Air China! – You get what you pay for?
How is Air China?
Before I get into it let me lay out the basics for you. I booked a roundtrip flight from Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to New York (JFK) for just under $800USD. I purchased it through OneTravel.com – for anyone interested I also noted that Airchina.com is currently still running killer special rates to some hub cities in the US out of Asia. I was unable to find the great rate I booked several weeks ago recently through OneTravel – give ChinaAir.com a gander if your in need of a cheap ticket.
Back to the boring stuff! Well I’m still in mid evaluation – I’ll be able to better answer “how good is Air China?” and “Will your plane explode if you take Air China?” when I arrive in New York in the next 20 hours. Assuming I don’t I think you’ll be able to deduce my answer to the second question. I’m still sitting in Beijing after arriving less than 40 minutes ago from Hong Kong. I’m beginning to see you get what you pay for when it comes to China Air. My first flight and this one are being fulfilled by planes on the tarmac – carriers have to rent that terminal space you know!. Passengers are required to trot around the terminal only to find the gate is merely a portal to an extra wide passenger transport bus. The bus will take you speedily along to your plane awaiting somewhere on the vast sea of concrete. Completeing normal boarding proceedures and then stepping onto a bus just doesn’t have the same feeling 
. Feels like a savings of about 40% on airfare.
China being China
I assume the complaints contained in here have nothing to do with the carrier China Air but rather to do with China. I made my way through the terminal upon arrival here in Beijing to find myself again confronted with an immigration counter. Some folks were filling out arrival cards – a touch of anger fell over me – inquiring further I was instructed to head to another section where a line of international passengers waited for a single customs officer to put yet another stamp on our boarding passes. My flight landed at 11:40, my connecting flight boards at 12:30. It was about 12:11 when I was standing at the back of the line with at least 40 people in front of me wondering what the hell the other people behind me on the same flight were going to do – aren’t we international folk a priority? I flagged down another customs officer and managed to get him to bring me to the front of the line. I then proceeded to run in the direction of the arrows only to find out I would yet again have to stop for stamps and another checking of my carry on baggage. More running and I arrived at my gate in good time.
Two Systems, One Country
The situation just got me thinking about the arrangement China has with Hong Kong and how little it means to me as it does nothing to change my experience of the two as entirely seperate entities. They have their own currency, their own system of… boarding!! more later
About 5:30pm now GMT +8 – back to the Two Systems rant. Ahem.. I do bump heads on the issue once in a while – some Chinese I meet are a little sensitive about the issue. I try to imagine something of a similar experience in the states – I can’t though – a single country with the infrastructures of two seperate ones, with the systems, language, and customs all their own. It makes me curious about what the point of it is. I’m not educated in these matters so I won’t speculate in any intelligent way. I can only talk of the pragmatic reality – the two are for all intensive purposes seperate countries. In terms of visas, borders, immigration, currency, language, economic system, political system, customs, right side of the road to drive on, etc – they’re all unique from their respective other. You will gain little comfort in HK from your experiences living in China and vice versa. In fact most of the Hong Kong people I know don’t care much to deal with the mainland – especially when it comes to business. I guess you could say I thoroughly appreciate that .
Speculation on Air China’s Cheapness
I’ve been noticing a few things as I looked around inside the cabin of Boeing 747-400. I’m guestimating it houses somewhere in the neighborhood of 625-650 people. 3 seats on each side 4 in the middle (approximately 60 rows), 4 or 5 rows of biz class (6 to a row), and 4-5 rows of 1st class (4 seats per row) + flight and crew staff (can’t be more than 10 right?). The cabin and seating are a little less modern than some of the newer vessles I’ve been on. Sorry no arm stowed, or back of the headrest mounted lcd screens for your personal viewing pleasure. What I’ve been noticing is advertising in places where you’d usually see the carriers logo plastered. For instance the small disposable fabric they velcro to your seat where the back of your head makes contact with the headrest – it has China Citi Bank plastered all over it. The cups they serve drinks in are sporting some Chinese beer brand logo and slogan. The meals they serve also came with a donation envelope for one organization or another. Perhaps there is something behind these things. Perhaps that is part of how they can offer such an affordable rate.
Arrival in New York (JFK)
Here’s where my luck seemed to run out. After getting through customs I had to wait over 2 and one half hours and ended up with 1 of my two checked bags in my custody. That stacked with the 1+ hour lateness of the planes arrival put me in a bit of a pickle. My bus was at 6:15 and it was already about 10’til 6. No more buses to get back to Massachusetts until tomorrow morning – I found out later over a payphone. I had to wait another hour in line at baggage claim wherein I found out my bag would be delivered tomorrow to NYC and then 2 day fedexed to my home in Mass. Most Carriers do next day fexed – Thanks Air China! At this point it was around 7pm local time. I made my way to the nearby counter where a fellow passanger had already summoned a supervisor from Air China (she missed her connecting flight to Mexico). She probably softened the lady up for me but all the same I managed to get a free pass to the nearby Holiday Inn as well as dinner and breakfast for the trouble.
Final Scores!
Overall I had a good experience minus the baggage troubles at the end. They had proper accomodations in place for the situation so I was properly taken care. Though I must warn you if your not accustomed to long flights and are needy in terms of in flight experience you might want to stick with one of the older more expensive carriers. For example the inflight movie never really worked and replayed a short scene from a couple movies several times throughout the 15 hour period – service was also noticably slower than other flights. I had to wait about 30 minutes between meal drop offs and drink+trash pickup. In the end I got from A to B at a very valuable rate no worse for the ware. I would have no problem recommending Air China to anyone looking for a great deal getting from Asia to the US. Let’s hope the way back is less eventful for me than my trip here .
