So I'm intending to hop onto a plane within the next few weeks or so back to Hong Kong and I got to say the prices for plane tickets are outrageous! $1100ish w/o tax if I leave February 27th on Cathay Pacific direct flight. The next cheapest was looking up RedFlagDeals and found that Apple Travel has a $800 + Tax special aboard China Eastern Airlines with a stop over in Shanghai. At a $300 Canadian difference, that is a big enough savings for mongering!

Any of you 哥's ever flown on China Eastern or would even recommend them? Or... do I stick with Cathay Pacific and hope their toilets do not clog

Oh yeah, do they have hot stewardesses? Hohoho!

I've only travelled China Eastern Airlines on short haul flights on business class around greater China. Comfort and service was okay but probably due to sitting in business class. However, I wouldn't want to fly on them for long haul flights...

Given your flight time is gonna be a long one, best to catch Cathay Pacific for those small comforts rather than being uptight

If you pass through China don't you need a transit visa?.

In Mongolia in mid 2009, an Irish guy I met at the embassy in Ulan Bator said he needed a visa as he was flying back home via Beijing just for a connecting flight.

But yes flew China eastern before they are ok, basic aircraft one screen per 10 seats, etc, trollie dollies are nothing to get excited about.

according to Skytrax China Eastern Airlines gets a 3 star rating, which is the same as all American and Canadian airlines.

I've only flown it once, domesitcally from Shanghai to Shenzhen.  On the way back, it happened to be a big plane since the plane was connecting through from Tokyo.  I didn't notice anything unusual except that the attendants kept speaking to me in English which I found weird.  Probably they though I was Japanese.

If you're flying out of Vancouver, and want to go direct to HK, the first choice is obviously Cathay.  After that, I don't think it matter.  Or you could do Singapore Air, but with a stop in San Francisco.

i would never for the life of me go through the US again. i was on my way back to vancouver from hk and my itinerary involved me going from HK to tokyo to LA to Van. transfer in tokyo was fine, but when i got to LA i had to grab all my luggage, clear customs, re-check in and get a whole new set of boarding passes, go through security again. ok, sounds perhaps routine, except the whole shabang took almost 4 hours to do those things because of their slow ass way of doing things and long line ups.

i can understand they want their air travel to be safe, but i was merely transferring through. so never in my life will i make a transfer through the states again.

back to the OP, i do agree with asia-play that CE is an economic choice for short hauls, but long haul u might do better with some other more reputable airlines. in my experience with CE is that more often than not, there are delays involved. not sure if those were due to airport issues, or the airline itself, but with CE it seems to happen regularly

They make you do that in Europe too, even if you have never left airside, my recent trip through paris, and Doha they auto transfer your luggage but you still need to be scanned and metal detected on each leg of your trip.

Ahh, thanks for all the information... If a stop over in China requires a transit Visa, I'm not going to bother.. waste of my time and I don't have time trying to use my broken Mandarin to answer questions over there to their Immigration Officers.

Stopovers in the US aren't really great for me, I don't want to lose my luggage nor do I want to wait in their heavily locked down airports and hope to god that I don't get stuck their for 2-3 hours ...

[B]Kennichi[/B] - since your location says Manchester UK, our British Passports have those awesome microchips in it, what purpose does it serve for getting us through immigrations faster? Sry for asking, I'm a British Citizen (non-BNO) but have never been to England.. got it passed down through birth..

I presume I'll be calling the travel agency's on Monday and trying to get a Cathay flight =) hopefully their toilets don't clog ..

Many (all?) of the new passports have the microchips now - does not do squat in terms of speed through immigration. Its more of an authentication device.

What's the deal with Cathay toilets getting clogged in particular - I've been on Air France, Lufthansa, Singapore Air and Air India where that happend to one of the toilets. But that's only 4 out of more than several 100 flights where it did not happen including Cathay.

Agree with the bros here. on short haul flights its fine, but dont suggest them for long haul. Stewardesss on any of China's airliens are gorgeous let alone the mainland ones. What kind of silly question is that?

Well you can scan your passport at the self service check in computers at HK airport,

On entry to the UK the chip just contains the data that is held on the main page of your passport, it also logs a tick against present in the country mark on the UK exit and entry database and a time stamp.


It speeds it up because the officer just swipes it across the scanner and says thank you next.

The officer is supposed to compare the RFID chip info with thatof which is in the main passport page, i.e. photo difference, but they are so poorly paid they don't give a damn, in 2008 I went to HK twice and didn't even get scanned in.

Stick with Cathay It may be $300 cheaper but the stopover is a pain in the ass plus getting in (and then back to ) Pudong airport can be a ball ache An hour in a taxi at least although u can use the Maglev depending on time but u will still nbeed a taxi

Also food on China Eastern is crap and I can only imagine it's no better on a long haul, stick with Cathay and you will start mongering one day erarlier!

I had do to this on Canada Airlines when I landed in Vancouver from HK, but it was quick.

There is a funny story about why those Cathay flights had clogging toilets.  Apparently in the first class toilets, besides the paper towels to wipe your hands, they have linen cloth towels too just like alot of the high-end membership clubs in HK.  There seems to be many rich ppl who don't know better and put the used linen cloth towels into the toilets where they clogged the toilet system.  These so-called sophisticated rich ppl are supposed to place the used cloths into a special collection bin for rewashing by Cathay.  

So for the time being Cathay has suspended providing linen cloth towels in all the 1st class toilets and stuck to the paper towels.

I've flown it to Shanghai a couple of times.  Nothing spectacular, but it's not too bad either.  The flight attendants are occasionally pretty.  The funniest incident was when a passenger stood up to look out the window during landing, this one attendant jumped up and berated him until he quickly shuffled back into his seat.It was hilarious!

Statistically the Chinese national airlines are more dangerous that most other alternatives, however the numbers are still grossly in your favor.  It may sound bad to say that, for example, China Airlines has 6 times the accident rate or fatality rate of Cathay or whomever, but it's still plenty safe.  

Still, I only fly them when I have to, and would readily pay $300 extra to fly something else.  Services are sub-par, but we're all used to that on long flights.  Pilots execute some of the roughest landings I've been in, but if it's the only schedule that works (or if it's grossly cheaper, like half price maybe) go ahead a fly it, just realize you're in for a grind.

I concur with the other posters that one should avoid U.S. customs and immigration whenever possible.  They're not bad folks but it's one of the most tedious places in world to try and clear, and if you're just having to do that for a connecting flight?  Yech!

Pretty sure someone told me China Eastern has a terrible crash record.  I've never flown it myself, but can't imagine it being too amazing.  Been on China Southern and Air China before, and the main thing they had in common was an older and smaller fleet of planes.  Unless the pilots are truly skilled, in my experience, you def have some uncomfortable moments when dealing with things like turbulence/wind sheer/rough landings.

[ Last edited by  banger at 9-2-2010 16:34 ]

I haven't seen an China Eastern stat.  Air China and Air India top the most accident/fatal lists that I've seen for Asian airlines.  However, even flying the worst of the bunch, the odds are on your side with commercial air travel.

As to flying skill, the only times I've seen someone barf on a 747 was on Air China, man that was a nasty ride!

for $300 more i will stick with Cathay in my opinion!

for $300 more i will stick with Cathay in my opinion!

I agree stick to Cathay.


When considering other airlines, I always check out this site:
http://www.airsafe.com/

[ Last edited by  TonyToro at 9-2-2010 19:20 ]