| I flew China Eastern across the Pacific for the first time on my recent trip to Shanghai. Maybe I've been spoiled because I've mainly flown internationally with JAL in the past, but Chinese airlines have a long way to go before they catch up to industry standard. The flight attendants' main goal is to speed through the meal service as quickly as humanly possible. You can compare this directly to any typical Chinese restaurant - get the customers in and out as fast as you can. Except in this case, they just want feed you, then turn down the lights to subdue the crowd. You won't see or hear from them again until breakfast. As you're eating your greasy noodles or rice, someone comes around and throws a bun down on your plate. I get the feeling that they are minimally trained, and have a bad overall attitude. Example - I asked for milk with my coffee. The flight attendant points to my packet of moist towellete and says: "that's milk"! If you've never flown domestic within China before, you get to witness a crazy phenomenon. Immediately after touching down, half the people on the plane try to get up and get to their luggage. The flight attendants must be so used to this that they don't even bother anymore. I have to wonder where people are going in such a hurry. They all end up at the conveyor belt anyways. At the conveyor belt, I witnessed someone literally crawling behind the hole where the luggage comes out - and not just once but several times. Something about Chinese culture I simply fail to understand. During the movie "lights-down" period, people would leave their windows shades open and the flight attendants won't do anything about it. Very inconsiderate. To sum up my China Eastern experience: Check-in/Line-ups: Okay abroad. Horrible at Hongqiao in Shanghai. Not so much because of the airlines, but you have to deal with the typical hoards of crowds who have no concept of a line-up. In-flight service: bare minimum - don't expect anything more. Entertainment: don't count on it. I'm glad I had my iPod filled with TV shows. Food: Greasy, no matter which option you choose. Reward program: English version of the website is a total joke. Best chance to get a reward ticket is to go into a CEA office. Price: cheaper than anyone else by a significant margin. Now I know why. I have to wonder about the safety standards with CEA, especially after reading some of the comments above. That tailstrike incident is quite telling of the mentality of this airline. Will never fly with them again no matter how cheap it is. |
China Eastern Airlines