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.

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.

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

Amit Kanudia 7811767721606/4

Pratima Bisen 7811767721611/4
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We have lodged our complaint with Air China twice but no action has been taken to mitigate our complaint.

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.

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

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.