Air China: Another Adequate Airline in China.
Written: Jan 24 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good service, smooth flight procedure, cheap tickets.
Cons: The food, as usual, was mediocre.
The Bottom Line: An adequate airline for domestic travel within China.
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| Ironcladd's Full Review: Air China |
Air China: Another Adequate Airline in China.
By
James Zaworski
I traveled on three airlines within China during my recent outing: Hainan Airlines, Southern China Airlines, and Air China. Of the three, Hainan Airlines was the best, and the other two airlines were tied for second (or last, depending on how you look at it).
On this occasion in January 2005, I flew Air China from Beijing to Xian. What follows is an overview and evaluation of my experience with Air China.
Airport Experience in Beijing with Air China, Ticket Prices, Boarding Information, Security and Luggage Check-in.
The Beijing Airport is very big and efficient. The announcements that are made are in Mandarin Chinese and in English. All of the signs and significant pieces of information are in Chinese traditional characters, Pinyin and in English so getting around is not difficult and is pretty standard in terms of orienting yourself and finding your way to ticketing, luggage check in, security checkpoints and departure or arrival gate information.
I actually had booked my tickets on East China Airlines, but it was operated by Air China, which is one of the two dominant airlines flying domestically within The Peoples Republic.
The first thing I liked was the ticket price. I was traveling during the off-season, and therefore the ticket prices were very, very inexpensive! I paid what turned out to be 600 RMB in Chinese currency, which equals about $70 American money. Not a bad price for a one-way ticket going over 1,200 miles!
The check-in procedures were standard for Air China. You take your passport and ticket to the check-in counter, hand it to the airline representative there, and then they take your check on bag, weigh it, put a sticker on it, and hand you back your boarding pass with your baggage claim sticker on it. Pretty standard stuff and it all went smoothly.
Then, one needs to go to the departure gate and wait, which happens after a security checkpoint. This security checkpoint was less rigorous than in the USA. In other words, I did not have to take off my shoes and just had to take off my coat, empty my pockets, go through the metal detector, put my coat and carry on bad on the x-ray machine, and then gather my things after successfully going through security. This went smoothly and easily too, without complications.
The departure gates are clearly labeled, but there was a last minute change in my gate but I made the adjustment and got on the plane to Xian.
The plane itself was a modern passenger jet, kind of crowded and snug inside, but overall a sound jet that took off smoothly and landed smoothly.
The In-Flight Service and Food.
The in-flight service was average, with a kind of brisk treatment by the steward and stewardesses. The food was mediocre, but not as bad as Southern China Airlines food.
Rice and beef and some fruit with a juice beverage were the lunch fare of the day.
Luggage retrieval.
Landing in Xian, it was easy to claim my luggage. The process was smooth and easy as long as you keep your stickers for your luggage adhered to your boarding pass.
My luggage did not get lost and was undamaged upon retrieval.
So, all in all, my experiences with Air China were positive. The whole process from start to finish was satisfactory, the service was okay, the food was mediocre, but the entire flight experience was fine, from the price of the tickets to takeoff, landing, and luggage treatment.
I recommend Air China as a very inexpensive domestic airline for travel within China.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Ironcladd
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: James Zaworski
Location: Shenzhen, China
Reviews written: 495
Trusted by: 156 members
About Me:
I am an English teacher, Archeologist and Anthropologist.
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