China Airlines
57 reviews
Booked premium economy class flight for family trio from Melbourne to Taipei on China Airlines official website. A week before departure, notified with aircraft change and moved our booking to economy class. Customer service wasn't helpful at all.… Read more
Had to pay more to change another flight with premium economy, which also impact our trip plan to arrive two days earlier, and we had to pay 2 more day's hotel . Premium economy seat is not comfortable in terms of spacing and how it is designed. Quite disappointed fly with them.
Follow-up · A330-300 without Premium Economy configuration. Had to pay extra to extend the stay of previously booked hotel at full price.
Had Premium Economy tickets SYD-LHR and wife broke her leg. Contacted China Airlines Sydney office and told them we were unable to travel on the booked seats. Young man told me to obtain a Doctor's letter stating full details of her injury.… Read more
Forwarded various documents to them and four days later received full refund. Their customer service personnel were fast, efficient and friendly. Could not expect better service anywhere. Other airlines could learn a lot from them. Thank you China Airlines you took any some anxiety in what is a very difficult health matter.
Follow-up · China Airlines refunded the tickets with a small cancellation fee. Exceptional customer service which results in customer loyalty. Great work China Airlines.
Find the service to be very good. Cabin crew very nice and attentive. Real coffee. Gooyd not bad. Planes comfortable and entertainment good. One flight was delayed thorough no fault of theirs and they had organised is accommodation and transport. Very happy. Show details
Reviews with attachments
China Airline bad experiences – Very disappointed and bad experiences. I book 2 air tickets on 24 July 2024 and was inform on 4 June 2023 that the flight was cancel. I can change my flight for the next day 25th of make a cancellation! Please notice: 1. We already made hotel reservation. 2. We have to work on the 25th. 3. When we purchased the air tickets, we already paid and… Read more
there are extra charges for conversion fee(currency rate) from NT to Sin. *these ticket are no cancellation allowed for consumer! 4. When we cancelling the flight, there will be another conversion fee charges from the bank again. 5. We book another airline to travel back home on 24th, there will be another conversion fee from bank again and the air fare should higher!
* i had already purchased Taiwan sim card limited to the days of my travel.
May I know who is paying for the lost that we encountered?!
In-depth reviews
China Airlines – problems? You are on your own. You may be stranded in a foreign country with no help. May 2025 – Flew from Australia to Taiwan. The onward flight from Taiwan to London was cancelled due to Pakistan-India conflict. What did China Airlines do? Nothing. No help at all. No replacement flight. No help with arranging a new flight.… Read more
No accommodation. No assistance at all. I eventually got a partial refund after many emails. It does not really compensate for the lost money for accommodation in London, having to pay for accommodation in Taiwan, having to pay for a new flight (with a different airline) which departed several days later. China Airlines let me down. If you have a problem with China Airlines you are on your own.
But wait, there’s more…
In June 2025 I flew from London to Malaysia with Qatar Airways with a transfer in Doha. When we got to Doha the onward flight to Malaysia (along with a number of other flights) was cancelled due to the Iran-Israel conflict. What did Qatar Airways do? In the middle of the night they arranged a transfer to a hotel in Doha and a new flight the following evening. Efficient and no hassle despite the challenges of dealing with several flights and dealing with this at 1am. Well done Qatar Airways. China Airlines, not so much.
Surprisingly good – Recently flew with China Airlines for the first time , Bris-Taipei- Bkk return. Choose them based mainly on price and flight times. Flights were in Economy , but full disclosure, I also have Skyteam ElitePlus status. Flights out of Australia only half full , return flights fully booked. Service was good, attentive , meals were also quite good,… Read more
check in and transfers at Taipei seamless. China Airlines uses the Plaza Premium lounge in Brisbane , and has its own dedicated lounge in Taipei and Bangkok. I used all of them , and they were pretty good, with an emphasis on Asian food obviously, plenty of seats, good service. The planes looked very new , Airbus A350 I think. Was a 3/3/3 seating configuration to Taipei, then a 2/4/2 configuration on to Bangkok. Entertainment system was okay, i,ve seen better ( on S.I.A and Emirates) but was more than adequate. Flight crew were attentive, kind, polite and efficient. China Airlines exceeded my expectations, I will definitely fly with them again.
Great value, good airline – I flew SYD-TPE-AMS and v.v. in economy class recently. When I booked I thought this would be a budget-like airline with older planes and less than impressive entertainment purely based on the rates that were consistently cheaper than those of other carriers. When boarding the (very new) A350 I realized that my expectations were misguided, the… Read more
plane was great with plenty of leg room (second only to Korean Air where leg room is nothing short of amazing), a tremendous choice in in flight entertainment and some very friendly flight attendants.
While I have read in numerous reviews the seats are thin - and I agree they are - I didn’t find it uncomfortable and neither did it stop me from sleeping ..... a bit (I cannot sleep on a plane easily).
The only thing that needs some improvement in my opinion is the food. While it’s hardly ever awesome in a plane ( well unless you fly Business class perhaps which I never do) I wouldn’t have known it was an omelette I was eating if they wouldn’t have told me....... and noodles or rice for breakfast is just not for me. But this is the only area in which some other carriers might perform better and considering the difference in price with those..... I’ll accept being explained what I’m eating for breakfast rather than being able to taste it.
On another note, access to Taipei and Taichung from the Taipei airport is very good and it’s easy to do a quick trip if you have a lengthy stopover (approx 2 hours after I landed I was in Taichung some 180km south of the airport courtesy of the very impressive public transport system in Taiwan)...... I will be back!
Positive reviews
Very good airline - keep up the good work – We recently flew from Brisbane to Auckland and back. This was our first experience with this airline. Their service was very good at every level. Their customer service is very efficient. A few aspects could be improved, but nothing of significant concern. The flight was on schedule, with the Auckland-Brisbane leg arriving 30 minutes early. I will undoubtedly choose them over Qantas and Jetstar. Show details
Great experience – We flew from Brisbane to Auckland business class and the service was excellent. The staff were friendly, professional and nothing was too much trouble. The food was delicious and the servings generous. Thank you for a wonderful experience. See you tomorrow night for our flight home.
China Airlines... Great price. Great service. Good food. Worth a try – Flew from Auckland to Brisbane with China Airlines (economy) ..... All the others kept on bumping up the price everytime I got to checkout (by 4th attempt I was furious). China was well priced; easy to book. I didn't opt for paying for meals.... 3 hours is not a long flight, and generally the carton is tastier than the food. But pleasant… Read more · 1
surprise.... Service was good; on time; loads of room - the seat in front was a good 150mm further away than normal economy. Could get out from the window seat without the others having to move. Then they came down with meals for everyone. Hot, fresh, tasty. I'm a convert. Recommend trying them.
Negative reviews
Won't fly China Airline again. Terrible money grabbing seat selection policy!!!! They want to charge $100 each way to pre-select a standard seat Sydney to Taipei and return. By the time I pay that, China Airline would have cost me 30% more than other major airlines. I thought I could at least choose my seat when I checked in online but no such… Read more
luck. I had no chance to choose my seat and I am not allowed to change the seat allocated to me either. It's a 9.5 hr overnight flight both ways and I really want a seat of my choice. I've flown them several times before. Didn't use to be like that, at least not in 2023. If you're flying long distance and want to be able to choose your seat without paying an extra 20%, don't fly China Airline.
Very worsted – Worst experience ever to choose china airlines. We are 2 people asked them for window seat together they reply they don’t have a window seat. They gave a seat together from Sydney to china but from china to Nepali there were lots of seats was empty with window too but we are separately seat. We asked for change seat they didn’t allow us but they… Read more
allow Chinese for seat change. We are traveling either Chinese or other they should treated the same to all. Worst food seat soo bad. Worst worst experience ever. Staffs are sooo rude never gonna travel form china airlines.
Rubbiskh airline – Utterly rubbish. Online checking does not working. Quality of flights and food depends on the origin of the flight. We travelled premium economy. First leg out of anpmsterdam was fine. Second leg out of taiwan was not good, rude staff, almost like they were competing as to how fast they could serve a meal. 3rd leg to NZ, impossible to check-in. A big no for me. We will take our money elsewhere. Show details
Find out how China Airlines compares to other International Airlines
Know better, choose better.
Recent reviews
Worst airline – The worst airline ever . customer service rubbish . rude staff. very uncomfortable to fly with China Airlines . customers be very wary . China Airlines is a fraud .
Terrible China Airlines Business Class – Save your money, do not fly with China Airlines. I flew from Taipei - Melbourne on Business Class and I had a terrible experience. The cabin crew were rude and service was shocking. I suspect the rude service may be because we do not speak Chinese? We only speak English. Despite sitting in the second row, I was always last to be served and often… Read more
ignored. The child sitting in front of me, the people beside me and behind me would often receive their meals first. My dietary requirements was ignored (I can not eat dairy so I asked if cheese could be swapped out). This request was denied and I was given cheese that I cannot eat. My husbands breakfast selection was given incorrectly. Why bother asking for meal preferences if they give the wrong one?! There is also no WIFI internet service unless you decide to pay, but this service is only available for 2hours. Overall I do not recommend flying with China Airlines. You’re better off with other airlines who will provide you with better service for the amount you pay.
Beware airline has changed there baggage allowance – Would fly regularly to nzwith China airways Taking fishing rods with me. Always under my weight allowance. Just booked in and was charged $75 for 1.5kg of extra baggage!!! Was still under weight allowance but had extra bag. So $75 payable. Show details
I would fly with China Airlines again – I recently traveled on a Qantas code share flight with China Airlines from Melbourne to Taipei. I traveled in Premium Economy on the way to Taiwan and Economy on the way back to Australia. Both flights were Qantas reward seat redemption's. Both classes were excellent and the best I've experienced so far. The crew were very professional and… Read more
polite. The plane was fitted out with a new modern interior which looks to me like one of the best in the industry.
Meals in both classes were excellent and you certainly won't go hungry.
Better than expected, but long way to London – Took 4 flights Mel to Taipei to London & back in Prem Econ. No significant delays however travelling to London with 5hr layover add 9hrs to our usual route via KL/Singapore. A350 iis a new, comfortable, amenity bag, good crew. Don't order Vegan or non dairy meal option. Would fly again to Asia, but not to Europe. Show details
Flight cancelled and never rescheduled – China airlines cancelled a flight from Brisbane to Auckland at the airport as we were about to board for mechanical reasons. We were told to go home and wait for rescheduled time the next day. It never came. We missed a very special family event because of their lies. No apology and no help with getting our $ back from flight network. Show details
Put to bed all day with CI81 CHINA AIRLINES – I had a strange experience with CHINA AIRLINES in April this year. As many people would be aware, a flight to the UK from Melbourne is long and difficult to endure, particularily in economy. We left Taoyuan International at 9:35am and arrived at London Heathrow at approximatley 6.30 pm. The time in the air was about 16 hours during daylight to… Read more
arrive in the evening. However once we were served meals on the flight we were instructed to keep the blinds down for the entire flight. We were espected to sleep for the day which goes against everything I know about reducing jetlag. I have a hip condition which means I need to stand up and walk around regularily, however this is difficult when the person next to you is sleeping. The staff were respectful but we didnt seem to offer drinks often and I became extremely thirsty and ended up helping myself to water in the kitchen both going to London and returning to Australia. On the return flight I was woken up at 6am to have breakfast pushed in my face. I was so thirsty I couldnt speak and asked for water but didnt get any so I again had to go to the kitchen and ask. They have a menu for special diets which I ordered for all flights, however they might want to be more aware that Australians general wont eat pasta for breakfast. It seemed that the seats were no bigger than a domestic flight so I was extremely uncomfortable. I spent an extra $1000 on more comfortable seats on my return trip because I couldnt go through it again. If you have trouble with long flights I wouldnt try saving money on this one. Its not worth it. We also had a 7 hour wait between flights with this deal. There is nothing at the airport worth sitting around for 7 hours.
China Airlines use short haul aircraft for long haul flight – I flew the business class with China Airlines from Sydney to Taipei on 3/4/2023. When I purchased the ticket in mid February, the seating plan indicated that, in the business class, there were 4 seats in each row (I believe it was Airbus 350-900). As I had flown with China Airlines before, I was expecting a comfortable business class seating… Read more
arrangement, comparable to Cathy Pacific or even Qantas. I selected 14D as my seat. A few days before departure, I received a notification from China Airlines that my seat was reallocated to 3D. When I logged into the airlines’ web, the new seating plan now showed each row had 6 seats. Without suspicion, I selected 4A as my new seat. When I boarded the aircraft on the day of departure, I realised that China Airlines had substituted this long haul flight with an aircraft suitable only for short haul flights (I believe it was Airbus 330-300 or a similar type). The space is very limited for the business class seating. The seat can only laid down to about 45 degrees and there was no room for me to put my legs straight. It was extremely uncomfortable and almost impossible for sleeping (and it was an overnight flight). The supposedly complimentary wifi for the business class did not work for me (I suspect the aircraft was not equipped). The whole experience became a nightmare. I believe it is unethical and dishonest for an airline to charge the full fares for a long haul flight and substitute the aircraft with a short haul one, without seeking an agreement from the customers or any compensation. I would have been better off to take the economy class, at least saving myself an additional $3500 (I paid over $4800 for round trip). I have written to China Airlines, but yet to receive a response. It is also noteworthy that Qantas’s direct flights from Australia to Taipei are also operated by China Airlines..
Great Customer Service – Booked to go to England in June direct on their Website . Received an text and email this Thursday, one section cancelled. With the help of the Customer service they guided me through the online refund application, which ended up being quite straight forward. Full refund credited into my bank account 2 days later. Amazing! I would not hesitate with booking another flight with them, once this is all over. Show details
Find out how China Airlines compares to other International Airlines
Know better, choose better.
Perfect example of 101 customer service – My wife were booked to fly to Sydney to Rome in August 2020 direct with CA. CA are no longer flying to Rome due to the covid virus outbreak. They emailed with an option to reroute or get a refund. We chose refund and 48 hours later the money was in my AMEX account. I booked through a online travel provider, same flights and it will take up to 16 weeks to get my refund. Well done CA, great customer service. Show details
Covd19 – Unfortunately I have not flown with them as yet, I was booked Brisbane to Rome via Taipei in August. In April I was advised that the Tpe / Fco flight was cancelled and no options were offered to me, they just organised a refund for the full return ticket which was received within two weeks. I was very impressed with the service I received and look forward to rebooking the same flights next year Show details
Great airline, recommended to all – Flew to Frankfurt via Taipei and return. Smooth flights, on time, great food and service. Plenty of room in economy for my husband and I. Would recommend you consider China Air. Show details
Pleasant experience and look forward to using this airline again – Flew economy from a Brisbane to Auckland and return and will certainly fly with them again. Service and food were both excellent and I felt there was more leg room. Show details
Horrible experience. Made us book duplicate tickets at check-in – To China Airlines, I will go straight to the facts. I had had an extremely bad experience with China Airlines, and request some answers from them. We bought tickets mid February for return tickets : Hong Kong – Taiwan (flight CI 922). At check-in, the morning of the flight, the stewardess [name removed] simply told us that we couldn’t take our… Read more
flight. Besides generating a huge frustration feeling before our holidays even start, the fact that she didn’t propose any solution or even look for solution is simply astonishing.
So the reason she gave us is that our names on the booking didn’t match our passports. To be precise, our First Name was correct, and our Family Name was also correct. BUT, she told me that we had to put all our middle names as well with our First Names. Apparently, this is a change in the policy that was pushed before, but she was not able to tell us how recently. And as we did not put our middle names, our tickets were unusable, we couldn’t take the plane. Everything else was correct : passport number, dates, etc. No solution proposed, no real help, nothing… Oh wait, actually yes, she proposed us a solution : buy new tickets, obviously !
In my country, the middle names are absolutely never used. Moreover, every time I didn’t put our middle names in the booking, all the companies let us go on the plane. But China Airlines only decided not to.
So I tried to find a solution, any action we could do to amend it. Of course, modifying the booking online by myself was prohibited by China Airlines website. I went back on the website to check the display of the booking page, and where this rule is written. So actually there is now a mention in brackets to put middle names (which I don’t remember to see last time, anyway). However, there are only 2 boxes called “Last Name” and “First Name”. If you require middle names too, add a dedicated box, it is clearer. On top of that, my first name contains an hyphen, but the website does not accept it. Moreover, I have commas between my middle names, but as the website does not accept special characters neither, how to input them ? Finally, where there is a change in policy, you should make it more obvious ! The technical limitations of the website make everything even more confusing.
So at the counter I asked her to amend our booking; not possible neither. How come ?? Wait, actually, yes, she could modify the booking, but ONLY 3 LETTERS… What ? yes, 3 letters. So she managed to amend our son’s booking as the middle name was only 3 letters long (of course, with a fee), but not ours… What of a rule is this ? So actually, China Airlines CAN amend booking. Technically and regulatory, it is possible(I presume China airlines will use some kind of dark regulation to explain that only 3 letters can be changed for security purposes…) They just didn’t for us.
So we finally bought new tickets, with fees, more expensive of course. I made reimbursement request for the old ones, and of course, no answer yet. And I don’t expect any. Better have customers paying twice and not losing money, right China airlines ?
At Taipei counter, I told China Airlines staff my story, and ask them if they could amend our names, they replied “yes it should be possible to amend”, “hum, I don’t understand why they told you that in Hong Kong, I am not sure why”…
So, please, China Airlines, take care of your customers. Try to provide some help. Try to find solutions. Try to answer our requests. And please, take care of our opinion. I will continue to send this email on social networks as well as on private channels as long as I don’t get a satisfying answer.
Thank you for your consideration.
had great checkin service – We checked in at sydney. I arrived at checkin stressed and left reassured. nicole who I believe was from menzies aviation did an absolutely brilliant job. thank you Nicole, you've represented are inaugural China airlines flight ver well. Show details
Very Surprised – I was a first time flyer with China Airlines from Brisbane-Taipei-Gatwick return travelling premium economy and was extremely surprised at the very professional staff from the check in process to the wonderful in flight service. Our flight was over 24 hours in total one way and we found all facets of the flight very good, amount of food served… Read more
extremely sufficient, entertainment offered was first class with latest released movies offered. We were extremely impressed by the cleanliness of the plane during the flight. Would certainly travel with a China Airlines again.
Excellent Business Class on A350 – SYD-TPE-KIX-TPE-SYD, Business Class. Excellent comfort in the new A350 on SYD-TPE-SYD. Arriving in TPE at 0430 on an extended transit with nothing open, including China Airlines Business Lounge was not a lot of fun. Show details
Wonderful experience with China Airline! – Flew Sydney to Taipei - Taipei to Ho Chi Minh and then a return flight to Sydney a week later. At first comprehensive, but I can now say it was an A++ experience. Everything from flight to in-cabin customer experience was exceptional. So much better than the established. I I would for sure recommend China Airlines. My family and I will be more than happy to fly with China Airlines in the future. Well done. Regards, Son
Poor Ground Service for Business Class on extra 9kg overweight per person – Very Unfriendly on Weight for Business Class We are first time travel on this Airline on Business Class which was recommended by Flight Center. It was really suck!!! We booked our Round the World all on Business Class, of course, a lot of shopping which resulted overweight for check in Luggage of 9 kg per person. The Check in Customers… Read more
service insisted us to pay for the 9 kg fees and later I had spoken to a friendly Supervisor but not much HELP. She manage to get us extra 1kg free only per person.
We have no choice, open up luggage, throw away 8kg of stuff per person to made them happy but not US.
What the Business Class Airline? Pay Triple fares? Have given us such a services.
We should have stick to our Singapore Kris Flyer may have avoided all these.
China Airlines are too straight to Business Class, moreover, we are travelling Round the World.
Never for us to Travel Again on CHINA AIRLINE.
Good except for the lost baggage – Flew with them for a few times. Was ok. Except that they lost my luggage with my last flight. Said they will find it in 24 hours and call me back. 48 hours passed no one called me and no one answer the phone for the last 20 hours I try to call them... Wrote an email still no reply... I still hope they will find my bag and give 3 stars.
Business Class A350 is 5/5, food needs a lot of improvement – I am a frequent flyer in the region and prefer to fly China Airlines if it is convenient. I usually fly business class SYD - TPE - YVR and have also flown to regional cities. In general the planes are brand new and the A350 have outstanding seat pods with lie flat seats. But they are rock hard and no mattress pad is available. Service is also… Read more
very good. FA are friendly and helpful AND the cabin and toilets are kept clean throughout the flight.
The problems:
The website is almost unusable, slow and unstable - their app is much much better.
The food. It is very poor quality and the choices are odd. Dinner is often served when it should be breakfast served. The western choices for "dinner" can be appropriate (meat and 2 veg) or half breakfast and half dinner (croissant served with pasta). Croissant served with pasta is also served as a breakfast. At first I thought someone had loaded the wrong food but this happens every flight. The Asian menu options are better but also very poor quality.
The wine list is very very basic and should be better. There is a decent selection of spirits and they serve Nespresso which is a huge plus.
Overall much much better than mainland airlines but nowhere near Cathay or Singapore.
Value for Money – Value for money! Overall does not compare to US airlines or Arab airlines. Would recommend if you can get a discounted flight
Extra Information
ProductReview.com.au has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence our content moderation policies in any way, though ProductReview.com.au may earn commissions for products/services purchased via affiliate links.
Furthermore, on its ticket, China Airlines states it will respond to any comments/complaints in “60 days”.