China Airlines Reviews 133

terrible service, unreliable. I booked and purchased two flights twice and both times they canceled the purchase saying that the airline had canceled the seats. I have received reports of online fraud during credit card transactions. Be careful, they are really unreliable. Don’t buy tickets

Unannounced delays, crashing website, useless iphone app.

The staff doesn't speak English at all, uses a whacky translation app that just generates gibberish.

The delayed guests got no compensation, free VIP lounge pass or snacks even.
For the VIP lounge you can only pay with cash, but there's no cash ATM at the airport, and they laugh you in the face. If you're not Chinese don't even attempt flying with these guys.

Nothing wrong with planes, seats, onboard service and food etc. My criticism is about compensation when they mess with checked in baggage. We lost one suitcase on the route Norway, Amsterdam, Taipei, Cebu. They have a very low rate of compensation. USD 20 per kilo of baggage. So if you have a light suitcase, you may not even get back the value of the suitcase itself. Then it is the payout. They can't transfer money to your bank account, but they can print a cheque. Yes, a paper cheque! It could be raised in a bank I don't remember the name of, and it wasn't an international bank. The bank did not have an office in Cebu. We could also get paid in cash if we go to the airport in Cebu. We stayed 3-4 hours driving away from the airport, but this was the only option, so we had to take the trip. So watch out. Do not carry expensive things in checked in baggage. And use a cheap suitcase if you fly with China Airlines.

Playing dumb is the norm it seems.

I found if you're not Taiwanese or Chinese, your emails will be likely be ignored or unanswered. Rather, it's the norm to receive scripted canned responses similar to a bot.

Good luck in trying to get anything in writing from China (Taiwan) Airlines. When calling telephone support in Los Angeles or Vancouver, you get some decent assistance but it's quite limited. You're redirected to contact China Airlines advanced customer support which isn't so easy to find on their website. There's quite a bit of gaslighting and avoidance with them. Your issue is unlikely to be resolved.

Unfortunately, positive reviews online in my experience seem to be from shills or those affiliated with the CA. Options flying direct from the Americas to TPE are limited. But make no mistake, I don't recommend this airline.

We recieved a cancelation when we where boarded in Bangkok due to weather conditions in Münnich (3 dec'24). In Beijing nothing was organised we where held inside waiting for answers (00.00h) at 4am we couldn't get a hotel but we should be back at 8am. Then we agreed to fly to Frankfurt but our final destination was Düsseldorf. We couldn't get any transfer to Düsseldorf from the airlines because our flight was booked over. But they said we could take the train and get the ticket refunded. For 3 months I try to but china airlines doesn't answer. 177 euro rubbish customer service if you can DON'T fly with china airlines. I never wil. And because its due to weather conditions you can't use any right of refund. The delay was 14h all together

Everything at the Taiwan side and on board is great, as is usual for Taiwanese customer service. Unfortunately, my baggage was damaged and China Airlines outsource the claims to K2 Global who are refusing to co-operate with my concern that they have incorrect detail.

Staff at China Air London Heathrow did not know that you can leave the airport with a 24-144 hour visa. And said that you can no longer get a visa on arrival. I spoke to 6 different staff who told me this. And I had planned to see a friend & cancelled it due to the advice. Seriously! When you arrive - its the first thing you see!! I got a temp visa upon arrival, no problem at all ! I asked if i could collect my suitcase as it was a 19 hour layover & they said no, as my luggage would go missing! Appauling customer service.

The food is pretty bad. It is also very dirty. I was shocked to see visible food items / dirt on the floor & the obviously broken tv screen was sellotaped to the chair!

I was honestly shocked to see my luggage arrive upon landing - both ways. There was a huge ‘lost luggage’ office for china air in beijing, which was worrying to see also.

They do have pleasant staff on board, who were very welcoming. Shame about the cleanliness onboars / food & staff giving wrong advice!

It is cheap though, so good if you’re looking for a cost effrctive trip. You do get what you paid for.

Verry good experience with China. Travel alot with them. But i had one crazy chinese woman at the checkin counter from Bejing -frankfurt that was verry ruud because i wanted to upgrade from economy to busniess/ first class, because of a verry bad backpain. she got verry angry because i asked because that was not her job. Everything else was good.

Booked via their official website and had money for the airplane tickets fully deducted from my credit card for months. Shortly before my flight, I called them to confirm the flight, at which time they told me that the tickets haven't been issued.

When I questioned them about the missing funds from my credit card they didn't give me the tickets that I bought but rather gave me a refund and asked me to rebooked at current prices, which were more than double the original price.

One of the tickets I paid for partially with miles, which they didn't give back as part of the refund, saying that it expired like 4 days earlier.

So not only did I have to rebook at double the price, now I am also missing ~15,000 miles. All this after having my money for months.

The customer service was condescending and rude as well, like it was all my fault. They kept blaming it on system error which "they had no control over" and denied me any compensation.

In addition to the worlds top 10 most UNSAFE airline they need another award as top 10 most RUDE and INCOMPETENT airline.

Don't book this airline. You will risk your life, your money, and your sanity at the same time.

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透過他們的官方網站訂購了機票，幾個月來信用卡上的金額完全被扣除。在我飛行前不久，我給他們打電話確認航班，當時他們告訴我票還未出。

當我詢問他們信用卡上缺少的款項時，他們沒有給我已購買的機票，而是退款，要求我以當前的價格重新預訂，這個價格是原價的兩倍還多。

我其中一張票部分是用里程支付的，退款中他們並未將里程歸還給我，稱其在大約4天前已過期。

因此，我不僅不得不以兩倍的價格重新預訂，現在還缺少了約15,000里程。在數個月的時間裡，這一切都發生了。

客戶服務態度傲慢無禮，彷彿全都是我的錯。他們不斷將錯誤歸咎於「他們無法控制的」系統錯誤，並拒絕給我任何賠償。

除了被評選為全球前10名最不安全的航空公司之外，他們還需要再獲得「全球前10名最粗魯和無能的航空公司」獎項。

不要預訂這家航空公司。這樣做將同時危及您的生命、金錢和理智。

I have been traveling with China Airlines for more than a decade and have chosen their Dynasty Flyer as my Sky Team frequent flyer program. I have accumulated close to 20k air miles and I thought of redeeming them. This is when I realized CA´s Dynasty Flyer program is close to being a scam. First, the trans-Pacific flight - which I use CA for - is a high-mileage barrier that is difficult to accumulate for. Which means I can only use Dynasty Flyer miles for shorter routes, which in my situation flying with other Sky Team partners. Here is where the complications start. Dynasty Flyer program only allows for return flights and they do not sell miles to make up for the difference. It meant that most of my 20k air miles had to expire. To all Sky Team flyers: choose carefully your frequent flyer program or you will take a big loss as I had.

wasted 10 minutes calling their customer support, no one seems to be working.

We have booked a package deal with a G class seats. How surprised were we to find out that my partner and I were not seated next to each other on our flight from Tapei to Amsterdam. Online check in is not available for G class. At check in at the airport we found out that my partner and I were seated three rows apart! And because the flight is almost a full there were no possibilities to change our seats. Even when calling the supervisor. The boarding passes of our group were already pre-printed. We were outraged! How is this possible at these times! On a 15 our flight! This is absolutely no service! Really bad from China Airlines. I do not recommend China Airlines. Please offer customers the opportunity to change seats in G class even with extra payment.

I love this airlines they are safe and secured to use safer than some other international airlines

I flew the business class with China Airlines from Sydney to Taipei on 3/4/2023 (CI52). When I purchased the ticket in mid February, the seating plan indicated that, in the business class, there were 4 seats in each row (I believe it was Airbus 350-900). As I had flown with China Airlines before, I was expecting a comfortable business class seating arrangement, comparable to Cathy Pacific or even Qantas. I selected 14D as my seat.
A few days before departure, I received a notification from China Airlines that my seat was reallocated to 3D. When I logged into the airlines’ web, the new seating plan now showed each row had 6 seats. Without suspicion, I selected 4A as my new seat.
When I boarded the aircraft on the day of departure, I realised that China Airlines had substituted this long haul flight with an aircraft suitable only for short haul flights (I believe it was Airbus 330-300). The space is very limited for the business class seating. The seat can only laid down to about 45 degrees and there was no room for me to put my legs straight. It was extremely uncomfortable and close to impossible for sleeping (and it was an overnight flight). The supposedly complimentary wifi for the business class did not work for me (I suspect the aircraft was not equipped).
The whole experience became a nightmare.
I believe it is unethical for an airline to charge the full fares for a long haul flight and substitute the aircraft with a short haul one, without any compensation. I would have been better off to take the economy class, at least saving myself an additional $3500 (I paid over $4800).
I have written to China Airlines, but yet to receive a response. It is also noteworthy that Qantas’s direct flights from Australia to Taipei are also operated by China Airlines.
I received a response from China Airlines. It confessed that the aircraft was changed from A350 to A330 without notifying passengers and offered a one-year one-way upgrade coupon for compensation. I drew its attention that any compensation should apply to all passengers adversely affected and refused to accept it. I will accept it only if the coupon has no expiry date. This is because I have no intention to fly with China Airlines again in the foreseeable future, if not forever, and I don’t want China Airlines to make money out of me again. In my view, China Airlines should make cash compensation as it ‘overcharged’.

Has anyone had any issues booking with China Airlines, I'm concerned about the format they advise how to write Names for booking. My son has a suffix on his name and I read China Airlines advises Put the first name with the suffix no space. I js want to know if anyone has done this with booking on their website.

Great cabines, wonderful seats, better Boeing 777 seats than air canada 777 from Vancouver to Hong-Kong. Great cabin service. Despite just 6 hrs flight full meal and beverages service. Compared to air canada 90% better. But tough to change meals in their application. Even changing seats not easy. Overall i take it again in a snap if they flew canada to Taipei. Seat pitch 32 inch above std vc AC 31.

I have booked the seats with extra leg space (paid extra) for my return flight to Singapore from Taiwan. Wanted to do online check the day before departure but noticed that the seats are not in order. Tried contacting customer service in Taiwan and email to sales person but remain uncontactable. Went to do physical check in on the day and was accused of changing our seats (which we did not) and asked us to top up TWD$3,084 for the remaining seats with extra room space. The whole process took about one hour. Went to counter to pay and the lady in service told us that this is a system change as they change their airplane so seating arrangement change and the seats that we paid for has been taken up by someone else. They did not offer us seats of equivalent (extra leg space with same price) but told us the seats costs more (TWD$5,394) (front role). The whole process took another 20 minutes. By the time we are done payment, we have to rush to board the plane. So to all the consumers, be careful when you purchase tickets from China Airline. They might change the airplane and screwed up your seatings which u paid extra in the first place. I purchased those seats with extra costs because I am travelling with two elderlies and a year old kid.

My China Airlines experience was probably the worst experience I ever had with an airline.
I split this review in 3 parts:
- Booking and arrival at airport
- Flights to Indonesia
- Flights from Indonesia back to Austria

--Booking and arrival at airport--
During the booking process on their (compared to other airlines) terrible website, it seems that I entered my wife's first and last name in the wrong order.
When we arrived at the airport in Vienna we were told, that my wife would not be able to board the plane and there was absolutely nobody working at China Airlines, capable of changing the order of her names on the ticket because it was a Saturday and nobody works in the ticket office on Saturday.

We were forced to book all four of her flights again, standing in front of the China Airlines counter at the Airport, with our plain leaving any minute. What a lovely start to your holiday.

I spent almost 10 days in a constant back and forth with the Austrian China Airlines ticketing office to finally get back the money for my wife's initial booking. I also explained to them, that nowhere on their website the order of first and last name can be seen or changed again, once they were typed in wrong - all my feedback regarding this matter was ignored.

-- Flights to Indonesia --
Not much to complain, comfy plain but rather distant stewards. Definitely used to better service from other airlines. Food on the flight from Vienna to Taipei was ok, food on the flight from Taipei to Indonesia was inedible.

-- Flights from Indonesia back to Austria --
The WORST food I ever came across on a plane. Period. The only thing good about these two flights were the empty planes which allowed us to stretch out a bit.

SUMMARY
China Airlines was by far the most uncooperative and incompetent airline I've had the opportunity to fly with. Starting with their unfriendly and unhelpful staff at the Viennese Airport, along with their support team I can not say much good about them other than that there's a great selection of movies to choose from on long distance flights.

This whole ordeal caused not only a terrible start to our holiday but cost me an extra €700 because of how short-term the new bookings had to be.
Thank you China Airlines but I think this will have been my last booking with you.

Great Experience!

I flew 12.5 hours from Amsterdam to Taiwan and it was one of the easiest flights I've done in my life.

Staff were friendly, aircraft was clean and comfortable - managed to sleep half the journey!

Thanks crew.

I am a 70 yr elderly passenger with the most nightmarish recent experience with the nastiest unprofessional airline staff I ever encountered at China Airline.

After an almost 12 hours layover in SF Airport I was barred from boarding the midnight ( 12:05 am ) Flt CI 3 Dec 30 2022
at the last moment by the most horrendous boarding gate crew at China Airline .

The issue was the green QR code . Despite their refusal to help me with discourteous and crude demeanor I was actually able to provide the code to them at the nick of time. As I was showing it to the manager who viewed it he beckoned me to board , one of the other staff harassingly and unwarrantedly demanded me to show the vaccinated records again at the most confusing critical moment when the aircraft door was closing. As it was such a chaotic moment with 6 to 7
of these boisterous staff against me
I lost the QR code in the confusion and was finally told I could not board.

I am in the process of obtaining the proof from the HKsars Covid website
that I was on time with the required
proof.

I hereby demand China Airline to check on their CCTV video to verify the above
account and to bring their employees to proper justice and adequate professional / courtesy training .

I ended up having to cancel 2 parts of my itinerary on CI 3 and CI 909 to HK. Not only I was stranded for 26 hours at Airfport I had to incur additional expense of $950.00 one way ticket to HK.And my luggage was lost!!!!!

Nobody should go through such mental and physical suffering! And no human should treat others worse than animals like these staff did to me!

These 6 China Air staff are a disgrace to the Company and to the entire industry!

My email is Myc430 @yahoo.com.