Route: Beijing Capital Airport to London Heathrow Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 24th November 2009 at 12:35pm

Flight Number: CA937

Flight duration: 11 hours 20 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A330-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time; however we landed around 20 minutes late because of the afternoon traffic at Heathrow.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

The check-in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca-cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (coca-cola, orange etc.) were all branded under the Air China logo. Alcohol was also served on this flight (including Tsingtao beer!)

Comments regarding the first meal:

Lunch was served almost straight after take off (say around about 20 minutes). This was a good thing because that gave plenty of time for the passengers to have a good rest for this rather long flight (also taking into account that for the flight to London we had to add an hour because there is no trailing jet stream to help us).

I couldn’t help resist to see what was in store for me when I got my meal. It was the kind of feeling one would get when you are presented with a gift or a surprise toy whilst at school. Well, after opening the package of the main meal, I could not help but think why on earth did I travel by Air China. When one looks at the quality of the food you wonder why did manage to travel by Air China!

Hey, I am not going to moan about everything, and yes, the presentation was good. However, just take a look at the main dish and you will see if I have anything interesting to write about. The main course was chicken, boiled potatoes and mushrooms with rice and some boiled lettuce- nothing exciting and certainly not tasty enough. Nevertheless, it was filling for the stomach. There was a delicious salad (always is delicious) with a cherry tomato (always with just one piece if cherry tomato!) and some shredded cucumber and lettuce. There were two round slices of Salami as well- Not bad.

In true Chinese style of meals there was no real dessert except the fruit bowl that consisted of melon and watermelon (Chinese meals seldom contain cakes or chocolate puddings as desserts- only have fruit).

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Passengers could help themselves to complimentary drinks (including alcohol) if they wished. However no nuts or other snacks were available.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

This must have been the first flight I have taken where both the meals were “lunch” (or late lunch). The second meal was served around an hour prior to landing at Heathrow and we must have been over Amsterdam. The presentation of the second meal was good. This time around we were treated to sweet and sour pork (we had this on the trip to China from London as well) with boiled vegetables and boiled white rice. I wouldn't say this was a five star quality meal but hey this food was good- not just adequate as in the previous meal which was served after we took off from Beijing. It was so good that we were treated to a sauce of “thousand island dessert” to spread across our salad that contained lovely shredded carrot and cauliflower.

Forget the bun with the butter, the highlight of this meal was the double chocolate chic cake presented to us in a neat rectangular fashion. After being in China for such a long time, it was a nice feeling to eat the lovely piece of real chocolate cake. In China usually you get the Chinese style western cake that tastes like a hard sponge because the chefs have not used the evaporated milk of the best quality (or they have not used milk that is similar to say that used for Anchor butter etc.). Maybe because this flight was heading out of its Headquarters, so therefore the food was far more fresher than that offered on the flight in from London to Beijing.

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The A330 aircraft had a back seat IFE system- however to my surprise not many of the channels worked. In fact, the only English channel that worked was the BBC Radio Worldwide service; and the rest were Chinese songs and movies. There were no games to be played. Having looked at the in-flight magazine, I could see that not everything advertised was available on the IFE.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

For the international flight, all the staff could speak adequate levels of English, and were very professional. No major problems what so ever.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

Air China has a wide variety of aircraft- and the contrast between the good, the bad and the ugly cannot get any worse than with its range of aircraft types. To my surprise for an international flight this aircraft was not clean at all. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, for some reason the cabin had a stench of urine and an air of discomfort. It was the kind of smell you may have got on an old Russian Aeroflot Il-62 or Il-86 aircraft! The seats were comfortable but for some reason there was a smell of urine everywhere, and I wonder why. It did not really help me to sleep either. I asked the air hostess to put some air freshener but they did not have any. It just spoilt the whole mood of flying.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 7

Route: London Heathrow Airport to Beijing Capital Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 17th November 2009 17:40pm

Flight Number: CA938

Flight duration: 10 hours 20 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A330-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check- in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca-cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (coca-cola, orange etc.) were all branded under the Air China logo. Alcohol was also served on this flight (including Tsingtao beer!)

Comments regarding the first meal:

Dinner was served around an hour after take-off. The main dish consisted of sweet & sour pork served with boiled white rice and a few sticks of pea pods. The pork looked as if someone had stamped on it. Mind you, this food was not freshly packed at Heathrow, but in fact was the stored food on the flight that had come in from Beijing that same afternoon. So actually the “dinner” which I was about to put down my throat was around about 24 hours old- hope that puts things into perspective! It didn't taste as bad as it looked- let’s just keep it at that for now. The pork blended in nicely with the sauce and the rice. The accompanying dishes were made up of a salad bowl (nothing special by Air China except that there was a splosh of mayonnaise cream along with the single slice of cucumber and a single tomato slice (yep, apparently that’s meant to fill in for your healthy options!!).

Oh, you wouldn't want to know what was in for a dessert- would you? Well, it was meant to be an apple crumble, but one that had gone horribly wrong. Because the in-flight meal had been stored in the aircraft’s fridge, so when the crew served the meals, they somehow forgot to “thaw” the apple crumble that had been in the fridge. So what you had was passengers’ being served a very cold (and slightly hard to bite) apple crumble that had been not only in the fridge but also had been exposed to sub-zero temperatures while it had been in the hold (because the flight route in from Beijing took the plane over Siberia and Russia etc). Can it get any worse? Can you imagine if the passengers had any health problems in international airspace, and if the pilot had to do a diversion, and the amount of millions it would have cost the airline?

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

Breakfast was served around about two hours before landing (too early I think). Looking at the quality of the omelette, the chicken nuggets and the sausage- this meal was again packed and stored onto the aircraft in Beijing and not in London. There was nothing “fresh” about this meal. The omelette tasted as if it had been in the fridge for some time. Serving chicken nuggets in an in-flight meal is not the best thing because fried food tastes bland and very chewy at 37,0000 feet!! Another bad innovation by Air China’s in-flight catering department.

A delicious pot containing strawberry yogurt was served with the meal. This could easily have been a substitute for the highlight of the whole in-flight food service on this flight! The lovely bowl of fresh fruit was also very good. Presentation could easily have been better for Air China’s international service- I mean; come on this is a national flag carrier of one of the biggest countries on this planet! The slightly soggy tasting croissant was not too bad either.

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The A330 aircraft had a back seat IFE system- however to my surprise not many of the channels worked. In fact, the only English Channel that worked was the BBC Radio Worldwide service; and the rest were Chinese songs and movies. There were no games to be played. Having looked at the in-flight magazine, I could see that not everything advertised was available on the IFE.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

For the international flight, all the staff could speak adequate levels of English, and were very professional. The highlight of the flight was when the majority of the Economy Class staff gathered around me whilst I was taking photos of the lovely mountains over the Gobi Desert and over the outskirts of Beijing.

Improvements that could be made:

Whilst the toilets were clean, however the cabins were filthy and need to be cleaner. The seat IFE needs to be maintained properly. The in-flight food is a disgrace; however I fear that this would not improve as it’s the same for most Chinese airline companies. Rather scary but upon our arrival in Beijing (whilst on the ground and taxiing to the terminal) our aircraft electricity failed for around 5 minutes- thank god this did not happen whilst in flight!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The aircraft was not clean at all. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, the cabin had a strong stench of urine and an air of discomfort. It was the kind of smell you may have got on an old Russian Aeroflot Il-62 or Il-86 aircraft! The seats were comfortable but for some reason there was a smell of urine everywhere, and I wonder why.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 5

Route: Beijing Capital to Kunming International

Departure date and time of flight: 14:30pm on the 17th November 2009

Flight Number: CA4170 (Operated by Shandong Airlines on behalf of Air China)

Flight duration: 3 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-800NG

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Beijing Capital Airport. I was on a transit flight in from the UK with Air China, and so this was a code share flight with Air China.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including tea and coffee.  

Comments regarding the first meal:

All we got was a Chinese style “burger”. What seemed like a hard laborious effort of the Air China chefs’ to create the perfect in-flight burger turned into a disaster. It tasted more like one of those deep fried potato pastries. No wait a minute, it tasted more like an expired hot dog. I took one bite and that was enough. Air China and their partners’ Shandong Airlines have a long way to go in terms of in-flight food.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were OK and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

The in-flight food drastically needs be improved for a flight of 3 hours. Just an attempt at serving a hot Chinese style burger does not seem to justify the costs that people are paying for this flight (or any flight that is over 3 hours). It was horrible.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort):

The 737-800 plane had a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 3

Route: Kunming to Beijing Capital

Departure date and time of flight: 4th November 2009 at 09:40am

Flight Number: CA4169

Flight duration: 3 hours 5 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 757-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check- in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca-cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (coca-cola, orange etc.) were all branded under the Air China logo. There was no alcohol served on this flight.

Comments regarding the first meal:

“Brunch” consisted of a mixed bowl of sliced salad (cucumber, lettuce and a single cherry tomato!) served along with a dish of “spicy chicken” mixed with peppers and vegetables, and served with boiled white rice. A tube of “Yuzu” salad dressing was served along with the meal. The diced chicken was delicious, not over or under cooked but just the perfect blend between the type of chicken you may get in KFC and the type you may get at a decent style restaurant. A simple bun accompanied the meal- though there was no butter to accompany this. The bun was boring- and I do mean to mention this term rather bluntly because it just does not make sense to serve a bun without butter.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Again, no alcohol was served.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

There was no IFE on this flight.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

As with the standard of the majority of the Chinese airline companies, some of the staff were professional but their English level was below par international standards- perhaps Survival 2 or A1 in accordance with the European CEFR standard! (For Flight attendants’ the required English level should be around B2 globally!). The crew are aware that their airline is perhaps not up to the standards matchable to, say, airlines from western countries or that are seen to be more advanced.

Improvements that could be made:

On this particular flight everything seemed to be OK. The only thing I could find to write about is that the plane was old- which directly meant that the interior was a bit shabby (this included the smell, and the sad condition of the seats- and the filthy toilets).  

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The aircraft was not clean at all. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, the cabin had a strong stench of urine and an air of discomfort. It was the kind of smell you may have got on an Old Russian Aeroflot Il-62 or Il-86 aircraft!

The seats were comfortable but not clean. There was a horrible stench lurking in the whole of the fuselage.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 5