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I know they have a bad reputation but has anyone ever flown air china?
The thing is that they are far cheaper than ANYTHING for a trip I want to do to Vancouver in December (around xmas hence the difference!)

http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm

Air China is 37 out of 89 for accidents. China Airlines is 88!





Edit

Just added some photos of an Air China accident for you, not much left of the plane: http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ca129/4.shtml

ahhh... that explains my confusion... so air china and china airlines are two different airlines... now I need to check which one it was with!

Scott, how much cheaper are they than Air Canada?

While I may not have been impressed with the service or fodd that they served last year, they are not expensive either.

Would you like me to see what my resources can find?

If it was China Airlines, can I have your camera?

yeah me

old dc10
seemed like it was going to fall apart

but i guess air china would be safer than quantas
as the rule of probabilities state if something hasn't happened it will soon
hence quantas has never crashed but now it's only a matter of time that it will

but air china has a crash record so i guess it woudl be safer to fly with them in the 'mean' time

gstark wrote:Scott, how much cheaper are they than Air Canada?

While I may not have been impressed with the service or fodd that they served last year, they are not expensive either.

Would you like me to see what my resources can find?

Over $800 cheaper... which means for louise + me + isabelle we are talking nearly $2000
Plus we get a night in a nice hotel in Taipei and even better we do not go via Holalulu (so no 3hr stop where it takes 2.5 to go through customs and nothing is open!)

and yes, it is China Airlines...

wendellt wrote:yeah me

old dc10
seemed like it was going to fall apart

but i guess air china would be safer than quantas
as the rule of probabilities state if something hasn't happened it will soon
hence quantas has never crashed but now it's only a matter of time that it will

but air china has a crash record so i guess it woudl be safer to fly with them in the 'mean' time

Hopefully it means they will be better at handling the crash

and this site:
http://www.china-airlines.com/en/about/about-1-2.htm

Makes it look quite nice... I wonder if that actually is one of the interior of their planes or if they snuck on another...


The issue is we need to travel in peak (after 10dec) on 18dec...

Glen wrote:
Just added some photos of an Air China accident for you, not much left of the plane: http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ca129/4.shtml

Well thank goodness it is China Airlines then...

MHD wrote:and this site:
http://www.china-airlines.com/en/about/about-1-2.htm

Makes it look quite nice... I wonder if that actually is one of the interior of their planes or if they snuck on another...


The issue is we need to travel in peak (after 10dec) on 18dec...

What's the fare you've been quoted?

MHD wrote:...a nice hotel in Taipei...

Not sure if you can use those words in the same sentence.

Going by the service level and friendliness of the China Airlines staff I deal with at work, I don't think you could go wrong. $2000 saved could be spent wisely at a certain Belmore emporium....

Just a quick browse is showing me Air Canada, via HNL, for 2149, or JAL, via Tokyo, 2279.

Plus taxes, of course. Who's your frequent flier card with?

Can you afford to wait to book? My experience over the last couple of years is that some very good bargains turned up in November, covering the period you're wanting to travel in.

What about a flight to LAX or SFO, and then looking at some other means of transport to Vancouver? Internal US flight (sort of), car rental, or rail into Canada?

gstark wrote:

MHD wrote:and this site:
http://www.china-airlines.com/en/about/about-1-2.htm

Makes it look quite nice... I wonder if that actually is one of the interior of their planes or if they snuck on another...


The issue is we need to travel in peak (after 10dec) on 18dec...

What's the fare you've been quoted?

1905 + 416 tax dep 18dec06 1 night in Taipei and onto Van
Return via taipei on 15/1/07

gstark wrote:Just a quick browse is showing me Air Canada, via HNL, for 2149, or JAL, via Tokyo, 2279.

Plus taxes, of course. Who's your frequent flier card with?

Can you afford to wait to book? My experience over the last couple of years is that some very good bargains turned up in November, covering the period you're wanting to travel in.

What about a flight to LAX or SFO, and then looking at some other means of transport to Vancouver? Internal US flight (sort of), car rental, or rail into Canada?

Yeah tried that... Just as expensive... xmas travel..

We are 5 people (taking the parents) so need to be fairly quick...

MHD wrote:1905 + 416 tax dep 18dec06 1 night in Taipei and onto Van
Return via taipei on 15/1/07

How about EVA Air ? I know nothing about them, but 1699, plus taxes, etc.

The 416 sounds about right; 400 odd per is what I'd be expecting for this sort of trip.

Have a look at bestflights.com.au as a starting point.

http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/2 ... tails=2165

http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/2 ... tails=2280

http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/2 ... tails=2370

I've used them a number of times, and found them to be helpful, and good.

Sams mum flew Air China, or Eastern Air CHina, the name escapes me and it might eb the wrong airline, but it was horrendous apparantly.
The toilets at the rear of the plane shut 30 minutes after takeoff and remained closed on the Sydney to China leg. The stewardesses were smoking in the galley which really pissed her off because she's a smoker!!! Unreal!

They had a stop over in China somewhere and rather than being taken to the Ramada Airport hotel that was included they were bundeled into a bus and taken to some dodgy slum way outside the main city.

Food on board was awful and inflight entertainment was whatever your imagination could conjure up!

That was her experience and she has vowed never ever to touch them again.

But, don't let that dissuade you Scott.

Dragon air is the HK airline catering more to westerners - check them out, I've flow with them a few times.

Cathay always seems to be doing good deals, or at least that seems to be who I've flown with a lot lately!

We are flying China Air...

So it seems we have the following:
China Air: Pretty bad safety record but better service
Air China: Sounds like pretty bad service...

MHD wrote:We are flying

We're all hoping that that's how it goes, anyway.

actually their A340-300s look pretty nice
http://www.china-airlines.com/en/check/ ... -4-4-3.htm

Have you thought about JAL through Narita? They usually include o/n Tokyo plus if you choose the right flight you will travel Qantas anyway because of code share.

wendellt wrote:but i guess air china would be safer than quantas
as the rule of probabilities state if something hasn't happened it will soon
hence quantas has never crashed but now it's only a matter of time that it will

Sorry Wendell, can't let that one go.

I don't believe there is a "rule of probabilities" as such, but even if there was, I would be astonished if it said that, because something has never happened, it is more likely to happen in the future.

I do think there is a very high probability that your statement is complete nonsense Sorry, at least you take really good photographs. Stay away from maths.

Mundi wrote:Have you thought about JAL through Narita? They usually include o/n Tokyo plus if you choose the right flight you will travel Qantas anyway because of code share.

Yep.. about 2300 before tax