China Eastern Airlines (MU.....) has awful service.

This is the 3rd flight in a row which is late, this time they made us miss our flight from Beijing to Canada.

Two (2) hours late for Air Traffic Control conditions,I ask them to prove it and so far no answer.........LIES!!!

We still had 1 hour to catch the flight, yes short but the airport was empty at midnight,China Eastern staff were so incompetent they couldn't find/call our scheduled flight office which was open for another 1.5 hours.

Unlike the message on board which will help passengers for the airlines tardiness China Eastern Airline is unorganized, this is the sign of an accident waiting to happen.

I understand you cant do much about weather but this is total incompetence....

Which is why it's usually worth paying a bit extra to fly with a reliable airline! Airline safety is not an issue to play around with, so some careful consideration about who you are flying with and their standards of service makes a HUGE difference. I personally only fly with Star Alliance carriers and a few others and I never make any exceptions for any reasons. For example, flying THAI between Kunming and Bangkok and Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City is always worth it. I will never fly Air Asia because firstly, their ticket prices are often not any cheaper than THAI and once you add on the extra baggage charges, it may even be more expensive than THAI! Also, I have been able to fly for free many times even business class with THAI a privelege you won't get with Air Asia.

While I think that China Eastern is a perfectly safe airline to fly with and I found their service to be OK (on domestic flights; I have never flown with them internationally), why don't you just fly with say, Cathay Pacific? They offer very cheap flights via Hong Kong from Kunming to Toronto and Vancouver.

It is often the same with any budget airline. Unless you have booked a connecting flight with the same airline, then no joy.
Part of the problem is also Beijing airport. Even Chinese people get lost there, the signage is abysmal.

There is only one cure, fly to Beijing the day before, book a cheap hotel and enjoy a bit of the city. I always do this, no matter which airport I am exiting China from. I also makes life a lot less stressful.

I wouldn't necessarily blame everything on the airline. We also missed connections in Canada when our Beijing to Vancouver flight was delayed at takeoff. It was Air China, not China Eastern, and the delay was caused by heavy congestion which the airline does not control.

I find the easiest flights to Canada are via Korean Airlines. You can fly KLA from Kunming to Seoul, the onward to Toronto. They probably also have flights to Vancouver. The best part is that you can check your bags right through in both directions so no need to pick them up and check in again in Seoul.

people have to get use to delays when travelling in china. airline, hight speed train, regular train, bus....without exception, delays are normal. if you have a connecting flight to catch, well, tough luck. i do move around in china quite a bit, i had once had the good fortune of flying Hainan Airline from Beijing to Hainan, oh, the trip took 26 hours to complete. it was a drama starting off with a 5 hour delay on takeoff. oh, the trip came with a mid-air passengers 'revolt' for poor food, then passengers refuse to leave the plane when landed in Nanjing for the second leg, the toilet is well, full of shxt...... i ended up finish reading a robert ludlum, hahahha, it is a treat.

Thanks for all the feedback.

China Eastern's flight was only regional, after arriving 1.5 hours late in Beijing we satyed another 1\2 hour at the gate for unknown reasons..??..

I agree it's not worth the savings to fly with such an unorganized airline such as China Eastern, what is most frustrating is to read in last springs inflight magazine about the CEO (or whatever they call the big "Lao Ban") braging his record profits in 2011.

Never again China Eastern...Never...too many lies from management .

As for safety.
Most of China's air fleet is new, + - 10 years old, many critics point to this fact resulting in present safe standards, but, what will happen in China's future contracting economy, tightening profits and ageing aircraft fleet??

In my opinion cost cutting airlines like China Eastern will be problematic untill tragedy strikes..

Even though I've been ranting about the negatives of China Eastern i must admit the staff that deals with the public does a great job, polite, ready to serve and will go beyond their duty roll to help.
What I'm really warning others about is managements lack of organising / staff training procedures.

As the other posted.....pay the extra....

I've flown Korean Air in the past, tops, but now with my wife needing a US visa for a flight transfer it's too much trouble to apply for 2 visas..

Thanks again.

There are worse airlines than China Eastern. We flew from Kunming with one of the new budget airlines, never again.

As a general rule of thumb, we always allocate minimum 4 hour layovers between any international connecting flights. Certain credit cards, frequent flier benefits, and club memberships allow even economy class passengers use of the business class lounges (although you have to be assertive - just keep escalating up the management chain), so that's a reasonably relaxing and secure (you can store your carry-on luggage) place to wait, snack, clean bathrooms, lots of freebie stuff.

The civil aviation authority in china does not have control in air space, even already declared air corridors, it is actually the prerogative of the regional military command, so I can not see how the airline could know the real reason for a delay resulting from a air traffic control order. It could just be a mechanical problem disguised as a traffic control one. Guess, I have read too much Ludlum.:-)

R.G exactly..

China Eastern gives any excuse, they think we'll believe any bullshit.

Constant lies in China, LIES, LIES, LIES!!

Everything looks good but it's all crap.....everything.

China Eastern is like many other companies in China, they don't care about it's clients.