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Air China - Air Communism

(By guest blogger Chris Devonshire-Ellis)

Air China, simple enough you'd think, Beijing to Rome. I know it's tough to be sympathetic with people who fly First class, but hey I paid for it, and I've worked hard for the extras. It's also really useful with extra weights in luggage (Speaking at a conference, so a ton of China Briefings in the luggage), and priority service with baggage handling, meaning you can get away quickly and so on. Plus all the extra frills, good food, wines, films, and general attention. It's handy when you're on a ten hour direct flight, helping with the trama of long haul travel, espcially with a three day conference the other end. China's growing development would mean an Air China flight would be an OK experience. Not up to par with what I'm used to, buy hey, lets give 'em a chance.

Alas, let down again. The first problem was Beijing's weather. Fog meant flight delays of up to 6 hours plus. Thats sort of OK, and hardly Air China's fault, except that I wished the phone service at Air China would let you know this when you call them directly to ask before leaving home. "No delay at this moment" they said, prompting us to travel to the airport and check in. Yet they must have already known the plane was stuck in Tianjin and wouldn't be arriving for several hours. No-one wants to take the responsibility to actually tell passengers their flight will be six hours delayed.

So, we arrive, the airport is bedlam and we check in. First Class Lounge. Except that with flights piling up, the lounge ran out of seats, then food, then snacks, and all it could offer was sitting on the floor, and bottles of water. No attempt to offer delayed passengers anything else. This is China's National Carrier we're talking about, in their First Class lounge. No papers to read. No food. No coffee or tea. They'd run out, and there was no more. Nothing.

Now I'm used to delays in China, I always take a thick book and my Ipod. But for a First Class - or any business lounge for that matter, with delays piling up, just to basically ignore passengers basic needs is appalling. Air China are also the Official Airline for the Beijing Olympics. Prestige, I thought, and lets support the national airline.

Eventually, after a six hour delay with nothing offered to us in the lounge, we board.

First class, international flight, Boeing 747. Beijing-Rome direct, ten hours.

We're offered a day old copy of "China Daily" newspaper, a cold wet towel, and a glass of Great Wall wine. It's vinegar. Once aloft, the in-flight menu looks better, but offers little, ordering the Chinese cuisine as I think it may be half decent - Peking Duck, Chilli Prawns, but these are tepid, dry and tough. It's close to inedible. More Great Wall wine is offered and refused. Goodness knows what they're given in economy.

There's no international newspapers or any magazines. It's a ten hour flight. I get back to my book and Ipod.

The in-flight entertainment consists of a showing of CCTV channel 1 news from two days ago, only in Chinese, for 30 minutes. There's no film, no games, not even any radio programming. No nothing. In First class, for ten hours.

I catch some sleep. Eventually, we land at Rome airport, ten hours later. We leave the cabin first, check through immigration and await our luggage. The plane was packed with 350 Chinese travelling economy, mostly from Wenzhou as many of them have connections and work for Italian garment manufacturers.

Needless to say, the so-called First Class, Priority Luggage arrives last, an hour behind everyone elses 500 pieces of other luggage, and I finally leave the airport 90 minutes after arriving. Taxi queues of course are a mile long, and I have to wait another 2 hours to get one. My luggage has a red "Air China Priority" tag on it. It meant nothing, and had been stowed at the back of the plane. So much for "Priority" in China. You take your position instead with everyone else, even if you've actually paid more.

So, Air China First Class - you pay a lot more money, yet you get no extra services, no priority and actually nothing at all. Indeed, compared with other airlines economy class, you even end up getting less.

This is China's National Carrier we're talking about, servicing international routes, and the Main Airline Sponsor for the Beijing Olympics. Like I've said before, the infrastructure for China and the Beijing Olympics may be in place, but the service aspect lags far behind.

Conclusion: Flying economy or even routing via a stopover on a different carrier is better value than flying Air China First Class. Never again. It was Air Cattle and I'm not spending money on that sort of nonsense when I have other options. I tried being patriotic and flying the national carrier, but instead I got less than what I paid for. Doesn't that just sum up China these days ?

From defective goods, to IP, to market access, to flying First Class on their planes, it always boils down to a sense of being, in my case, quite literally 'taken for a ride'. "You have money ? Thanks, we'll take that" without appreciating they actually have to give something back in return.

God help anyone expecting decent service during the Olympics. Because despite what you pay, you'll get just the same as everyone else. It was, after all, the Great Proliteran Revolution, and in Communism, everyone gets treated equally. There's no privileges in this society, and if you were dumb enough to pay for any, well you should have known better.

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air China

On October 29th, 2007 Anonymous says:

excellent!

Its caustic without beeing offensive, simply trully China.
I am a regular China Eastern user. I confirm.
Last gag was running out tap water.