What It’s Like Flying Air China Domestically [June 2024 Review]

If I’ve learned anything about travel, it’s that airlines tend to put their best foot forward on long-haul flights to other countries. Gotta impress those business travelers and international tourists, right? Short-haul, domestic flights tend to be a different story.

While an airline might put its newest planes and best flight attendants on international trips, experience tells me that short hops in the airline’s home country tend to get older planes and less impressive service.

While you may see reviews of long-haul Air China flights in first or business class, there’s a lack of English reviews covering short economy flights with the carrier on domestic flights. What’s it like flying Air China within China? Let’s take a look at what my wife and I found across 3 segments in June 2024.

Air China Positives

My wife and I first flew Air China (airline code CA) from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (TFU) to Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA). A few days later, we flew from Lhasa through Chengdu’s other airport, Tianfu International Airport (TFU), to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). Experiences on our flights were mostly uniform, giving us a pretty good idea of what’s standard for the airline. There were several positives.

Organized, Efficient Boarding

On all 3 of our flights, the boarding process was efficient. Boarding groups were announced clearly and maintained by staff. Even though our first flight from Chengdu to Lhasa was delayed, the process felt very orderly once we got started, including signs for which boarding lane to use.

For 2 of our flights, the plane had 2 aisles. On these, flight attendants were present at the boarding door to ensure people knew which aisle to use (and which way to turn) to find their seats quickly.

Friendly Flight Attendants With Good English

Speaking of flight attendants, they were great. We wondered whether there would be communication issues since we don’t speak Chinese, but we found that the majority of flight attendants spoke English — ranging from good to flawless.

Flight attendants communicated clearly regarding meals, drinks, and announcements, and we didn’t feel lost at any point of the trip because of language barriers. Moreover, flight attendants did a great job of keeping the lavatories clean and organized. Just look at this lavatory at the end of a 3-hour flight — nearly flawless!

Decent Legroom

In the U.S., I’m around average height at 5 feet, 10 inches tall. Even still, I find my knees pressed firmly (and uncomfortably) into the seatbacks on many airlines. With China Airlines, that wasn’t an issue on either the Airbus A330 or A321 models we flew.

We got 31 inches of seat pitch (the space from your seat to the seat in front of it) on the A321-200 and 32 inches of pitch on the A330-200.

Numerous Booking Options

As Air China is in Star Alliance, we found it easy to browse and book flights using our miles. We booked 1 flight using United MileagePlus miles and another using Air Canada Aeroplan points. While shopping around for the cheapest options, we found that Air China flights showed up reliably on partner websites.

Air China Negatives

Despite the multiple positives, there was room for improvement on our Air China domestic flights. Here’s what could be better.

Inconsistency With Meals

Amazingly, our longest flight of the 3 didn’t offer a meal. Even more confusing, we got just a snack bag on our flight from Chengdu to Lhasa, though we got a full meal from Lhasa to Chengdu — as if that flight was somehow different, despite the same flying time and same aircraft type.

Thus, we got a cute snack bag on our flight out of Chengdu.

Inside, there was a chicken and cheese sandwich, a cup of yogurt, and a piece of candy. Despite contacting Air China in advance to request vegan meals, we were told it wasn’t possible for this flight. The flight attendants confirmed that everyone got the same snack, and the options were simply “yes” or “no.”

Returning to Chengdu before our connecting flight to Beijing, we flew to Chengdu’s other airport — an extra distance of 30 miles, though the exact same plane type. On this flight, everyone got a full meal, and special meal requests were possible.

Comparing the meal box to the snack bag, we got a hot dish, a cookie, a pack of cold noodles, and a salad. That was a big difference on what was essentially the same flight route.

But the real surprise came when we flew from Chengdu to Beijing. Our flights between Chengdu and Lhasa were both 2 hours; the flight from Chengdu to Beijing lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes. There was no meal or snack of any kind on this flight, just complimentary drinks.

Perhaps this is because Air China runs more than 20 daily nonstop flights between Chengdu and Beijing — and, therefore, uses small, single-aisle planes. However, I’ve taken flights on other airlines that offered meals on A320-series aircraft, so we found this quite strange.

No Personal Entertainment Systems

None of our flights had personal entertainment systems or individual screens at the seats. Instead, a blank seat back greeted us.

There were screens on the bulkhead walls and a few that folded down from the ceiling within the economy cabin, but these were used for the safety video and not much else.

Instead, we had to connect a personal device (like a phone or tablet) to the inflight network to enjoy entertainment.

After connecting, we could peruse options, including destination guides, TV shows, and movies.

Difficulty Managing Booking and Checking In

This was easily the biggest negative aspect, and it included 2 elements. First, we booked using miles from a partner airline, so we couldn’t manage our Air China booking online. Thus, we had to call to request seats and special meals, which is odd in 2024.

Moreover, we couldn’t check in online. And the airline’s self-check-in kiosks at airports didn’t work for us as foreigners. Without a residency permit or national ID, we had to see an agent to check in at the airport — something we only learned after trying multiple check-in kiosks and wondering why these wouldn’t recognize our confirmation numbers or passports.

Final Thoughts

Flying with Air China presented a few bumps in the road, but it was an overall good experience. While the meal and check-in situations lacked a bit of logic, the flight crew and economy cabins made for a good experience once it was time to get on the plane.

If you’re traveling to China, Air China presents a good flight experience. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with this airline on an upcoming trip.