Air China 中国国际航空公司 Zhōngguó Guójì Hángkōng Gōngsī Reviews 

My recent experience with Air China regarding a refund has been nothing short of appalling. I was forced to cancel my flight from London Gatwick to Phuket via Chengdu after the airline cancelled it with no explanation provided. I immediately initiated a refund request through their website. But it has now been over 16 days, and I have yet to receive my refund of approximately £500. My customer reference number is 40-485725660.

My attempts to contact their customer service department have been met with endless frustration. I spent over an hour on hold only to be disconnected. My emails have gone unanswered. I spoke with an agent who offered no solutions and simply told me to wait longer. This complete lack of communication and accountability is outrageous.

To date, Air China has failed to provide the refund, offer adequate customer support, or even offer a basic explanation for the flight cancellation. This is unacceptable. Because of this ongoing situation, I have had to miss my holiday and still be out of pocket. I strongly urge Air China to take immediate action to improve their refund process, customer service, and communication with passengers. This level of service is simply not acceptable for an international airline.

Paying 7x more for a business class ticket is not worth it. Seats are good, food is good but staff and attentiveness is far beyond acceptable. Lousy service and either ignorant or incompetent staff compared to other airlines. I would avoid this airline unless extreme necessary. Sorry AirChina..you have a long way to go.

Avoid. They take your money, then cancel, then do not refund. They work through disreputable online agents such as Opodo and Edreams -- which in fact are the same company. The fraud is this: you book a return flight from London Gatwick to Shanghai 4 months ahead of your holiday; then 2 weeks before your holiday they cancel just your outward bound flight but not your return flight. They do not do refunds. They partner with companies like Opodo and Edreams, provide no customer service alternative, phone or email. In the end you have to claw the money back through your credit card provider. Its what you should expect from a Chinese parastatal company.

They have no email address for correspondence so you must phone them. No help whatsoever. They cancelled my flight and are saying the booking agent (kiwi.com who I have also reviewed) cancelled my booking. Both companies are blaming each other. Dare I say they are both in on the scam. I have lost a lot of money I can’t afford. I think that is their plan, steal from vulnerable people.
Ref: 9999310719101

Very unfortunate experience with this company. On our flight from London to Beijing, the luggage did not arrive. Since we were in Beijing for just one night, they did not know when they could deliver the luggage to our next destination, so we had to agree to pick them up at another airport ourselves. We only got the luggage 3 days later. To make the story short, the staff does not speak (or speak very very limited) English in China. We asked locals to communicate with the company, and it was also very confusing and difficult to come up with solutions. We had to detour and lost time and money to pick up the luggage at another airport (1h-1:30h from our original destination). Upon our return home in the EU, I contacted the company to ask for compensation, and they refused, stating that more than 21 days had elapsed for the claim (note: contacting the company is an adventure because if you email them, they ask you to call. When you call, they say they cannot handle your complaint and will send it to another person, maybe returning the call later...). However, we were not informed of this 21-day restriction when we filled the complaint at Beijing airport. Furthermore, it's not possible to send emails and find information while in China due to online restrictions/ban on standard emails/services used in the West. The company should have more understanding of the situation and willingness to compensate for costs. They gave us 600 CNY at the airport, but we had to spend more than 2000 CNY on transportation and basic clothes. Not to count the amount of time lost of our trip.
As a side note, we were in two in the same booking, but we could not change the separated allocated seats via the call centre or online during check-in. The flight itself was OK, but this whole nuisance with the luggage was a nightmare. The customer service is very bad...

La peor compañía con la que he volado.
Empezando porque cuando fuimos a hacer el check in online con 24 horas de antelacion en la página web esta no lo permitía y como solo se pueden sacar en el mostrador hasta 3 horas antes de la salida del vuelo tuve que gastarme 100 euros en un tren que me dejase en Madrid antes, a mayores del que ya habia pagado, y por supuesto nunca voy a recuperar ese dinero. Después en el avión los azafatos NO SABIAN INGLES. La primera compañía en la que tengo que entender por señas con el personal. Cosa que no fue fácil porque además, a pesar de haber puesto en la solicitud de comidas especiales que soy vegetariana, en ninguno de los 4 vuelos que cogí con ellos me dieron la comida que me correspondía. Tuve que batallar con ellos enseñándoles los tickets para que vieran que era su fallo. Cuando ya todo el mundo había terminado de comer a mi me traían algo y me lo daban como de favor. Conclusión, comida escasa y fría. Lo mejor de todo fue cuando nos dijeron que para el hotel de tránsito no quedaban plazas, entonces que si tal lo cogieramos nosotros. Se entiende por esto que te lo reembolsaran. PERO NO! El si eso cogedlo vosotros es: o lo cogéis vosotros y lo pagáis vosotros o dormís en la calle. NUNCA MAS VOY A DAR MI DINERO A ESTA COMPAÑÍA.

The worst company I have ever flown with.
Starting: when we went to check in online 24 hours in advance on the website it did not allow it and since you can only get them at the counter up to 3 hours before the departure of the flight I had to spend 100 euros on a train that would leave me in Madrid earlier, + the train ticket I had already paid, and of course I will never get that money back. Later on the plane the crew DID NOT KNOW ENGLISH. The first company in which I have to understand by signs with the staff. Which was not easy because, in addition, despite having put in the request for special meals that I am vegetarian, in none of the 4 flights that I took with them did they give me the food that corresponded to me. I had to battle with them showing them the tickets so they could see that it was their mistake. When everyone had finished eating they would bring me something and give it to me as a favor. Conclusion, little and cold food. The best of all was when they told us that there were no places left for the transit hotel, so if that were the case, we would take it ourselves. It is understood by this that they will reimburse you. BUT NOT! If that is what you take, it is: either you take it and you pay for it or you sleep on the street. I WILL NEVER GIVE MY MONEY TO THIS COMPANY EVER AGAIN.

TERRIBLE BOOKING EXPERIENCE. The online booking system had several problems such as giving different prices, having to start over instead of going back. Due to a mistake the wrong date was booked and I immediately contacted Air China since it is not possible to change the booking online. They were not at all helpful and did not want to help me. Not only did they want to take a 150 euro charge for changing the ticket, they also wanted to take extra money for "price difference". There was no difference in price online which they could not explain, they could only say that the system gives them the price. THIS IS A COMPANY WHICH DOES NOT CARE FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS.

It’s a freaking site. Firstly, during booking, I registered my account on their site. Secondly, you can’t log in with email or mobile No. until you enable it from. Their site a/c, so you have to remember their membership No. otherwise it’s a depressing experience getting back to them after booking.
After payment on convenience store in Jp, I got email from ‘No-reply@amadeus’ with subject ‘ confirmation email from AirChina’ stating ‘ pl find enclosed herewith air ticket in pdf…..,’ but there was no pdf attached in email. I tried to call them, after 7 min of continuous wait, couldn’t contact them, pissed off experiance…

Air China has stolen 1350 € from us.
We had to cancel our flight to Beijing because of the COVID-19 and asked for a refund, Air China did not provide any details, they decided to return 10% of 1500€ which was the total, so 150€ only and they are not even giving us a voucher for the rest! This is clearly a robbery and should not happen to anyone else. We will definitely never fly with this airline again.

I've tried contacting the Company for any information on my pending flights, and there is zero feedback. It's contributing to stress and anxiety, and potentially to additional cost. Avoid this company!
Edit: one star remains, but I would advise people to use email rather than phoning them. Yes, it takes a bit longer, but if you can repeat your emails daily or every two days, you will get a reply within a fortnight.
Use Paypal to pay for flights (if you must travel with them) and take on insurance.

ABANDONMENT OF CUSTOMERS IN CAMBODIA. We send emails to the company every day to confirm our return flights to France on 03/23/2020. We are delivered to ourselves without any response.

Rodolphe Poly & Margaux Tavernier.

This travel company is the biggest scam!!!!! They have no problems taking your money, but should problems arise beyond your control with your travel plans they give you hell to get your money back. In fact, I was recently almost left stranded in Beijing due to a canceled flight by Air China (another scam company). My original return flight was MNL-PEK-IAD; however Air China tagged me as a “no-show” despite the fact that they canceled the second leg of my trip. Additionally, multiple attempts were made prior to the flight to get someone on the phone to discuss options or alternate plans, but were unsuccessful. Now both Just Fly and Air China are offering no resolution or refund in my travel interruption that was due them. Had I not been able to purchase a new return ticket home, I still be stranded in China somewhere. I WILL NEVER PURCHASE a ticket with Just Fly or Air China again!

I see lots of negative reviews, but I have flown with Air China on several occasions and all have been very good experiences. This airline is so much better than any in the US. I chose Air Chine due to the ticket price which is much cheaper flying from US to China than other airline companys. We came in late to Beijing and missed our connecting flight and Air China put us in a Hotel - not going to happen in the US. Nope - the positives of this airline far exceed the negatives, of which there is one in my experience. Trying to get hold of customer service is extremely difficult.

We fled from UK to Chengdu and from Beijing to London and I can say it was the best experience that I ever had with an airline company! Very helpful and friendly flight attendants,good food and extremely smooth flight.Amazing airline!

Classic situation of Air Canada blaming Air China and Air China blaming Air Canada for delayed baggage and no one willing to help.
My son flew 20 hours from Toronto to Beijing (Air Canada), and Beijing to Yangon, Myanmar (Air China). It’s a special time at Christmas because his parents haven’t seen him for 5 months. He was bringing golf clubs to play golf with his dad and Xmas gifts for the family. Baggage (incl golf clubs) didn’t arrive and won’t do for more than 48 hours. No one wants to take responsibility or help. Air Canada blames Air China, Air China blames Air Canada.

They broke my luggage, and they don't reply to emails. Worst experience ever... never again.

A disaster, our flight was canceled at the last minute because a passenger disembarked for personal reasons. By the time they removed their baggage from the cargo bay (at least 1 hour), it was too late to take off because the Manila airport forbids traffic between midnight and 6am. We had to spend the night at Beijing Airport on a cold bench (after a stopover that had already lasted 7 hours) without any compensation, just some horrible biscuits and a bottle of water that we had to beg. The worst thing is that it made us miss another flight we had to take at 6am in Manila and we had to pay another 2 nights hotel and lost 3 days due to this "wonderful" company. Despite our travels to Manila headquarters and our multiple e-mails, we did not even have the alms of an answer ... I strongly advise anyone to fly with Air China which may have interesting rates at departure but which ultimately may cost you much more than with another company worthy of the name. TO FLEE !!!

Flight schedule change meant unable to make the connecting flight. New flight offered = layover increased from 90 minutes to 7 hours. Unable to get a room or a refund.

Getting a hold of a customer service agent was a long, painful process. I was on hold for well over 30 minutes before anyone answered. My flight from LAX to MNL was changed twice (without my consent) and when I called to reschedule my flight, I was told my flight had already been changed so that was not an option. When I calmly tried to explain to the customer service agent that the flight was changed without me knowing, she continued to repeat her script not showing any concern for my issue. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, i was put on hold then she proceeded to hang up on me. My friend had called earlier and she experienced a similar situation with being hung up on as well. Our flight is in 48 hours and to have this happen has been stressful beyond words. I will honestly never fly with Air China again and am disappointed beyond words.

Had a horrible experience with Air China last week. Flight from Beijing to Sydney delayed for 6 hours which left me and my young family (with most of the rest of the plane) sleeping in the airport lounge overnight with no support whatsoever, no hotel offered, not even lounge access or a simple blanket (let alone a meal voucher!). Employee on gate just went home soon after delay announced and gave no useful information whatsoever. To ensure we got no sleep in the freezing, bright airport lounge, every half an hour the idiots announced 'Your attention please. Some flights have been delayed. Please contact your airline on nnnnn. We will keep you updated.' Of course, the phone number didn't work, no-one from Air China was available or interested, and they didn't keep anyone updated, just awake!

Finally boarded at 7am next morning, exhausted, for a packed 12 hour flight, in which they made up no time at all and my eldest girl got sick between the turbulence and the food.

We are experienced travellers: 60 unique countries, 200 cities, many hundreds of flights, and this would be the worst flight experience I've had in years, even worse than a selection of budget airlines. I thought this was China's 'international airline'. Oh dear.

If you're on a tight itinerary or not prepared for staff who couldn't care less or are disinclined to suffer an airline that just does whatever it wants with very low standards, choose another airline. If you're up for an adventure in new airline experiences(!), don't mind sleeping in the airport, etc., go ahead with these guys.