CNY300 I enterered my room at 0400 and slept for 1.5 hours before being required to leave the hotel by bus at 0530 to catch the 0805 airplane to Qingdao. Even if I did share a room, would I have gotten any sleep after waiting for my roommate to shower and after my own shower?

Air China is not a civilized airline. Its standards are extremely poor. Wine, beer and cocktails are not available on this airline. Air China treats its passengers like dogs, being required to sit or lie down on the floor with no place to sleep for 18 hours and again by ordering them to occupy a hotel room with a stranger on the next night after 28 hours without sleep. This is TOTALLY unacceptable. Air China should be revoked as a member of Star Alliance. There should be some minimum standard of decency that customers should be given. This is the worst airline I have ever flown in my entire life.

Why could Air China not find a replacement aircraft to fly passengers to Beijing? If a replacement needed to come from their hub in Beijing it should have taken 6 or 7 hours to get the passengers out of HCMC. As it turned out, we flew a different aircraft out of HCMC anyway. Why were passengers not kept informed about what was happening? There were a few announcements made in Mandarin at the gate but no follow up in English. There were many non-Mandarin passengers on the plane who could not understand what was going on.

Finally on my return flight from Beijing back to Singapore on April 27, I found the food the WORST I have experienced on any flight in my entire life. There are some bad meals but the rotten mush fish and rotten mush fruit are extremely poor excuses for a meal. There are no excuses for any of this.

Robert A. Swick
Star Alliance Frequent Flyer.

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marie ziegler
Ashburn, US
Apr 05, 2011 3:56 am EDT

I'm glad to found your post... you are NOT alone! we right now feel the same against Air China... all the stories and details you noted here are so very true..and to think your bad exp happened almost a year ago...AIR CHINA is still doing the smae [censor] and crap to paying airline customers...this time we ..all 50 of us passengers today are making sure AIR China cannot get away with it this time... THEY SHD BE BANNED from flying into any US Airports! we are now stranded almost 3 days in a row..and no one at air china is on sight to fix our problems... unbelievable!
we are filing a class action lawsuit against this airline...NOW!

if you wish to join us ... email us at mjz2052@yahoo.com

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Nikita Gambhir
, IN
Aug 10, 2010 5:13 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

With great regret and huge disappointment i am writing this letter.
Pls note that my sister in law with her 10 yr old daughter were travelling from Delhi to to Beijing- China on 8th Aug thru Air China flight time 3:15 am from Terminal 3 Indira Gamdhi International Airport.
Air China flight from Beijing started late and further due to some technical fault went back and sat at Beijing airport due to which there was in total a delay of 12 HRS.
During this time they were escorted to the Business class lounge which is not that great for starters, the wash rooms were not functional, Construction was happening all around and wires were on the floor, food was not great which was served also she was unable to use the landlines there as none of them were functional.
She was up the whole night as after every hour your office was announcing 2 hrs further delay because probably you wanted to save the cost of putting up the passengers in a hotel as the hours of the delay in flight was over and above 8 hrs.
After this ordeal of being up the whole night finally at 7am the announcement came that the flight will leave in the afternoon at 3:15pm. We decided to that we shall pick them up get them back home so that they can have good food, have a shower and sleep for sometime before they get back to the hell hole.
Then another ordeal started of reversing all processes of check in, security, boarding pass and immigration cancellation staretd which took whole 3 hours and they finally were taken home by us to rest.
It was not over yet, when we enquired from home at 12:30 the FINAL departure time for the flight they were not sure as Airport authority advised 3:15 pm whereas Air China stated 2:00 pm.
Anyways we dropped them back at 1:30pm to the airport and again the guard stopped them at the gate 5, Tania called us to call the Air china ground staff to come and pick them up from the gate and then FINALLY they were let in the airport. Your ground staff and office staff were up whole night and were very helpful in getting things organized for the suffering passangers but they could only help to a certain extent.
I just wanted to narrate this incident to make you realize that though Terminal 3 has its faults but keeping the passangers in limbo for sooooo long just so that you do not have to bourne the charges of their hotel is JUST NOT FAIR.
Please take this seriously and make sure others do not go thru the same pain again!

ComplaintsBoard
M
4:27 am EST
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Air China flight to beijing

Here's my feedback for air china, an airline that I ended up on through making a booking with the star-alliance. When the food started to pass out I noticed a strange smell in the cabin. After ordering the pork I had three mouthfuls and gave it back. It was disgusting. The flight attendant told me I was not the only one to complain and asked if I would like another bread roll instead. Within 48 hours I began to feel really sick and have suffered vomiting and diarrhea and been unable to eat. I paid $1000.00 australian to be poisoned. My complaint resulted in a phone call from a woman who could barely speak english. She thanked me for my feedback

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Sebastian Monterrosa
, US
Nov 02, 2019 11:27 am EDT

It's my second day waiting for my baggage, they told me it will be at the hotel at 6pm. Then I called at 6:30pm, and an agent told me, because of the rain they couldn't delivered my baggage.
I've been waiting for an answered or a resolution of my case, and nobody provided me an answer.

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elszyl
, US
Aug 27, 2019 6:00 pm EDT

The worst airline I ever fly. Beijing Airport is worst airport. Rude staff inside the airport that will not or don't know how to communicate English. I will never do it again. Delayed the flight and they never apologized, and completely left everybody in the dark of what's going on. They were useless! I will never fly air china again.

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Naomi Greenfield
, US
Jul 11, 2019 1:52 am EDT

I arrived in Bangkok last night, 3 hours after the anticipated time, at 2 in the morning. My baggage did not arrive and still hasn't it is 9 PM the next day. I have had to buy new clothing, food and toiletries and I would appreciate some compensation for the inconvenience.

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ccnermlh
, US
Sep 18, 2018 10:26 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Dear sirs,
I am a frequent flyer of your airline to and from Vancouver/Beijing at least once a month. I would like to suggest your Vancouver check-in staff be more
concentrated on customers rather than talking and laughing with another staff, ignoring to answer customer questions. And also the on board food quality is deteriorating every year.

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Friedman
, US
Sep 11, 2018 2:05 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I checked online to book on Air China I see you guys don't have strictly kosher meal you can check online at go zetko.com what strictly kosher meal means that's the reason I have to travel what a different Airline you guys don't serve strictly kosher meal thanks again I love it China

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JuliJ
, US
Feb 18, 2017 7:24 am EST

agree

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hifly
Folsom, US
Jul 09, 2012 4:56 pm EDT

Never, never travel on air china. I am frquent flyer to india & travelled with more then 10-12 diffrent airlines but air china really sucks. no services, delay in arrival/departure time, food is filthy. I lost my baggage & no response from airlines. on international flight they dont stuff who can understand english...it was nightmare to travel on air chna with family..

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VladS
, DE
Dec 16, 2010 2:54 pm EST

Flying from beijing to Frankfurt. Flt was 4 hours late leaving. New plane had very small business class. Many passengers downgraded, no apology, no proper food on plane. Will never fly with the agin

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mirshany
, PK
Jun 27, 2012 8:37 pm EDT

I did more then 10 email for booking My flight, Even talk on their office but, they didn't response even one Email. On Air china website Multi destination booking not Properly Working. No feedback system at their web site. No complain System

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Jane ABC
, US
Dec 24, 2010 2:56 pm EST

CA 991 will delay departure at least 22.5 hours. The worst thing is the flight was cancelled and put off on Christmas Eve. When asked about the reason for the delay, no staff could provide a reasonable explaination, and most of them kept silence.

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