Hi all,

Just checking out air fares for a trip back to UK, I can get a return on Air China for less than $1,600 leaving at the end of April and valid for six months. The flight is via Beijing and though the return trip is pretty direct, the outward journey involves an almost seven hour wait at Beijing airport.

The airline seems to have a good safety record and I'm happy with the price, though I do realise that flying Air China almost certainly means that I'm going to meet an awful lot of Chinese nationals

Apart from the cultural challenges and the probable need to adapt to new diet in a hurry, does anyone know through personal experience why I should avoid this airline.

I'm not in a great hurry to get to UK, so instead of spending seven hours at Beijing airport and being an exhausted sweaty heap by the time I reach LHR, I'm considering spending a couple of days in the city, and adding Beijing to the holiday rather than the journey.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Aside from the fact they are rubbish ?

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_china.htm

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...na-review.html

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews130764.html

I could go on, but I think you get the point Ultimately you do often get what you pay for, which in this case is not a great deal sadly

Take the words "barge" "ten" "foot" and "pole" and rearrange them?

Hi Centurion,

Thanks for the links they were most helpful. Though as for Air China being "rubbish", when you analyse the complaints, this hardly seems to be the case. Lots of people complaining that they booked a flight on Air China because of the really cheap fare, only to complain that they flew on an older aircraft with limited in-flight entertainment, or that there was no choice of lobster on the in-flight menu.

As you say, you get what you pay for

The Qantas ticket for the same trip at the same time of year would be $2,400, the Air China trip will cost less than $1,600. The travel cost saving for a couple traveling together would be not far South of $2,000 and that will pay for our car hire and many other incidentals during our trip.

As for all the complaints about food quality........personally, if I go to a Chinese restaurant, I expect to eat Chinese food

Again many thanks for your input, the links that you provided gave me a great insight into what to expect and I've saved them for future reference

I love word games, heres one for you

Take the words "experience" "?" "personal" and rearrange those, best of luck with this one and no help from other members please

Try China Southern Airlines - they were offering some good prices at one point and I think they are a little bit more cosmopolitan as they are based in Shang-hai.

People will always complain - I bet there are some who complain about Singapore's A380 suites!

Flying with Air China back in 1989!!!!!

I still remember the experience to this day and I was only 19 at the time, on my way from london to bangkok.

If my memory is correct a 'rollercoaster' comes to mind, one plane crashed at bangkok airport and we were given a free night in the airport hotel, bangkok!!

At 19 years of age I was just ecstatic that I got a voucher for booze/food!!

But that was a long time ago

Hi fella's,

I cut my 'flying teeth' by fling TAAG out of Angola back in the seventies. After you have survived a few of their flights and the opulence of Luanda international airport after midnight, everything else is luxury

Flying 707's that were so beat-up that our crew used bring old blankets on board just to stuff around the exit doors to stop the airflow as all the rubber seals had long since perished.

The airline used to issue tickets to anyone who wanted to fly, with no pretence at seat allocation, so when the aircraft was ready to depart, there was a mad stampede to get to the aircraft and get a seat.

China Airways here we come

Good luck to you then [sounds like Saudia in the early 90's] but at least check that the aircraft will have decent in-flight entertainment; having just done PER->KL->LHR->KL->PER I would have gone spare on the London flights without something to watch.