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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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12:36 pm EDT
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Air China reservation, baggage, and flight cancellation and experience on how case was handled

I am writing to express my disappointment and worst experience with air china, especially as part of star alliance group.

Flight number: ca1329 17/08/13 21:00pm flight from beijing to guangzhou

Scenario:

1) arrived airport at 5pm and check in. At about 21:00 pm on 17/08/13 we was informed the flight delayed to 21:30 pm.
2) at 21:30 pm we was informed the flight cancelled, we quickly went to their airport staffs and notify them that we have to catch flight from guangzhou to singapore at 18/8/13 2:30 pm (Tiger airway) and the ticket couldn't be changed.
3) air china airport staffs refused to listen or give any solutions. Instead, they pushed all responsibility to their manager and said there's no manager on duty and asked us to come back on second day to see what can be done.
4) we explained clearly of the following point:
I) if we missed the actual flight to gz, we won't be able to go back to singapore by 18/08/13. Reason: a) the next available flight is 10:40 am from gz to singapore by tiger airways. But the earliest flight from beijing is 9:00 am 18/8/13. Thus it's impossible for us to catch this flight.
Ii) we requested to change our ticket from beijing direct to singapore on 17/08/13 11:30 pm flight by air china but none of their airport staffs or call centre is bothered to handle this case promptly.
Iii) alternatives 2: we requested air china to negotiate with singapore airlines if we can pay the fare difference which showing in singapore airlines website the price for flight from beijing to singapore on 18/8/13 01:15 am rmb 4361. But we was told that they do not have singapore airline contact details and I am really surprised to hear this.in singapore airlines website, clearly stated the 24 hours hotline number to call as well their beijing contact details. Obviously no effort had be done regarding this matter. So they requested us to go to singapore airline ticketing office, but all they have done delayed the possibility to resolved this matter because by that time is already 11:45pm and singapore airlines ticketing office is closed and no longer can do any booking online.
Iv) we waited in-front of air china employees to get the best method to solve this issue but they treated us transparent.
V) we have to purchase a separate air ticket from singapore airlines online for 18/8/13 8:55 am from beijing directly to singapore at much higher cost.

Besides above issues, our flight air china from guangzhou to beijing on 14/08/13 ca1310, when we pick our luggage we realized the luggage locker was all broken. We went to air china baggage office in beijing and we was told that they can do is compensate rmb 50 and request us to fix it ourselves.

Not talking about the nightmare I had with air china for the whole reservation process for gz-beijing and beijing-gz ticket.

As a frequent flyer and member of star alliance, I have to say this is my worst travel experience I ever had in my life.
What more to compare their service with any budget airlines, definitely is not up to any of the standards.

I will never use air china service again.

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jimmmmboooo
new york, US
May 03, 2014 7:55 am EDT

my wife has just had a terrible experience with air china also. she had a stopover she knew nothing about, not on itinery, not told by check in staff or on her boarding pass, and was meant to take a domestic flight within china. due to air chinas employees poor english she missed that flight, was told air china would not pay for a hotel and that her connecting flight to europe was cancelled. she then had to pay $1400 for another ticket to europe with another airline. air china is a joke.

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sorawann
, TH
Dec 23, 2013 1:04 am EST

On 24 July 2013 I traveled from narita airport via beijing to thailand.But it delayed . I had to stayed for one night in Beijing. But air china didn't pay for hotel compensate.I must pay for myself. Include This air china flight sevice of crew is terrible. Bad services.

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11:16 pm EDT
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Air China complain to air china ca969 flight delay 5 hours

I took the flight CA 969 from Beijing to Singapore on Jun 30 2013. The flight depart time is scheduled on 15:35 pm on 30 Jun, but after all the passengers boarded the aircraft, we were told the flight will be delayed some time, and then we just sit in a closed cabin up to 5 hours until 20.30 pm, the airplane start to take off.

I have took a lot of international flights every year, I never see such airline like Air China, it can delay 5 hours and no detail reason to customers, we are very painful to be closed in the cabin. I even take some foreign budget airlines, even the budget airline's departure and arrival time is 90% on time.

I cannot imagine, as the biggest and most famous airline in China, Air China can delay so much time! It's UNBELIEVABLE and UNACCEPTABLE !

After one day, I got reply from Air China customer relation, I was told due to bad weather, the flight cannot take off on time. However, as I checked from website, on Jun 30, the Singapore Airline SQ807 (Beijing - Singapore) departed from Beijing airport on the scheduled time 16:45pm, why Air China cannot depart on time? You said it was because of bad weather, so it means the bad weather is ONLY for Air China flights not for Singapore Airline flights, right? I cannot understand why Singapore Airline can depart on time, but your Air China cannot !

As the biggest airline in China, Air China's performance and customer relationships are extremely bad and out of my expectation. And I called the Air China call center to feedback the complaint, their operator's attitude is also very bad and just keep saying it is because of the weather, but never give more detail explanation. What kind of such airline! Terrible!

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Update by Andyski_Eric
Jul 02, 2013 11:23 pm EDT

I took the flight CA 969 from Beijing to Singapore on Jun 30 2013. The flight depart time is scheduled on 15:35 pm on 30 Jun, but after all the passengers boarded the aircraft, we were told the flight will be delayed some time, and then we just sit in a closed cabin up to 5 hours until 20.30 pm, the airplane start to take off.

I have took a lot of international flights every year, I never see such airline like Air China, it can delay 5 hours and no detail reason to customers, we are very painful to be closed in the cabin. I even take some foreign budget airlines, even the budget airline's departure and arrival time is 90% on time.

I cannot imagine, as the biggest and most famous airline in China, Air China can delay so much time! It's UNBELIEVABLE and UNACCEPTABLE !

After one day, I got reply from Air China, I was told due to bad weather, the flight CA969 cannot take off on time. But, as I checked from website, on Jun 30, the Singapore Airline SQ807 (Beijing - Singapore) departed from Beijing airport on the scheduled time 16:45pm, why Air China cannot depart on time? You said it was because of bad weather, so it means the bad weather is ONLY for Air China flights not for Singapore Airline flights, right? I cannot understand why Singapore Airline can depart on time, but your Air China cannot !

As the biggest airline in China, Air China's performance and customer relationships are extremely bad and out of my expectation. When I called the Air China call center to feedback my complaint, the operator's attitude is also very bad, I was very angry with such kind of airline. It always give some ridiculous excuses to explain its fault, never realize and improve its faults.

Very Terrible! I don't hope to see anyone else has such bad experience with such bad airline !

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6:18 pm EST
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Air China flight canceled disaster

This happened to me and did not get any compensation so far.

Regarding:
E-ticket number: etkt 999 [protected]
Booking reference: amadeus: 6fdb2b, airline: ca/mdssv3
Sydney - beijing: ca 176 u 23jul 1020, beijing capital arrival time: 23.05
Beijing - munich: ca961 u 24jul 0010, munich arrival time: 5.30am

To whom it may concern,
I recently took a flight that was scheduled to fly from sydney to beijing and beijing to munich. No other scheduled stops were planned. The initial flight, ca 176, was delayed for one hour in sydney.
During the flight from sydney to beijing there was an cabin announcment that we had to return to our seats and fasten our seat belts because we were about to land in shanghai. Everybody onboard was very confused because nobody had booked a flight to shanghai. Several people asked the flight attendant why we were making an unscheduled stop and were concerned that something was wrong with the aircraft.
It was explained to us, in very poor english, that we were to land in shanghai for a short while (No reason was given for this unscheduled landing) and would then fly to beijing where we would be on time to catch the connecting flight to munich. We were forced to take our carry-on luggage with us and leave the aircraft.
Inside the terminal, we were made to pass through the immigration counter. Nobody explained why. As we arrived at the immigration counter we were instructed to fill in arrival cards, despite the fact that we had no intention of leaving the airport. We were eventually told that we had to fill in these cards because we arrived in shanghai. Everybody was very confused and upset. As we arrived at the counter, the police officer told us we had to fill in departure cards as well. As a result of this, every single passenger had to go back to the desk fill in the departure card and return to the queue.
After the immigration check, we met the flight attendant again and she gave each of us a scrap of paper with a number hand-written on it. She explained that this was our boarding pass for the flight from shanghai to beijing. At this point, it was becoming clear that the stop in shanghai was absolutely unplanned otherwise the correct paperwork would have been issued.
We were instructed go to the end of the airport hall and turn right. At the end there was another security check waiting for us. After the check we were forced to walk around the whole airport to end up at a completely different gate but on the same plane; many of the passengers were elderly and everyone was exhausted, especially as we had to carry our bags. We all re-boarded the aircraft, noting that we were all sat in the same seats as before, with exactly the same people around us. The staff hadn't even bothered to clean the aircraft. Nobody could explain why we had to disembark and reboard the aeroplane. Overall we spent more than ninety minutes at shanghai airport. Everyone was complaining about the lack of consideration, courtesy and professionalism shown by air china's staff.
Shortly after we reboarded, a cabin anouncement said that we have to wait for one more passenger who had a problem with their luggage. This took another thirty minutes to resolve. The air china staff could not tell us if our connection flight to munich would be waiting for us in beijing.
We arrived in beijing at 01:30; the connection flight was scheduled to depart at 00:40. By the time we arrived, our connecting flight was no longer detailed on the scheduled departure screen. No air china staff were available to give us any information or to help us in any way and we were all tired and distressed. None of my fellow passengers, or myself, had any idea what to do, so we followed the passengers who intended to take the 01:30 flight to frankfurt (And who were running to attempt to make it to their flight) in an attempt to try to get on board, or at least get some information from air china staff.
Unfortunately, the airport personnel didn't let us through to the gate because our original flight had already departed. We didn't get any support or advice regarding what to do and so myself and my fellow passengers went back to the airport service counter. The member of staff on duty informed us that he was unable to help us but that the air china manager would return at 05:00. Obviously, by this point, many people including myself, were extremely angry, tired and disappointed in air china's terrible performance.
Eventually, one of my fellow passengers convinced the airport employee at the service desk to book us into a hotel. Note that this was the first helpful thing that anyone had done for us since leaving sydney and that it was an airport employee and not a member of air china staff who provided assistance.
We arrived at the hotel at roughly 03:30. I was informed that I had to share a double bedroom with two other people who I had never met before; they didn't know each other either. Just to clarify - three strangers were expected to share a double bed as a result of air china's incompetence. Some passengers were informed that they would have to share a bedroom with members of the opposite sex, which was absolutely unacceptable.
We then were given the information that a bus had been arranged to take us back to the airport at 04:30. Which left us, after checking in at the hotel and introducing ourselves to the people we had to share a room with, with just forty minutes for three of us to take a shower and to get in touch with our families to let them know just how badly air china had let us down. We all wanted to inform our families that we had no idea when we would be able to get a flight.
At 04:30, the bus returned us to the airport. Unfortunately, the air china manager didn't open the service counter until 05:30 and a large queue had formed. At around 06:00, when it was my turn to speak to the manager, I (Like my fellow passengers) was told that my options were to change my tickets to a different destination or to get on the next flight to munich 24 hours later.
It should be noted that many of the other passengers had connection flights to other destinations in europe that, by now, they had already missed. The state of health of some more eldery customers was deteriorating quickly. Even the younger passengers, such as myself, were suffering badly with stress, hunger and fatigue. As a group, we complained that if we were to stay for a whole day in beijing, then we would at least need a hotel and some food. The air china manager was unable to provide this and said that it wasn't air china's responsibility. Obviously, this caused more anger and distress, since air china had, so far, failed in all their basic responsibilities and obligations as an service provider.
Eventually, the air china manager was persuaded to try to get us onto an earlier flight to munich if it was possible, although he was not confident that he could arrange this. He recommended that we should go to the ticket change counter to attempt to change our flights to a different destination in germany. We were then to return to the air china manager's counter to find out if hehad been successful in arranging for us to take an earlier flight to munich. After another hour waiting in the queue at the ticket change counter, I was able to change my ticket to a different destination in germany.
By now, it was time to return to queue at the air china manger's counter. He said that he could book us onto an earlier flight to munich but only if we had not changed our flight tickets so far. Unfortunately, by this point, everybody had already changed their tickets as recommended and so we had another conflict. The air china manager refused to engage with us in person, prefering to communicate by shouting at his employees at the desk. Finally, the air china manager issued pieces of paper with three passenger's names written on each and informed us that these were our tickets for a flight at 13:20.
It became apparent that lufthansa airlines had assumed the responsibility for flying us to munich, since air china was too inept to do so. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to locate our luggage, which air china had lost somewhere in the airport. The airport staff were unable to help us and so we had to search for it ourselves. Ultimately, we had to go the the 'lost luggage' section in the airport basement and search for our own luggage there. After another hour, we located our luggage and could go to the lufthansa check-in counter to board our new connecting flight.
By this point, neither myself nor my fellow passengers had been provided with any explaination, assistance, apology or quality service of any kind from air china. No - one had been provided with any food or drink for over ten hours and no kind of compensation had been provided. I had been unable to contact my family to let them know that I was delayed, causing them considerable distress. The way we were treated by air china was degrading, uncaring and utterly unprofessional.
Instead of arriving early in the morning at my destination, I arrived late in the evening and missed my father's 60th birthday party, which was the only reason I had been traveling. This caused myself and my family a great deal of distress.
That was my first flight with air china but both I (And everyone I talk to about my journey) would never consider using air china again unless proper compensation is made.

Manuela hecht.

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10:21 pm EDT
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Air China delayed baggage

After hours of transit at beijing on ca1106 to kul I had to go through long flight delay inside an old plane with stuffy warm air on 5 aug. Almost every passenger was panting. The plane was fit for flying but the comfort level is terrible, especially when it is for long hauls. The restroom odour that escaped when the door is opened was unbearable when the air is hot inside.

I arrived during midnight and had to dreadfully wait for my checked in baggage at the conveyor belt in klia. My baggage did not arrive. I had to wander around before I could find the lost and found office which was not quite as helpful as I expected. It was already midnight after making the report and all my supplies and important items are not with me. I do not have my toiletries with me. I had to purposely seek for 24 hours convenience store just to get facial wash that wasn't suitable for my skin, my working attire is inside the luggage, my transport has to wait for me until the report was completed not to mention that the flight is already late due to delays. I had to delay my trip to another city as I am unable to leave without my luggage and the things in it. The tracking number provided in the report did not work on their website. It took them the entire day yesterday just to inform me that my baggage is in beijing. It was close to evening when I received a call from klia. My appointments are all pending for the entire day yesterday as I could not leave without my things. My mobile phone charger is in the luggage as well and I can't make calls with a phone that is low on battery! It was and still is frustrating! This does not only occurred once but it happened to my colleague when we first went to hohhot. Twice in one trip! I am extremely disappointed with this kind of service.

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John T Syd
Sydney, AU
Aug 29, 2016 5:57 am EDT

I would suggest noone use Air China for Long Haul flights. They are exceptionally poor at deivering on the basics required by travelers especially with Children.

They received a brand new pram, failed to load it in Sydney and then delivered a smashed pram to use for our trip. They have no interest in guests satisfaction infact they have acused us of being responsible for the issues.
Furhermore, We were placed in unacceptable seating for overnight flights to ensure a baby may sleep.
o Emergency lighting set to shine directly onto our son for the duration of the trip from Moscow to Beijing.
o Eight requests to your cabin team to have this light switched off were refused until I demanded to see a sleeping manager.
o All previous requests were not fulfilled with staff on three occasions suggesting eye masks for our son as the only alternative.
o Dismissal of our request in favor of cleaning bathrooms on two occasions.
o Allocating a single man to travel beside me while I was seated two rows behind my wife ensuring I would not be of assistance.
• Furthermore when I advised his entertainment system was not operating due to a smashed controller your staff responded “Well I am not a technician. Find an empty seat and watch there”.
• Advising on each leg of our journey that our baby (who is 9.5 kilos in weight) was too big for a bassinet.
• Provided food after the remainder of the cabin was served.
• No blanket provided to our son when the basinet was fitted. Requiring me to do without a blanket from Moscow to Beijing and then a demand to Air China staff on the flight from Beijing to Sydney.
• Not having suitable restraints in place for our son sleeping in the bassinet. Turbulence was an issue on each of our flights. It was only that I devised a restraint that our son was able to sleep safely.
• Requirements for our pram to travel in Cargo as advised as a standard of Air China. In fact another passenger’s pram taken at the gate in Beijing had to collect their pram with their baggage due to AIr China placing the baggage in cargo.

In short we have been offered $50.00 and a half baked job on repairing our new pram. They are without a doubt the worst air line in the world. There is a reason they cant charge for service... They dont provide any! As a member of Star Allinace the Alliance has done nothing either. Seriously consider your endorsment of poor service by paying either the Alliance or Air China your hard earnt cash...

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Carmelita Manuzon
, GB
Apr 08, 2016 4:58 pm EDT

Hi,
I arrived at Heathrow airport on March 15, 2016.
My baggage wast lost. I failed a claim but I still have not heard from Air China. I went to the airport for several times to asked for a help to the staffs of Air China but they game me an email address and phone number. I was trying to contact the phone number they game me leave a hundred messages. I got no reply. I sent an email to the email address. I got no reply either. I'm so desperate to have my laggage all my personal items are there.
Today is the 8th of April and I don't have my baggage yet. It's been a long time more than 3 weeks.
Is there an official compensation from Air China for each day baggage delayed?
Is there a higher authority to refort lost baggage, besides Air China?

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11:25 pm EDT
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Air China sucks!!!

I went on board in New York of Air China on July 15, hoping to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 pm on July 16 to connect to a flight to elsewhere. However, I say inside the plane for 7 freaking hours before takeoff. The employees of Air China were all unresponsive and unaware of the situation. Thus my flight was delayed 7 hours and then I arrived in Beijing at 12 am. Not only they did not properly take care of the connection flight of mine but also they didn't even bother to explain what's going to happen and so I got stuck in Beijing for 15 hours before I got another flight out to my final destination. A 18 hours trip took 41 hours and I got no feedback from airline and no apologies. I'm so disappointed and so angry at this because they are ruining all my planes! I highly don't recommend Air China to any where in the world. They have no respect for their customer. Sadly, I'll be retunrning to the states with Air China. Please pray for me, before in I lose my cool. On top of everything, I haven't sleep in 24 hours. No one cared to check up on me even though I had complained to them.

Flight also sucks for international! There are no amenities that were useful nor entertainment for the thirteen hour flight! Be aware AVOID Air China at all cost!

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Pimvimol
, TH
Dec 21, 2012 12:47 am EST

I connected flight at San Francisco airport with air china to Beijing .I connected from Beijing to BKK by air china CA 979 dd 11 Dec 2012 .I lost my baggage.I went to baggage service in BKK airport.The next day they contacted to San Fancisco and Beijing airport to check my baggage by tag number .Only one day I heard from San Francisco that my baggage has already scan to Beijing airport but Beijing airport didn't reply anything.Until four days latter they informed me, they met the baggage looking like my baggage and didn't have tag number .The baggage service in BKK air port contacted them to send that baggage to see.Affter four days latter the BKK airport called me that they met my baggage .They sent back to me at my house.Before I accepted my baggage I opened to see all of things that I have in my baggage .I found that I lost a lot of things in my baggage .The Beijing airport's employees stole my clothes, perfume, Nike and cross shoes.The value is almost &500 .I called to complain with air china but they claimed me only $142 .I have sent e mail to Air china head office they didn't respond anything.I would like to post and tell every body that if you flight with air china and connect flight ai Beijing airport, you must be careful because air china doesn't flight for passenger if you lost something .The Beijing airport's employees aren't honest .I would like to say that f*** air china and f*** airport.I will not fly with air china anymore.

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Air China to be cheat by taiwan's woman

To be cheated for selling e-Ticket.
I am a Thai woman live in Taiwan for 6 years. I had buy e-ticket airplane from Taiwan's woman. Her name is Chew Mei Hua邱美華 on 7 feb 2012 and I want to fly to Thailand on 5 Mar 2012.But on 29 Feb 2012 my e-Ticket account K5YJ82(CI-CHINA AIRLINES) had checked only holding but no open.The lady who service said where you buy ticket and she telephone to check by herself. look like she can knows e-ticket from where. And she suggest me to contact Chew Mei Hua and wait next day.
At last I contact chew Mei Hua she only speak easily the ticket can not open she will retuen money for me on 30 Mar2012. I upset why she cheat me like I am stupid.
On 29Feb2012 I try to search Chew Mei Hua's information from internet and found Chew Mei Hua cheat to buying Ticket Airplane for foreigner at Thai massage store or foriegner Khamphucha.And I found Chew Mei Huo go to around Thai massage a lot because thai woman who work in thai massage can not book eTicket or cantact agentcy travel.
Now on 3Mar2012 Chew Mei Hua still buy airplane Ticket for worker or Thai woman in Thai Massage at Khousiung, Taiwan. My friends at thai massage just buy 3 ticket from Chew Mei hua in name Huang Ya wen 36000 yuan. Oh! terrible.
I had report police already and buy new eticket flying to Thailand on 5Mar2012. Never think has a woman like this can cheat an brave like thief, she act she work at agent travel for buying ticket.
Before I contact Chew Mei hua I try to buy online but can not buy because I no Identification Taiwan 's peaple.It's difficult for booking online if you to be foreigner.

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Air China shocking unacceptable service

Air china is the worst airline I have travelled with in my lifetime. I was travelling from chongqing to shanghai on 6 the february 2012.

1. Went for check-in my luggage, and was told that they could not find my reservation, asked me go back to ticket office and get a ticket first. I gave my ticket number and also my connecting flight information as on my e-ticket; but, no. So had to cart my luggage back to the ticket office and had to wait for 30 minutes before my turn came. The ticket office said that my reservation and ticket was fine and asked me to go back to the check in. After 10 minutes they did find my information. Nearly missed my flight due this delay.

2. Breakfast: my seat was j20 in the middle of the plane. People in the front and back were served with breakfast except 6 of us in the middle. We all waited and hoping we will be served but no one came and offered us with the breakfast. Finally they came to pick up the trays and we asked for our breakfast and after everyone trays were taken, we finally got served with cold rice porridge, an dried up bun, half boiled egg with shell and eggyork smelling bad and dried. Which was uneatable. I am sure these were left overs from earlier flights.

3. Suddenly the plane landed at a wrong airport in shanghai (About 1 hour away by bus), the plane was to land at shanghai pudo airport. There was no help of any sort from air china to get to pudo airport. I was told to go to shuttle bus terminal which was long way away and had to cart 3 baggages through various floors. As I was leaving china I did not have 30 yuan for the ticket and had to go back to the airport and exchange money. Finally after 2 hours I did make it back to pudo international.

Flight no. Ca4543. Boarding time 7:40 am. Date 6th february 2012. Seat number 21 j. My name dr. Aspi maneckjee.

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Air China bad checkin service

Issues: We booked the thicket online with right passenger name. Somehow, between the online agent and air china, the passanger's first name got totally wrong. At the check in desk, we can see the notes with right name.

I know that air China can issue the boarding pass as long as the manager manually correct the first name with her signatue and air china stamps. However, She insisted that she cannot correct the name.

Finally, waited about 3 hours, we have to buy a ticket which is about 400 dollar more and to cancel our original ticket. Under time pressue and because the passenger is 70 years old, we paid for this expensive ticket. However, this is really not a right way to run business.

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Air China poor services

I travelled with air china on 9th and 13th september 2011 and this was the first and last time I travelled with it. There are number of factors affecting my decision. First flight is never on time. Second there is no reason provided for the same. Third flight attendants never respond to your call. You will be required to go to them. There will be turbulent signs on for almost 80% of flight time. Fourth, third grade food. Drinks on the flight are all cheap options which are served once on 9 hour flight. Fifth, washroom are even worse than public toilets. Sixth, if you ask for spare blankets there are none. Seventh, inflight magazines are all chinese.

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Air China no refund, poor customer service

I purchased a ticket with air china to fly from chicago to beijing. They let me fly from chicago to sfo airport. However, at the san francisco airport, they said that I couldn't fly to beijing because of my passport even though I was taking another flight to mongolia. I wasn't going outside of the airport in beijing. I was simply going back home to mongolia, transiting in beijing. Now, they want me to buy another ticket to fly and won't give my refund back!

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Update by Mandukhai
Sep 14, 2011 3:11 am EDT

My name is Mandukhai! I want another date to fly. Their customer service sucks! Can not even speak proper English!

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Air China non payment o promised compensation

Air China managed to ruin a brand new suitcase. On my return to UK their agents, Air Canada examined the damage and confirmed this damage, filled in a form etc. I still had to write in as well and fill in a form from Air China in poor English. I eventually received a letter on 23 July 2011 confirming they would pay the £25.20 requested if I wrote (yet again) confirming acceptance and final settlement. I posted that letter on 25 July and am still waiting.

I have phoned their European office (free call) who just refer me to their London Heathrow one. Phoned that daily. Either no reply or message just saying phone again - no facility for leaving a message.

I have posted daily complaints on their main website and still nothing. What can I do to get them to honour their offer and actually send me a cheque? Is there any regulatory body who would help me?

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2:27 pm EDT
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Air China rude, unhelpful staff & messy arrangement

Terrible experience with Air China in a HKG-PEK-SVO return trip, which included a rude ground staff yelling at me, not being informed about changes in flight arrangement and how I would be impacted, messy check-ins, missing miles, bad food and an uncomfortable seat.

In HK a ground staff asked me to check-in my luggage at another airline without any explanation, and she yelled at me and went away after I asked about the arrangement. Another one then told me that previous flight cancellations meant some passengers had to take other flights to Beijing. Both did not tell me that as a result I had to transport my luggage from T2 to T3 in Beijing which are kilometers away, and I was assured that miles would be credited as I took the original flight, which did not happen. No sign that they tried the customers with Beijing as destination first, nor efforts explaining to customers impacts on them earlier. Food was bad, and the seat on PEK-HKG was very uncomfortable. No one was able to identify any queues before the check-in counters in Moscow. Complaint went 10 days without even an acknowledgement. Called up the HK office and staff was very unhelpful. Was told it’s too soon to have any feedback 10 days after filing a complaint, and all she could do was giving me a no to call as the mailbox was not handled by the HK office.

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Air China poor custom service

Don't fly on Air China, their custom service can be summarized as from irresponsible to downright lying. Recently I flied with two colleagues from Shen Yang to Beijing on flight 1636, 6:55pm. The incoming plane that we supposed to be on was turned back to Beijing because of rain in Shen Yang. This airplane was then kept from flying at Beijing airport due to thunderstorm in Beijing. For more than 4 hours, Air China gave no information other than asking us to wait. Eventually, at almost midnight, under the custom pressure the airline agreed to put customers at an airport hotel, which is cheap and dirty but nothing to complain about compared to similar situations in US. What's horrible is afterwards, before we went to the hotel air china promised that a shuttle will take us back to the airport and makeup flight will be arranged optimistically before 12pm. When the morning came, we had no information nor instructions on what to do from the airline. Under our own initiative, we went to airport, we were told that our flight had been cancelled and we were not rescheduled for next flight. Only thing they gave us was a note in Chinese stating that our flight had been cancelled by the airline. We were suppose to us this note to get refund from our travel agency. We can understand the weather issues, but for most airlines, we expect them to reschedule the flight even it can be next day or the day after. You can not expect the same service with Air China, not even the basic courtesy of information, does not matter if you are top members of star alliance or whatever. Luckily, some of us do speak chinese, otherwise we would be totally lost. The Air China staff at Shen Yang airport, from the gate agent to airline officer, do not have the basic English communication skill. Do not fly Air China, you will be lost if any thing happens, in this case, bad weather.

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mirshany
, PK
Jun 27, 2012 8:38 pm EDT

The 3rd Class Service

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Mandukhai
Skokie, US
Sep 14, 2011 3:16 am EDT
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Never fly Air China again!

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7:37 am EDT
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Air China poor business and service ethics of air china

(Amit Kanudia) and my wife (Pratima Bisen) were flying Xi’an – Delhi via Beijing on April 2nd, business class. The first flight got delayed and we arrived on terminal 3C about 30 minutes before the departure of the next flight. The boarding gate was announced before landing and there was no agent waiting for us at the arrival gate, so we thought we will be able to make the connection through the normal channel. After changing the terminal (3E), going through immigration and security, we managed to reach the gate exactly at the departure time. The gate was deserted! No agent and no information. We traced our steps back through security and immigration all the way to 3C. And bear in mind that it is very hard to have even the simplest of questions answered on all counters… language is a major problem in you country for people who don’t speak Chinese.

The information counter advised us to go to the Air China ticketing. Waited for a long time and they said the only option was to take the same flight on April 4th as there was no service on the next day. They could not confirm us on any alternate routing.

They did book us in a very shoddy hotel (Golden Phoenix Beijing hotel) but there was no Air China staff to accompany us and no one knew what “Business class” meant at the hotel counter! We were offered “free buffets” but even my servants won’t eat that food. Two dishes (just rice and beef) in an empty hall… no vegetarian food. at all And no way to ask anything to any of the hotel staff. We had to pay for our meals as well as breakfast to have any reasonable options.

Two main complaints:

1. They had already decided that we are not going to make the connecting flight as our luggage was not loaded. Someone should have informed us so that we did not have to rush through the terminal transfer, immigration and security… TWICE.

2. The hotel arrangement was pathetic… no difference whether you travel business or economy.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

For your reference our Beijing-Delhi ticket nos are mentioned below:

Amit Kanudia [protected]/4

Pratima Bisen [protected]/4

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have twice lodged our complaint with Air China but they have not taken any action to mitigate our complaints.

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Air China poor business ethics and service attitude of air china

I (Amit Kanudia) and my wife (Pratima Bisen) were flying Xi’an – Delhi via Beijing on April 2nd, business class. The first flight got delayed and we arrived on terminal 3C about 30 minutes before the departure of the next flight. The boarding gate was announced before landing and there was no agent waiting for us at the arrival gate, so we thought we will be able to make the connection through the normal channel. After changing the terminal (3E), going through immigration and security, we managed to reach the gate exactly at the departure time. The gate was deserted! No agent and no information. We traced our steps back through security and immigration all the way to 3C. And bear in mind that it is very hard to have even the simplest of questions answered on all counters… language is a major problem in China for people who don’t speak Chinese.

The information counter advised us to go to the Air China ticketing. Waited for a long time and they said the only option was to take the same flight on April 4th as there was no service on the next day. They could not confirm us on any alternate routing.

They did book us in a very shoddy hotel (Golden Phoenix Beijing hotel) but there was no Air China staff to accompany us and no one knew what “Business class” meant at the hotel counter! We were offered “free buffets” but even my servants won’t eat that food. Two dishes (just rice and beef) in an empty hall… no vegetarian food. at all And no way to ask anything to any of the hotel staff. We had to pay for our meals as well as breakfast to have any reasonable options.

Two main complaints:

1. They had already decided that we are not going to make the connecting flight as our luggage was not loaded. Someone should have informed us so that we did not have to rush through the terminal transfer, immigration and security… TWICE.

2. The hotel arrangement was pathetic… no difference whether you travel business or economy.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

For your reference our Beijing-Delhi ticket nos are mentioned below:

Amit Kanudia [protected]/4

Pratima Bisen [protected]/4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have lodged our complaint with Air China twice but no action has been taken to mitigate our complaint.

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2:42 am EDT
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Air China delyaed then canceled

I'd like to share my recent horrible experience with Air China, which is totally unreliable. My connection flight CA 129 from Beijing to Busan was first delayed then canceled. I understand Air China can do nothing about inclement weather. However, they can at least try to help their customers by rescheduling flights, which is completely absent.

The flight was originally scheduled at 8:25AM, but I had to wait for a couple of hours due to bad weather. After the flight was canceled, Air China put all in a hotel without saying any further details about the current situation. No one speaks English so I had to overhear conversations who can speak both Chinese and Korean to figure out what's going on. In the hotel, no one representing Air China were there; if I want to make a phone call to Air China, I have to pay a fee for it. No one at the hotel cared about the people. For example, they didn't know what flight was rescheduled or not. We had to stay without knowing what will happen for hours, then suddenly we were kicked out of the hotel by 10PM because Air China didn't want to pay for a night. So, after 10PM, we were back to the Beijing airport and found there were no flight to Pusan tomorrow. They said we can fly to Incheon, which is about 2 hours distance from Busan by flight. However, they didn't guarantee the connection from Incheon to Busan, and they didn't provide temporary accommodation for a night. In short, they didn't care about their customers at all.

Air China seems to believe they can make money despite lousy business because they count on 1.5B of Chinese people. Thanks to Air China, I get a really bad impression on China, which I didn't have before. I really appreciate Air China for that.

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Air China canceled flights

I recently went on a business trip to China. Within China I had first class round trip booking from Shanghai to Yichang. A few days prior to my departure and with tickets issued and in my hand I was informed by my colleague in China that my flight from Shanghai to Yichang was canceled with no reason and absolutely no information given by Air China. I contacted my travel agent that issued the tickets and they knew nothing about it. I managed to rebook on a different airline. My colleage in China assured me that my flight back from Yichang to Shanghai was still ok and on schedule. Upon arriveal in China and just 4 days prior to my flight back to Shanghai from Yichang my colleague informed me that return flight was also now canceled with no explanation at all given. My colleage spent hours trying to resolve this with Air China but could not and was fortunately able to make me an alternative booking on another airline but I had to pay again. Summing up, Air China did nothing at all to help, in fact they hindered us by not keeping us informed. DO NOT fly Air China.

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4:38 pm EST
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Air China rudeness overbooked

Air China CA 991 was 24 hour delayed from Beijing to Vancouver because of over booking – Worst Customer service - Guy in Vancouver hanged up on me

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Air China unhelpful service

Lousy service and unreliable... Have my parents booked to fly in Dec'10 from San Francisco to Beijing and from Beijing to New Delhi. Air China just informed that they have pre-poned the flight time for CA947 -Beijing to New Delhi from 8.47pm to 6.00pm. So if they want to take this connecting flight they are forced to stay 24hrs in Beijing and leave one day early from San Francisco. Despite pleading with the airline that this is very difficult as it requires change in plan to leave one day early and the inconvenience for my old parents to stay one day in Beijing the airline has been completely unreceptive to looking for alternative options on Star-Alliance flights. Very unprofessional approach. Will not travel again in this airline.

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Update by Sandeep_h
Nov 06, 2010 9:05 pm EDT

Lousy service and unreliable... Have my parents booked to fly in Dec'10 from San Francisco to Beijing and from Beijing to New Delhi. Air China just informed that they have pre-poned the flight time for CA947 -Beijing to New Delhi from 8.47pm to 6.00pm. So if they want to take this connecting flight they are forced to stay 24hrs in Beijing and leave one day early from San Francisco. Despite pleading with the airline that this is very difficult as it requires change in plan to leave one day early and the inconvenience for my old parents to stay one day in Beijing the airline has been completely unreceptive to looking for alternative options on Star-Alliance flights. Very unprofessional approach. Will not travel again in this airline.

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Margaret Mukahanana Sangarwe
, ZW
Nov 16, 2010 7:31 pm EST

I flew on Air China in February and March 2010 and submitted my boading passes to South African Airways to claim air miles on my voyager account. Up to now my miles have not been credited and I keep getting a note saying awaiting manual approval. Noone is telling me why I am not getting my airmiles from Air China a member of the Star Alliance.

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2:11 am EDT
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Air China sporting gear charged as excess baggage

We went to China to sail in a world titles and were advised that due to our sporting gear fitting into 2 bags between 3 of us we would not have any problems with our own luggage.
We never had any problems loading bags in Weihai and traveling Via Air China to Beijing.. However after spending 2 days in Beijing when boarding the plane again our 5 cases were separated and we were made to pay for two of them a whopping $1918 Australian or 11580RMB I explained many times that two bags were sporting equipment and under the Air China guidelines they were to fly free up to 23kg each bag these bags were only 18kg and 20kg to make up for an extra 5kg in our other bags.
And when you fly from Wiehai to Beijing in China only to be told that China doesnt allow that!.
The Staff and management at Beijing were Laughing at me as I was getting more and more frustrated trying to tell them that they were wrong and explain their own Air lines guidelines to them. Upon arrival back in Sydney I went straight to the office and it is now 4 days later and I am getting the run around still... What can I do?
I want my $2000 back as I should not have paid it at all... Under their own sporting goods Guidelines..

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Badger Sick of Air China
, CN
Oct 26, 2010 2:47 pm EDT

Good luck,
they are all pigs, not just the Air China Staff, but for some reason, Airport staff in general in China are all miserable and unhelpful. I'm in the middle of dealing with them and will post my own complaint soon because they never give out any meaningful compensation.
regards
Badger
Sick of Air China

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