China Airlines (What is the service Like)???

[Guest]

Taipan,

You're thinking of Air China (the Mainland Chinese carrier), not China Airlines (the Taiwanese airlines). I can assure you that China Airlines is in a completely different league (and they most definitely do NOT fly from Shanghai to Beijing...).

A common mistake.

[ January 29, 2002: Message edited by: PvtDick ]

[Guest]

Anyone able to give information re.frequent flyer programme as regards amount of mileage required for free flights on china,ie lon-bkk.Im assuming they are using 747s from amsterdam-any idea on seat pitch?

[shamus]

whitney you mentioned that incident with china air at anchorage, there is a report on this at this site http://www.airdisaster.com/news/0102/27/news.shtml

very lucky!!!!!!!!

[Whitney]

Shamus, thanks for the website address. I am interested to see how this incident is explained when the investigation is done.

[Guest]

Keep in mind that for some godforsaken reason the Anch Airport tower did not warn the plane it was going down the wron runway...

[Guest]

Point taken PvtDick! Guess I got confused!

Taipan

[Raven]

The China Airlines story is scary stuff. How can any competent international airline have such incompetent crew? Headed west when they should be headed north? Taking off on a taxi way with blue and green lights rather than a runway with white lights? 6,000 feet of taxiway to obtain rotation rather than 11,000 feet on the runway?

I had thought that the main problem with China Airlines was tht it had to make due with old, used equipment. But, the aircraft involved here was one of China Airlines new aircraft - an Airbus 340 - probably less than a year old. Did it not have a compass? Or two, or ten?

Now, I think the problem is only partly due to older equipment - it is about people. Could the crew not speak English, the international language of aviation? Huge problem here in training, English language competency, judgment, etc. Did the first officer not want to challenge the Captain - despite the fact that all on board could have easily been killed??

Make your own judgment, but this looks like an unsafe airline to me. Particularly with its poor history.

Caveat- I fly this airline because of schedule and price. But I know I am rolling the dice each and every time I walk down the boarding ramp. After this latest incident, a less convenient schedule and a higher price may make sense.

[iuytrede]

@ Raven

CI is relaively unsafe not because of old equipment, but because of their corporate culture - which they are trying to change.

Until recently CI was basically run by the KMT. The pilots were ex-military pilots. These guys wouldn't want to have their decisions challenged by a co-pilot. Or by a computer - as in Nagoya, where the computer and the pilots were fighting each other and the plane crashed. But they do have guts: in a typhoon CX (Cathay) will usually cancel all flights and put everybody on CI. CI will still fly - but sometimes they crash.

BTW the risk do die on an international CI-flight is just 2 times as high as on other major American, Asian or Western European carriers (except AF - they are about as unsafe as CI) - no problem for me.

[ February 02, 2002: Message edited by: iuytrede ]

[Guest]

Not ever having utilised services of China Airlines, I'm not qualified to comment on the subject.

I would, however, tend to agree with spirit_of_town_hall regarding service offered on British Airways flights, at least as far as SYD-BKK is concerned.

I recently flew to Bangkok from Sydney and return on a codesharing (BA/Qantas) flight and found the cabin service generally appears to leave a rather lot to be desired.

If any other boardmember has flown this sector in recent times, would you please comment and offer your opinion on the following matter.

On the outbound leg from Sydney, they run out of beer somewhere over Kalimantan. After this, semi-warm Coke and a very limited selection of other soft drinks were available. I'm not a spirit/vine drinker, so cannot comment on their availablity. Somewhere over Malaysia or South China Sea, the semi-warm Coke turned into warm Coke!

On the inbound leg, having departed Bangkok approximately 1/2 hour delayed, the beer run out over Kalimantan once again. The only difference being that the ONLY available choice was warm Coke immediately, instead of following the previously supplied semi-warm variety!

Does any other traveller know the reason for this? Are Qantas and or British Airways just trying to save money? In mitigation, both flights were relatively full, but then again, so have most of my previous several hundreds of flights been equally full.

Regarding prefence of Airlines/cabin service standards, my definite vote would go to Japan Airlines, followed closely by Singapore Airlines. As a native born Finn, I have flown Finnair on several occasions (albeit mainly inter-Europe) and have found that they, alike most Western World airlines suffer badly from modern day lagal requirements. I dread the day when we are served by 60-year old air hostesses!

When are the law makers going to wake up? Why introduce unfair dissmissal laws that make it possible for a woman to remain an Airhostess until retirement age, unless she chooses to previously resign?

Ok, enough rambling on. I hope I did not bore anybody too much.

Cheers,

[think_too_mut]

I fly 6-7 times a year from Sydney to BKK, always on BA or QF flights. I always rest asured that the crew is competent, well trained and the planes well maintained.

Take that out, throw in unlimited beer supply and you get Mickey Mouse airlines like CI and other crap.

Will never fly by airline where the crew can't see over the hood nor with airline that employs ex-military pilots.