China Eastern may be crap (and their website has massive security holes, too), but:

1. They fly direct to Paris and Chiang Mai, which nobody else does.

2. Their Tuodong Lu ticket office have a separate international section which is usually always vacant and makes booking more pleasant than usual.

@vicar same here, been flying with them for years, never anything but great service

Thai Airways also flies direct to Chiang Mai every Sunday and Thursday and they are far better than China Eastern.

For years this was the only service to Chiang Mai until it was discontinued in 2009 and China Eastern then introduced theirs.

Last year Thai brought back this twice weekly service (a stop-over on the daily Bangkok route) to compete a bit with China Eastern which is great because they are indeed far better.

The problem is not just the staff at China Eastern (although they relatively have the worst service). The main problem is the people of mainland China in general. There, I said it. I am glad I left, and although I'm still in Asia, I get to deal with polite, civilized people on a daily basis, and it's a breath of fresh air.

Where did you end up? If you don't mind me asking. I am thinking of doing some travel and am making a mental bucket list of places to go.

I am particularly picky about who I choose to fly with, but with China Eastern I have found they often have direct routes to where I need to go (abroad) for reasonable prices.

The food is crap, they make you turn your phone off for the duration of the flight and you'll never get anything but the bare minimum on a flight but I've never had staff or service problems with them.

I avoid Hainan Airlines like the plague, even if they paid me to fly with them I would still take another company.

I don't expect much from people on minimum salaries doing long hours dealing with idiots the whole day. A fake smile and a 'sir this', 'sir that' and the obligatory forced 'have a great day' doesn't mean anything to me, so long as they do their job and not pass the strain of their awful pay and working hours onto me I couldn't care less.

International Airline! Ha! Their ground staff does not recognize passports, luggage allowances are not known. Last time I had to discuss for 10 minutes if I need a visa for my home country. The staff is simply selected by look not qualification. Defiantly the worst airline I have used. Yet the one with the best connection from Kunming, and the only one with a direct service to Europe from Kunming. However, if I can avoid CE I'll I go for others, just to make similar experiences. Flying from Kunming airport sucks either way.

Hainen top rated Chinese airline, China Eastern worst rated.

@ Bluesky: How is it that the people of mainland China are the main problem with China Eastern, and why is it worse than other Chinese airlines in terms of rudeness, etc.?