I (Amit Kanudia) and my wife (Pratima Bisen) were flying Xi’an – Delhi via Beijing on April 2nd, business class. The first flight got delayed and we arrived on terminal 3C about 30 minutes before the departure of the next flight. The boarding gate was announced before landing and there was no agent waiting for us at the arrival gate, so we thought we will be able to make the connection through the normal channel. After changing the terminal (3E), going through immigration and security, we managed to reach the gate exactly at the departure time. The gate was deserted!! No agent and no information. We traced our steps back through security and immigration all the way to 3C. And bear in mind that it is very hard to have even the simplest of questions answered on all counters… language is a major problem in China for people who don’t speak Chinese.


The information counter advised us to go to the Air China ticketing. Waited for a long time and they said the only option was to take the same flight on April 4th as there was no service on the next day. They could not confirm us on any alternate routing.


They did book us in a very shoddy hotel (Golden Phoenix Beijing hotel) but there was no Air China staff to accompany us and no one knew what “Business class” meant at the hotel counter! We were offered “free buffets” but even my servants won’t eat that food. Two dishes (just rice and beef) in an empty hall… no vegetarian food. at all And no way to ask anything to any of the hotel staff. We had to pay for our meals as well as breakfast to have any reasonable options.


Two main complaints:

1. They had already decided that we are not going to make the connecting flight as our luggage was not loaded. Someone should have informed us so that we did not have to rush through the terminal transfer, immigration and security… TWICE.

2. The hotel arrangement was pathetic… no difference whether you travel business or economy.

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For your reference our Beijing-Delhi ticket nos are mentioned below:

Amit Kanudia 7811767721606/4

Pratima Bisen 7811767721611/4
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We have lodged our complaint with Air China twice but no action has been taken to mitigate our complaint.

I recently went on a business trip to China. Within China I had first class round trip booking from Shanghai to Yichang. A few days prior to my departure and with tickets issued and in my hand I was informed by my colleague in China that my flight from Shanghai to Yichang was canceled with no reason and absolutely no information given by Air China. I contacted my travel agent that issued the tickets and they knew nothing about it. I managed to rebook on a different airline. My colleage in China assured me that my flight back from Yichang to Shanghai was still ok and on schedule. Upon arriveal in China and just 4 days prior to my flight back to Shanghai from Yichang my colleague informed me that return flight was also now canceled with no explanation at all given. My colleage spent hours trying to resolve this with Air China but could not and was fortunately able to make me an alternative booking on another airline but I had to pay again. Summing up, Air China did nothing at all to help, in fact they hindered us by not keeping us informed. DO NOT fly Air China.

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