china airlines

[thanatorn-old]

I have been browsing for airfares from London as Thai who I normally use are getting quite expensive. China Airlines comes in cheap on the business class fare. I remember a long time back some posts about their safety record being a bit dubious, but can't find the posts. Any news or recent experience of China Airlines ( not China air), and recommendation or not? Will it be a case of buy cheap get cheap? Thanks.

[Smiles]

Don't know much about China Air, but found this internet flight booking website called CHEAPO AIR (https://www1.cheapoair.com/Default.aspx?tabid=-1) which does in fact seem to have very reasonable offerings. With a name like that I was skeptical at first, but upon trying it got some very good prices come bouncing back (including a Seattle/Bangkok flight on China Airlines).

Kudos where due . . . it was the ubiquitous board member TravelerJim who I believe first mentioned the site in one of his equally ubiquitous screaming GREAT EXCITING FABULOUS TRAVEL BARGAINS!!!!!!!!!!!! posts. So thanks to him.

Cheers ...

China had a few bad accidents awhile back.. but there record is OK lately.. and certainly better than Korean Air. I did get a bad report from a coworker who recently flew them for Taipei to LA in economy and was served only ONE meal.. and was told when asked, that there were no snacks for economy passengers (cup of noodles etc). I'll stick to Thai or EVA thank you!

Taking the cheapest fair is not always the better deal. For instance, I priced out a r/t ticket from LA to BKK in June.. on CHEAPAIR.com.. I can get a United flight (economy) for $995 (+tax) changing planes in Narita.

For $1450 (+tax), I can get a NON-STOP flight on Thai Airways in PREMIUM ECONOMY. You tell me which is the better deal? For me, a non-stop flight, comfortable seating versus crammed into economy like cattle, and Thais wonderful service versus Uniteds lousy service, the extra $400 is a no-brainer.

I fly China Air from Amsterdam via Norwich. I always have a good flight with them. The Business class is ok for the price and the big seats make all the difference. They also get to Bkk about 07:00am which is great as you then get to Pattaya about 10:00am. Try them and make your own mind up!

I have used China Airlines frequently and in general have been satisfied. Agree the B. Class is good value for money. Only drawback flying from UK is that you must change at Amsterdam.
For those of you worried about their safety record look up this web page:http://www.airsafe.com/by_model.htm. It shows according to aircraft model but if you know what you are flying in, if China Airlines has crashed in one it will be recorded.

I can get a United flight (economy) for $995 (+tax) changing planes in Narita ... For $1450 (+tax), I can get a NON-STOP flight on Thai Airways in PREMIUM ECONOMY. You tell me which is the better deal? For me, a non-stop flight, comfortable seating versus crammed into economy like cattle, and Thais wonderful service versus Uniteds lousy service, the extra $400 is a no-brainer.You should compare like with like. For an extra $250 (I believe) you can get 12 months' access to what United call their Economy Plus, which has an additional 5 inches of legroom, the equivalent in space to TG's Premium Economy. Since I only ever fly Business (or First when I can get an upgrade) I can't comment on the levels of service, but for me I'd take the Narita stopover every time

[pandorasbox-old]

Flew with them a year or so ago. I found them fine in business.
Only drawback is that the flights from UK to Amsterdam are in economy which with the new restrictions on some airlines could end up costing a lot of money with excess baggage.
For about ┬г200 more have you thought about Qatar airways? I find the crew great and the planes very comfortable with good departure times from UK and Bangkok.

I have only used China Air for flights between SFO and BKK and found them absolutely fine. Service was friendly and efficient and the food a little better than most airlines (concentrating on easier to serve rice and noodles). The seats in economy were fine. My last trip between BKK and LHR was with EVA Air and I found the price very good, the service fine and the economy seat actually very comfortable - just 11 hours direct flight too!

I remember a long time back some posts about their safety record being a bit dubious, but can't find the posts. Any news or recent experience of China Airlines ( not China air)

Just to make sure people understand the difference, China Airlines is based in Taiwan. Air China on the other hand is mainland China based.

China Airlines have had 8 fatal accidents since 1980, the most recent being the 747-200 which broke up at cruising altitude en-route Taipei-Hongkong near Penghu; due to poor maintenance work.

To quote from another board thread in May last year,
China Airlines has had a terrible run of bad luck in recent years. As the Taipei Times put it:

"...The catastrophic loss of three widebodied jets in less than a decade (Nagoya 1994, Taoyuan 1998 and now Penghu), the writing off of another with some loss of life (Hong Kong 1999) and landing a plane in Hong Kong harbor in 1993 would almost be comic if it didn't involve the loss of over 800 lives. For some time to come there is going to be a perception that flying CAL is little different from playing Russian roulette..."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit...2/05/27/137811

If you want to fly business class between Bangkok and London, I can't recommend Etihad highly enough. It's the new flag carrier of the UAE, and has a brief stop-over in Abu Dhabi. One of the best flights I've ever taken, and it was among the cheapest business class fares I could find. It does not participate in any mileage alliances, though, if that makes any difference to you.

I have flown China Airlines' business class between Thailand and the US, but never between Thailand and Europe. The degree of comfort you'll get depends on whether you are on one of their newer planes, or an older, unrenovated one. I last fly BKK-TPE-SEA, and got one of the latter. It wasn't so great.

United DOES NOT have an "economy Plus" seating on flight to and from the US and Asia. Economy, bus, and 1st class. That's it.

United DOES NOT have an "economy Plus" seating on flight to and from the US and Asia. Economy, bus, and 1st class. That's it.Do check your facts, Jake. Economy Plus is a number of rows within the Economy cabin. It is not sold separately - as I said in my original post you have to buy annual Economy Plus access from the United Web site or be a Mileage Plus member with status. It is on all International and many domestic flights - http://www.united.com.ar/core/espanol/A ... _0804.html (http://www.united.com.ar/core/espanol/AU/companyinfo/pressroom/releases/2005/august/us_0804.html)

I've flown back and forward for years and have learnd, if economy stick to reputal national carriers . In the last five years have flown business many times London/Bangkok. Always for the most reasonably priced. Usually that means having a stop in either Europe, or Middle East. Emirates have a policy of delaying flights until full meaning "unsheduled delays in Dubai" of often nine hours instead of the acceptable two or three. Quatar is fairly new to the game and have a lot less business seats than other airlines. I found it great. China Airlines is often advertised at a great price. Downfall is the stop in Amsterdam and also that the flight from UK is economy. Not great compared to others, but certainly a lot greater than any premium ecomy by miles. Also watch luggage loss in Schipol (the worst in the world ) My favourite by far on business, with often only 1 hours stop in Copengagen going out, more coming back, but great efficient service is SAS. With them you have to wait and look hard for the bargains, but they are worth it. Air France is worth a go too, though the planes can be old, though the stop off at CDG and the service is great.

[Smiles]

I remember a long time back some posts about their safety record being a bit dubious, but can't find the posts. Any news or recent experience of China Airlines ( not China air)
China Airlines have had 8 fatal accidents since 1980, the most recent being the 747-200 which broke up at cruising altitude en-route Taipei-Hongkong near Penghu; due to poor maintenance work.
To quote from another board thread in May last year,
China Airlines has had a terrible run of bad luck in recent years. As the Taipei Times put it:

"...The catastrophic loss of three widebodied jets in less than a decade (Nagoya 1994, Taoyuan 1998 and now Penghu), the writing off of another with some loss of life (Hong Kong 1999) and landing a plane in Hong Kong harbor in 1993 would almost be comic if it didn't involve the loss of over 800 lives. For some time to come there is going to be a perception that flying CAL is little different from playing Russian roulette..."
China Airlines rates dead last in "safety" on a list of 87 major airlines ( http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm ):


http://www.photodump.com/direct/sawatdee/aircrash.jpg



Cheers ...

I think Garuda went down a notch today...

Also interesting to see that Qantas has been operating for 56 years without a single fatal accident.

[Smiles]

I think Garuda went down a notch today...
Also interesting to see that Qantas has been operating for 56 years without a single fatal accident.
I think the Garuda crash is already factored into the list. Look carefully and you'll see that their last crash is listed as happening in 2007.

The Qantas record is indeed impressive, as is El Al ... no fatal crashes since 1955.

Cheers ...

Homintern, Those Premium economy seats on United that you are talking about are a very small number of seats only available on a limited basis to those willing to pay an additional yearly fee. What good is that to the general public? EVA and Thai have many rows of premium economy seatihg available to the public at large. Besides, Uniteds service stinks...

Homintern, Those Premium economy seats on United that you are talking about are a very small number of seats only available on a limited basis to those willing to pay an additional yearly feeI thought I had made that abundantly clear. Besides, I'm happy to pay extra to escape the hoi polloi (as I do by flying Business Class and getting upgrades to First, but on the odd occasion I've flown Economy Plus it's perfectly adequate). By the way "a small number of seats" on a 747-400 (the aircraft that fly to Bangkok) is all of Rows 35 - 44 (ie. 11 rows) in an Economy cabin of 30-odd rows in total (32-62). So Economy Plus is approximately 110 seats out of a possible 300 seats and in my calculations that's ... um ... {check Aunty's invaluable Nuclear Physics for the Under Fives for a ready reckoner} roughly one-third all seats in the Economy Cabin are Economy Plus. I suppose that equates to "a very small number of seats" but I'll leave it to others to make that call

Smiles: that old furphy died the death when QF1 overshot the runway (in Bangkok of all places) during a storm a few years ago. While there where no fatalities that does not mean Qantas has an "unblemished record". By the way the accident was a wake-up call to a number of airlines, Qantas among them, as to the inadequacy of the Thais to deal with an airport emergency. As a result Qantas and British Airways cut back their combined flights through Bangkok for 4 or 5 a day to 2. Successive Thai governments have always brushed this aside whenever their own reporters have raised it, stating that Qantas and BA made a decision not to hub in Bangkok but to transfer everything to Singapore as "wholly operational, nothing to do with the over-shoot". Qantas senior management have told me, however, that (and it's the same reason for pulling out of Malaysia) the Thais are incapable of running an orgy in a knocking-shop, a piss-up in a brewery, a bath, or a choko vine over a country dunny - take your own favourite analogy

[TrongpaiExpat]

I have this good friend that was on a United flight out of Bangkok a few years back. The plane hit a flock of birds on take-off and made an emergency stop. The crew did not know what was wrong and ordered a emergency shoot evacuation.

This was right next to the military VIP golf course. Emergency vehicles rushed to the disabled plane just as some VIP was getting ready to tee-off. His entourage held up the rescue teem to allow this person to play through.

The only injuries were old people trying to slide down the shoot.

The good news is that they put him up in a hotel for a few nights and then gave him a first class ticket on Thai Air, after signing something to the effect that he was not injured.

Smiles: that old furphy died the death when QF1 overshot the runway (in Bangkok of all places) during a storm a few years ago. While there where no fatalities that does not mean Qantas has an "unblemished record".

Actually, not quite true if my memory serves me correctly. Quantas claim no fatalities and no hull losses - ie aircraft write offs. QF1 was repaired at considerable expense to allow the socond claim to remain in place

[thrillbill]

I have flown China Air four round trips from BKK to LAX and found it just as good as United or Northwest. If my memory was correct the plane was brand new with each seat having their own entertainment system. The food is nothing great but I don't make that a priority... BUT unlike cheap Northwest where you have to PAY for your mixed drinks and have some bitchy flight attendant serve it to you, the drinks are free on China Air with a smile. Unfortunately Eva Air and China Air stop in Taiwan which I find one of the most boring airports around.

The only injuries were old people trying to slide down the shoot.
I'll be sure to tell my ex-roommate that. He hurt his knee (twisted it) at the bottom of the slide. He's in his early 40's. :-)

I think Garuda went down a notch today...

Also interesting to see that Qantas has been operating for 56 years without a single fatal accident.

Garuda went down a notch??? I wasn't aware there were any more notches left for it to go. I have recently had the pleasure of using Qatar airways, only a short hop, they are very good, I fully agree with Pandora on this. They go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and the food is excellent. Service on Qantas is the worst in the world, union problems. If the stewards can make it out the cabin on a long haul before you land you are lucky, so are they. I have never seen such old personnel in my life, most look well beyond retirement age.

How much did you drink on those China air fights Thrillbill? China air also stop in Taiwan. They do not have any aircraft capable of non-stop flights from LA to BKK.
In fact... China Air Flights from LAX often have an additional stop in Anchorage Alaska.

[Up2U]

I have flown China Air four round trips from BKK to LAX and found it just as good as United or Northwest.....

Was this a recommendation?

I think Garuda went down a notch today...

Also interesting to see that Qantas has been operating for 56 years without a single fatal accident.

For some reason, EVA isn't on that list but they have also never had a passenger fatality according to other similar websites such as www.airsafe.com (http://www.airsafe.com)

Yeah, but EVA has only been operating since the early 1990's!